Gareth Purnell from British Bug Control explains why pest controllers are people are turning up the heat on bed bugs.
Bed bugs are as tough as old boots. Not only are they hard to find, and hard to get to if you do find them. They have also managed to become resistant to almost every insecticide that can be used against them.
That includes most of the professional strength insecticides including those licensed to ‘kill bed bugs in all their stages’. As for amateur strength insecticides that the public can buy… forget it. We know. We’ve independently tested against resistant strains from all over the world. That’s why we now only recommend heat treatment for bed bugs in established infestations. Bed bugs have no way of building up resistance to heat, which, when done correctly, penetrates the tiniest of cracks, and importantly kills the eggs as well as the nymphs and adults. No insecticide kills the eggs.
Heat treatment works by denaturing the proteins and enzymes which are essential for the bugs to survive. We place wireless sensors in the hardest to heat cracks and crevices and the temperature of these are plotted on a laptop so that our operatives know that the treated areas have maintained temperature for the required amount of time, usually two hours. It has to be said heat treatment is not a cheap option. It’s a two-man job and a typical house will take all day to treat.
It’s important that heat treatment is carried out by experienced operatives. Bringing up the heat too quickly has its dangers. On the flip side, heat treatment kills the bed bugs in situ and no furnishings have to be thrown away. Plus we are so confident in our gold level heat treatment for bed bugs we are able to guarantee eradication.
For newer infestations a less expensive combination treatment can be successful. This includes harvesting and directional steam. We also lay down what we have found to be the best professional strength insecticide afterwards, plus a powder treatment where we can’t spray, such as around sockets. This can be very successful, but it’s important to be honest about how long you have been experiencing the problem for. We want the same result as you… total eradication of your bed bug outbreak.
The Bed Bug Heat Treatment Guarantee. At British Bug Control we are so confident in our heat treatment for bed bugs that we are able to offer a gilt-edged guarantee that we will get rid of your outbreak. If live bed bugs are found in the treated rooms the guarantee period, we will return and treat again at no extra charge to you. For more information visit www.cimexine.com.
