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Murphy's oil soap (non-spray) and normal packing tape: FAIL
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After our first PCO treatment, we went 7 lovely days with no bites, but now are being bitten again. Am waiting for a second appointment from the PCO, but since they aren't in the office on weekends (and the girl who schedules appointments seems to leave at around 2pm on Fridays), I figured I'd do a thorough cleaning of the bedroom, put some DE down and caulk along the baseboards.
This included washing the floors and bureaus with Murphy's. I'm not using the premixed spray, but the concentrated stuff for floors, diluted in hot water as per the package instructions.
Well, I was sponging the bureau and found an adult BB. Didn't actually realize that's what it was until he was on my sponge (the bureau is unfinished and light-colored, so the BB just looked like another dark spot caused by the water on it). "Huh," I said, and put the sponge down to grab some sticky tape.
Watched him crawl off the sponge, casual as can be, and along the floor (still wet from the Murphy's). Sigh. So, I sticky-taped him, but lightly so as not to squish him. I picked up the tape to look at him more closely, and watched him flip himself over and start walking across the tape. His feet were sticking, but he was able to pull them off -- he looked like someone walking through a muddy field. So, clearly the Murphy's wasn't fatal to him, and the sticky tape wasn't sticky enough -- though I guess the soap may have provided him with a protective coating or something. It's just Scotch clear packing tape, a roll that I'd just bought that day.
Anyhow, I let him crawl off onto a piece of paper, then sticky-taped him again, this time a little harder. (Note: None of the BB I've found, this one included, have been particularly fast. NOT remotely like cockroaches. Nor do they seem very bright. They will try to move to get out of light or when they feel exposed, but don't seem to have any concept of running away from humans. This one was only kind of meandering, even when I nudged him. He certainly didn't freak out like an ant, spider, etc. would when touched.)
I examined him closely but he didn't seem to be showing any ill effects from the Murphy's. Little legs were waving and all. Has anyone actually seen the effectiveness of the non-spray Murphy's as a contact killer? I used very hot water, but it's possible I diluted the soap too much (I eyeballed the amount, didn't measure) or needed to really be soaking the surfaces in it instead of just wiping them down.
Then I figured I should test the other weapon in my arsenal, so I picked up the spray bottle of 91% isopropyl alcohol and gave him a pretty close-range mist. His death was immediate and looked painful -- YAY.
In the end, I found that one adult in the bureau, and 4 babies/juveniles in the encasement seams on the underside of the boxspring. I assume they're living in the metal bedframe. I didn't have time to disassemble and clean it, plus I was out of isopropyl alcohol at that point, so I settled for just putting DE down into all the legs.
That's all for now. C'mon, PCO, call me back!!
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Itchy-Scratchy
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Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 452
Posted 1 year ago
Mon Sep 8 2008 11:51:01
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wirehead - 5 minutes ago »
(Note: None of the BB I've found, this one included, have been particularly fast. NOT remotely like cockroaches. Nor do they seem very bright. They will try to move to get out of light or when they feel exposed, but don't seem to have any concept of running away from humans. This one was only kind of meandering, even when I nudged him. He certainly didn't freak out like an ant, spider, etc. would when touched.)Yes, they're very slow. Every time I've caught a BB, I've walked to the kitchen, got a Snack-sized Ziploc, returned to the site and then nudged the bug into the bag. They're so slow. Too bad they are so good at hiding, because otherwise we'd be able to kill them off easy!!
We've been using the non-spray Murphy's Oil Soap, however we did not follow the package and dilute it. We used it full-strength. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), we didn't find any actual bugs during the Murphy's oil process, so I'm not sure the full-strength approach works as a contact killer. In our case, we were using the soap to make surfaces slippery for the bugs.
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spideyjg
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Joined: Jul '08
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Posted 1 year ago
Mon Sep 8 2008 12:17:35
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I think the pre-mix is the contact killer. I have both and the big bottle that you dilute doesn't seem to be the same thing as the pre mix.
The pre-mix has orange oil in it and seems to be far more concentrated than the “concentrate” that you dilute.
My guess is the premix is a different formula for things such as cabinets and the dilution stuff is for floors.
IMHO we need a definite finding as to what formulation and or dilution ratio of Murphy's is the contact killer for BBs
It cleans good but is a PITA since it takes so much elbow grease.
Jim
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@Itchy-Scratchy: Thanks for corroborating. I was thinking there was an outside chance that the ones I'd found had been affected by the pesticides, soap, DE, etc. and were not in prime condition.
@spideyjg: Good to know; I'll have to pick up a few bottles of the Murphy's spray and start using that instead. If I find more live ones (and, let's be honest, I probably will) I may try to restrain my more murderous impulses and do some tests with different Murphy's concoctions.
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livinginahorrorfilm
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Joined: Sep '08
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Posted 1 year ago
Mon Sep 8 2008 17:05:19
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I have seen slow ones....but then sometimes, I KNOW one was on me.....not just the frequent lingering sensation - but then they are gone - so fast.
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@livinginahorrorfilm I wonder if the nymphs are faster than the full-grown ones... the only nymphs I've caught have been larger/fed ones... maybe when they are newborns and haven't had a meal yet they are more motivated.
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itchynscratchy
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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Sep 9 2008 19:21:41
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based on this post http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/question-re-murphys-oil-soap#post-14766
it seems the concentrate is the contact killer.we indeed need to somehow clarify. and fyi, there are two non-concentrates. the spray, and the squirt and mop.
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buggyinsocal
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Posted 1 year ago
Wed Sep 10 2008 0:21:00
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My experience was also that the nymphs were speedier than the adults. The adults just kind of sat there like really dumb bumps on a log. the nymphs, on the other hand, skittered about as fast as an ant that did not feel threatened.
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@itchynscratchy Aha, I tried the tag "murphy's" and the site search but didn't find that one for some reason (now added the "murphy's" tag to that post too). Thanks! I'm still confused about which one we should be using, though -- that post seems to say that the concentrate (that you mix with water) is the contact killer, NOT the spray? So maybe I just need to make it stronger and really douse the furniture. I will try digging into the Yahoo group and see if I can clarify.
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spideyjg
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Posts: 1,405
Posted 1 year ago
Wed Sep 10 2008 11:37:22
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Wirehead,
Your own observation was that the diluted Murphy's did not kill a BB. Well at least in the strength you had mixed.
Murphy's it touted long and loud here but IMO your observations in that test cast a pall over the "contact killer" label.
Since there are the 2 products the premix and the concentrate that is diluted can't some scientist test this?
25 BBs with separate containers to spritz them in, a few empty spray bottles, the concentrate, the premix, and about 4 hours time you would have an answer.
Jim
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spideyjg
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Posted 1 year ago
Thu Sep 11 2008 0:42:23
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There are 4 Murphy's products available.
The premix Spray, the Original that gets diluted, the Squirt and Mop, and the Wipes.http://www.colgate.com/app/MurphyOilSoap/US/EN/Products.cwsp
The Original is supposed to be diluted 4 or 8oz in a gallon of water. For a spray bottle that equates down to a ratio 1 or 2 oz into a quart.
That mixture very weak and watery compared to the Premix spray.
With a supply of 5 sets of BBs this could be tested in an afternoon since we are looking for a contact kill.
Test the premix Spray, the Original in all three strengths; full, 1oz in 32, 2oz in 32, and the Squirt and Mop.
5 sets of bugs and a little time we would have an answer. Anyone that can capture enough bugs want to test this?
Jim
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