Bed Bug Treatment

Pictures of bed bugs #1

While this is fairly close to actual size,in our experience the egg and first instar nymphs can be as much as half the size represented here.

Most of the available pesticides are not good for bed bug treatments. Even the professional pesticides.  Most bed bugs alive today are descendants of bed bugs that have been treated with some very harsh pesticides including DDT...and survived.

We have had our best bed bug treatment results, so far, with Transport GHP. It combines a non-repellant pesticide with a mildly repellent pesticide. It is formulated as a wettable powder. This allows for larger droplet sizes of the pesticide to form on treated surfaces. It is about as toxic as your average household cleanser to humans.

The combination of two different kinds of pesticides along with the formulation type, make Transport GHP a highly effective bed bug treatment.  Transport GHP is labeled for professional use only.

Although bed bugs like to nest on the bed, within ten feet of the bed, or on or near other areas where you site or spend long periods of time.  They can nest anywhere.  So if you want to kill bed bugs - you have to perform thorough bed bug treatments.  We carefully treat the frame of the bed, the area under the bed, the baseboards, and nearby furniture.  We spray the walls wherever the bed comes close to touching the wall.  We spray hallways and door frames to keep the bed bugs from migrating through a home.

Our bed bug treatment areas include where you store your vacuum and and any luggage - often the source for the infestation.  We also want to treat other upholstered furniture and baseboards throughout your home.

If you want to kill bed bugs, you really want to clean out form under your bed and get rid of any clutter from your bed room - this makes for better, more thorough bed bug treatments and it removes places for them to hide near where you sleep.

We treat live bed bugs and mattress sides with Best Yet by Cedarcide.  It does kill bed bugs very quickly, but it does not have good residual.  So we do not recommend treating your entire bed with it, much less your entire house.  While it does contain natural ingredients, it also contains some not natural ingredients, and the smell of the cedar can be quite overwhelming if not used sparingly.

We recommend that all people who are interested in bed bug treatments invest in good quality, top of the line mattress and box spring encasements.  Bed bugs do in fact nest inside beds.  Encasements will prevent that.  We only know of two brands that really work. One of which we sell to our customers at a very nice discount from their advertised price.  Yes, off brands at department stores are cheaper - but they don't work - so why pay twice?

Also, Climb-Ups and similar deterrents when placed properly under your bed posts can prevent bed bugs from crawling on or off your bed, can kill bed bugs as they try to do so, and will indicate if they were trying to get on or off your bed - how awesome is that? We sell them to our bed bug customers at or near our cost.

Finally, you do need to do something with your clothes, shoes, pillows, kids toys, and other personal items that smell like humans. Why?  Bed bugs are attracted to us by our heat, by our exhalations, and by our smell. The smell of our blood and our pheromones (kairomones).

Most people throw away a lot of stuff, take a bunch of clothes to the dry cleaner, and take loads of stuff to the laundromat.

Your options:  Dry cleaning - expensive, and what if the dry cleaner has bed bugs? Heating items in driers - if your dryer has a sanitation mode- great, or if you use a commercial drier, 30 minutes at 130 should do nicely.  Washing alone will not kill bed bugs.  Freezing - if you can get the items to zero degrees and hold it their for say, 30 days. Your dishwasher does not get hot enough to kill bed bugs - but may dislodge hidden eggs from diswasher safe items.

A professional quality steam machine will put out steam over 130 degrees and should be sufficient for most things that can withstand the heat, we recommend the use of steamers but caution that steam alone will probably not kill all the bed bugs in your home.

Nuvan Prostrips, which are registered for use by licensed pest professionals give off a powerful pesticide fume and makes a great bed bug treatment for killing bed bugs in an airtight enclosure.  They work very nicely when you fill large, top quality, heavy duty lawn and leaf bags with clothes and other items and seal them with zip ties and duct tape.  These bags should be stored somewhere heated so the bed bugs stay active and somewhere no one sleeps or spends a great deal of time - in case the bags are not as air tight as you hoped - no one wants to breathe fumes.  They should kill bed bugs within 60 days but thought should be given to keep the items in the bags for up to the 4 months the strips are active.

The enclosures where prostrips are used should be opened outside in a well ventilated area.