Bye-Bye, Bedbugs

As Zandar pointed out earlier this week, there's a problem with bedbugs.  So much so that it has become an unstoppable wave of infestations, from apartment complexes to major hotels.  Resistance to insecticides has allowed them to flourish, which can lead to an entirely different unhappy train of thought.  A local company was featured on the news for using a very successful method: heat.

"We discovered this heat option, and bed bugs are extremely susceptible to high heat temperatures," Eftink says.

We took healthy bed-bugs inside, with the heat treatment underway.  "The air temperature in here's at least 135, and you're going to see that they'll die pretty quick," says Michael Woodring, Bug Zero Entemologist.  In just one minute, the bed bugs lost the battle.

Large heaters and fans ensure the heat reaches every square inch.  Several wireless sensors send temperature readings back to a computer.  But just to make sure the bugs are all toast, "We get in here once the temperature gets up and we start manipulating some of these items to expose any cracks or crevices that they might be able to hide," Woodring says.

Bug Zero's experts  make sure it's 125 degrees or above, and hold that temperature for at least an hour to make sure all the bed bugs are gone.  "We've had 100 percent track record success," says Eftink.

They're almost impossible to prevent.  "Even the best maintained hotelier who'd doing all he can about this is still vulnerable to that one individual who might bring bed bugs in their belongings," Eftink says.

But the heat will ensure bed bugs travel no more.  

Kids and pets are at risk when introducing toxins into an environment.  As we see more problems with chemical resistance, we should strive for a natural, effective way.  By pure luck, it seems one has been found.  It may not pan out in the long run, but I'm feeling cautiously optimistic.  Not just in the solution, but the benefits we stand to gain if it really does work like they say. 


Despite a couple of aggravating typos, this is a helpful page that gives you the broad strokes.