Why Does Heat Kill Bed Bugs Better Than Sprays
Hi, I'm Bill Hillmeyer, Owner and Operator of Total Shield LLC. I have direct and personal experience with bed bugs and perhaps that's what sets Total Shield LLC apart from the rest. You see we had bed bugs at our home and we were just like everyone else, we had no idea what to do about them. In addition we had neighbors who were attached to our home and brought in roaches and let's not mention the mouse infestation due to being a 100 year old home. So we did what everyone else did, call the "professionals"!
Well long story short, we called the "PROS", they came, they sprayed, and sprayed, and we called over and over and they came and sprayed again and again. In total 5 whole house spray treatments, some traps, tons of preparations and vacuuming all the while we still had bed bugs, roaches and mice. After 6 months we had enough. Plus, now we were out $1500 dollars, and 6 months of our lives were spent working our butts off, vacuuming and cleaning, worrying, and wondering what in the world do we do? I will tell your first hand, the Anxiety and Sleepless nights were agonizing. Not to mention the affect it had on our children.
This picture of my son, after 6 months of bed bugs, he looks like he has chicken pox but that's the result of bed bugs and says it all. Guess what the worst feeling in the world is? Seeing your children suffer and not knowing at all what to do!
This is nothing short of a nightmare that seemingly doesn't end!
This is why we started Total Shield LLC years ago, because the other companies just couldn't get the job done. Our first treatment then was our own home and that nightmare was over in just 15 hours. Typically it takes just 8 hours now for most homes and larger homes may take upwards of 12 hours to complete a service. But when it's done, no more bugs or sleepless nights!
So that brings us to a very simple question, why does heat kill bed bugs better than sprays?
The question has a very long answer in theory but can be answered here in short.
Time.
The answer is time. Bed bugs have developed a very unique ability to live in very adverse conditions and especially because they can adapt very quickly to chemicals that are used against them. Studies from Virginia Tech and Columbia Universities found that bed bugs can create a resistance to chemicals in just one generation. That's just two weeks by the way. If an adult bed bug is sprayed and dies but laid eggs before it fell over dead, the newly hatched bed bug may be as much as 75% less likely to die from the same chemical that killed the parent. They lay between 2-5 eggs a day from each pregnant female! So that one generation not only means that if a population of beg bugs is sprayed and does not die off completely then the next batch in 2 weeks will be 75 percent less likely to succumb to the chemical treatment applied.
But it is not just chemical adaptability (resistance) that makes chemical applications ineffective. The bed bug only feeds once a week (roughly once every 5-7 days). They don't forage like ants do either. They simply get a meal from you and me, and then go back to their hiding place which could be as far away as 20-30 feet, possibly deep in a crevice somewhere. Likely where sprays haven't been applied or cannot be applied. This means that if a room or home is sprayed, and some of the bugs just had a blood meal, it may take 5-7 days before it makes its way back to the hose, AND goes across the chemical treatment. Then, depending on what chemical was applied, it takes anywhere from 3-5 days (and with some treatments 7-11 days) to actually kill that bug. In the meantime the females are laying eggs and the nymphs are shedding their skins and growing. Each female per week could have as little as 28-50 eggs in two weeks!
But wait, what does that mean? All those days are confusing!
It means that when a home is sprayed for bed bugs, some may die right away. And some may take anywhere from 2-3 weeks to die because of the time it went across the chemical to the time it finally dies. Then all the while it is laying eggs that results is a new population that may be 75 percent less likely to die. That all happens the first 2-3 weeks after sprays start. It turns into a vicious cycle and just when you think, oh I think they're gone, boom you see them again just weeks later.
Sometimes sprays work, but at the very least it is a minimum of a month and a half from treatment start to end. If it doesn't work, then you spend thousands of dollars, months or even years in many cases, just constantly dealing with bed bugs. Plus the preparations can be incredibly difficult. Washing and drying clothes, securing all linens and treated clothing in bags and totes. Cleaning and vacuuming and worrying!
So why does heat work better then?
Same answer. Time.
But also with time being a major factor, bed bugs succumb to heat starting at just 113 degrees. They die in 8 minutes at 122 degrees and at 130 and higher, they die in seconds!
You see when a bed bug, at any stage of their life (egg - nymph - adult) is subjected to heat above kill temperatures, they have their waxy exoskeleton wicked away. This outer protective shell is the only thing that holds their moisture in their bodies. At high temperatures they literally just dehydrate and at 130 degrees and higher that happens very fast. But, it also kills the eggs! Basically most common household insects can withstand those temperatures and bed bugs are especially susceptible. Plus it doesn't matter where they are. At Total Shield LLC we heat the entire home to kill temperatures and hold it long enough that the heat gets in, on and around everything. We saturate the home with heat. This in turn kills all bed bugs and their eggs, no matter how many, in one shot, no matter where they are. Deep in cracks and crevices, no problem, in clothes and drawers, no problem, in the ceiling, no problem.
Take a look at this video where a home had 100's of thousands (perhaps millions) of bed bugs. In just 5 minutes they were almost completely dead. After the 4 hours of holding at that temp the home was eradicated in the just the one treatment. Without having to remove or discard any belongings or furniture. The home had previously been sprayed with chemicals for months on end!
So in conclusion the reason heat works is because bed bugs (or any living organism) has a thermal death point that they cannot get resistant. Bed bugs happen to be in an acceptable temperature range that allows us to use heat, without damaging the home or its' belongings and get a 100% efficacy rate with just one treatment. Because they die all at once, with their eggs, there are none left to hatch weeks later, there are none left to lay eggs and the party is basically over for them.
At Total Shield we have been taught by Dr. Michael Linford, PhD Entomologist, who invented the heat process to kill bed bugs, and many other household insects and organisms. Everyone today that does heat treatments uses his methods and procedures, or a form of it. If anyone or any company today has said "we tried heat and it didn't work" this is because they didn't do it right. Period.
Heat works better, faster, and safer with fewer preparations and at Total Shield LLC, we've proven it over and over, starting with our own home many, many years ago.