Both adult bugs and their larvae, referred to in the scientific community as nymphs, do not tolerate significant temperature changes. Both low temperatures and too high temperatures are detrimental to them, and even slight deviations from the norm have a very negative effect on the reproduction of these insects. Next, we will consider at what temperature bedbugs die and how this weakness of parasites can be successfully used in their breeding.
People have long used the method of freezing bed bugs in homes, and taking out upholstered furniture infected with parasites outside in winter is one of the most famous methods for inexpensively destroying bed bug nests in sofas, armchairs and beds.
The destruction of bedbugs by the so-called burning method is also very effective. This does not mean the use of an open flame in the room at all - we are talking about heating the air in an apartment or house to 55-60 ° C and maintaining it at this level for about 2-3 hours.
Often used from bedbugs and a steam generator, with which the nests are treated with even higher temperatures: bedbugs die on contact with hot steam almost instantly.
However, the effectiveness of such methods is somewhat limited, and the technical implementation is rather complicated, which does not allow temperature control methods to compete with the use of insecticidal preparations in terms of frequency of use. However, in some cases, only such methods can become, perhaps, the only salvation from bedbugs, so it is useful to get to know them in more detail ...
Critical temperatures for bedbugs
Adult bugs and their larvae are able to withstand temperatures of about minus 15 - minus 17 ° C during the day, which makes them quite resistant to moderate freezing of the room.
At temperatures below minus 20 ° C, the bugs die within a few hours.
Bedbug eggs are even more resistant to low temperatures. They can survive short-term cooling down to minus 30°С, and at minus 7°С they die only after a month and a half, however, their development completely stops. At +50°C and high humidity, bedbug eggs can remain viable throughout the day.
Bed bugs can be frozen out only in those rooms that are not afraid of long cooling periods, and in regions where in winter temperatures stay below minus 15 ° C for a long time. At the same time, freezing must be repeated at least twice: this is a guarantee that the bugs that hatch from the eggs that survived the first freezing will die during the second procedure.
Parasites are less resistant to high temperatures. So, for example, bugs can withstand a temperature of + 45 ° C for about half an hour, and at + 50 ° C they die within a few minutes.
It is interesting
At temperatures below + 10 ° C, the development of bedbug eggs stops, and the embryo falls into anabiosis. At temperatures below +14°C, female bedbugs stop laying eggs, and the larvae do not grow and do not molt. It is interesting that in nature, in the conditions of caves, from where bed bugs, in fact, moved into human habitation, they normally develop and multiply at temperatures of about + 9 ° C.
Are bed bugs afraid of hot steam?
Hot steam is even more destructive to bedbugs than just high air temperatures. Under a jet of steam with a temperature of about 100 ° C, the bugs die instantly, but under steam with a temperature of about 40 ° C (more precisely, this is already the so-called hot fog) they can stay without damage for a long time.
And further: Proven methods for the destruction of bedbugs, which have shown high efficiency
Bedbug eggs are just as vulnerable to hot steam as adult insects. That is why steam is more effective against eggs than many insecticides - most insecticides have little to no effect on eggs, while hot steam simply physically burns the bedbug eggs, denaturing the proteins, and the developing embryos die.
Thanks to this, hot steam can be used to independently combat parasites. Bed bug steaming is usually done with the use of special steam cleaners - devices for cleaning surfaces with water vapor. Any steam cleaner capable of heating a jet of steam to temperatures above 60°C can be used.
On a note
Some steam cleaners work on the vacuum principle - they produce steam at reduced pressure and at a lower temperature. Accordingly, if the steam generator does not heat the steam above 50 ° C, it is pointless to use it from bedbugs - they simply will not die.
Steam from a simple kettle should not be used against bedbugs. Not only is such a process extremely complicated, dangerous and inefficient, it can also lead to furniture damage. Therefore, if you already start fighting bedbugs with steam, it is worth using steam cleaners or steam generators.
We destroy bedbugs with a steam generator
Generally speaking, a steam cleaner or steam generator is unlikely to completely eliminate bed bugs in a room. If only because even a jet of steam cannot get into some places where bedbugs can hide - at the joints of the wooden parts of the bed frame, behind the baseboards, behind the wallpaper.Therefore, the destruction of bedbugs with a steam cleaner can only be carried out where they are on open surfaces: on mattresses and beds, on the back of carpets hanging on the wall, under things.
To remove bedbugs with a steam cleaner (steam generator), it must be set to a steam temperature above 60 ° C, and the nozzle should be wrapped with a cloth so that the steam jet is wide. The ferry should treat all the possible habitats of bedbugs, which makes this method of struggle quite laborious.
As a rule, a single use of a bed bug steam cleaner will not help, except to get rid of insects on one mattress or on one sofa. And best of all, he copes with accumulations of insects in their nests, where, due to the high concentration of eggs and individuals of different ages, the bugs die en masse with minimal time and effort.
But with regular processing of found accumulations of parasites with the help of a steam generator, bedbugs, at least from most of them, can sometimes be eliminated within a few weeks. But even in this case, with a high probability, single individuals will remain in the apartment, which in the future will be able to give offspring.
Freezing bedbugs: we fight parasites in a folk way
Bedbugs in winter in most of the territory of our country can only live in human housing. On the street in such conditions, they quickly die, having no chance of survival. In addition, only in apartments and houses, bed bugs constantly find a source of food, without which they would also quickly die (although sometimes bed bugs live up to 6 months or even more without food).
You can freeze bedbugs indoors only where there is no running water and a heating system. For example, in garages, chicken coops, sheds, cottages, where temporary cooling will not damage the pipes.
Unfortunately, freezing residential premises from bedbugs is almost impossible in many cases. Even if all plumbing systems are completely drained, temperatures around minus 20 ° C can be detrimental to wallpaper and plaster, so freezing bedbugs in an apartment or private house can have more costly consequences than calling professional exterminators.
In other rooms for freezing, it is enough to open windows and doors on a frosty day and leave them like that for the maximum possible period. With frost at minus 20 ° C, most of the bugs will die on the same day.
In addition to this, if possible, sofas, armchairs, mattresses are taken out into the street, in the thickness of which the temperature can drop slowly, and therefore, the bugs in them die over a longer time.
Safety rules for temperature removal of bedbugs
The main thing when fighting bedbugs with the help of high and low temperatures is to follow the safety rules during work:
- Do not direct hot steam towards yourself or another person.
- Do not steam surfaces and fabrics that can be damaged by high temperatures - lacquered, wooden, covered with wallpaper.
- When working with steam at temperatures above 70°C, avoid contact with plastic surfaces, as they may permanently deform.
- You should not set the steam generator to the so-called high steam humidity - 20-30% will be enough, otherwise you can ruin the processed furniture.With this humidity, the bugs die almost as quickly as with an increase in it.
- Do not freeze rooms with operating heating and sewerage systems.
Sometimes fan heaters (heat generators) are used against bedbugs - analogues of household dueks. They allow you to raise the temperature in the room to 60-65 ° C for several hours, and after such treatment, all the bugs die out. However, such powerful devices are quite bulky, expensive and difficult to access, and therefore this method is used only by very large companies specializing in pest control. The main advantage of such systems is that the bugs die during their work even without directed processing of the nests.
If there is no desire to fight bedbugs on your own, then you can always call special pest control services, which, for reasonable money (from about 1,500 rubles for processing a one-room apartment), will burn or evaporate bedbugs in it, or (in most cases) offer classic treatment with insecticides. In any case, the removal of parasites by the hands of professionals will be safe and short-lived.
What is important to know about bed bugs to successfully deal with them
Useful video with an example of using a steam generator to treat linen and furniture from bedbugs
So, like this: the thermal gun is cheaper. When I saw where the “nest” was, I turned on the female hair dryer. And I have an unusual one - a plastic video cassette melts in 9 minutes. So he drove them. I prefer to know the tastes of bedbugs and dispose of them for my health! ..
The weather is great today, -30C°. I put all the furniture on the balcony, I hope everyone will die.
Elnur, are the bugs dead?
How to poison bedbugs?
How to poison bedbugs?
Damn ... A neighbor behind the wall allowed "guests" from neighboring countries to stay, and they dug a bath and laundry plant in the hut. All the blackness from the district ran to this hut to wash and wash. After a hard collision, the neighbor kicked them out, threw out all the furniture, made repairs and, along the way, preliminarily poisoned the housing. The bugs got to me. The neighbor on presentation stuck to the complete negative, like me - not me, I don’t know, I don’t know. Well, don't wet him, after all. Moreover, the bugs will not disappear from this)) Now I wrinkle my turnips, how to get rid of them. Called the service, the result is zero. I began to overwash all the junk at 90 degrees, I take the overwashed to a friend. The next step I plan to throw out the sofa, call disinfectors again, buy an air mattress for a start, sleep on it for 2-3 weeks to make sure there are no “animals”.Then buy a new "shkonka"))
We have the same story, the neighbor's apartment is rented out, always to the former, damn them, "brothers". Here the other day it stank of karbofos, even endure the saints, and the result - they caught an adult bug in their apartment. It's good that it is possible to turn on a 5 kW gun. Upholstered furniture was treated with a steam generator. Although I think that this will have to be repeated later. Where visitors - there 100% and bedbugs.
Visitors have nothing to do with it! Blood-sucking insects have existed side by side with humans for hundreds or even thousands of years. My friend (a very rich man) has his own mansion in New Riga. So he fought with bedbugs for two years and only after an unequal battle did they fall. Here in Moscow, I began to notice advertising everywhere on the sidewalks, stencil-spray: "We destroy bedbugs." And voila - in our district everyone began to complain about bedbugs. We also appeared, but no new neighbors appeared at the entrance.
This is the same as saying that we got mosquitoes, ticks and fleas from unscrupulous neighbors. We don’t know how to fight, we tried everything! There was hope for pyrethrum powder. The main thing is that it should not be a fake, but a real one (I ordered it on the Internet, I didn’t find it). They say that they killed bedbugs with a 100% guarantee in the last century.
Yes! There is another way (I didn’t check it, you need to wait for the summer, if I don’t bring it out before the summer, then I’ll try). You know, there are tree bugs, we call them stink bugs. They often sit on trees in summer. So, it is necessary to catch 4-5 pieces for a 2-room apartment and put them into the expected habitats of bed bugs. The guy told me that after a couple of days, all the bugs disappeared from him.