Bedbugs are terrible. Suppose you have bed bugs on your bed, sofa, pillows, and even on your plushies. In that case, there is a big chance that it is feeding off of your blood at any given time, whenever you are lying down on your bed or hugging your teddy bears at night. Bedbug bites are itchy, and it can be frustrating because it is a bit harder to get rid of bed bugs than other pests.
That is why there are a lot of methods that are being used to get rid of these pests in our living spaces. These have varying degrees of success, but heat treatment and hybrid pest control are the most successful. Heat treatment is the most effective method in getting rid of bedbugs. Still, the catch is: it’s not affordable to everyone. It is known as the most effective yet most expensive method to get rid of bedbugs in our house.
Thankfully, hybrid pest control is here to save the day. You can still use heat treatment, as it is still the most effective, but you can also use other methods in conjunction with heat treatment, and it will make your house bedbugs-free for life.
We’re sure you are excited to learn how this works and why heat treatment is expensive, so let’s dig deeper for answers.
Bedbugs at a Glance
Bedbugs, scientifically known as Cimex lectularius, are the most common parasite infecting humans. It is found worldwide and thrives in temperate climates with an optimum temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27°C). As the name suggests, they live by sucking blood from humans. They do not fly or jump but can move very fast within their environment and if expected to, climb onto a bed and get on the sheets to reach the host.
The females of this species lay around 5-7 eggs per day, and these hatched nymphs will start feeding immediately once out of their eggshells. The life cycle of these bugs spans about 10-12 months, during which they keep on molting and shedding their exoskeletons to grow bigger. They hide during the daytime and usually come out at night to suck blood.
Heat Treatment in a Nutshell
There are several treatments for killing bed bugs. Still, heat treatment is one of the most effective methods that any infested house can opt for. Bed bugs are killed at all stages starting from nymphs, adults, their eggs & pupae by high-temperature exposure (+122°C) for around 2 hours in a well-ventilated room which is heated up to this level. Although effectiveness is guaranteed when it comes to heat treatment, there are certain limitations or drawbacks associated with it.
Drawbacks and Limitations
As mentioned, there are drawbacks and limitations associated with heat treatment. For one, the whole house needs to be simultaneously treated to kill all insects hiding in walls & other inaccessible areas. It can take anywhere between 3 days to 4 weeks for the entire house to be rid of bugs.
It is an expensive option requiring special equipment, labor & chemicals to maintain a high temperature. This drawback prevents families from getting regular heat treatments needed for their homes because it is not affordable. Sure, you can afford it once or twice, but regularly doing this can drain your wallets.
Although this treatment is known to eradicate all life stages of bed bugs, including eggs, they can survive low humidity levels, another complementary method that ensures a good level of humidity in the air needs to be used simultaneously.
The heat generation also affects furniture, paper products, and other infested items, so these will need replacement during or after the treatment. Sometimes there are chances that heat-treated items might still harbor live bugs even after treatment, so they cannot be reused until they are cleared through further chemical treatments. This again makes the whole process very costly and time-consuming.
To ensure that no bugs are left behind, you need to leave the house vacant for around 1 week after the treatment before occupying the place again, making this method unsuitable if you have young kids or old parents back home.
The success rate of heat treatment is 99%. Still, it can be an uphill task to convince your insurance company to pay up in case they find any bed bugs during subsequent inspections, even though these are killed through other treatments. Moreover, getting rid of them from furniture & belongings is a more giant headache as possible infestation points are too many including sofa, chairs, beds, etc.
All these limitations make bed bug heat treatment expensive but what adds fuel to the fire is the lack of knowledge among people about bedbug biology, which forces them to go for heat treatment as their first choice of control method. This again results in a high cost of bedbug control as multiple treatments are required to achieve complete elimination.
However, staying away from heat treatment will not be the answer either because it is one of the most effective methods available. Still, you need to know how hybrid pest control can help cut down costs without compromising your quality of life.
How Hybrid Pest Control Can Save Your House
Hybrid Pest Control is a concept that comprises using different methods simultaneously. It has been scientifically proven that using multiple treatments enhances the treatment success rate without adverse effects on human health and the environment.
The most helpful example of this approach is to use heat treatment and liquid chemical treatments, which can help kill bed bugs effectively and economically. Moreover, applying liquid pesticides will further facilitate reaching into cracks, crevices, and wall voids where heat alone cannot penetrate to kill hidden bugs or eggs.
To make heat treatment affordable, you need to focus more on bedbug biology and various points from where they spread to create awareness about its early detection and control measures. Once you become well versed with bedbug biology, you can apply different control measures in a complementary manner which can help cut down the cost of bed bug control.
Effective bed bug control practice also includes taking advantage of the latest technological advancements in pest control to manage costly procedures more efficiently. The same can be easily achieved with a hybrid pest control approach that ensures the complete elimination of bed bugs from your premises within a specified time frame without compromising the quality of life.
Hybrid pest control is much better than heat treatment because it not only saves money by cutting down operational costs but also ensures a good level of safety for your family and pets. The application of liquid pesticides will further facilitate reaching into cracks, crevices, and wall voids where heat alone cannot penetrate to kill hidden bugs or eggs.
So you see that it is possible to make heat treatment affordable. Still, your focus should be on creating awareness about bed bug biology and properly implementing early detection and control measures by taking advantage of the latest technological advancements.
Final Thoughts
Heat treatment is one of the most effective methods to eliminate any traces of bed bugs in our living spaces. However, it can be expensive and therefore is not a wise choice to maintain regularly. That is why hybrid pest control is much better to use than heat treatment alone. Hybrid pest control is as effective as heat treatment, but it is much more affordable compared to heat treatment.
Staying true to its name, Hybrid Pest Control (not the method) is a company that can help you deal with bedbugs that make your lifestyle uncomfortable in your house. With their comprehensive and effective ways, such as hybrid pest control, you can say goodbye to bedbugs without any regrets in terms of spending on it. They also offer various pest control services that cater to many different types of pests, both residential and commercial.
