How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs Forever – Instant & Long Term Protection

Last Updated on 11/04/2025 by Tony Abrahams

These pesky little critters can cause a lot of sleepless nights and itchy skin. Bed bugs are small, blood-sucking, wingless insects that feed on human and animal hosts at night, which is why it’s so important to know how to get rid of bed bugs.

An adult bed bug is about the size of an apple seed. These tiny parasites that feed on human blood are often found in mattresses, bed frames, and headboards. Bed bugs can cause skin irritation and allergic reactions.

How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs Fast Without Poisons?

Alright, let’s talk about how to get rid of bed bugs fast without poisons — no toxic sprays, no harsh chemicals, no foggers, and definitely no waiting around hoping they just go away on their own (spoiler: they won’t).

Here’s your step-by-step playbook to evict these bloodsucking squatters safely and effectively:

🧼 Step 1: Steam the Suckers to Death – Instantly

Steam = your best friend in the war against bed bugs. These little guys can’t survive high heat, so a powerful steam cleaner aimed directly at their hiding spots will kill them on contact.

• Use a steam cleaner that reaches at least 120°C (248°F).
• Focus on: mattress seams, bed frames, skirting boards, baseboards, carpet edges, and furniture joints.
• Move slowly — you want to give the heat time to penetrate.

💡 Pro Tip: Bed bugs hide deep inside cracks. Use the narrow nozzle to get into crevices and kill eggs and nymphs too.

🛏 Step 2: Cover Your Mattress (And Never Look Back)

Once the bed bugs are dead or fleeing the scene, lock down your mattress with a high-quality encasement. This prevents any survivors from hiding inside and keeps you from getting bitten while you sleep.

Look for:

• Zippered, bite-proof, and escape-proof covers
• One for the mattress and one for the ensemble base or box spring

💤 Peace of mind, zipped shut.

💣 Step 3: Lay the Long-Term Trap — Diatomaceous Earth (DE)

This is where the magic happens — Diatomaceous Earth is a fine, natural powder that kills bed bugs by drying them out. No poison. No fumes. Just microscopic death.

Here’s how to use it like a pro:

• Lightly dust it around the bed legs, under furniture, cracks in the floor, and especially around your bed frame.
• Bed bugs walk through it → it sticks to them → it cuts into their waxy outer shell → they dehydrate and die within a few days.

🕵️‍♂️ Key tip: Don’t go overboard. A light dusting works best. Too much and they’ll just walk around it.

🚫 Step 4: Isolate the Bed – Create a Death Zone

This one’s crucial. If they can’t reach you, they can’t feed. And if they try, they die trying.

Here’s what to do:

• Pull your bed 30cm away from the wall and furniture.
• Place bed bug traps or barriers under each bed leg. These can be climb-up traps filled with a bit of DE to finish them off.
• No bedding touching the floor or walls. You’re building a fortress.

🐜 Any bed bug trying to reach the bed now must cross your Diatomaceous Earth minefield.

🧺 Step 5: Hot Wash Everything

Textiles are their playground. Collect:

• Sheets, pillowcases, blankets, clothes near the bed, curtains, soft toys

Then:

• Wash on hot (60°C/140°F)
• Tumble dry on high heat for 30+ minutes

🔥 Heat is lethal. No survivors.

Do It Yourself using Our Non Toxic Bed Bug Treatment

Our treatment is far cheaper than using a pest controller and a lot easier than using toxic home treatments that often fail.

The Bed Bug Barrier system takes around 30 mins to complete and gives instant and long-term protection from bedbugs. Unlike pest controllers or other home remedies, our treatment doesn’t need you to wash all of your clothes or clean your room. That’s because we only treat your bed, not your entire room. Our treatment will kill all of the bedbugs in the room when they try to access the bed via the bed legs, because they will be exposed to our Bedbug Killer powder.

Follow these easy steps

1. Watch our DIY treatment videos. We have videos for Ensemble Beds and Bed Frames with Slats below.
2. Cover your mattresses with a Bed Bug Proof Mattress Encasement
3. Dust your bed frame with our Bed Bug Killer powder
4. Place Bed Bug Barriers on your bed legs
5. Move your bed 30cm away from the wall.

Its as simple as that to successfuly treated your bed where you will enjoy instant and long term protection.

How Did You Get Bed Bugs?

It’s the question everyone asks — usually right after spotting those first creepy crawlers or waking up with itchy bites.

Here’s the truth:

Bed bugs don’t care how clean your house is. You didn’t do anything wrong. They’re hitchhikers — and they’re very good at it.

These little bloodsuckers sneak into your life by:

• Catching a ride on luggage after a hotel or Airbnb stay (even 5-star places aren’t safe)
• Hiding in second-hand furniture — especially beds, couches, or wooden drawers
• Clinging to your clothes or bags after a visit to someone else’s infested home
• Crawling through shared walls in apartments or townhouses
• Jumping into your suitcase on public transport, in cinemas, airports, or rideshares

They only need one pregnant female to start a full-blown infestation in your home. Just one.

Once inside, they hide in cracks, behind baseboards, inside mattress seams, or under carpets — and they come out at night to feed. You might not even see them for weeks.

Not sure where they came from?

That’s totally normal. Bed bugs are stealthy. You usually don’t know they’ve arrived until you’re getting bitten or seeing little black dots (droppings) on the mattress.

Bottom line? If you’ve got bed bugs, it’s not your fault — but it is your job to stop them now before they spread.

Want me to tailor this to your brand voice even more or plug in your product directly? Just say the word!

How Long Does It Take to Get Rid of Bed Bugs?

It can take anywhere from a few hours to several months, depending on the method you use. Yeah, that’s a huge range — so here’s the real talk:

🐞 If You Use Our DIY Isolation Method (Steam + DE Powder + Traps):

You can kill all bed bugs in one day and sleep in your bed that same night. No poisons. No repeat visits. No guessing.

Here’s why it works so fast:

• Steam kills bed bugs instantly — even the eggs
• Diatomaceous Earth (DE) kills the ones hiding — they crawl over it and die within 2–7 days
• Bed leg traps isolate the bed — cutting off their food source (you) and forcing them into the DE

💥 Result: You wipe out the infestation in one hit, and any stragglers are finished off automatically.

🔁 If You Use a Pest Controller:

Professional treatments usually involve multiple visits, spaced 2 to 4 weeks apart, and you’re looking at 6 to 12 weeks minimum to fully clear the infestation.

Why so long?

• Chemical sprays don’t kill all the eggs
• You have to wait for eggs to hatch, then treat again
• Insecticide resistance is a growing issue — bed bugs are evolving

💸 Plus, it’s expensive, and you still might end up reinfested if the treatment doesn’t reach every hiding spot.

🧼 If You Try DIY Sprays Alone:

This is the slowest (and most frustrating) route. Supermarket sprays only work on direct contact. That means:

• You miss one hiding spot? Boom — they’re back
• Eggs? Still hatching
• You’re reapplying every few days, hoping it works

In this case, infestations can drag on for months.

So, What’s the Fastest Way?

If you want to know how long it takes to get rid of bed bugs the smart, safe, and fast way — here’s the answer:

A few hours. Using our isolation system, you can treat the room in a day, sleep in it that night, and enjoy long-term protection for years thanks to the DE powder.

Should You Stay Home If You Have Bed Bugs?

Signs & Symptoms of Bed Bugs

The first step is to identify if you have bed bugs.

There are a number of ways to detect if you have bedbugs in your home.

First, look for physical signs such as:

– Bed bug skin shells and eggs;

– Dark spots (1.5mm long) on sheets and mattresses; and

– Bed Bug Bites in Australia are usually located on the neck, hands, arms, legs and back but they can bite anywhere on the body. These marks can be mistaken for other insects like mosquitoes, carpet beetles or fleas.

You should also check your mattress seems, bed frame and behind headboards and nearby furniture for dark red/brown blood smears resulting from bedbugs feeding.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can I get rid of bed bugs in one day?
   Yes — if you use the right method.
   With a high-heat steamer, Diatomaceous Earth (DE) powder, and bed isolation traps, you can kill bed bugs instantly and stop new bites that same night. Our DIY isolation system is designed to do exactly that — one treatment, one day, long-term protection. Just make sure you follow all the steps properly, and you’ll sleep bed-bug-free tonight.
2. Why does pest control take so long to get rid of bed bugs?
   Because chemical sprays often miss eggs, and many bed bugs are now resistant to common insecticides. Pest controllers usually schedule multiple treatments over 6 to 12 weeks to account for egg hatching cycles and reinfestation risks. It’s not instant, and it’s not guaranteed. That’s why many people turn to DIY non-toxic solutions that kill bed bugs on day one.
3. How long does Diatomaceous Earth take to kill bed bugs?
   Once bed bugs crawl through Diatomaceous Earth (DE), it damages their exoskeleton and dehydrates them to death. This process typically takes 2 to 7 days per bug. That’s why it’s such a powerful long-term solution — it works quietly in the background, catching any survivors long after your initial treatment.

Are You Looking for an Organic DIY Treatment?

Watch Our DIY Treatment Video For An Ensemble Bed

Watch Our DIY Bed Bug Treatment Video For A Bed with Slats

If you have enjoyed our blog, How Do You Get Rid Of Bed Bugs, then you might like to read about smells that bed bugs hate.

Sources

EPA USA

WIKI