Considering what information Bed Bug hawkers and MLM’s are trying to peddle, I am certain you can use these words along with the science. Dry ice has high levels of CO2 and bed bugs are attracted to CO2, then the cold temperature of the dry ice, as well as lack of oxygen kills the bed bugs.
Several factors have come together which has enabled bed bugs to re-establish themselves in the US where they were irradiated 100 years earlier, as widespread and persistent pests in our homes, hotels and motels, even very clean homes and high-end swanky hotels. One reason bed bug have made a comeback is that many major pesticides, such as DDT, have been banned worldwide. That’s a good thing because of the harm DDT and other chemicals were doing to the environment, but it opened a window for bed bugs to return and thrive.
Another reason is the new global nature of the world community. That is, it’s much more common for people to travel frequently from country to country. Bed bugs easily hitch a ride in the luggage of travelers, and those travelers infect hotels and motels. From there, it’s a short hop to the average home.
So don’t feel bad, or as if you are doing something wrong if you end up with bed bugs in your home. It’s easy for these critters to sneak a ride on just about anything — if you stay in a hotel, for example, you may bring bed bug eggs back with you in your clothing or luggage. They’ll soon be in your bed.
Bed bugs are an ancient enemy of man. They are mentioned in Greek writing as early as 400 B.C.! Back then, bed bugs were actually considered valuable as a treatment for snake bites! Bed bugs are first mentioned in Germany in the 11th Century, in France in the 13th Century, and so on up until the present day.
When DDT was introduced in the 1940s, bed bugs virtually disappeared from our lives. DDT was banned in Europe in the 1960s and 1972 in the United States.
Scientist call bed bugs Cimicidae, a term used to refer to bugs that feed off the blood of warm blooded animals, including human beings. Adult bed bugs are reddish-brown, flattened, oval and wingless. The adults ate about 4 to 5 mm in width and 1.5 to 3 mm wide.
So that’s just a short history primer on bed bugs. The more you know about your enemy, the better equipped you will be to deal with this pest if it invades your home. The bottom line is, bed bugs have a long, ancient association with human beings. We have been trying to get rid of them for centuries. That means nobody should feel somehow unclean or inadequate if they find this menace in their homes. You can get rid of them — but you need persistence, a strategy and knowledge to eliminate them and keep them from coming back.
Bed bugs bite exposed skin and leave behind small, red, itchy welts. The good news? Bed bugs are not generally thought to transmit any diseases. The damage is more emotional than physical. Bed bug bite treatment cures range from eating garlic to corticosteroids. The CDC does say that bites from bed bugs can be treated with topical emollients or corticosteroids. You can also take an oral antihistamine. If you are exposed, you may consider treating your home as well.
You can make your own bed bugs traps utilizing CO2 or dried ice, it is easy enough to find the directions of how to build one on the Web.
We've already talked about freezing bed bugs. But heating them to death is most likely a much better choice. The concept would be to heat an infested space to a temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit for a minimum of 20 to thirty minutes. Professionals provide this service, but you might have the ability to do it yourself in that event, you lease an industrial sized heater. In 70o F. conditions if 40 bed bugs are placed in a room in 6 months their population would reach 5905. The only food of the bed bug is blood! But, they are still only pests and, unlike ticks and mosquitoes, they are not known to cause diseases.
There are at least 92 known species of bed bugs and their relatives in the world, including the tropical bed bug Cimex hemipterus found in Florida feeding on people, chickens and bats, the bat bug (Cimex adjunctas and Cimex pilosellus), the swallow bug (Oeciaus vicaruis) and the swift bug (Cimexopsis nycatalis).
The hemiptera order includes a number of widely different forms from aphids to water scorpions, but the vast majority are suckers of plant sap. Many species are carriers of important plant diseases. A few species, however, in the family Cimicidae and related families are suckers of mammalian and bird blood and it is to the named family that the bed bug belongs. Lexicologists (those who write dictionaries) do not put a space between “bed” and “bug, but entomologists do.” Their bites (or welts) have been misdiagnosed by dermatologists as flea bites or scabies. They are prolific breeders. Note: Bed bugs only troubled rich people in ancient times because they had the warmest homes, but bed bugs are very sensitive to a blast of heat as was earlier mentioned.
Bed bugs are spreading because they practiced traumatic insemination; males slice through the intact female abdomen to deposit their sperm directly into the body cavity of the female. Males and nymphs secrete hormones that label them as sexually unsuitable to prevent injury. Fertilized females avoid the clusters or aggregations of other bed bugs to avoid further injury. These fertilized females generally leave to find a safer place to lay their eggs; so you guessed it, it is those pesky boys you have to look out for. Bed bugs are basically resistant to all currently registered pesticide poisons Only about half of the population notices the first bed bug bite and many bite reactions may be delayed for 10 days. People over 65 either are suspected to react less or are not likely to be bitten. One survey found 42% of those over 65 reported no bites or bite reactions despite the ongoing presence of bed bugs. Bed bugs cannot detect a host of greater distances than 5 feet.
Bed bugs are oval, flat insects of a straw-colored to a rich reddish-brown mahogany color, which has led to their being called Mahogany Flats. The legs are well developed and they can crawl up vertical surfaces of wood, paper and plaster and, with difficulty, dirty glass. Their upper bodies are crinkly, like paper, and covered with short, golden hairs. Basically wingless, their forewings are represented by small vestigial scales, the hind wings are non-existent. Their antennae are easily seen and the first two segments appear to be angled. Their compound eyes are also visible and cone-like consisting of about 30 facets. Males may easily be distinguished from females by the end of the abdomen terminating in a rather sharp flap-like segment, while in the females they are rounded. Bed bugs have a bad odor caused by an oily liquid they emit, so routinely clean with solutions containing alcohol and make certain there is no peppermint because this attracts bed bugs.
Bed bugs are extremely shy and wary; at night they head for the warmth and odors of the nearest human being. A bed bug can feed nonstop for 10 minutes or more, consuming up to 6 times its own weight of your blood, but you will seldom know you are being bitten. After they have fed, they look bloated and have been described as “animated blood drops”.
Bed bugs are not known officially to transmit any diseases. It is, however, possible for them to cause welts and to spread blood infesting disease organisms by biting and to induce nervous and digestive disorders and allergic reactions, especially in sensitive people. In lab tests they have been found to carry the causative agents for anthrax, plague, typhus, tularemia, yellow fever and relapsing fever. Children become listless and pale when they are forced to live in badly infested homes. They give a distinct odor from glands on their thorax. The odd smell has been described as musty, sickening sweet and/or like crushed raspberries and/or like soda pop syrup. They feed mainly on human blood, but they also will suck blood from other animals, birds, and bats and could be vectors of disease organisms from anything they fed on before you! Nymphs usually finish feeding within three minutes, adults take 10 - 15 minutes; they can easily wait 6 - 7 months between feedings! In fact, bed bugs can live up to a year without food and 18 months without oxygen, which means that the best kill with CO2 is with the freezing and not necessarily the lack of oxygen.
The bed bug’s adaptation to humans is so complete their bites are nearly painless. In the United States bed bugs have been one of the most important urban human pests; they were disliked more than cockroaches, but DDT so effectively controlled bed bugs in the late 1940s that when it was banned, it took them several years but they are just making a comeback lately. You can see them by using a hand lens and a bright light. As stated, bed bugs can be gray or brown in color, changing to dark reddish-brown after feeding, oval or elliptical shape, thin and very flat. They can crawl slowly more than 100 feet to obtain a blood meal. They have a bird like beak with mouthparts that saw through the skin and a proboscis with two tubes; one injects saliva, anticoagulants and pain killers and the other sucks the blood. Some people are very sensitive to bites from bed bugs and their bites may swell up considerably, scratching causes sores to become infected, some say it is very effective to wash the bitten area with a disinfectant hand cleaner. Also something that is very good is the use of a natural antiviral, antibacterial and antibacterial product called OSH Silver, this is not a Colloidal Silver. OSH Silver, helps to eliminate virus and bacteria from the body.
In the early stages of an infestation, the bed bugs will only be found around the seams and tufts of the mattress. Then, as time passes, they move out and inhabit greater and greater areas. Bed bugs prefer to gather on rough surfaces and prefer wood or paper surfaces for harborages. Under normal conditions, bed bugs feed on sleeping victims at night. Their flat bodies allow them to hide virtually anywhere in dark, tight cracks and mattress seams and under buttons and in holes and voids in beds and walls, bedside furniture, ticking and/or seams of upholstered furniture, electrical outlets, dressers, wall boards, door and window frames, behind pictures and baseboards, under loose wall paper, where beds are joined around slats, around mattress tufts, in bed clothes, hollow bed frames, railings, headboards, under the tack boards of wall-to-wall carpeting, and in rooms near host sleeping areas. Look in any place that offers darkness, isolation and/or protection, e.g., behind wallpaper, mop boards, drapery folds, unused appliances, mattresses, stoves, behind electrical switch plates, in clothing, under carpeting and tack strips, etc. Inspect at night with a red light only. Pull out drawers and carefully inspect inside; check mattress seams and buttons; disassemble the bed; check baseboards, upholstered furniture, behind wall coverings. Vacuum all these areas thoroughly and routinely wash the bed and all bed linen with borax. They normally do not travel far from the host. The sleeping area is usually the center of a bed bug infestation. All dark, restricted cracks and crevices are potential harborage. Black or brown spots of dried excrement indicate their presence.
Caulk and seal all cracks and crevices. Vacuum mattresses, walls, floors, carpet, drapes, etc. and clean frequently especially with diluted Safe Solutions, Inc. enzyme cleaner with or without peppermint. Change bed linen daily or at least weekly; launder (120o F. minimum) with borax. Dust lightly with Safe Solutions, Inc. food-grade DE. Bed bugs can only crawl, so move the bed away from the wall and further protect your bed with talc or duct tape, sticky side up, double-sided sticky tape or silicone tape around the legs of the bed and us petroleum jelly smeared on the floor around the bed posts and on the bed legs above the sticky tape.
Vacuuming on a daily basis all of their hiding areas removes bed bugs, their eggs and the dirt that provides them shelter.
Wash all bed linens at least weekly in borax. Dust all drawers, electric outlets and cracks with talcum.
Vacuum or steam clean mattresses or spray and clean with diluted Safe Solutions, Inc. enzyme cleaners and/or borax to remove bed bugs and their debris.
Tighten, caulk, and screen routes of entry. Lightly dust with talcum powder or Comet® or food-grade DE.
Store mattresses in protected areas when not in use. Caulk all cracks and crevices. Re-glue loose wallpaper.
When not in use, do not fold mattresses on cots to prevent mouse nesting. Fumigate the mattresses with carbon dioxide before using them.
Open protective harborage inside, such as wall voids and spray with Not Nice to Bugs®, diluted enzyme cleaners, food-grade DE and/or borax, or tighten it up completely.
Put silica aerogel dust or food-grade diatomaceous earth (DE) in wall voids as a last resort.
Open and vacuum cabinets and drawers; this also discourages rodent nesting.
Make crawl spaces accessible to light and air circulation, inaccessible to rodents.
Routinely clean with diluted Safe Solutions, Inc. enzyme cleaners and borax.
Move all debris and wood piles away from the structure.
Keep vegetation and weeds and shrubs away from the foundation.
Eliminate all garbage and remove rodent pests.
Remember: The thermal death point for the common bedbug is only 111o F. to 113o F.; even lower temperatures of 97o F. to 99o F. will kill large numbers of these bugs. Raising the temperature to 140o F. for an hour or 120o F. for several hours should eliminate most infestations. Use a hair dryer to heat or a steam cleaner to steam the cracks and crevices of the mattress weekly using only tap water or put the entire mattress in a sauna at 170o F. Always-Always-Always, put dry ice under your bed every night until you are certain all infestation is removed.
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