Are bed bugs giving you grief? A non-toxic solution might be heat treatment.
Heat treatments involve raising temperatures to levels that kill pests. Similar to boiling a frog in water, bed bug adults, nymphs, and eggs will die when exposed to temperatures over 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Preparation
Bed bug heat treatment by Pest Control Plus is an additional means to eradicate bed bugs and their eggs more completely. This process heats your entire home or business to 140 degrees, effectively killing off both adults and eggs alike.
Before the technician arrives, it is necessary to declutter and organize the area as much as possible. This includes moving furniture, sorting clothing from dresser drawers and taking down and emptying closet shelves and boxes. Any non-essential items should be placed into heavy duty garbage bags and set outside the room until their disposal later on.
Clean baseboards, behind picture frames, electrical outlets and wall switches to remove any evidence of bed bugs or their excrement. Also important is vacuuming thoroughly – paying special attention to corners and crevices – before calling in a technician for heating machines to be turned on.
Treatment
There are a variety of methods for eliminating bed bugs, from bug bombs to heat treatments, but none is as efficient in doing the trick than a heat treatment. Bed bugs have proven resistant to harsh chemical sprays and are skilled at hiding from detection; consequently they’re difficult to eliminate using conventional approaches.
Heat treatments elevate the temperature in your home to levels at which insects cannot survive or flourish, eliminating their survival altogether and killing both eggs and adults in one swift action. They are far superior to traditional bug spray or dust treatments as this approach kills both adult bugs as well as their eggs simultaneously.
As part of your preparations, remove clutter from closets and spaces throughout your home to allow airflow. Also ensure dresser drawers don’t become jam packed with clothing so the heat can reach them more effectively. If unsure where these clothes are stored, launder and dry them prior to starting treatment; for those that cannot be laundered immediately, seal them in plastic bags or boxes and store away from treated areas.
Follow-Up
Heat treatment methods offer an alternative approach for eliminating bed bugs. Heat can penetrate mattresses, pillows and electronics where these pests reside – an advantage over more traditional approaches which only target their habitat.
Bed bug treatments that utilize UV lights are highly effective against all stages of bed bug infestation, from eggs to adults. Furthermore, the treatment process requires no time away from home during its course.
Once the heat treatment has concluded, you can resume your daily life immediately. However, thorough cleaning of all rooms affected by infestation is strongly advised and regular inspection of those areas using sticky traps or bed bug interceptors should also take place.
This step is especially crucial if you don’t know where the bed bugs entered your home in the first place. These pests could have come from sources you frequent like workplaces, babysitters or friends’ houses; or an infestation might have developed elsewhere – which is why it’s advisable to notify your landlord as soon as you suspect there might be bed bugs in your residence.
Prevention
Pest Control Plus’ bed bug heat treatment raises the temperature in your home to an effective level that can eliminate adult bed bugs and their eggs, as well as any newly hatched bed bug nymphs that emerge from them, as well as helping prevent the problem from returning once treated.
Before initiating heat treatments, make sure that all clutter has been cleared away and clothes and other belongings removed from beds and couches so they can be treated. It’s best to place these items under protective covers like mattress encasements or, if available, on storage racks which allow air circulation.
Remove electrical and telephone faceplates to inspect behind them (bed bugs are known to hide there), use a screwdriver to open drawers in wooden furniture such as dressers or desks to look for hidden areas, and conduct an in-depth examination of wall baseboards, particularly closely scrutinizing any rips and bumps in wallpaper.
