Killing Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are a growing source of aggravation, particularly in the developed Western world, because bedbugs were largely wiped out there by the late 1950′s. This means that most people under 50 years of age had almost certainly never seen a bedbug until after 1995, when they made a big return. Their numbers are still increasing quickly, so a lot people are turning to thinking about killing bed bugs.

This is due to two major factors: their natural resilience and their resistance to modern domestic chemical pesticides. Their natural toughness is due to a waxy coating on their bodies which protects them from contact pesticides to a large extent and their tolerance to chemical pesticides is probably due to the fact that they were exterminated in the West in the 1940′s and 1950′s by the extensive use of DDT.

The waxy coating of bedbugs prevents their rapid dehydration, which is why they can lie inactive for up to five months waiting for a suitable host to come along. It is also the reason why a lot of contact pesticides are unsuccessful. Therefore, one of the techniques for killing bed bugs is getting rid of that waxy coat.

People realized this 150 years ago, but they did not have the technology to really take advantage of the knowledge. People often used to put down crushed dried leaves or sharp sand. In the 19th century, lime, ash and diatomaceous earth were used to erode the outer waxy coating. The latter was especially effective and has seen an upsurge in usage over the last few years as an alternative to chemicals.

One way of killing bed bugs that will not work is catching them and crushing them, even if you did wrap sticky insect bands around the legs of your bed. Bed bugs cannot fly, but they would still get at you. They are not averse to walking up to the ceiling and dropping on to you.

If you want to try chemical insecticides, then there are three basic types. The first sort attempts to mimic the effects of diatomaceous earth. It is a spray that includes pulverized glass or silica mixed with a contact pesticide. This does not sound a healthy environment for humans or pets either though. Breathing powdered glass or silica seems like bad news.

Contact insecticides have limited effect, to a degree due to the waxy layer, but also because to be effective they have to be strong and this makes them a repellent, which means that the bedbugs will just avoid it if they can.

Insect growth regulators are effective at killing the young, which is great, but the adults can live for about a year, so that is not so good, unless you are thinking about a long world cruise.

Professionals frequently use steam these days, because none of the bed bug’s life stages can survive temperatures above 45c, so you could try this method by hiring a steam wall paper stripper or a hot air paint stripper for the weekend and going over your walls and woodwork. In fact, if all your wall paper and paint is going to fall off, you may as well combine the session with your next redecoration.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently concerned with bed bugs extermination. If you are interested in this, please visit our website now at Picture Of Bed Bugs for further information.