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Chances are, this is really what you’re looking for: how to kill bed bugs. You’ve either caught them in the act, or stumbled across the shed skin and poop smears that the uncouth little creatures leave behind, after enduring their unpleasant bites for days, weeks, or even months. You’ve been through the wringer, and you just want to know how to get rid of bed bugs. Unfortunately, do-it-yourself bed bug treatments aren’t effective. Today’s bed bugs are made of pretty tough stuff. It’s almost certain that in order to eliminate your bed bug problem, you’re going to need the help of a professional. If you’d like to know what professional bed bug treatments entail, read on to learn more.
Most reputable bed bug exterminators don’t rely on any single method to kill bed bugs, simply because one-shot treatments almost never kill all bed bugs. And it only takes a single fertilized female for your bed bug infestation to come back. This is why professional pest control services typically have bed bug extermination regimens that make use of multiple methods, applied over a period of several weeks or months. Your local bed bug exterminators may use any combination of the methods below, or others not mentioned here.
“But wait,” you say, “you just said that pesticides and other do-it-yourself bed bug solutions don’t work!” The key point is, pesticides don’t work on their own. Even ten years ago, when commercial pest control companies were just starting to realize how stubborn these bigger and badder bed bugs were, only six percent of pest control companies in the United States claimed that they could eliminate bed bugs with a one-shot spray and pray. Some pesticides, especially those that the pros can buy, are decent at killing bed bugs. But these typically only kill on contact, and if they’re sprayed pretty much right on the bed bugs. They are just one part of the war on bed bugs.
Sometimes, the best offense is a good defense. Many companies strongly suggest the use of a bed bug mattress cover or encasement. Typically made out of polyester, vinyl, or plastic, bed bug mattress covers are useful because they make it easy to sterilize the outside of a mattress, while preventing any bed bugs that have wormed their way deep into the mattress and out of harm’s way from making their way back out. As long as these covers are left on a mattress for over a year, any bed bugs trapped inside the cover will starve. These are often used alongside special bed bug traps, essentially miniature plastic moats, that are placed under the legs of a bed. Bed bugs that are encamped away from beds are thus trapped when they venture out to feed. When used correctly, protective coverings and devices can be incredibly effective at preventing bed bug bites while extermination is underway. However, nothing is perfect, and bed bugs have been known to make their way past such protections by climbing up onto the ceiling, and then dropping down the bed. Again, this emphasizes the need for ongoing vigilance and a multi-pronged approach to eliminating bed bug infestations.
When done well, the old-fashioned approach can work quite well. Typically, extremely infested and difficult to treat items like mattresses and certain items of furniture are disposed of or destroyed. Then, laundering, heating, or freezing are used to kill bed bugs in clothing and other personal items. Once clothing and possessions have been successfully cleansed of bed bugs, they are carefully kept isolated from infected areas and materials. Quite often, this quarantine is comprised of nothing more than trash bags, sealed plastic containers, or simply storing items at locations free of bed bugs.
A number of researchers have pointed out that after the use of vacuum cleaners became common, bed bug populations started to drop (even before the use of DDT). Vacuuming can be especially helpful in homes with carpeting or rugs. However, if vacuuming is used as a method of bed bug treatment, extreme caution must be taken to ensure that vacuum bags are disposed of properly, and that no live bed bugs are left in the inner workings of the vacuum.
Unless a bed bug version of Iron Man becomes a reality, bed bugs will never be able to withstand direct exposure to piping hot steam. Steam cleaners can be very useful, as they can quickly produce the very high temperatures (160-170 degrees Fahrenheit) necessary to kill bed bugs in a matter of seconds, rather than minutes or hours. However, steaming bed bugs to death is a limited strategy, due to the fact that many materials and items are seriously damaged by exposure to such temperatures, are too large for internal areas to reach necessary temperatures, or are subsequently affected by mold.
This is the big daddy of bed bug extermination, and has come a long ways in only a few years. If you’ve ever been driving through the neighborhood and wondered why a neighbor’s house had suddenly turned into a giant bouncy house connected to a van sitting out front–what you saw was a heat treatment for bed bugs in action. Heat treatment is actually quite simple, and very effective. Temperatures over 113 degrees will kill even the toughest bed bugs within 15 minutes, and their eggs within an hour. This is why your better-than-the average-pest-control-bear pest control operator now has a rig for cooking the entirety of a customer’s house. Basically, a home is sealed in a layer of plastic, and a glorified Easy-Bake Oven is used to generate heat, which is blown into the house. After a few hours, even the most insulated areas of a residence will have long since reached the temperatures necessary to burn bed bugs to a crisp. However, this is perhaps one of the most involved and expensive ways of treating bed bugs, but chances are that if your exterminator is well versed in using this treatment, then they’re probably extremely competent and will deliver on their promises of a bed bug-free life.
This is pretty rare nowadays, as recent studies have demonstrated that bed bugs can tolerate temperatures of 0 degrees Fahrenheit for several days, and even colder temperatures for at least a few minutes. Due to the difficulty of sustaining extremely cold temperatures over a long period of time, this method is best used for small items that can be stored in a chest freezer for several days. Hence, this is almost always just part of the DIY regimen that pest control operators ask customers to do, in addition to larger scale treatments.
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