Bed bugs in freezer You’re probably searching for any way possible to make pest control easier if you’re like the many others who are fighting bed bug invasions in their homes.
What about cold temperatures? Have you heard about using heat and a few other do-it-yourself ways to get rid of bed bugs?
Bed bugs have a favorite temperature range, just like other creatures. Is that something we can take advantage of when it comes to fighting bed bugs? Keep reading to learn more.
About Bed Bugs
Humans and domestic animals are both susceptible to bed bugs (Cimex lectularius L).
The recent global resurgence of bed bugs may be attributed to changes in conventional pest management techniques, insecticide resistance, increased international travel, and a lack of public awareness (Pinto et al. 2007, Potter et al. 2010).
Continuous human exposure to bed bugs may cause depression, anxiety, lack of sleep, and an enhanced sensitivity to their bites (Goddard and deShazo 2009, Reinhardt et al. 2009), despite the fact that they are not recognized as a disease vector.
Bed bugs seek feeding sites within furniture, personal belongings, or other locations near their host resting places to digest the bloodmeal (Usinger 1966) immediately after they have eaten.
As a result, bed bugs can spread throughout society when furniture and other personal possessions are relocated.
Because of the high costs associated with successful control measures, bed bugs have a significant economic impact on the impacted people, lodging businesses, property owners, and social and emergency services (Miller 2007).
Currently, eradications are accomplished by visual examinations, monitoring systems, and trained canines; laundering; use of steam; heat treatments; and recurrence of insecticides in places where bed bugs may be found (Potter et al. 2011).
The significance of an successful integrated pest management (IPM) program was highlighted in recent studies that showed resistance to pyrethroid insecticides (Moore and Miller 2006, Romero et al. 2007, Steelman et al. 2008).
Both chemical and nonchemical measures for bed bug management should be part of an IPM program.
How Bed Bugs Get Inside
Inflamed items like luggage and second-hand furniture are commonly used to introduce bed bugs into houses. Homeowners who have bed bugs often want a fast and simple way to get rid of them since they bite.
Sadly, these hardy insects can breed quickly, blend in well, and even flourish in the most extreme environments.
What kills bed bugs?
The most common conclusion reached during conversations about bed bugs is that it’s best and most efficient to kill them in the following ways.
We strongly recommend that anybody with a bed bug problem contact a professional because exterminating them completely is one of the most difficult tasks.
Vacuuming on a regular basis, encasing your mattresses, and putting glue monitors beneath every leg of a bed frame are some of the do-it-yourself pest control strategies that you may try.
While these procedures might help to limit the spread of an infestation, they seldom suffice to fix it.
Over time, heat treatments have grown in popularity, but they are costly and are almost always used in conjunction with a residual treatment.
You must heat the area where bed bugs are living to at least 118 degrees using a heat source that is powerful enough to go down into whatever hole or crevice they are hiding in for it to be effective when treating bed bugs with heat.
The bed bugs will survive if not treated, necessitating the use of additional residual treatments.
Bed bugs are primarily killed by residual applications of insecticides, although this method is underutilized. Bed bugs can’t be treated residually in many places, such as computers, stuffed toys, bags, and backpacks.
Bed bugs are effectively eliminated by fumigation, although it is costly and entails leaving your house/business for 2-3 days. Some pyrethroid insecticides have shown resistance to bed bugs.
Can Bed Bugs Live in the Cold?
Yes, I do believe so. The cold tolerance of bed bugs is very high. They can function at temperatures as low as 46 degrees Fahrenheit, and they can even function in colder temperatures.
They can survive in the cold for a few days because their bodily fluids have a lower freezing point.
According to research published in the Journal of Economic Entomology, certain bed bugs can withstand temperatures as low as -13 degrees F for a short time. But, if they are kept in freezing temperatures for many days, they will perish.
Do Bed Bugs Like Cold Rooms?
In cold rooms, bed bugs can flourish just fine. It will never get cold enough in your home to kill bed bugs unless you have a heating system. It involves working in temperatures that might kill you.
Nonetheless, you don’t have to bring the temperature down to a level that might kill them. You may make them bite less often by lowering the overall temperature. The following is why:
-Bed bugs take longer to digest their meal in cold circumstances.
-They feed far less frequently because it takes them longer to digest.
-Because they eat less often, they grow more slowly.
-They produce fewer eggs since they grow more slowly.
-Your infestation might become less severe if the temperature difference is just a few degrees. It may take up to a week or more for them to be fed in the cold. This may be helpful in relieving you.
-Decreasing the temperature in your room by turning the thermostat down or adding more coverings might help. Pajamas are another option. The bed bugs will find it more difficult to reach your skin as a result of this. Bed bugs can’t bite through fabric, such as sheets and PJs.
Bed bugs in freezer
Is It Possible to Get Rid of Bed Bugs by Freezing?
Yes and no, to be precise. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the best way to manage bed bugs, which includes prevention, monitoring, and treatment. You may attempt to put bed bugs in the freezer, but this is not a good idea.
Bed bug sprays have lost effectiveness because certain bed bugs have become resistant to commonly used pesticides. Bed bug treatment may also include heat and steam, which are administered using proper equipment.
Freeze treatment of bed bugs is effective in the hands of many experts, but it is done in a variety of ways.
They employ cutting-edge technology that transforms carbon dioxide into tiny particles of “snow,” which is what gives soft drinks their “fizz.” These tiny ice crystals are deadly for bed bugs.
Since it leaves no harmful residue on garments, bedding, or other sensitive items, full treatment may be done.
Using Freezing Conditions to Kill Bed Bugs
If certain requirements are satisfied, placing infested items in the freezer may kill bed bugs. Ice forms inside the bed bug, injuring or killing it, as a result of freezing. It is simple to put bed bugs in the freezer. It’s just a matter of:
-A freezer that is at or below 00F (-18oC).
-Time.
-Some freezer bags to line the frozen items in.
-A remote thermometer.
-To make sure freezing is successful and does not harm products, there are a few things to consider.
What can be frozen?
The majority of home items, including:
-Clothing and textiles that can’t (or don’t want to) be washed or cleaned.
-Pictures.
-Toys.
-Shoes.
-Electronics without an LCD screen.
-Modern books.
-Jewelry.
What temperatures are required?
The temperature in your freezer is critical. The faster bed bugs are killed when the temperature is lower.
Bed bugs can be killed by freezing at 0°F, but the items you are freezing must be kept in the freezer for at least four days.
Use a distant thermometer and monitor the temperature inside the goods you are freezing if you’re concerned about making sure that temperatures are low enough.
To kill bed bugs, the temperature must be raised to 0°F in the center of the materials. It takes longer to pack heavy items.
Once the center of the item has reached 0°F, begin counting the four-day exposure period.
Because eggs and tiny bed bugs may survive temperatures of more than 0°F (-15°C), do not use them.
Will Bed Bugs Survive A Cold Winter?
About bed bugs and the cold, here’s a strange fact. Although they may not seem to like it, it does not automatically harm them. Yes, when nymphs are in temperatures below their optimal habitat, they grow slower.
However, it is due to a sort of hibernation mode that they have gone into. In the cold, their entire metabolism slows down.
They’re not trying to grow bigger or lay more eggs. Bed bug metabolism switches to surviving the winter season when temperatures are below the optimum.
To put it another way, in the absence of food, they may survive for longer periods of time than would be possible if their metabolism was working properly.
Will your strategy to store all of your bed bug-infested belongings outside over the winter be affected by this?
This indicates that the bed bugs will most likely be able to survive the winter in a semi-hibernation mode. No, you can’t expect the bugs to be gone when you return after abandoning your home for the winter.
WATCH OUT — THESE 3 DIY BED BUG METHODS DON’T WORK
USE BAKING SODA TO KILL BED BUGS
Can baking soda be used to get rid of bed bugs? This is a common question that we receive, and the answer is no.
Baking soda, according to online sources, will draw the fluid from a bed bug’s shell (like diatomaceous earth), or it will kill a bed bug after it has been ingested. None of them are correct.
Baking soda has absorption capabilities that are primarily smell-based rather than water-based. The bed bug’s body is also not pierced by it since it is not abrasive enough. Bed bugs don’t consume dry objects in their surroundings, but instead solely feed on blood.
Because of the ambiguity surrounding diatomaceous earth (DE), this suggestion is likely to have spread.
DE is a white powder, but that’s where the similarities end. DE is composed of silica obtained from fossilized plankton, whereas baking soda is composed of sodium bicarbonate.
DE kills bedbugs by slowly dehydrating them via piercing their bodies. DE, on the other hand, is not a very practical or effective way to get rid of a bed bug infestation on its own.
Sprinkling DE onto the floor will kill just a few bed bugs that happen to crawl across it; nevertheless, it will not destroy bed bug eggs or any adult bed bugs in your belongings.
USE ALCOHOL TO KILL BED BUGS
Certain alcohols, depending on the ethanol concentration, have been shown to be effective against some bed bugs when they are sprayed directly. (A recent laboratory experiment showed that rubbing alcohol killed approximately half of the bed bugs.)
However, we don’t recommend using rubbing alcohol to treat your bed bug problem at home. If inhaled, it poses a health risk, and if swallowed, it is hazardous.
Rubbing alcohol is particularly flammable, in addition to posing health concerns.
After dousing her apartment in rubbing alcohol to get rid of bed bugs, a Cincinnati woman set fire to a multi-unit home in December of last year.
The nearby flame caught fire, destroying $250,000 in property and injuring three individuals for smoke inhalation. Ten others were left homeless as a result of the incident.
Another Cincinnati resident, this time a teenage boy, set fire to his apartment building in an attempt to kill bed bugs only one month before.
However, both of these blazes fortunately did not result in serious injuries or fatalities.
Bed bug-related fires aren’t uncommon, and you may be surprised by that. Because of a lack of bed bug education, these incidents have occurred all over the country.
FREEZE BED BUGS TO DEATH
Is it possible for bed bugs to die from freezing? Yes, bed bugs will perish if they are exposed to temperatures of 0 degrees Fahrenheit or lower for four days in a row. Yet, when you do it yourself, it doesn’t mean that it will work.
Freezing bed bugs to death is neither convenient nor very successful for homeowners.
Your freezer isn’t big enough to hold your mattress or furniture. This implies that treating your bed, sofa, and other areas where you lounge is not feasible since bed bugs are more likely to gather in these areas.
Worse yet, your garments and books, for example, might not be able to be frozen.
By going into a hibernation-like state, bed bugs can survive at temperatures as low as just a few degrees above zero.
Bed bugs re-animate once you remove the items from the freezer if your home freezer isn’t cold enough. (There’s also the ick factor of putting live bugs near your frozen food.)