We’re all familiar with all of these options, and in some cases, with other providers of heat, Vikane gas, and bed bug dog services.  Nothing really “new” to us there.

However, I don’t think we were aware that

. . . researchers at the University of Minnesota are studying bedbugs’ behavior in an attempt to develop a trap that simulates a typical victim — a sleeping human.

Bring it on, University of Minnesota!

We do know that newbites (what we call Bedbuggers with newly detected bed bug problems) often jump on the latest treatments or the latest,  flavor-of-the-month PCO that the last guy just mentioned “discovering.” And sometimes those are good choices. But it helps to be skeptical: we’ve learned grand claims of success should be taken with a grain of salt:

Companies pitching the latest eradication methods — such as heat or icy sprays — say they are more effective as well as more palatable for people worried about using pesticides. Yet entomologists caution there still are drawbacks: The cold spray might not reach every bug; dogs can miss hiding places high up in a room; and heating might cause bugs to flee to a cooler place in the home. Except for heating, the latest methods usually require the homeowner to go through the onerous process of clearing out rooms, drawers and closets, and washing or dry cleaning all clothing and linens.

“We don’t have any easy method of elimination,” says Michael Potter, a professor of entomology at the University of Kentucky who has observed an increase in bedbugs through his research and work with pest-control companies. “We are looking for the silver bullet.”

And so far, there isn’t one.

More expensive options can be very successful.  But the amount of money you pay does not necessarily correlate to the most effective treatment.
Vikane gas can be very effective if applied to a single-family home, but we’ve heard of one case where it had to be repeated (and, of course, we don’t know what went wrong in that case). Having one’s belongings professionally gassed and moving can also be effective, but be cautious: if everything isn’t gassed and a bed bug gets moved, or the new home has bed bugs, or one is still being exposed to bed bugs, then you’ve spent a lot of money only to re-treat later.

Of thermal and freezing, two other professional options that are on the more costly end of the spectrum, WSJ said:

Another solution is killing the bugs and their eggs by heating a room to between 120 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit for several hours. ThermaPure uses infrared heaters to uniformly heat the room, says President and Chief Executive David Hedman. Treatment costs between $500 and $1,000 per room. (Easily melted items like candles and lipstick must first be removed.)

At the opposite end of the temperature spectrum, Cryonite, made by CTS Technologies, a unit of Venteco PLC in London, aims to eradicate the bugs by dousing them with a snowy spray of carbon dioxide. A drawback: Some bugs can survive if they aren’t directly hit by the spray. Treatments cost between $600 to $700 per room, or as much as 50% more than a conventional chemical treatment, says Douglas Stern, managing partner of Stern Environmental, one of the companies using the method.

Different options are better for one person vs. another, one living situation vs. another, but the bottom line is: if the provider is claiming their method works well, ask to see research studies, and ask for a guarantee.

• Cooper Pest evaluates ozone treatments for bed bugs, finds current methods ineffective
• bed bugs on NPR again: “Bed bugs spiralling out of control all over” according to Richard Cooper
• More on flea market nightstand: new ozone treatment for bed bugs
• Thermal treatment for bed bugs: bake the little B@#$%^&s!

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First, learn a little bit about the enemy. Read the Bed Bugs 101 FAQs on this site, and use the links to bed bug photos to learn what bed bugs look like at different life stages.

Click to download this PDF of this comprehensive article by entomologists Steven Kells and Jeff Hahn of the University of Minnesota, which describes the steps you should take if you’ve been exposed to bed bugs. Remember you have the most chance of avoiding bringing bed bugs home if you take the necessary steps before getting in your car or going to your home or anyone else’s home. It is possible to spread bed bugs to your car as well as to other locations. Following the steps in the PDF carefully as soon as you realize the exposure to bed bugs means you probably won’t bring any with you.

If you already are home before you realize the problem, do follow the same steps listed in the PDF regarding inspecting luggage (do it over the bathtub so you can see the bugs and kill them easily) and cleaning luggage, clothing, and other items. If you are home before you realize the problem, and you brought possibly infested items in (including the clothing you’re wearing as well as any luggage), then you should quickly do some major cleaning where the luggage has been brought in and where you sleep (vacuuming, steaming, etc). If you brought home a bed bug or two and have not found them, it is sometimes possible to get rid of them before they take root. Even if you don’t find any bed bugs, and you’ve done all the cleaning and followed all the other steps in the PDF, you might consider taking some time to declutter, so that if you do have any bed bugs, the signs will be more visible. You should be on the alert for several months.

Once home, if you do find bed bugs or signs of bed bugs in your luggage, clothing or in any rooms, call a PCO right away (we have a FAQ on choosing a good one who knows bed bugs). Save any samples to show them.

Finally, if you got your bed bugs in a hotel, hostel, or other accommodations, please do leave a review on Tripadvisor.com, to warn others of your experience.

A note about using freezing temperatures to kill bed bugs: Kells and Hahn and Michael Potter have slightly different ideas about the temperatures and length of time needed to kill bed bugs. According to Michael Potter’s article from the January 2007 PCTOnline, Steven Kells is apparently researching the method of “leaving things out in cold weather,” with the inevitable fluctuations in temperature. For now, until we have definitive data, I’d err on the side of caution and go for colder temperatures and longer time frames wherever possible.

• FAQ: How can I avoid bedbugs while traveling?
• More bed bug research: Stephen Kells at the University of Minnesota
• FAQ: Leaving stuff out to freeze, walk-in freezers, etc: how cold and how long?
• Report Bed Bugs to 311

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You may recall how Dr. Michael Potter comments on thermal treatments for bed bugs:

STRUCTURAL HEATING. Elevating the temperature within buildings has been used to eradicate pests ranging from grain insects to termites. Structural and containerized heat treatments are also being developed for bed bugs. Companies such as TempAir (Burnsville, Minn., 888/838-4035) have begun licensing the patented technology to interested pest control firms. Portable heaters and fans are used to gradually heat the air within rooms to about 125 to 130°F while monitoring with strategically placed sensors. A licensing and royalty fee is typically required along with the initial equipment purchase.

While heat treatments hold promise, eliminating infestations by raising the temperature within a building may not be so easy. As observed with cockroaches, bed bugs may seek out cooler areas as the temperature within rooms builds. Whether some bugs will be able to survive by moving to cooler locations (including adjacent units) still needs further study.

TempAir, the company mentioned by Potter, sells machines for thermal remediation of bed bugs, such as smaller portable machines for pest control, and little trailers that bake your bed bugs.

This describes how the process works. Please do not try to replicate this in your home — it is dangerous in terms of fire, may well be illegal, and may well cause your bed bugs to thoroughly spread throughout your home or into walls, making them harder to eradicate.

TempAir does not offer the actual services, though. You may be able to call them to find a PCO or operator in your area. Apparently Excelsis is using bed bug dogs to find bed bugs and TempAir heat technology to bake them to death in Chicago.

Last year, one of their machines was tested by Purdue researchers. I hope we will see the results soon.

• The Wall Street Journal on “new” bed bug-fighting tactics
• The iceman cometh.
• Cooper Pest evaluates ozone treatments for bed bugs, finds current methods ineffective
• PCTOnline on its bed bug seminar last week

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Also see the classic (2004) by Doggett: “The resurgence of bed bugs in Australia with notes on their ecology and control.”

And you were excited about the new Harry Potter installment coming out tomorrow at midnight?
Looks like we have something to keep us busy until then. Thanks, Stephen Doggett!

And for those who keep claiming bed bugs are not in any way a health concern, please note that Dr. Doggett is a medical entomologist.

• bed bug life cycle photo
• Bed bug infestations on the increase in Australia, says The Age
• New NYC DOHMH factsheets on bed bugs
• FAQ: What are bed bugs? Do I have them? What else could be causing this?

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On sale here!
Dr. Winston O. Buggy’s bed bug elixir.
This material will kill em, kill the eggs, shine your multi-colored hobnail boots, and it smells good too.
Sounds too good to be true?
Well, it is.

At the outset, we professionals felt that the materials that were available for general pest control to treat roaches, ants, etc., would work just fine for bed bugs. They hadn’t been around for a while so they should be easy to knock off. Well, as most of you can attest to, not so. Gentrol insect growth regulator was at first thought to be a long-term addition to the arsenal, but here too the buggers came out ahead in the long run. In fact, treatments for bed bugs are among the more complex ones, it is like treating for termites or the elimination of established urban rodent colonies. But it’s made even more problematic because of the bed bugs’ close proximity to people and their personal belongings. Since W. O. Buggy’s elixir is not available (and mind you it did not contain DDT), the question is what is available and where are we today in terms of bed bug control. There are several ways to attack this problem as well as several different types of materials. And it is important to understand that no one material, treatment or approach will do the whole job.

First question: why do you think you have bedbugs? Remember several things can appear like or cause “bites”: soaps, allergies, meds, mites, mosquitoes, fleas, heat, etc. At this point, you should conduct an inspection. You will need a flashlight, toothpick and magnifying glass. I recommend the Rim-Free Lighted 2x Magnifier from Radio Shack, primarily because the angle and LED hit the spot, great for furniture and other seams ($10). Open the door, turn on the light, then proceed to stick that toothpick everywhere it can go and examine these spots. High, low, behind and under moving back carpets checking between clothes turning over couches and beds all this has to be done. One spot of note in older apartment buildings are steam risers which are found in the bathroom usually next to the hamper.

Did you find anything? What is it? keep a sample in a pill case or some other escape-proof container in which it won’t get squished. If it is positively identified as a bed bug, try like the dickens to figure out how you got it. Because this will be an important barometer which can establish a time frame, important so as to avoid re-introduction, let you know if perhaps it’s a good time to get a new boy or girlfriend, and if its possibly time to rush to that suitcase stored in the closet which has bed bugs trapped inside since your last excursion and treat or discard it.

If it is identified as a bed bug you need to follow the mechanical steps of control; perhaps these were highlighted best by Dr. Potter in a recent Bedbugger post.

With that out of the way, you may and probably should go chemical. First off if a product is non-toxic, it means it doesn’t kill– so lets get rid of that word because we obviously want it to kill the little suckers. Soaps are for dirty bugs (and perhaps Jess) and you really have to coat them: fine for your garden aphids but for a cluttered home, I think not. Enzymes are good, they kill on contact as well as most products and they have a low toxicity to non-target organisms. It also allows for repeat applications, but remember they only kill what they contact. Same with some of the alcohol products such as SteriFab. Of course, here you can get an unwanted synergistic effect if you do the treatment by candle light (Don’t! It’s Flammable!) and alcohol stains, well actually removes the finish and bleaches.

Next we have the traditional chemical approach. With the exemption of a few specifically exempt status products, pesticides must be registered for use with the EPA and must have an EPA registration number on the label. The label itself is a legal document which will list the pests that the product can be used for and the manner in which it must be used. While no pesticide is completely safe (remember we are using it to kill things), the real danger is in the misuse. If a product such as Tempo WP is labeled to be mixed with a gallon of water and sprayed into cracks and crevices, the risks it presents are limited.. But if you take that same pack and pour it around or use it as a dust the inhalation hazard is significant. Unfortunately, it may even appear to be working at first because it may actually be repellent for a while but in the meantime you and possibly others are inhaling it. I have seen this practice repeated with flea powders and a whole range of products which when used improperly increase the chance of exposure, and hence the hazard.

So what is available? Well, as mentioned in my first piece, misguided legislation have forced many products out of the market. Some due to legitimate concerns, some due to a lack of true scientific evaluation and feel-good politics, and some because they simply could not afford to maintain registration due to increased requirements. A prime example of this is Ficam, a material which is used elsewhere with a degree of success, but here in the US is no more. The same in fact would have been true of Drione, one of the remaining effective dusts. Prior to the bed bug outbreak this product was due to go by the wayside simply because of economics, and now it is probably one of the good long-term materials when used properly in wall voids, outlet covers and cracks and crevices. For best results try applying it with a blush or other brush.

Now that summer is upon us, heat and humidity in some parts will cause an increase in bed bug activity. But in the world of control it is our friend, and the bed bugs’ enemy. While steaming is here and will continue to improve as more work is done, heat treatments of items and apartments will also increase as technology improves. The technology is here, it is just not cost-effective yet. Mattress covers specifically for bed bugs are also coming of age. They now come in different qualities. There are some decent heavy vinyl ones for under $30 and some more comfortable ones at $70 and up. I suggest you reinforce contact points such as bed frames with duct tape. With these covers you must remember to leave them on for a full year. While there are many improvised bed bug traps like the use of carpet tape and current glue traps, they are passive and you hope that the bed bug finds it and crawls into it as opposed to going under it, as they so love to do. Within the year, new traps will be coming out utilizing a synthesized aggregate pheromone. FYI, these are already used for a number of pests including roaches. And as time goes by newer and improved versions will come out but these will remain a monitoring tool and not a cure.

So perhaps the take-home message here is that to be successful you will have to use several materials and methods and use them in a systematic approach to get and stay bed bug-free. At this point, I would like to include a link and while you may not chose to, or be able to use the mentioned products and I’m not recommending you do, it does provide a good blue print for a control program.

Perhaps one of the most encouraging directions bed bug control has taken is in the area of education. I believe, along with others, that the increased informational flow in regard to bed bugs through both print and web media has played a significant role in reducing the time it takes many people to properly diagnose the cause of their problem. By reducing this time frame they end up treating the infestation early and are more likely to achieve lasting control quicker. It is also my opinion that this site is the best broad-based site that I know of, in part due to administration as well as a cadre of dedicated, intelligent folks.

• Dissolvable laundry bags!
• How can I catch a bed bug? How do I know I have bed bugs?
• Good news: bed bug aggregate pheromones
• Potter’s Studies on Suspend, Kicker, Phantom, Bedlam, Sterifab; new information about bed bug behavior

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Laundry

This FAQ started out with the title: “Heat and bed bugs: 5 minutes in a dryer– really? Say it’s so!” The first part outlines my reaction to a brief article, and the second answers many of my questions with a more detailed article. I realize this is kind of roundabout, but I did not want to delete the original post entirely.

I started out by considering a fascinating brief article in PCT Online (Dec 2006) that rounds up information provided by bed bug researchers in a panel at the 2006 National Pest Management Association Conference. What’s interesting is that the researchers cover a wide variety of topics (from the efficacy of various pesticides to the usefulness (or not) of vacuuming, steaming, and hot dryers.

Personally, I was intrigued by University of Kentucky entomologist Michael Potter’s assertion that a normal machine wash would kill bed bugs (”normal” as in, not hot ?), and five minutes in a hot dryer would kill bed bugs and eggs. I said I’d like to see more data on this–I did not doubt it at all, but is it really so? Since a wash won’t kill eggs, this must be why the hot wash / hot dry combo are always recommended in university fact sheets. We’re told the dryer is what kills the eggs. But I think I’ve only seen Dr. Potter being quoted as saying five minutes drying was enough.

A hot dryer apparently runs at about 180 F. I doubt this temperature is achieved after five minutes, though. Can five minutes on a temperature somewhere below 194 F be enough, when companies providing thermal treatments do so at a core temperature of 140 F for four hours? (Winston clarifies this in the comments.)

But this is the only source I’ve seen on “five minutes being enough” (though it has been quoted in newspaper articles). Personally, habit and skepticism have had me recommending drying for over an hour. I always say, “dry on hot till it’s bone dry, then add 20 minutes.”

But then, dear Reader, I confess, I dotted my bed with lavender oil for months, hoping its reputed repellent properties would keep bed bugs away. I figured it probably wouldn’t, and it didn’t. But it was hard to give up this habit, since I believed it might be helping. That is kind of irrational, but I guess that’s what sleeping 4 hours a night does for you.

Since washing and drying and storing clothing properly can make such a difference to bed bug treatment, I emphasized that we want to be sure we’re doing it right. It would be such a blessing for people to only have to dry things on hot for five minutes. It would save not only time, but lots of clothing items that simply can’t handle washing on hot and drying for an hour on hot. For those reasons, I hoped we could get more information on the research that was done.

So then, I remembered one motto here at Bedbugger Ask, and ye shall receive. (Information, people, only ask for information. If you need $500, it ain’t gonna happen.)

And lo and behold, Hopelessnomo pointed me to more information that is available from Michael Potter (and colleagues) in another PCT article, this one from January 2007. SO I have re-titled and re-written this post, since it now is a whole lot more useful and contains a whole lot more tidbits.

I’ll quote the section on laundry in full:

Bed bugs often infest bedding, clothing and other personal belongings which cannot be treated with insecticides. An oft-mentioned way to de-bug such items is laundering — yet to our knowledge, no testing has been done to verify effectiveness. A simple experiment was conducted to study this question. Three groups of live bed bug adults, nymphs and eggs were placed in small nylon mesh pouches which were then placed inside cotton socks. The bed bug-provisioned socks (along with a full load of clothing) were then run through a standard wash cycle using hot water. A second trial was run with similarly infested socks placed only in a clothes dryer. The bed bug-laden socks were accompanied by a load of unwashed clothing and subjected to high heat (greater than 175° F) for five minutes. No bed bugs or eggs survived the washing or drying cycles, suggesting that either regimen, alone or in combination, is effective.

Clothing, footwear, area rugs, toys, stuffed animals, backpacks and other non-launderable items can conveniently be de-infested by heating them for a period of time in a dryer at most settings. For reference, a typical clothes dryer run for five minutes at low, medium or high heat produced temperatures of about 140, 150 and 180°F, respectively, amongst a bundle of dry clothing– plenty hot to kill bed bugs. While certain items may require professional dry-cleaning, utilizing conventional washers and dryers may help limit the spread of bed bugs to these establishments.

This information suggests that either a hot machine wash, or a hot dryer running for five minutes with already dry clothing, will kill bed bugs and eggs. As Nomo suggests in the comments below (written before I added this update) “five minutes with dry items” is not so different from what we’ve been recommending at Bedbugger all along: “bone dry plus 20 minutes.” Well, make that “bone dry plus five.” I don’t blame if you if, like me, you’re a bit skeptical and want to stick to “twenty minutes past dry”– we won’t call you neurotic.

As John sang, “Whatever gets you through the night, it’s alright, it’s alright.” For Bedbuggers, that’s another motto around here. The promise of a good night’s sleep is the grail.

The rest of the information from the January article is also more detailed and informative than the summary from December. Let me give you the highlights from what Dr. Potter et. al. recommend:

Discarding infested stuff: yes, but only if necessary. Seek a qualified PCO’s advice (qualified = knows the enemy well). If you are tossing it, wrap it well (and mark it!) and realize that if your neighbors or surrounding community pick up the item, they may come back via a crack in your shared wall, a visit to a dry cleaner’s, or the local diner. That should make anyone think twice and thrice.

Encasement: use high quality encasings that won’t tear.

Vacuums: harder to pick up bed bugs and eggs than you think; doesn’t really help unless you hit their harborage areas in a targeted way. Discard bags carefully (bed bugs can survive the trip down the hose), and do not use vacuum brushes, since they can lodge in the bristles. The dirty little so-and-so’s.

Steam

Steaming: it works, but commercial steamers only. Must be deadly hot and applied carefully (read the article!)

Collette, a reader, shared her success story here: she used steam to get bed bugs out of her home.

Readers and PCOs have recommended the following dry steamers for home use:

This is the White Wing steamer that S mentioned in this thread.

This is the Reliable T730a that reader pleasehelp had seen recommended by a PCO:

Seasonal temperatures (”putting stuff outside”) 

Regarding seasonal temperatures, backpackers take note: We get a lot of questions at Bedbugger about whether “leaving stuff outside” works–and occasionally hear from people who tried it and failed. I think it comes down to the temperature, the length of time, and what you provided the bed bugs to nestle in. (The last complaint I heard was someone whose down comforter had bed bugs surviving the cold — well, perhaps it was a very warm down comforter, and maybe it just was not cold enough outside to freeze them within it.) The article says:

Lethal outdoor temperatures have long been employed in the battle against bed bugs. In the tropics, infested bedding is often left out in the sun and such methods can also be used during warm seasons in this country. It’s risky, however, to rely on ambient heating to achieve lethal temperatures in all harborage locations. Wrapping items in plastic before placing them outdoors in a sunny location (preferably on pavement), produces higher internal temperatures. It also pays not to over pack — more trash bags with fewer items make it harder for bed bugs to find cooler places to hide. Monitoring with a thermometer is also prudent, with a target internal temperature of at least 120° F.

In colder climates, freezing might be a way to de-infest furniture and other belongings. Bed bugs and their eggs can be killed by very low temperatures, but it is difficult to achieve them without using a deep freezer. Temperatures below 0°F for one to two weeks are generally believed to be needed to reliably kill all life stages. Fluctuating winter temperatures which often extend above this level are probably less effective and are currently being studied by Dr. Steven Kells at the University of Minnesota. Overall and throughout much of the country, heating tends to be a faster, more reliable option than chilling.

Well, that’s all for now. I greatly appreciated reading this research. Thanks to Dr. Potter and his team.

And special thanks to Hopelessnomo, who mentioned the article in the forums, and directed me to further sources.

Update (7/19/2007):

Additional information on thermal, cold, steam, etc. is included in Stephen L. Doggett’s Bed Bug Code of practice. See the table of contents.

Frank, at the War on Bed Bugs, also did an interesting post on hot and cold treatments. Check it out.

Update (10/4/2007):

Some people have recommended something like this for drying shoes in the dryer:

Update 12/07:

If you are thinking of using a dry cleaner for some or all of your clothing, read this FAQ first!

Update 1/08:

NotSoSnug points us to a library protocol for getting bugs out of books:

I should add that there is a librarian protocol to heat paperwork at 130degF for 3hrs to kill insects (remember to include a pan of water to keep some humidity). Any longer will melt binding glue (I know I forgot one night and it did). Also, till tape receipts are heat sensitive so they will turn dark. Annoying if you need the receipts for business!

See the ‘Bookworm’ section, Paragraph #7:

http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r8820e/r8820e07.htm

Thanks, NotSoSnug!

• FAQ: dry cleaners and bed bugs
• FAQ: Leaving stuff out to freeze, walk-in freezers, etc: how cold and how long?
• Tales of bed bug woe: Allergicgirl’s questions
• FAQ: I stayed somewhere that had bed bugs. What do I do to keep from taking them home?

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