If you’ve had the unfortunate misfortune of being bitten by begs in bed at night, chances are you’ll do anything to get rid of them. And this process can be very expensive. However, one of the cheapest and easiest things you can do right away is ditch your current mattress and buy a hammock. This is what you need to do in 4 easy steps.
1. Assess the severity of the problem
If you only found a couple of bugs, you may not need to get rid of your bed. However, if he found several, it is likely that they are living in his mattress. Just killing a few on the surface and hoping you’re okay isn’t a great plan, as bed bugs can survive up to 550 days without food. If the infestation is minor, you can purchase a bug-proof mattress cover to trap any bed bugs inside and prevent others from hiding in the mattress. However, if it’s bad, you’ll want to cut your losses and throw out the bed entirely.
2. Buy a hammock bed
A hammock makes a great bedding replacement for an infested home for a number of reasons. First, it’s not connected to the ground, so it makes it almost impossible for it to bite you, as an insect would have to scale the wall and then the support ropes to get to you. Second, unless you buy a cotton hammock, you can easily wash your hammock to kill any bugs. Or better yet, just tie the ends together (dry) and place on a “high heat” tumble cycle for 10-15 minutes. Sustained heat will kill bed bugs along with any other insects you can think of. A nylon hammock is a great option here, as the fibers are more durable and resistant to heat and moisture than a cotton hammock. Finally, they are incredibly comfortable. A few nights of sleep in a large woven hammock and you may never want to go back to your mattress.
3. Sprinkle diatomaceous earth (DE) along doorways and room edges
Forget all those poisonous chemicals or “bait” traps. This cheap, safe to eat/ingest (seriously, not that you want to) is amazing. DE is essentially a chalky white powder that kills bed bugs, cockroaches, and other insects by drying out their exoskeleton until they are finally dead. All they have to do is walk on the dust once and within 10 days tops, often within 2-3 days they will be dead.
4. Seal holes and exits
Bed bugs are cunning creatures and love to hide for long periods in mattresses, walls, and any crevice they can find. So while you’re busy painting your floors with DE, prevent it from leaking out by caulking any cracks you may have in the walls, the floor, or even the small gap between the outlet cover and the wall. That way they will have nowhere to go and will eventually get trapped and die.
Bed bugs suck. But with the right steps and a little hammock escape you can get rid of them and keep your sanity at the same time. Best of luck!
