Got Bed Bugs? 2 Updated Options to Get Rid of Them Now
Bed bugs and their eggs are surprisingly resilient in spite of their small size, which means it takes much more effort to rid your home of them than it does to get rid of other small pests. While resilient, thankfully pest control companies have been mastering their bed bug removal techniques over the years, and they have a couple of great techniques that work well against these tiny intruders. There are also new remedies being researched that you may be able to look forward to in the future in case the tiny bugs ever hitchhike their way back into your home on your clothing or a new-to-you piece of used furniture.
Read on to find out how to get rid of them now and some interesting studies going on in the fight against bed bugs.
Best Options to Remove Bed Bugs Now
The three main enemies of bed bugs are extreme heat, extreme cold, and various chemical pesticides. When dealing with the hearty bed bug, pest control companies must often combine several of their enemies to rid your home of the resilient critters. The heat needed to make an impact on the eggs must exceed 120-degrees F and the cold temperature needed to affect them must be below 0-degrees F, although these temperatures must be held for hours or days to kill the bugs and eggs.
Even when subjected to these temperatures, some bed bugs and eggs simply will not die. However, chemical only treatments alone, such as DIY bug bombs also fail. That is why a pesticide combined with either extreme heat or extreme cold is the best option to give the bugs and eggs a double-whammy that they are less likely to survive.
Following these guidelines, pest control companies offer the following treatments:
1. Super-heating. Pest control companies now have special heating devices designed to heat a room to 135-degrees F, which is hot enough to make an impact on the bugs but not so hot it will ruin anything in the home, including electronics. The heat is also forced into the room with strong blowers to ensure it penetrates into furniture, carpets, and anywhere else the bugs may be hiding. One heating unit is needed for each infected room in the home, and once the room reaches the desired temperature, the heat is held for at least an hour, but often as long as 8 hours. Pesticide is typically used in conjunction with this method.
2. Pressurized Carbon Dioxide Snow. This treatment uses extreme cold instead of heat. A special machine is used to blow carbon dioxide at a temperature of about -110 degrees F into a bed bug infested room or home. The extreme cold kills the bed bugs and eggs instantly. Unlike super-heating a room, there is no large blower that can be set up in each room, and a hand-blower is used instead.
That means that the technician must move the hand blower around the room and hit all areas where bugs may live. Pesticides are also typically used before or after this treatment, too, to improve the odds that every bug and egg is completely killed.
Future Treatments
While current bed bug treatments can be very successful, there are new treatments being researched that may be easier or less costly than current ones. One involves planting synthetic bed bug pheromones mixed with a histamine in a trapping device. The pheromone attracts the bed bugs, and the histamine then paralyzes them. This device has been tested and has trapped many bed bugs, but it is unknown whether it can be used as a sole bed-bug eliminating treatment.
Another researcher tested a unique method of killing bed bugs by consuming an insecticide safe for consumption called ivermectin, which is a medication currently given by mouth or injection to animals to treat intestinal worm infestations and prevent heart-worms. The researcher then allowed bed bugs to bite him, and some died after consuming his insecticide-laced blood, although others survived. While not likely to be approved as a bed bug treatment anytime soon, it is another example of the many different studies going on to find unique ways to control bed bugs.
If you have bed bugs, then skip the home remedies that won't work and call a pest control company. They can eliminate your infestation relatively quickly so you can sleep better at night without itching and scratching.