Hopefully, you will never be cursed with a?bed bug?infestation. Bed bugs aren’t easy to get rid of, and you might be tempted to try any tonic you read about online. Unfortunately, many of the bed bug treatment posted on websites are ineffective, and some can even be unsafe.
Should you ever find yourself battling bed bugs, make sure you know the myths & misconceptions about bed bug treatment. Knowing what works and what doesn’t will save you time, money, and stress.
1. WE SHOULD BRING BACK DDT TO GET RID OF BED BUGS FOR GOOD
Oh, for an inexpensive and easy answer to the bed bug problem. Unfortunately, there’s no short method Bullet for bed bugs.
Put aside the ecological and health impacts of DDT for an instant, and let?s appearance at however DDT works.
DDT acts by binding to the metal pores of cells, allowing sodium to flood the cells and inflicting the nervous system to fail.
Today, the chemical of selection for bed bugs is pyrethrums, but bed bugs area unit very quickly developing resistance to this category of pesticides.
Do one acumen pyrethrums work? They bind to the sodium pores of cells ? a bit like DDT.
Bed bugs with the modification that creates them unbeatable to pyrethrums are even as resistant to treatment with DDT.
2. YOU CAN TREAT BED BUGS YOURSELF BY USING BUG BOMBS
Bug bombs, or total area defoggers, release a bug killer into the air in your home.
Most bug bombs do contain pyrethrin, a chemical wont to treat bed bugs, thus you will suppose this product is a good thanks to eliminate a bed bug infestation.
Not so. Initial of all, bed bugs (and alternative crawling insects) usually flee once the pesticide is released, heading for cover within the deepest, most inaccessible crevice of your home.
Second, effective bed bug treatment wants directed applications altogether the places where bed bugs hide ? behind molding & casework, within electrical boxes, or within mattresses, for instance.
A bug bomb will not reach these areas adequately to kill all the bed bugs in your home.
In fact, a bug bomb is one amongst the tiniest quantity effective treatments you will use for any insect hassle.
3. IF YOU HAVE BED BUGS, YOU HAVE TO THROW AWAY YOUR MATTRESS, COUCH, AND OTHER FURNITURE OR YOU WILL NEVER GET RID OF THEM
This one falls into the “It Depends” class. In some cases, you will have to be compelled to discard heavily infested furniture items to win the war.
If your mattress is torn or separated at the seams, bed bugs have in all probability enraptured within, creating treatment near impossible.
however even in this case, a decent quality mattress envelopment will often be used as a barrier to trap them within the mattress permanently.
If a pest Control Company will fumigate your home (which is expensive and not continually an option), there is a smart chance your furniture may be saved.
With persistent inspections of your furniture, various vacuuming, and targeted treatments by a professional exterminator, you’ve got a decent chance of keeping your couch and alternative upholstered items. so do not place your furniture on the curb at the primary sign of bed bugs!
4. THE BEST WAY TO DETECT BED BUGS IS BY USING A BED BUG SNIFFING DOG
In the past few years, variety of pest control companies have started touting their success in using specially trained bed bug sniffing dogs to search out bed bugs.
Companies that use bed bug sniffing dogs might charge between $500 and $1,000 for this detection service, and will claim a hit rate of over ninetieth.
However the reality is, there hasn’t been lots of testing to check if these claims area unit true.
Till recently, the only studies of those claims were worn out very controlled environments, not in world conditions.
In 2011, 2 researchers at Rutgers University did place some bed bug sniffing dogs through their paces in real apartment buildings, and also the results were obscurity close to nearly as good as advertised.
5. YOU CAN KILL THE BED BUGS BY TURNING UP THE HEAT IN YOUR HOUSE
Heat treatments do kill bed bugs effectively; however simply turning up your thermostat isn’t a heat treatment. For this technique to work, your home should be heated to over 120?F for over AN hour, and everything should be heated to it temperature equally.
That means the voids in exterior walls and therefore the insides of your furniture should reach that temperature ANd keep there for an hour. you only cannot try this by turning up your thermostat.
Knowledgeable heat treatment usually involves enclosing your home and using completely different heat sources in numerous areas of your home to securely raise the temperature throughout the structure.
And no matter you are doing, don’t use a grill, propane heater, or alternative portable heat source to kill bed bugs in your room. people have started fires and exposed themselves to deadly carbon monoxide fumes whereas attempting to treat their own homes with heat.
6. YOU CAN KILL BED BUGS BY TURNING OFF THE HEAT IN YOUR HOUSE
Just as bed bugs cannot withstand extreme heat, they cannot withstand extreme cold. Temperatures below 32?F will and do kill bed bugs, however not quickly. To kill the bed bug eggs, your home should stay below freeze for a minimum of a month. And therefore the real trick is in dropping the temperature quickly. If you just shut down your furnace and let the temperature drop, the bed bugs will adapt and get in diapause, waiting till it warms up to become active once more.
7. JUST MOVE OUT OF YOUR HOUSE FOR A WHILE, AND THE BED BUGS WILL STARVE AND DIE
How long are you ready to remain at a hotel? It’s true that bed bugs need blood meals to complete their procreative cycles. If they are going too long while not finding a host, they will not survive. At normal room temperatures, though, bed bugs are known to last for 2-3 months or a lot of without a blood meal.
In some conditions, bed bugs will survive a whole year while not uptake. So overall, merely vacating the premises isn’t a really effective strategy for eliminating these pests from your property.
8. A MATTRESS COVER CAN PREVENT?A BED BUG INFESTATION
A number of firms build bed bug pad covers, or mattress encasements, that you just will use if you are concerned about bed bugs. Of these covers do is create AN impenetrable barrier to bed bugs round the outside of your mattress. If you have already got bed bugs in your home, any bed bugs living in your mattress are unfree within the quilt permanently, unable to bite you, and that they can eventually die. Any bed bugs elsewhere in your home can still have free access to your bed and to you, though they will not be ready to take up permanent residence within your pad. If you do not nevertheless have bed bugs, bedding can keep the bed bugs out of your mattress, ought to they ever notice their approach into your home. Again, it’ll not keep you from obtaining bed bugs, nor can it keep bed bugs from biting you in your bed.
9. ANY PRODUCT THAT SAYS IT KILL BED BUGS WILL WORK
If it’s not legally considered a pesticide product, it doesn’t require registration with the E.P.A. And if it’s not a registered pesticide with the E.P.A., then any claims made on the label don’t have to be proven with scientific data. Also, keep in mind that how the chemical pesticide is applied makes a difference. For example, some companies market total room foggers (aka bug bombs) that disperse pyrethrin, a chemical that?does?work on bed bugs.
However, room foggers don’t allow the chemical to reach the places where bed bugs hide, making it a considerably less effective way to treat bed bugs than having a professional pest control specialist use the same chemical in your home.
10. ALL YOU NEED TO GET RID OF BED BUGS IS THE RIGHT PESTICIDE
Unfortunately, a pesticide application is sort of always needed to eliminate bed bugs fully.
A pesticide alone, however, is not aiming to get the task done. you are going to need to try and do a lot of housekeeping and cleanup, as a result of bed bugs will hide anyplace and all over, and pesticides cannot be applied to everything you own.
You will need to get obviate your litter, and launder everything that is washable in plight. You will likely need to do a lot of vacuuming, and ought to steam your carpets and article of furniture.
Read More:?Bed Bugs Harder To Kill
