Managing Bed Bugs without Chemicals

There aren’t many insects or pests out there with the tough to extinguish reputation of a bed bug. It’s not like cockroaches or ants, when you can call a common pest control company to come and spray the area.

Bed bugs are known to travel well, hidden in inconspicuous places and live weeks or even months without feeding. Plus they have adapted well to the few chemicals that can aid in their destruction. So when chemicals fail or you don’t want them around your home, what are the options for managing bed bugs without chemicals?

Prevention is Key

We are all on high alert when we travel now, with bed bugs showing up in even the fanciest of hotels and resorts across the world. So when you travel, look for the signs and take measures to prevent your luggage and clothing from the hitchhikers. Pick up disposable laundry bags and pack your clothing in them, then just toss it all in the washing machine when you return home (heat from the water and the dryer can take the bugs out).

In your hotel room and when you return home, keep clutter at bay. Clutter, particularly around a bed, gives bedbugs ample places to hide and breed. To keep an eye on areas around the bed and if you suspect an infestation, place bed posts or legs in a plastic white dish called the ClimbUp. This plastic dish is rough on the outside, inviting the bed bugs to crawl on up, but then smooth on the inside so they cannot escape or crawl up the bed. This method both prevents and detects bed bugs. Mattress encasements can serve a similar purpose. If bed bugs happen to make it to your bed, a mattress encasement will at least stop them from infesting your mattress. Be sure to get an encasement that zips entirely around the mattress and include an encasement for your box springs, too (a favorite hiding spot).

Treating an Infestation

So you’ve used the preventative measures and checked for bed bugs and bingo, you have them. It’s extremely important to contact a professional like Maine Bed Bugs and Pest Control to help you contain and kill the bugs before they multiply. Tactics that a professional may use to kill the bugs without chemicals include heat, steam and carbon dioxide snow.

Carbon dioxide snow is the newest treatment among pest professionals, but proving to be effective. The bed bugs are frozen to death as they are exposed to pressurized carbon dioxide snow. Vapors penetrate the baseboards, another common hiding area, the bedding, furniture and small crevices. This treatment is used best in conjunction with other treatments.

Bed bugs literally cannot stand the heat, so steaming is a warmer take on the carbon dioxide snow option. A professional steam cleaner can heat the bugs up well beyond their 115-degree threshold and kill them, but just like the snow, it’s not effective enough to eliminate an infestation on its own.

Heat remediation treatments have become the most popular and effective way to manage bed bugs without chemicals. Electric heaters essentially raise the temperature in the house and rooms to around 135 degrees for at least an hour, much higher than bed bugs can stand. This kills both the bugs and their eggs while keeping the home safe from chemicals. Homeowners can even return at night, unlike tenting and fumigating.

Send Maine Bed Bugs into Battle

Are you battling bed bugs and at your wit’s end as to how you can get rid of them for good, and without subjecting your family to harsh pesticides and chemicals? Maine Bed Bugs and Pest Control have developed an eco-friendly heat treatment that stops bed bugs in their tracks. To protect yourself and your family today, just call (207) 650-8654..