Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Bed Bug Treatment
Poor College Student - Help with Self-Treatment
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minivampirefood
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Joined: Jan '09
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Posted 10 months ago
Wed Jan 14 2009 0:04:24
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In August 2008 my friend spent the night at my apartment and woke up the next morning with these large welts around her neck. The next day I noticed a cluster of these welts around my ankles. In the following weeks my two roommates and I started finding these horrific itchy bites all over our bodies. For some odd reason...we decided it was fleas. An exterminator came and treated for fleas. For two days we got no bites...but then one day I was attacked while lying on the couch for a few hours and got over 25 bites across my chest. A few days later I discovered a bug racing across my blankets...after much screaming my roommates and I secured the bed bug with tape. We had the exterminator come back and we showed him our little friend and he diagnosed our bed bug problem. He flipped over the couch only to discover an orgy of those mini vampires and told us that we had to throw away our couch. He told us that to avoid the extra fees (it costs more to treat for bed bugs than fleas!) he would treat our apartment for free cause he felt bad for us. For about a week or so we were fine but then we started being attacked by bites again...although admittedly not as savagely. We tried calling our "Terminator" but his phone was disconnected and upon calling Orkin we discovered that there was no one with his name working there. (Creepy...I know)
All this happened between October-November. In December, my roommate bought this thing called Kleen Green and we started spraying our stuff. This definitely improved our situation but did not cure it. In middle of December we all went home for Xmas break. I came back first week of Jan only to discover an emaciated pathetic excuse of a bed bug chilling on my wall above my bed to welcome me. After a thorough inspection of my bed and surrounding area...I found one dead bed bug. Then a few days later I found another dead one. I went a few days with only one or two bites. Anyways, our heater was broken in our apartment at this time however a few days ago we had it fixed and ever since I've gotten it fixed...I've been mercilessly attacked by these evil creatures. I can't find the Kleen Green and I think it might be too easy going...so I ordered some stuff called D-Force HPX. My mom is also sending me encasings for my mattress and box spring.
I've been reading so many different sets of advice...I was wondering if anyone could help me out and let me know what to do. Without having to pay for an exterminator or throw away all my posessions...or put anything in storage. Here is our living set up. One bedroom...my one roommate has a regular twin with box spring and metal frame. She gets the least bites of all (only one or two a week.) I am across the room from her with just a mattress and box spring on the floor. I'm wondering if I should get something to elevate my bed? Although I read that bed bugs can infest the metal frames and so that seems counter productive to getting an encasement for my mattress/box springs. Also...I have roughly 100 polaroids/posters surrounding my sleeping area. I know that bed bugs can live behind picture frames...can they live behind polaroids and posters as well? (I'm really loath to get rid of these.) My other roommate sleeps in the living room (it's very large) on an air mattress. She has installed tracks in the wall with curtains hanging down so she can have privacy. She probably gets the most amount of bites (althoug she's not back yet from Xmas vacation) which is probably due to the fact that she's sleeping in the area that used to be right next to our disgusting bug infested couch (which we think was the point of origin...damn hand me downs!)
Any kind of advice or help would be really amazing! I'm going crazy imagining all these mini vampires feeding on me at night! I have to take a Benadryl in order to stay asleep at night which is definitely not healthy and is messing up my concentration at school.
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getridofthebugs
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Joined: Jan '09
Posts: 16
Posted 10 months ago
Wed Jan 14 2009 0:53:15
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Hello Minivampirefood
I am also a college student and recently my house became infested. We had to hire an exterminator to try to get rid of them and they still kept coming back (they are a real pain). However, some of the things we did to try and help the situation was purchasing matress covers for all of our beds. They are about 10 to 15$ and you put the whole matress inside, zip it closed, and place shipping tape over the zipper (to be extra careful). They also sell covers for the pillows. Then we washed every bit of cloth we had in hot water, and placed it in the dryer until very dry (wash your comforter and dry it, and if you can place your pillows in the dryer, or get pillow covers, that would be even better). We then purchased a bunch of bottles of a bed bug spray (I cant remember what it was called) and sprayed all of the corners of our rooms, beds, and desks atleast once a week. Finally, we bought double sided carpet tape and taped it around the legs of our bed and around other areas of infestation (this wont prevent them, but it will let you know if they are there because they will get stuck to it).
Also, if you have carpet in the house, try to get a carpet steamer and vacuume it frequently; and the infestation is really bad, you may want to check under the carpet, we found a whole colony in one room.
Hope some of this helps.
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BetsyBug
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Joined: Mar '09
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Posted 8 months ago
Mon Mar 9 2009 18:13:15
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Hello,
I am a working mom and my and my family cannot afford to throw everything away either so I feel your pain!! Invest in a good steamer and steam your entire apartment, furniture, books, cracks, crevices, everything. You are smart to encase your mattress and box springs, we've done that too and it helped a lot. 91% alcohol kills them on contact but not the eggs. Steam kills bedbugs and their eggs. Also a hair dryer that gets really hot works quite well. Don't waste your money on exterminators ; they just spray a cocktail of toxic chemicals that may or may not kill the bugs but could make you sick (bedbugs become resistant to sprays over time). I'm not sure where you live but wrapping your couch or bed or chairs in dark plastic and placing them in the hot sun for a couple days 90 degrees or higher could work on killing them too. I was given this tip by the health dept. where I live. Good luck and take heart. You are not alone!!
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senior member
Joined: Mar '08
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Posted 8 months ago
Mon Mar 9 2009 18:27:23
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BETSY,
Forgive me for saying this but coming on here after being a member for 39 minutes... telling people to "forget wasting money on exterminators" is ridiculous. If you have eradicated your problem with a hair dryer.. God bless you. But people are here for many reasons ... There looking for strong solid advice not a pipe dream.As a professional I don't think my clients would enjoy seeing me show up with just a hair dryer and steamer.
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junior member
Joined: Oct '08
Posts: 88
Posted 8 months ago
Mon Mar 9 2009 19:43:36
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That's funny cause I actually have shown up with a hair dryer before while I was experimenting wish flushing ideas. Although the heat will flush, the force blows the bugs away before the heat gets to them.
To say don't waste your money on exterminators can be a ridiculous statement but I'm sure there are people on here who are frustrated with repeated bad experiences. If you find a right and experienced PCO, you shouldn't regret spending the money.
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spideyjg
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Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 1,405
Posted 8 months ago
Mon Mar 9 2009 21:09:38
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GET A PRO!
Unless you have read tons of information and corroborated everything from different sources so you know it is fact. BB biology, behavior, feeding habits, studies, pesticide application and other techniqes to as the pros say,"get in the bugs head" to find them you are not ready to self treat.
Ya know Betsy I think after all this time I am about as far up the learning curve as I can be without being a PCO.
I'd still call in a pro. However I would compare their expertise to that which I have gleaned from the pros here.
If you can hire someone who knows these things like Killer Queen, BugBoy911, David Cain, bedbugdude, bugologist, Jwhite, or some of the other knowledgeable BB experts here do it!
Since my infestation nearly a year ago I have boned up on these things in preparation should I ever have to deal with them again. Still I would hunt for a pro but now after all this time maybe I could self treat. I was nowhere near ready at the time.
Jim
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bugged18
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Joined: Feb '09
Posts: 33
Posted 8 months ago
Mon Mar 9 2009 22:08:28
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try the vaseline method ( search the forum ) or look up jeanette "Four Months Bite Free Steps Taken" it is working for me. I had 3 professional chem treatments, 4 chem treatments I did after that ( suspend, gentrol, kicker by pco) phantom demand by me and steam by professional all failed so sometimes spending a lot of money and hiring a professional ( the advice I took in the beginning from here) may not always be the correct way to go. I spent $3500 and the bites did not let up. Now I am not getting for the first time in a year.
I understand completely being in college and not having that kind of money.Lastly I was afraid to use DE in the past because it can cause lung cancer if you breath it. The de sprayed as liquid drys and does not become airborne if you do not touch it. It is suspended in the dish soap gel. Good Luck!
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buggyinsocal
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Posted 8 months ago
Tue Mar 10 2009 0:46:10
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bugged18,
I don't think that inhaled DE causes lung cancer.
However, it does have the potential to cause a form of pneumoconiosis. The problem with that disease is that there is no cure, and treatments are often ineffective. Obviously if you're talking about a form of DE that contains pesticides, that might cause a cancer risk, but that's the pesticide itself, not the DE.
minivampirefood,
DE is a definite inhalation risk, which is why hiring a good, experienced professional who knows how to effectively treat bed bugs is the best approach to most infestations. (There are of course exceptions, including being geographically isolated out of reach of good PCOs, but those are the exceptions rather than the rule.)Depending on what city you live in, there may be requirements that landlords provide treatment if you rent.
None of us here who don't identify as PCOs get any kind of financial reward from suggesting that people contact professionals. We speak from our own experience. Like Spideyjg, I've stayed around the forum because even though I haven't seen a bug since last June, I want to learn everything I can about these critters in case I ever encounter them again.
Knowing what I know now, which is a lot more than I knew when I found them, I would absolutely call a pro right from the start--and that's coming from someone who has already made her bedroom much less bed bug friendly and who now owns a dry vapor steamer. I'm just too afraid that I couldn't do as effective a job as a PCO at killing the bugs off without encouraging them to spread to neighboring apartments, where there might be people who don't react to the bites, who could get a giant infestation, that would continue to reinfest me no matter what I did.
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BetsyBug
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Joined: Mar '09
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Posted 8 months ago
Thu Mar 12 2009 18:01:22
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All due respect KillerQueen perhaps you should reserve your scrutiny and judgement until you know a person's history. I may have joined 39 minutes ago but I first had bed bugs in 2005 and got rid of them for three years! And I didn't call an exterminator either!! Not all of us have the funds to hire an exterminator for $400-$500. I'm lucky to buy food for my kids in this terrible economy. Recently in summer 2008 I discovered a new bedbug problem in my home. A handheld steamer is working great for me besides research is showing that bedbugs are becoming resistant to chemicals no matter how toxic and why would someone who has animals and kids want to risk their well being? Before you judge me or put me down perhaps you should consider that everyone has a different approach to combating bed bugs. I understand everyone's frustration, believe me, I am frustrated too, but I came her for solid advice too and to share what has helped me. Putting me down or blowing off what I have to say is not going to help anybody. Everyone (including me) has the right to share their trials and what has worked for them so spare your ridicule please!!
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BetsyBug
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Joined: Mar '09
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Posted 8 months ago
Thu Mar 12 2009 18:25:46
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I wanted to add that in 2005 I did have exterminators come to my apartment. They came to my apt. 10 times and sprayed with various treatments and my place was still crawling with bugs and I was getting bitten at night. I realize some PCOs are good but I was definitely had. It was only when I took matters into my own hands and moved that I was able to get rid of them for three years until I acquired them again recently. I don't think that they were dormant for three years. I think I reacquired them somehow. Does anyone know the maximum amount of time a bed bug can be dormant? I've read 18 months is max. Any thoughts? Like I said I didn't see a bedbug for three years and then one day I checked under my mattress like a routine inspection and I saw those familiar black ink spot residue. Any my kids started having mosquito bite marks on their arms and legs.
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DeathToBBs
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Joined: Jan '08
Posts: 83
Posted 8 months ago
Thu Mar 12 2009 20:09:15
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Hello BetsyBug. First off, I applaud you! You are not the only one that has had exterminators spray and spray and the bugs still being a problem. A lotta people took matters into their own hands because exterminations failed. Some people took matters into their own hands before calling an exterminator and solved the problem w/o one. I'm not advising for or against self-treating. I'm just stating the facts of what I read over the years. There was a woman on bedbugger group who solved her own bb infestation with DE and Murphy's Oil Soap. She had an exterminator out and it did not work so she took matters into her own hands. She discovered DE and Murphy's Oil Soap and it helped her. Now a lotta people use Murphy's and DE. There's also a mixture of alcohol, water, dish soap and DE homemade spray that has helped people as well when exterminators could not help solve the problem. I'm not saying NOT hire an exterminator...like I said before, I'm just stating the facts.
I hope you win BetsyBug, with or without an exterminator. And, you should document your experiences here of your self-treatment whether good or bad results.
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DeathToBBs
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Posted 8 months ago
Thu Mar 12 2009 20:13:04
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BetsyBug - 2 hours ago »
Not all of us have the funds to hire an exterminator for $400-$500.Ha! Are you kidding? Exterminators want sometimes $500 a room! Sometimes $1,200 for a whole apartment and the price goes way up for a whole house.
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DeathToBBs
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Posted 8 months ago
Thu Mar 12 2009 20:15:40
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A question for BetsyBug. With the $50 steamer and you said you steamed floors, baseboards, etc. How do you prevent mold with all that moisture coming from the steamer?
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BetsyBug
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Joined: Mar '09
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Posted 8 months ago
Fri Mar 13 2009 9:20:46
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All I can say DeathToBBs is that the steam evaporates so quickly that I don't think the moisture will linger and cause a mold problem. At least I hope not. . . the company I bought the steamer from said it was okay for hardwood floors b/c I too was worried about the mold but the lady said she used the steamer in her house and didn't have a problem. Fingers crossed. . . I highly recommend the steamer b/c it's so cheap, no chemicals involved and kills bedbugs and their eggs.
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spideyjg
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Posted 8 months ago
Fri Mar 13 2009 11:03:59
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BetsyBug - 3 days ago »
I'm not sure where you live but wrapping your couch or bed or chairs in dark plastic and placing them in the hot sun for a couple days 90 degrees or higher could work on killing them too. I was given this tip by the health dept. where I live. Good luck and take heart. You are not alone!!The wrapping in plastic and trying to reach lethal temps by solar power is iffy at best with small items and proven useless by an Australian scientist testing a mattress.
Studying you ass off, assembling your arsenal, and then going to war can be a successful self treatment in some cases as in yours. However just starting out people can make mistakes that jeopardize their health or spread the bugs.
91% alcohol and a steamer, used accurately and long enough, can put a big dent in the problem.
Jim
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buggyinsocal
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Posted 8 months ago
Fri Mar 13 2009 12:19:27
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I am in no way a fan of chemical pesticide treatment. I live on the left coast, and my politics definitely skew that way. I wish more people had more treatment options. Unfortunately, most renters are left at the mercy of their landlords. If my apartment hadn't had so much stuff (furniture, books, more books, and did I mention the books) in it, I doubt thermal treatment would have been an option for me. I got lucky, and I know that. After all, I eat organic when I can, I try to reduce my exposure to pesticides by not using them in my house for other pests, I try to buy only natural, organic, and free range meats when I eat meat. Trust me, I'm more wary of the use of pesticides than most people.
If I owned my own house, I'd probably pay the extra money to go with thermal treatment (with Vikane as a second choice) than choose using residual chemicals and myself as bait if I got an infestation in space I was responsible for paying for.
I say that so that people understand that I'm not advocating professional treatment because I think that people who are worried about the pesticide exposure are being paranoid or whiny or whatever other reason people dismiss those concerns.
But beg bugs are a very disruptive pest that are very hard to eradicate.
Spideyjg and I both live within an hour's drive of seriously intense deserts. Places where it's normal even in, say, October, for the high temp of the day to hit 105 or 110 F.
If any of us could self treat effectively by putting items in plastic and leaving them in the sun, it would be us. We get *a lot* of sun in southern California. We will not speak of what the sun coming through the windows of my apt. does to bleach out the spines of my books. Of what happened to the tank top I accidentally left in the car for about a month. I know how hot the interior of my car gets in the sun, but after long conversations with the PCOs here, I'm convinced that treating items by wrapping them in plastic and leaving them in the sun or putting them inside a car in the hot sun is a very risky proposition at best. There are complex physics at work in terms of heat transfer and insulation and such that make it far too unreliable a process to put your faith in.
Says she who lives next to the desert.
Add in that people have a tendency to think that if you can eat DE it's totally safe, when in fact it has to be used carefully because it's an inhalation hazard for which there is no effective treatment.
Add in that foggers can make the bugs dig in deeper and the infestation harder to treat.
You begin to see why self-treatment is a process fraught with danger. That's not to say that it can't be done, but you have to really become an expert on a lot of different subjects to do it effectively. And if you make mistakes, you may make your problem harder to treat. And you'll certainly spend an awful lot on equipment and labor before you get there, and there's a good chance that you'll have to call in a pro in the end anyway.
Does that mean that I'm not sympathetic to people who really can't afford it and who live in municipalities where landlords are not required to pay? Not at all. As far as I'm concerned, that's a HUGE weakspot in the war on bed bugs.
Even though I got rid of the bugs in one treatment, between the items I had to replace, the treatment itself, the gear I bought before I settled on a treatment that turned out to get rid of them in one go, and additional expenses that came up along the way, I spent thousands on dealing with the bugs, to say nothing of the time I put in as labor. I happened to have had a little money set aside, and I was fortunate enough to be able to ask my family for help with some of the rest (the cost of the steamer, for example).
Don't think that I don't wake up at night wondering what would have happened if I'd gotten the bugs in a year that I didn't have three jobs and wasn't totally broke, which I have been in the past. Don't think that I don't get that many people are in that fix.
If you ask me, it's criminal that we don't have good resources for people who are totally broke and barely able to feed themselves and their families and keep a roof over their head to go to for help with this problem. Because so long as we don't have those resources, the problem can continue to spread.
I was lucky. I got rid of mine quickly. But the trauma is still there. If I stay at a hotel, when I come back, I almost never sleep soundly the first night back because it triggers my paranoia that I've brought them with me again.
If I have that emotional response, and I got rid of mine with one treatment, how much worse is it for others who battled them longer?
How much worse is it for people who don't have the financial resources to treat them and have nowhere to turn for help?
I cannot even imagine. And I've tried.
If, however, we advocate for calling in a pro, it's only because we know that most of the time, a *good* pro is the most effective way to treat. If self-treatment fails, which it can do because of how much you need to learn before you can do it effectively, you end up with a more entrenched problem that takes longer to get rid of and which you'll need a pro to deal with.
A lot of people who can afford it want to self-treat because they don't want to give their hard earned money over to someone that they think it trying to pull one over on them. And unfortunately, there are some bad apples among the pros. And there are (not that I had one) landlords who don't hire a good pco. And there are tenants in multi-unit buildings who refuse inspection and treatment. There are a lot of variables that can influence success.
When we advocate for getting a good pro in early, it's not because we aren't sympathetic to the people who legitimately can't afford it. I grew up on the Gulf Coast. I watched in horror in the wake of Katrina when people around the country blamed poor folks who didn't leave NOLA for their plight. I've been poor enough at times that if I'd had to leave and go to a hotel for days at the end of the month, that I wouldn't have had the money to spend to do so. I get that some people are really that broke, and as far as I'm concerned, it's a deep cruelty that we don't have resources for those people. (It's also a cruelty that hurts all of us because if bed bug problems are allowed to set in in a particular location, everyone's chances of getting infested go up.)
But when we respond on the boards, we don't know who has $10 left in his or her bank account, and who has $2000 in one savings account, another cushion of three months living expenses in a second one, an extra $5000 in his or her checking account, and $10,000 available on credit cards, but who doesn't want to pay a PCO. We end up writing, unfortunately, to both audiences at the same time.
I do hope that we as a country can have a conversation about what policies and agencies and/or programs can be put in place to help the folks who are really broke deal with the problem because self-treatment shouldn't be the only option.
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losingit
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Posted 8 months ago
Fri Mar 13 2009 14:09:12
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I just noticed that the original post from minivampire is a month old, so maybe the discussions on self-treating vs. PCOs is moot at this point.
I know of one person who eradicated the blighters with one self-treat. Steam, Raid and a truckload of elbow grease. They were determined and lucky.
I'd just as soon call a good PCO.
Good discussion though:)
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spideyjg
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Posted 8 months ago
Fri Mar 13 2009 14:36:52
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buggyinsocal - 2 hours ago »
Spideyjg and I both live within an hour's drive of seriously intense deserts. Places where it's normal even in, say, October, for the high temp of the day to hit 105 or 110 F.
Ah the memories driving out to the deserts in 120F heat with a pickup truck bed full of guitar cases and sundries and laying them open on the 160F asphalt until the temps reached 150F.
If you've seen the movie Biloxi Blues, as Matthew Broderick said,
"This is hot. This is like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn't take this kinda hot. "
Gatorade was my best friend. :)
Everything very well said buggy.
For heat just remember that BBs are common in the middle east and deserts so they are highly resilient at dodging heat.
Only in conditions where they cannot escape fast enough or find a cool spot does heat work. As our heat treating PCOs say it is part art and science to use it in a structure and passive heating in a car or outside is more challenging.
FWIW on deserts, Las Vegas has lots of BBs and is stoopid hot in the summer.
Jim
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buggyinsocal
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Posted 8 months ago
Fri Mar 13 2009 18:11:14
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There are many, many reasons that I don't see Vegas as a vacation paradise, not least of which is that I don't actually like the feeling of being a piece of pottery dropped into a kiln every time I step outside.
Heck, I don't even like it when the Santa Anas kick up and it's 90 F in January. (I know, perhaps Los Angeles wasn't the best geographical choice for me. But what can you do? That's where my job is. And I really, really hate shoveling snow. Which I've also done. I'll take a few too hot days of running the air conditioner 24/7 a year in a mostly dry climate to the heat and humidity in the Deep South or the snow of the Northeast any day of the week.)
What I remember most from my "heat treatment trips" is that I couldn't put the sunshade in the car's window, so I felt like I needed winter gloves on my hands to prevent burns from happening when I touched the steering wheel and the stick shift. Ouchy ouchy ouchy ouch.
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BetsyBug
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Posted 8 months ago
Fri Mar 13 2009 21:25:09
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It was interesting Spideyjg to hear about the climate you guys live in and how heat is not effective against bed bugs. I guess I'll just keep on trying and hoping. I am planning to use some kind of residual chemical on my couch and then let it sit for a while. Does anyone know of a good residual chemical I could put on my couch? I can't afford to throw it out. I have done that in the past and can't do it now. I'm one of the people who has $50 left until next paycheck and groceries still to buy. Bedbugs are just literally eating a hole through my wallet. I'll bet I've spent $300 on storage bins for clothes and linens and the steamer and mattress encasements in the last couple months. But I know that's nothing compared to what some people have spent. It's crazy. . . auughh!!!
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spideyjg
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Posted 8 months ago
Fri Mar 13 2009 22:29:43
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No don't get it wrong Betsy heat is the BBs greatest and most exploitable weakness.
If you can get the temperature to 120+ and the bugs cannot escape it they do not stand a prayer.
The trick is getting it to them and preventing escape. I took stuff that did not have jack for insulation to the desert, with temp monitors, and sat there until the temps were well over 120. Hell the air temp was 120.
Wood is actually a good insulator as is padding so attaining lethal temps via a passive method throughout a couch is not realistically attainable.
The thermal providers use heaters to rapidly and forcibly get heat applied.
A plastic guitar case, a metal toolbox, on 160 asphalt, in the sun, in 120 degree air temps, and waiting until all surfaces were 140, ya got dead crispy bugs. Damn near got heatstroke but I had confidence that all bugs in those items were dead.
One other trip I didn't get high enough temps because the air was 107 and overcast.
Jim
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buggyinsocal
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Posted 8 months ago
Sat Mar 14 2009 0:05:15
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BetsyBug,
If you have to treat the couch yourself, it would probably be best to treat it with the same chemicals rated for use on a mattress. I believe the only product rated to treat mattresses, box springs, and other bedding is Bedlam.
The website for Bedlam has the MSDS sheet for that product available for download:
http://www.bedlaminsecticide.com/
You're always better off reading the label directions and following them to the letter if you have to treat on your own.
(and, as one upside, do note that Bedlam is, if I recall correctly, the only pesticide that we know can kill some bed bug eggs. You can't count on it to kill all of them, but it will kill some. I'm always hesitant to drench things I'm going to sit or lie on in chemicals, given how much I'll come into contact with them, but I'm still sleeping on my mattress because I can't afford to replace it just yet. But I digress. My point is, if you're going to use something on the couch, this is probably the safest item to use, and it's got the advantage of also being one of the few products that has a shot at killing eggs.)
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Adele
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Posted 8 months ago
Sat Mar 14 2009 0:06:16
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Hi BetsyBug - sofas or most paddded furniture is very difficult if not impossible to self treat. Especially sofas - they are complex pieces of furniture.
Just be careful with the chemicals - if you use too much the bugs will just go dormant in the sofa until the effects of the chemicals wear off - and then they will come out as hungry as ever. you may also put your own health at risk
or alternatively - if you use too much pesticide on the sofa they could just simply retreat from the sofa to a different piece of upholstered furniture (that happened to me many times.) AGain you may thing you won because for a short time you will not be bitten on the sofa butn in fact you did not win and they will come back
the problem with your hand held steamer is that the heat is probably not penetrating deep enough to kill them - or they are sensing the heat and retreating to a different part of the furniture
one idea is to seal it and store it
is it possible to seal it in movers plastic like a mummy and store it somewhere for a lengthy period of time? 80f heat may not be enough to kill them in a day or 2 (or even a week) but they will die in a hotter climate a lot sooner as the heat does shorten their life span
SPideyJG posted the stats if you want to know the exact time and temp kill ratio
that may save your furniture and still leverage the heat of summer
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Adele
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Posted 8 months ago
Sat Mar 14 2009 0:08:08
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Jim - I see you are still posting and helping people as much as ever
YOU RULE!!!! :lol:
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