Extreme heat or cold for bedbugs? (mattress, house, to buy)
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I've had them before and now it looks like they're back. I know that they can go up to 18 months without needing your blood. I've had a exterminator come in the past and he sprayed a few times and that didn't do anything. I even bought a new mattress and they're back. I woke up today itching and now have bites.
I want to find a pest control company that uses either extreme heat or cold which I heard is supposed to be effective. I heard it can cost about 2K which is a lot. I'm hoping it's less than that because it's just a basement, not a commercial space.
Anyone had success with this?
Can you recommend any pest control companies? I'm in BK. TIA.
It's a not-for-profit site called Bedbugger.com. Doesn't allow exterminators to shill and sell their wares so you should be able to get accurate info and recommendations there.
If I remember correctly you live in the basement of your parents' home? Is it a single familty...do they have the same problem UPSTAIRS?
I'm sorry but I cannot recommend anyone becaause I have had no direct experience but I think the accepted wisdom is that heat kills more thoroughly and more quickly than cold. They can survive for hours or DAYS in a freezer but they will die very quickly at 130 degrees.
The FIRST step I would take would be to get the bed legs into 4 containers with something in them that will kill and capture any new entrants. I would put all the bed linens into a very hot dryer and I would use a heat gun or powerful steamer on all seams of the mattress, springs, etc and get heat into all crevices of the bed frame, perhpass even spraying the frame with a pyrethrin insecticide...especially if I could get the frame outside. You might consider a set of those mattress covers that prevents bedbug entry and exit.
At least that you'd provide a place to sleep while you work out a method of attack.
Do you think you could get that basement up above 120 or 130 with some heaters for several hours?
If you do that you could dispense with all the other hooplah.
From what I have heard, IF you call someone it will cost you a couple $$GRAND to get rid of them with no real guarantee they are all gone.. Remember too, the adjoings rooms have to be attended to as well.
Last edited by Kefir King; 09-13-2012 at 07:01 AM..
If I remember correctly you live in the basement of your parents' home? Is it a single familty...do they have the same problem UPSTAIRS?
I'm sorry but I cannot recommend anyone becaause I have had no direct experience but I think the accepted wisdom is that heat kills more thoroughly and more quickly than cold. They can survive for hours or DAYS in a freezer but they will die very quickly at 130 degrees.
The FIRST step I would take would be to get the bed legs into 4 containers with something in them that will kill and capture any new entrants. I would put all the bed linens into a very hot dryer and I would use a heat gun or powerful steamer on all seams of the mattress, springs, etc and get heat into all crevices of the bed frame, perhpass even spraying the frame with a pyrethrin insecticide...especially if I could get the frame outside. You might consider a set of those mattress covers that prevents bedbug entry and exit.
At least that you'd provide a place to sleep while you work out a method of attack.
Do you think you could get that basement up above 120 or 130 with some heaters for several hours?
If you do that you could dispense with all the other hooplah.
From what I have heard, IF you call someone it will cost you a couple $$GRAND to get rid of them with no real guarantee they are all gone.. Remember too, the adjoings rooms have to be attended to as well.
Thanks.
It's not a single family home. Thank God they don't have bugs upstairs.
What I did so far was put diamatecous earth around each of the bed legs, which is a white powder that's supposed to kill them. But I think that is a short term solution and can't kill eggs and get into the cracks like the heat can.
I used a mattress cover before and that didn't help but I'll get another one.
I was thinking about getting some heaters also. It will definitely be cheaper. Since there are about 4 rooms I guess I would need 4 heaters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moosicman
Get a steamer and steam EVERYTHING! It will work, I have a neighbor who had them and this worked for her.
Thanks. I have a steamer and I used that around the bed before and now they're back. I'll try it again but I'm really thinking I need to get the heaters.
I use the the DE and dusted my bed frame in every crevice. I used the chinese containers to put each foot of the bed putting a little DE in the containers. So far this has worked, since I've done this I haven't been bitten in my bed. I no longer put sheets on my bed and the only covering i use is my Snuggie. I don't use pillows either since I found the damned things can get into them even without there being a hole. I've gone over to the bedbugger.com site and those pompous a$$holes say they can't enter the inside of a pillow without there being a hole. I know what I've seen, and according to this entomologist at this site, Bed Bugs | BedBug Central, he shows how it's possible. I think a lot of people may not believe it's a possibility and bed bugs may be hiding in pillows so they continue to have problems and they don't know why, just my theory. I now lay my head on my folded white sheets enclosed in one of those xl zip lock bags, hey it works better than a pillow.
The most recent bite I had about 2 months ago. I can only guess where this bug came from but the only thing I did was reintroduce into the room a toilet covering. Since I had bed bugs in my hair (another thing bedbugger.com doesn't believe happens) and going to the bathroom allowed them to drop unto the covering or get into the bathroom cabinet above the toilet. I washed it but apparently I guess they still hung on. I saw the bug and thought I captured it in a chinese container, next thing I knew I was in my chair getting bit on my elbow. I scratched and don't know where the the damned thing went but I think I killed it or eventually it was killed with the DE.
I still have my old mattress and box spring but until I know for certain it's safe to buy a new one I will. They are both covered with plastic and I put double sided tape on top of the box spring plastic in case one makes it through the DE before dying, they'll get stuck to the tape.
Before I would spend that kind of money on an exterminator that's not guaranteed I would try myself to get rid of them by making sure they can't bite you anymore. Bad thing about your situation and good thing they didn't do this already is when they can't bite you anymore they'll go elsewhere in the house to feed.
Luckily, I haven't had to learn about bedbug control, so I'm no expert. However, I can say this:
-Most people aren't very good about choosing an ordinary exteminator, much less a bedbug specialist.
-Do some serious research. That would include types of pesticides. It's possible that your guy was not using something specifically for bedbugs.
-Be leery about the company called Pest Away. For some reason, they got a lot of press - they were apparently quoted in one article, and then every subsequent article went back to them. I called them once about ordinary pest control, and they were wildly, wildly overpriced.
-While I don't know about bedbugs, I know that will some insects, the cold doesn't work - either they hibernate, or the eggs survive, I don't remember which.
Please share your research afterwards. One thing I've been puzzling over is whether it's reasonable to assme that bedbugs make a beeline for the bed, and not, for instance, the sofa.
Apparently 50 degrees C (122 F) will kill them basically instantly. That's not all that hard to reach; unless you have a heat-pump, if you turn your heat on, on a warm day and close all the windows, you can probably get the above-ground part of the house above that temperature. Basement will be tougher as they might survive tucked against the cool foundation. Still, if you can get the air to above 122F and leave it that way for a while (so the walls and space behind the walls heat-soak), it might work, and it'll be reasonably cheap.
There are quite a few reasons not to try this at home. #1 would be that you could burn your dwelling down. #2 is that it's very difficult to get the core temperature of all your items high enough. If you don't heat the entire place to the same temperature at once, the bugs will just hide deeper in the walls to get away from the heat. Then you have a bigger problem on your hands later.
Just a caveat- I do not have any first hand experience with any of this. However, I spent about a year totally obsessed by the possibility of getting bedbugs and read everything I could on the topic. Luckily I seem to have moved beyond this, but I still try to stay educated.
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I've had a exterminator come in the past and he sprayed a few times and that didn't do anything. I even bought a new mattress and they're back. I woke up today itching and now have bites.
