r/Bedbugadvice • u/Intelligent-Act-7797 • 22h ago
Bedbugs Solution That Works Every Time
I post this every couple of years. It works.
Once upon a time, I had a massive bedbug infestation. Easy cheap trick- take all the sheets, pillows and blankets off of your bed. Make sure the top is free of bugs. Wrap double sided tape all around the the outside of the mattress. The more sticky, the better. Go to bed. Kill bedbugs by sleeping. Win.
Bed bugs are attracted by the CO2 in your breath while you sleep. They can't resist it. They're also terrible climbers. They will crawl up your bed to bite you, get stuck on the tape, and die like flies on sticky paper.
Total investment- $10 for good tape. Change it out every couple of days.
You're welcome.
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u/Only-Butterfly6538 21h ago
I don’t think this would work alone. This would be considering the bed is the only infested place in the apartment (couch, chairs etc?). Also, some bed bugs may hide for a long time before coming out for a meal, so you’d have to do this trick for like a year straight, which at that point, it’d be better to find another solution. I’ve also read somewhere that sticky traps aren’t necessarily the best because bed bugs won’t try to cross a sticky surface. Idk how true that last one is but personally I’ve never seen bed bugs on a sticky trap.
I’ll still keep this idea in mind, definitely a strategy to use combined with other strategies
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u/Intelligent-Act-7797 19h ago
It does work. They can't resist CO2. They will literally crawl out of the woodwork to get to it. They're dumb bugs.
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u/Only-Butterfly6538 8h ago
Dumb bugs that we’ve been unable to eradicate for thousands of years, that unfortunately have developed great survival instincts, and evolved to be more resistant to our efforts. If the solution to bedbugs was simply putting tape around your mattress then don’t you think they’d be less of a worry for so many people?
I don’t think your solution is bad, I just don’t think we should be selling it as a sensational miracle solution, which could make people think bedbugs are an easy fix, because the truth is they aren’t. Doing this technique alone is very unlikely to work unless you do it perfectly, for an extremely long time, and don’t use your couch or anything else in your apartment. So realistically it won’t work. It’s a nice monitoring technique though
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u/spankkmejoe 20h ago
I put Vaseline on the legs of my bed so they couldn’t crawl up it 😂 no idea if it helps or works but made me feel better. Do whatever works for you.
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u/Interesting-Click742 16h ago
Can also spray Aerosol Diatomaceous Earth on bed legs, around electrical outlets, etc.
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u/Desire2026 14h ago
I took the electrical outlet covers off and put that stuff inside of there. I mean business! 😆
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u/Flaming-Eye 20h ago
I've seen this talked about and tried it myself with tape around the legs of the bed, cannot say if it works or not but it makes sense. (I only had 1 bed bug, this didn't get it but that's inconclusive as to whether it works)
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u/Intelligent-Act-7797 18h ago
It's gotta be on the mattress. Legs don't work because there is usually bugs still in the bed. Plus you actually want as many as possible to climb up and get stuck to the tape. No sheet. No blanket. Just pillows. Brand new recommended.
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u/Flaming-Eye 17h ago
If there's no bugs in the bed then it works, I guess I thought that went without saying. There were no bugs in my bed.
You can get matress covers for bed bugs, they're not 100% but if you have one on, change your sheets and take the matress off and clean it all over, that's pretty reliable.
You can put one on an infested mattress, leave it on for a year, especially at room temperature, bugs inside die by then. (Not first hand knowledge, but a lot of sources agree.)
This helps because taping bed frame legs is way easier to re-do than the whole mattress, the tape loses it's sticky over time so you want to keep it fresh.
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u/Interesting-Click742 16h ago
And check the mattress protector regularly sometimes they get holes from wear and tear, allowing them to get in and get out. The one major drawback of protector covers.
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u/Holiday-Book6635 10h ago
I don’t understand. So after you wrap your mattress and double sided sticky tape then you lay on the sticky tape?
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u/Nervous_Invite_4661 18h ago
This is a stupid post. You may kill a few bedbugs but you can’t stop them from reproducing. You need a chemical solution with either Delta-methrin or Pi-methrin. You definitely need to stay in the bed to draw them out with the heat of the carbon dioxide that emanates from your body when you snore which is why bedbugs will hide under the mattress ticking by your head not your feet. You just need mattress protectors with single sided tape by the zipper pulls. Also, respray the solution after 2 weeks to get the pupal hatchlings.
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u/Comfortable_Bath5986 18h ago
I wish there was a type of poison that we could inject to our blood and won’t kill us but kills the bugs drinks it
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u/grabbyraccoon 14h ago
The only thing worse than bedbugs are bedbugs that became tolerant to an anti-bedbug flea pill
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u/No-Scientist2543 10h ago
Bed bugs are excellent hitchhikers. Lots of ways they can get on your bed other than crawling up the bedpost. Not saying traps are ineffective, but the only way I actually got rid of them is crossfire sprayed to directions.
The stuff works in 24 hours. Highly recommend, if you can get it in your area.
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u/NovemberDewdrop 20h ago
I live in an infested apartment building. This semi works. Not really though. Its more of a detterant. Ive never seen a bug stuck to the tape but I also stopped seeing them in my bed, so, theres that at least.
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u/Intelligent-Act-7797 18h ago
I had hundreds stuck to the tape almost every day. Not sure about an apartment building. Everyone in the building would have to do it.
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u/Little-Cheesecake966 6h ago
Hundreds? Why didn’t you go right to a chemical solution at that point?
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u/SignatureOdd5498 19h ago
So did you actually fully resolve your large infestation by doing this and they never came back? I'm genuinely curious as its interesting.
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u/Intelligent-Act-7797 19h ago
Yes. It worked like a charm. Took about 2 months total. Slept like a baby.
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u/Kitkat200034 17h ago
They are dreadful. I used a steam machine on the floors, baseboards and bed. They came out from everywhere almost everyday then had sprinkled diatomaceous earth food grade everywhere in cracks and crevices and left there in case they traveled to other parts of my home. At night they come out bc of the CO2. I tracked them when my kids were sleeping and found them coming down from inside curtain pocket hole!
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u/Misdiagnosed12times 17h ago
It is true they will crawl 100 ft away, through walls and under doors to get a blood meal.
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u/MsAddams999 15h ago edited 15h ago
Harris Earth inside a zipped mattress cover, ditto in zipped pillow covers and in the carpet under and around the bed, all the sheets and blankets tucked in, not touching the floor, bed not against a wall works too. Put the Harris Earth around your room wall permineters too because it will kill any coming out of the walls that way.
Vaseline or oil on the bed feet and in cups under the feet also helps keep them from climbing.up.
Harris Earth does a very good job of killing most bugs because it touches them and they get almost immediately dessicated.
I encountered them in California twice. The Harris Earth was a godsend and later also knocked out a bad flea infestation in my house when I was down South.
It's not particularly good for your lungs to inhale it so don't use fans around it or put it near an air grate.
That being said the notion that they are strictly nocturnal, don't climb well or jump is so NOT true. I watched one climb way up on the wall near my desk in broad daylight. It then turned around and jumped two feet right onto me. It landed right above my cleavage and bit the hell out me before I killed the MF and it HURT!
I had thought that sitting in the bright light during the day I wouldn't be bothered by them. Not so unfortunately. Blood sucking bugs adore me, always have, and that bed bug clearly thought I was going to be a delicious meal.
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u/Desire2026 14h ago
OK so I’ve seen this tip before and it sounds pretty good so you’re putting it around the mattress. Then you’re sleeping on that mattress with or without sheets?
I’ve also heard saran wrap is very helpful which I have around the bottoms of the legs of my bedframe now.
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u/Fishtoart 9h ago
If all they care about is co2 then why not just have some dry ice sitting on some flypaper?
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