http://bedbugger.com/forum/ Bed bug support forums en Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:32:15 +0000 http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/is-it-possible-1#post-28950 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:29:51 +0000 fightorflight 28950@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ <p>Oh wow. This is the most depressing thread of the past week. Much more discouraging than any fluke Olympics losses. </p> http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/is-it-possible-1#post-28791 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:27:23 +0000 death2allbbs 28791@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ <blockquote><p><cite>spideyjg - 1 day ago <a href="http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/is-it-possible-1#post-28737">&nbsp;&raquo;&nbsp;</a></cite><br /> Doug,<br /> What is the kill mechanism of alcohol?</p> <p>My assumption is that is it is a drying agent. </p> <p>Jim </p></blockquote> <p>Jim, I think that I've read that the alcohol burns through their protective exoskeleton, and then that allows them to be dried out. </p> http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/is-it-possible-1#post-28789 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:20:44 +0000 death2allbbs 28789@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ <blockquote><p><cite>DougSummersMS - 1 day ago <a href="http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/is-it-possible-1#post-28726">&nbsp;&raquo;&nbsp;</a></cite><br /> Did the bed bug eventually die?<br /> How "old" was the alcohol solution? Had the 91% alcohol been left un-capped or been in the sprayer for some time? I'm wondering if the alcohol that you used could have lost some of its potency through evaporation?</p> </blockquote> <p>Hi, Doug. To answer your first question about the bb eventually dying, I had taken it off the wall with a piece of tape and I just blew my breathe on the tape and I saw no movement. However, I think that you may have came up with the answer when you asked if the alcohol had been un-capped...and the answer is a definitive yes. I had inadvertently left the cap off of a recently purchased bottle of 91% alcohol(and yes, it was fresh because I try to purchase mine from Wal-Mart, and they can hardly keep it stocked) and I poured it into a spray bottle not thinking about the loss of potency through evaporation. </p> http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/is-it-possible-1#post-28737 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:53:21 +0000 spideyjg 28737@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ <p>Doug,<br /> What is the kill mechanism of alcohol? </p> <p>My assumption is that is it is a drying agent. Drop some into water and watch the reaction.</p> <p>When it hits the bug it rapidly evaporates taking lots of their moisture with it. Notice what happens to your own skin after some alcohol exposure? Their little system can't cope and they die. My stepson said on his infestation it is instant death.</p> <p>If rapid dehydration is the kill mechanism, like DE as a mechanical kill, I would be shocked if they do get resistant. A very unsettling concept. </p> <p>From my hazy memory of high school chemistry, it wouldn't take much for 91% to evaporate down to a lesser concentration if the container isn't tightly sealed. </p> <p>BTW folks I am no expert just a warrior.</p> <p>Jim </p> http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/is-it-possible-1#post-28726 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:19:17 +0000 DougSummersMS 28726@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ <p>Did the bed bug eventually die?</p> <p>How "old" was the alcohol solution? Had the 91% alcohol been left un-capped or been in the sprayer for some time? I'm wondering if the alcohol that you used could have lost some of its potency through evaporation? Alcohol is a highly volatile substance.</p> <p>On the other hand, only 9% of the product is water, I don't know how much dilution we could expect over time. By comparison, 80 proof vodka is a 40% solution of water and alcohol. As the alcohol evaporates the potency drops due to the change in the ratio of water to alcohol content. </p> <p>A couple of years ago I was at a bed bug conference in DC &#38; spoke to a number of PCOs that about pesticide resistance. One PCO described efforts that he made to control a particularly resistant population in a building. He said that he mixed up the most lethal mixture of pesticides that was possible with legal chemicals and doused a large number of bed bugs with a large volume of product. He then watched in horror as the bed bugs made an obscene gesture in his direction &#38; crawled away seemingly unaffected. A few months later the U of Kentucky pesticide resistance study came out confirming experimentally the validity of the PCOs experience.</p> <p>Your experience does raise an interesting question about the effectiveness of 91% alcohol, but we would need to confirm the actual alcohol content of the solution that you were utilizing to validate your field observation. Can you safely check to see if the alcohol you used will sustain a flame? </p> <p>The idea that bed bugs would quickly become resistant to a substance like alcohol is a rather unsettling. My understanding of resistance is that it would need to occur over an extended period of time with successive generations of bed bug survivors producing resistant offspring. </p> http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/is-it-possible-1#post-28723 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 04:39:55 +0000 death2allbbs 28723@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ <p>Sometime Wednesday evening, I sprayed a bb on my wall with 91% alcohol and I had to spray it several times because it kept moving(no quick knockdown). Well, I had thought that I had eventually killed it because it had became still on the wall and I left it up there and had planned to get it from the wall with a piece of tape. Well, around 5:05am this morning(Thursday), I had noticed that it was still alive and moving on the wall in the same position. Therefore, is it possible that these things could become resistant to 91% alcohol? Also, has anyone else had any similar experiences? </p>