If you suspect bed bugs, you may wonder how to get rid of them quickly. Heat or chemicals can be used to kill these pests.
In this article, we’ll look at both the benefits and cons. You’ll also learn all you need to know to get rid of bed bugs as fast and efficiently as possible. If you have any further questions, please contact a bed bug exterminator near me or us at (509) 681-3949 and read along to find out Does Bed Bug Heat Treatment Work! We have extensive experience dealing with bed bug infestations and can advise you on the best treatment method for your specific scenario.
What You Should Know About Bed Bugs
To begin, to put your treatment options into context, you should understand bed bug prevalence, its life cycle, and why infestations are so difficult to manage.
How Common Are They in the United States?
Bed bugs were nearly extinct fifty years ago. However, there has been a significant resurgence since the 1980s. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this is owing in part to bed bug resistance to some pesticides, as well as increasing transmission rates due to worldwide and domestic travel.
Many pest management professionals now consider bed bugs to be the most serious infestation problem in the United States. We can witness this because we serve Ohio, which has some of the worst bed bug-infested cities, including Cincinnati, which consistently ranks among the top ten infested bed bug towns in the US.
Bed bugs are widespread.
Why Is It Difficult to Treat Them?
Bed bugs are highly cunning. They’re little and have a survival instinct that drives them to tuck themselves into tight, difficult-to-reach nooks. They can lodge themselves in regions no thicker than the width of a fingernail and remain hidden for months between feeding episodes.
- These features make bed bugs difficult to detect and even more difficult to remove once discovered.
- They’re cunning, sneaky, and tough.
How do pest control professionals use heat to eliminate bed bugs?
Heat treatments are one method that pest control firms can employ to eliminate bed bugs. Heat services heat a room or residence to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which kills bed bugs. A heated trailer supplies electricity to the heating units, and fans are put in the treated portions to circulate air and evenly heat the contents.
Pros
- Bed Bugs Hate Heat– To efficiently employ heat to kill bed bugs, the afflicted room must be heated to 117-122 degrees Fahrenheit. Bed bugs will die if exposed to those temperatures for an extended amount of time.
- Rapid Results– When used appropriately in conjunction with chemical applications, heat can be one of the quickest ways to eliminate bed bugs. Services take an average of 6 hours to complete, and you can return home once they are finished. This means you won’t have to spend the night at a motel or a family member’s house while professionals employ severe bed insect removal techniques.
Cons
- Heat Treatments Alone Are Insufficient– Heat treatments alone will not address the problem unless they are combined with pesticide treatments and encasements.
- The Size of the Space Is Important– While many pest control firms may give heat treatments for the entire home, this is not the greatest practice. This strategy works well in apartments and condos where the room is small enough to keep the heat contained. Heat may not reach all bed bugs evenly if the space is too huge. Fans are required to help in this endeavor.
What exactly is No Prep?
No-Prep employs a variety of mechanical technologies, including vacuuming, steaming, encasements, and monitors, as well as targeted pesticide sprays. We believe that you do not need to prepare your home for a bed bug treatment. Preparing your room disturbs the existing bed bugs and can spread them around your home, making extermination much more difficult.
Bed insect encasements, invented by entomologist Dr. Richard Cooper, are customized covers that zip around your mattress and box spring. The material is bite-proof, making new bed bugs unable to enter and forcing caught bed bugs to die.
Bed bug monitors are installed under the bed’s legs and separately under the bed to trap bed bugs that climb inside and are unable to exit. Our staff can monitor the infestation and reduce bounce back using this detecting approach.
When Should I Treat an Infestation?
Adult female bed bugs can lay anywhere from five to a dozen eggs per day. It can lay up to 500 eggs throughout its lifetime. As a result, a bed bug colony will spread swiftly. But it is only part of the issue. Their movement patterns aggravate the situation.
A female bed bug is hardwired to avoid other bed bugs before laying her eggs. This means that bed bugs move swiftly from room to room. A small colony in one bedroom can quickly spread to the rest of the house.
- Quick action and treatment are essential.
Now that you understand how bed bugs work and why they represent such a difficult infestation control problem, let’s examine your treatment alternatives.
Heat Treatment is Option 1.
Heat treatment entails raising the temperature in your home to the point where bed bugs are killed. A pest control expert will place heaters throughout your home to gradually raise the temperature to over 130°F. Fans strategically placed across the room circulate the heated air, thus transforming your bed bug-infested room into a convection oven.
Bed bugs die in an hour or two at 110 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. They’ll perish if the temperature rises above that point. That is the temperature we are aiming for.
The entire procedure is unobtrusive, takes less than a day, and is powered by a single generator.
Pros of Heat Treatment
If done correctly, one heat treatment kills bed bugs. Chemical treatment frequently necessitates multiple visits.
- It targets bed bugs where they are most vulnerable: bed bugs are strong insects that are exceptionally skilled at hiding out of sight. Furthermore, certain types are pesticide resistant. The beauty of heat is that, unlike chemicals, it spreads throughout the environment. Heat can kill a bed bug no matter how many layers it’s hiding under. Heat kills bed bugs at all life stages. They can flee but not hide.
- There are no aftereffects: When the temperature in your home returns to normal, the only thing you’ll notice is a slew of dead bed bugs. This is beneficial if you are concerned about chemical residues in your home.
- Heat treatment is discrete: Let’s face it, having your home treated for bed bugs is not something you want your neighbors to know about. Heat treatment is undetectable. From the street, only a generator is visible, which can be used to run fans, dry paint, or steam clean carpet.
Cons of Heat Treatment
- Heat treatment will not prevent bed bugs from returning: Heat has no lingering consequences. They may return if no remaining chemicals provide a preventative barrier. Clutter-free homes and regularly cleaned bedding are good non-chemical bed insect prevention methods.
- You will need to prepare your home as follows: During treatment, you will be required to leave your home, including your pets. You should also remove any heat-sensitive materials from the house, such as wax and crayons. Our pest control experts can tell you what to keep and what to remove.
Spokane Pest Treatment is the most reputable home pest control company in Spokane Washington. Our certified professionals have performed over 12,000 heat treatments for bed bugs in one of the most infested states. Contact us at (509) 681-3949 for more information and to stop wondering, “When Should I Call An Exterminator For Bed Bugs?“