We have chambers capable of reaching anywhere from ambient to -330F (-196C) that will most certainly kill most bugs. The treatment also uses liquid nitrogen so is guaranteed to permeate anywhere any bugs could hide. However, even at this temperature there are bugs that will thaw and come back to life. We have tried experiments on cockroaches where after being suspended in a -196C temperature for 24 hours the bug thawed and came back to life…they really are the most resilient creatures out there.

In the post above, I quote entomologist Lou Sorkin, of the American Museum of Natural History. He does bed bug research. He placed bed bugs in his freezer at -29dF. In 4 hours, they were not dead. In 5 days they were.

He has told us bed bugs may appear dead after freezing but later thaw and remain alive.

I would guess Lou has a colder freezer than yours.

I am glad you’ve solved your problem but I hope you’re not implying we’re spreading urban legends about “zombie bed bugs”.

The time needed to kill bed bugs in a freezer will depend on the thickness of the item and the temperature of the freezer. And people need to be aware that bed bugs may appear dead before they are. It is a scientific fact.

Please reread the previous post by “Bedlam,” which I was responding to, and my own. DE is not a repellent, but Neem (which the OP was also talking about) is one. My point was that Neem is probably not a good idea where bed bugs are concerned, since the point is to kill them, not drive them in deeper.

This comment was about Neem plus DE. DE, used properlyand safely, can work. Please read the DE FAQ for suggestions.

Http://Bedbugger.com/faqde

Isn’t the point of DE, if applied sparingly, that it’s not a repellent? I.e. if you, a human, allow yourself to be bait in the bed, and have only bedposts as access to you, you can sprinkle it (very) lightly around the bedposts and then they’d have to walk through it to get to you?

[I brought in one piece of infested furniture, had it for 10 days, threw it out again. I hope they were in there and that I've vacuumed the rest up, but want to try some DE for safety as I suppose those that bit me were laying eggs in the meantime.]

I strongly suggest you give this more thought and do more research.

I do not know if NEEM works, but I do know it is claimed to be a repellent. While it might seem that repelling bed bugs is a good idea, we hear it is not so. You can actually drive them deeper into your home, and they will likely reappear later. Also, you are using DE. If they do not walk through the DE, they will NOT die. IF this repellent works, you may drive them somewhere else in your home.

I also would not personally use DE in bags of clothing as you describe, since it can irritate both skin and lungs, at a later date.

I am not saying DE can’t ever be used safely and effectively, but you really need to know what you’re dealing with.

wpgbugguy had a wise response to your other comment also, here.

Please come to the forums if you want support or advice from bed bug fighters, professional and amateur. It really is much easier to have a discussion on the forum than in the comments of older blog posts, and you will likely have a much larger audience.

Of course, if your comment is about what’s IN the blog posts, then by all means this is the best place for them.

The problem with relying on natural environmental temperatures is that you can’t really be sure that the items were a certain temperature at their core, for a certain length of time.

If you read the FAQ above, you know that Lou Sorkin killed bed bugs in items in a freezer at -29 F in 5 days. (-29 F is -33 C; -20 C, on the other hand, is -4 F.)

The cold temps may have done it, but the length of time can be greatly impacted, as I understand, by the amount of stuff, how it was packed, etc. And you would want consistent, solidly cold temps.

Beyond that, I can’t say with any certainty that this was sufficient. It may have worked.

I put much LESS stock in your spraying your stuff with residuals. I would not do that. Bed bugs have to cross residuals to die. In a sealed environment, why would they move around? Also, it may damage your stuff. And keep in mind that many pesticides are based on pyrethroids which bed bugs often show resistance to. It’s not the insurance you’d like it to be.

Not sure where you are, but someone in your area may be using thermal heat or a gas (such as sulfuryl fluoride, a.k.a VIKANE TM) if that’s legal and workable there. Some people have this done to their homes, but it can also often be done to a truck of stuff. If you want to be absolutely sure, then (done properly) these are supposed to be 100% effective. (I stress the “done properly” part. Mistakes happen.)

People have also left things sealed in storage for 18 months. Sealing is essential: you do not want bed bugs escaping to feed on animals, for example. (Or, in indoor storage, going off to feed on people.)

Finally, please post your questions on our forums, where you are likely to get more responses: http://bedbugger.com/forum/

We did this twice when we first put them away then again two months later we went in and sprayed everything.

I also just went in again two weeks ago and sprayed one more time, emptying several cans of raid trying to get it absolutely everywhere.

We have brought my computer tower out so far and I bleached off all of the parts that i could, luckily Im a computer guy so i know what can be cleaned and what can not be cleaned when it comes to this.

But we ofcourse are still paranoid, we had to live with the bed bugs for several months before we moved with many sleepness nights. My girlfriend even developed a bug phobia because of it and completely breaks down the instant she see’s any small bug or bug bite that closely resembles that of a bed bug.