Bed bugs, fruit flies, and ants are three of the most common household pests, but they each require a genuinely different approach to eliminate — what works on ants won’t touch a bed bug infestation, and vice versa. Here’s a practical breakdown of how to tackle each one, plus what actually keeps them from coming back.
Getting Rid of Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are notoriously difficult to eliminate because they hide deep in cracks, crevices, mattress seams, and furniture, and DIY methods alone rarely eliminate a full infestation without professional help. Still, there’s a lot you can do to knock back an infestation and stay ahead of it:
- Wash everything on high heat. Bed bugs die at temperatures around 115°F (46°C). Wash affected bedding, clothing, and linens in very hot water for 30 minutes, then dry on the highest heat setting for another 30 minutes.
- Use cold as an alternative. If heat isn’t practical for certain items, sealing them in a plastic bag and freezing at 32°F (0°C) or below also kills bed bugs, though this generally takes longer than heat treatment.
- Vacuum thoroughly and repeatedly. Use a regular vacuum on floors and furniture, and a handheld vacuum specifically along mattress seams, headboards, and floorboard cracks where bed bugs like to hide.
- Steam clean items you can’t wash. For clothing, upholstery, or furniture that can’t go through a washer, steam cleaning reaches into seams and crevices heat-sensitive fabric might otherwise hide bugs in.
Because bed bugs are so resilient and can persist in tiny gaps throughout a room, a genuinely stubborn infestation is one of the more common situations where bringing in professional pest control is worth the cost, rather than relying entirely on DIY methods.
Getting Rid of Fruit Flies
Fruit flies are usually a sign of a breeding ground somewhere in your kitchen, so the fastest fix combines removing that source with active trapping:
- Find and eliminate the breeding spot. Check for overripe fruit, rotting produce in the back of a cupboard, spills that have run under appliances or cabinets, and standing water in drip trays under houseplants.
- Clean drains, trash cans, and disposal. These are common hidden breeding grounds that are easy to overlook.
- Set an apple cider vinegar trap. Pour about an inch of apple cider vinegar into a jar, cover it with plastic wrap punctured with a few small holes (or a lid with holes punched in), and place it where flies gather. The vinegar’s smell draws them in, and they get trapped once inside.
- Add a drop of dish soap for a faster kill. Mixing vinegar with a small amount of dish soap breaks the liquid’s surface tension, so flies that land get stuck and drown rather than escaping.
- Store produce properly going forward. Sealing fruit in airtight containers or keeping it refrigerated prevents flies from returning once the current batch is cleared out.
Getting Rid of Ants
Ants require a different strategy entirely, since killing the ants you see doesn’t solve the underlying colony — you need the whole colony, including the queen, to actually stop the problem:
- Use a boric acid or borax bait, not direct spray. Mix a small amount of boric acid or borax with sugar and warm water to make a syrupy bait, then place it near ant trails on cotton balls or cardboard. Ants carry the bait back to the colony, where it eventually reaches and kills the queen — this is generally considered the most effective method for actually eliminating an infestation rather than just the visible ants.
- Don’t kill the ants near the bait. It sounds counterintuitive, but those ants are doing the work of carrying the poison back to the rest of the colony — let them.
- Give it time. Boric acid is slow-acting, typically taking 48 to 72 hours to work through a colony, so don’t expect an overnight fix.
- Erase scent trails with vinegar. A 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water sprayed along counters, baseboards, and entry points disrupts the pheromone trails ants use to guide others to a food source — useful for disrupting activity, though it won’t eliminate the colony on its own.
- Seal entry points. Caulk gaps around baseboards, windows, doors, and utility lines to cut off access once the current infestation is under control.
A caution worth noting: boric acid is toxic to pets and children if ingested, so if you’re using it, keep bait stations in areas they can’t access, or consider a labeled, enclosed bait product instead of loose powder.
The Common Thread: Prevention Matters as Much as Treatment
Across all three pests, the same underlying principle applies — cleaning up food sources, sealing entry points, and eliminating standing water or clutter makes your home meaningfully less attractive to future infestations, regardless of which pest you’re dealing with. Treating an active infestation without addressing what drew the pest in the first place tends to mean you’re solving the same problem again in a few weeks.
Join The Discussion
Which of these three pests has given you the most trouble, and what finally worked for you? Share a DIY method that actually solved your infestation, or a moment where you had to call in professional help after home remedies didn’t cut it. If you’re currently dealing with one of these right now, feel free to ask questions — there’s a good chance someone here has tackled the exact situation you’re facing.
