Destruction of bedbugs using high and low temperatures. At what temperature do bed bugs and their eggs die? At what temperature do bed bugs die?

It causes a lot of inconvenience. They feed on the blood of humans and domestic animals and leave painful bite marks. The climatic comfort zone of parasites is as close as possible to that of humans, which greatly complicates the problem of getting rid of them. Nature has not endowed them with absolute resistance, and therefore knowledge of the temperature at which bedbugs die has made it possible to effective fight with them.

Dependence of life cycle on ambient temperature

The most favorable range for insect life is within the range of +20° - +25°C. This is standard room temperature. In such conditions they can live and develop for a year. The time it takes for a larva to mature and become an adult is 1.5 months.

Note!
A decrease in temperature level is more easily tolerated, although in this case the ripening time increases significantly and the ability to:
after the thermometer drops below +20°C, the insect becomes less mobile and reduces its diet;
at +15°C and below, female bedbugs stop laying eggs;
the embryo will stop developing at +10°C;
at temperatures below +5°C, bedbugs and bedbugs fall into a state of suspended animation.

Application of high temperatures
In order to freeze efficiently, these conditions must persist for a long time. Below is the exposure time and the temperature at which bedbugs die:
48 hours at minus 20°C;
80 hours at minus 16°C.

Interesting!
In the northern regions, to freeze bedbugs, residents just need to open the windows and doors in the house and leave for at least 2 hours.

You can destroy bedbugs using the method of exposure to critical temperatures either independently or with the help of specialized services. Before making the final choice of a method, you need to familiarize yourself with its positive and negative sides.
Advantages of the temperature method:
In contrast to the advantages, the disadvantages of the method should also be taken into account:
High cost special equipment, with the help of which the required temperatures will be ensured.
Material damage. Too cold and hot air will negatively affect the decoration of the building and interior items.
Favorite: bed, mattresses, baseboard. Therefore, difficulties arise when working with dense fabrics and hard-to-reach places. The steam flow may not be enough to completely.

Thus, knowledge at what temperature bedbugs die is extremely necessary for high-quality getting rid of bedbugs using the temperature method. It is also necessary to evaluate the capabilities of the equipment used and the existing operating conditions. Getting rid of adult individuals cannot be a full guarantee of victory over pests, therefore the chosen method should have the same effectiveness in combating bedbugs in any phase of the life cycle. You can trust specialized services, who use safe insecticides and, if necessary, temperature effects -.

Bedbugs are unusually resilient insects. They can long time do without food, are resistant to mechanical stress and very quickly develop immunity to insecticides. Destruction of bedbug eggs is generally a rather complicated process, since their protective shell is very dense. These types of household pests need to be dealt with urgently.

Optimal conditions for the life and development of bedbugs

There is an opinion that bed bugs can only be found in unsanitary rooms, but this is far from true. Each apartment has many secluded places for establishing a nest, quiet reproduction and laying eggs. An adult cannot tolerate bright light And strong humidity. Ideal temperature for bedbugs 20 to 30 degrees Celsius. In a residential apartment, this regime is maintained throughout the year. Therefore, bedbugs feel great at any time of the year. Reproduction occurs extremely quickly. One female bug gives birth to up to five hundred young individuals. The population of bedbugs will increase under certain conditions in the apartment:

temperature range from 20 to 30 degrees Celsius;
no temperature changes;
many secluded places;
presence of a food source (human, warm-blooded animals).

How long do bedbugs live in ideal conditions?

On average, bed bugs live from 10 to 12 months. The lifespan of bedbugs that live in cooler rooms ranges from 14 to 15 months. Those living in rooms where the temperature is about 30 degrees have a shorter life expectancy - from 8 to 10 months. But this temperature regime contributes to the rapid development of eggs and larvae, as well as an increase in the total clutch of eggs.

Hence, having enough food, bedbugs live long enough and breed in the apartment. If there is no food for several weeks, the adults will survive, but the nymphs will die.

Freezing out bedbugs

At what sub-zero temperature do bedbug eggs die?

Heat treatment

Exterminators also use steam generators; a household steam generator can be used independently. The most effective and safe way to disinfect is to treat things and all objects in the apartment with hot water steam.

When working with a steam generator, you must follow safety precautions:

Do not direct hot steam at yourself or other people;
You should not treat fabrics that can become unusable due to high temperatures;
avoid contact of steam with plastic, as this will lead to irreversible deformation;
Do not use the steam generator at maximum humidity, this can lead to damage to the furniture.

In addition, you can use steam iron. When washing clothes in an automatic machine, they are processed at temperature conditions 60 degrees and above.

At what temperature do bedbug eggs die?

The appearance of bedbugs in the house is an unpleasant, but easily solvable problem. Most effective means Heat treatment has long been considered to combat this harmful insect. Let's try to figure out at what temperature bedbugs and their larvae die.

Heat treatment can compete with chemical disinfestation only at the early stage of infestation of an apartment. If bedbugs have infested the entire apartment, every corner and have stopped hiding during the daytime, you will no longer be able to “cure” your property on your own. However, timely measures to eliminate bedbugs will help avoid serious consequences.

In order for our actions to bring the desired result, let's talk about heat treatment in more detail.

Contrary to our expectations, adult bedbugs have enviable resistance to temperatures from -10 to -15 degrees. They can survive in such conditions for more than 24 hours. However, if the mercury drops to -17 degrees, the process of neutralization will noticeably accelerate. Ideally for quick disposal to prevent bedbugs, you need to create a temperature in the room of -30 degrees (the insects will die in 40-50 minutes), but after this there is a risk of being left without heating and household appliances.

Bedbug eggs have even more interesting feature. Their shell can keep the fruit intact during short-term air cooling to -35 degrees. In addition, they are able to maintain the body’s performance for one and a half months at a temperature environment minus 7 degrees. Of course, at this time the embryo remains in a frozen state and does not develop.

The scalding air flow has the same effect on pest eggs. The steam melts the shell, instantly destroying the embryo itself.

Steam treatment is much more effective than chemical baiting of “settlers,” if only because many insects develop immunity to certain poisons as they develop. By carrying out disinfestation in the house, you, without suspecting it, can help the insect organism adapt to “renewed” living conditions. Such jokes won't work with steam. No amount of protection or a strong immune system will save the bug from the “killer” stream.

Important! Do not use the kettle as a bedbug killer. This method hazardous to health and ineffective. In addition, you can significantly damage the upholstery of your furniture.

Eliminating pests with a steam generator: important tips

Procedure:

Knowing at what temperature bedbugs and their larvae die, set up your device. Set the tempo to 60 degrees or higher;
Wrap the end of the nozzle with a cloth - this will expand the radius of action of the steam generator;

Rewards for hard and conscientious work it may also not follow: it is unlikely that it will be possible to kill all living individuals. The surviving bugs hiding in unnoticeable crevices will soon bear offspring again.

Basic rules for freezing

As we have already said, instant neutralization of insects occurs at a temperature of -35 degrees. However, it is impossible to achieve such conditions in residential premises. IN apartment building no one will allow you to drain the water from heating system, because then not only the bedbugs will freeze, but also the neighbors. This should also not be practiced in private homes: repairs to the entire premises will become unusable, household appliances If they fail, restoring heat in the house will also be problematic. In addition, there is no guarantee that bedbugs will escape from such fearless measures.

Freezing is effectively carried out where there is no heating system: in garages, sheds, cottages, in other words: where there is no damage to the pipes.

Because V winter time years, bedbugs live mainly in warm city apartments, and not in frozen garages, it is not advisable to cool the room.

If you take all the furniture, mattresses, carpets and clothes out into the cold from an infected apartment, the bedbugs that have settled there will die in 2-3 hours

This measure also does not provide any guarantees, but is most effective at the early stage of infection.

Let's talk about safety

When carrying out heat treatment, one cannot fail to mention safety precautions.

You cannot check the temperature of the steam on the skin (your own and your neighbor’s);
wooden, varnish and some fabric surfaces are afraid of hot air; take this fact into account when carrying out work;
deformation of plastic begins at temperatures from +70 degrees Celsius, so if possible, avoid contact of the steam generator nozzle with plastic surfaces;
When adjusting the steam humidity, do not increase the value above the 30 percent mark.

One of the oldest ways The fight against bed bugs is the so-called freezing. This method has been used in cities and villages for centuries and is extremely reliable. In this article we will tell you what advantages and disadvantages this method has.

Mechanism of action

As you know, all insects are cold-blooded creatures. Their body temperature is not constant and depends on the environment. Cold-bloodedness provides insects with a slow metabolism, so they can go without food for a long time.

Freezing

If you decide to use freezing methods, then first of all you need to wait for suitable weather. As soon as the thermometer shows below -15, you can begin disinfestation.

First of all, you need to remove all the furniture from the house, especially the one on which you and your household sleep. In the house itself, you need to open all the windows, and if possible, the doors, so that the room freezes properly. 2-3 days after the start of disinfestation, you can shake out dead insects from the furniture and bring it back. At the right temperature The bedbug freezing method kills 100% of insects and their offspring.

Advantages

In severe frost, bed bugs die with a guaranteed result, which even the most effective and expensive insecticide will not provide. In addition, freezing does not require any financial costs - for three months a year you are provided with absolutely free frost. This is where the advantages of the method end and the disadvantages begin.

Flaws

The first and main disadvantage of freezing is the weather. Old grandparents often complain that winters are not what they used to be - temperatures below -20 are quite rare and often only occur on two or three days a year. IN middle lane Russia average temperature in winter it is -8-12 degrees. Of course, you can freeze bedbugs at this temperature, but few people can leave home for several weeks.

However, not everyone can live away from home for two or three days. During the freezing period, you will have to ask to visit family or friends, move to the country, live in a hotel or rented apartment. Since not everyone has such capabilities, this greatly limits the use of this method.

Alas, when low temperatures Oh, not only bedbugs freeze, but also water in household communications. Even in a private home, the use of freezing is associated with certain hassles - you need to drain the water from all heating radiators and drain the drain. In an apartment building this is not always possible, especially in older buildings. And if in some cases the heating can still be turned off, then this trick will not work with the sewer system - severe frost can cause a real accident in the water supply of the entire house and huge losses. And this is not counting such little things in life as the icy floors of the upstairs neighbors. For this reason, freezing is rarely used for pest control of residential buildings. Most often it is used in garages, chicken coops and other industrial facilities.

Another disadvantage is... thieves. By taking your furniture outside and leaving your house with the windows wide open for several days, you risk facing the banal theft of your things.

Results

The freezing method is an effective means of killing bedbugs quickly and cheaply. However, a number of restrictions make it available only for processing technical premises, and even then not always - the weather imposes certain restrictions. However, this does not mean that this method cannot be used at all.

When using chemical methods pest control, many are faced with what they need, clothes and mattresses. No one wants to do this, even when using unscented products - especially in the case of children's clothing and bedding. In this case, frost comes to the rescue - just take the mattress and contaminated items out onto the balcony for a few days. During the warmer months, contaminated items can be processed in the freezer. It will be especially convenient for owners of large freezers- they are spacious and capable of creating very low temperatures.

Thus, freezing into residential buildings can be used as effective additional method disinfestation. But it is better to choose insecticides as the main treatment method - they create a long-lasting protective effect and can be used almost anywhere. If you do not want to use insecticides, then you can resort to another thermal method disinfestation. It's about about the so-called burning, which acts in exactly the opposite way than freezing. Special powerful heaters are brought into the room, which warm the air to a temperature of +55-60 degrees. With such high temperature bedbugs die within a few hours - for all their heat-loving nature, they can withstand heat much worse than frost. The burning method is also 100% effective, but this treatment is much more expensive than classic chemical disinfestation.

Once a certain level is reached, the temperature can destroy domestic bed bugs. If zero or negative temperatures last for a relatively short time, insects will tolerate it normally. However, long-term exposure negative temperature will kill them.

Life expectancy of a bedbug depending on climate

Bedbugs are highly dependent on climatic conditions environment. The most comfortable conditions for them are “home” conditions. There are two factors that will make pests feel at ease:

climate stability;
constant access to food.

House bugs feed on human blood because they cannot penetrate the fur or skin of an animal. The most comfortable temperature for a bug to live – 24-27 0 C, which corresponds to room temperature.

Myself life cycle these insects are directly dependent on climate:

Eggs have a dense protective shell that protects the embryos from the harmful effects of the environment. It is thanks to her that they are very hardy, including to temperature changes. Embryos die only at very low temperatures (-30 0 C) or at very high temperatures (+55 0 C), unlike adults or larvae. However, in order to stop their development, -7 0 C is enough.

It is recommended to freeze bedbug eggs in a room that is resistant to sub-zero temperatures, and in a region where in winter the air does not warm up above -15 0 C for a relatively long time. This “freezing” must be done at least twice: this guarantees the death of the entire colony, even the part that survived the first frost.

At what temperature do bed bug larvae die?

Adult bed bugs die from exposure critical temperature– below -20 0 C or above +45 0 C. Young larvae have weaker protection and can die at -15 0 -17 0 C.

If the temperature is -17 0 C, the bug lives no longer than 24 hours, but, as a rule, death occurs within 2-3 hours. At +20 degrees they can live from 20 minutes to 2-3 hours. At +50 degrees Celsius, no matter what stage of development the bug is at, it dies almost instantly.

Bed bugs retain the ability to reproduce in the range from +10 to +35 0 C. However, there are precedents when it was recorded successful reproduction bedbugs at a temperature of +9 0 C. Bedbugs that recently lived in caves have this ability.

In most cases, 10 degrees of heat is enough to stop the eggs from developing, making it impossible for the colony to reproduce.

Knowing the temperature at which house (bed) bugs die, thermal control of them becomes possible. Despite the fact that this method of struggle is inferior chemical method, it is possible to achieve the desired result through it. Here are several options for thermal treatment of bedbugs at home:

Freezing out the entire room. In winter, you need to open air access to the room and bring the temperature to -20 0 C. This is quite effective way, however, it cannot be used in rooms where water supply pipes lie, as they may burst. In addition, the paint and varnish covering the furniture in the apartment may peel off.
Freezing part of the interior of the room. A sofa chair or mattress can be taken out to the balcony or outside and left there for 2-3 days. This will most likely help, but some of the bedbugs may remain in the room, escaping from the furniture.
Steam generator (steam cleaner) or fan heater (heat gun). The first one is capable of producing local treatment the places where bedbugs live with a hot stream of steam, and the death of the insects occurs instantly. The second heats the air to the required temperature and maintains it for 2-3 hours; with a high degree of probability, this method will kill bedbugs in the apartment.
Treatment with boiling water. Not the best convenient way, because you can’t flood a room with water, and bed linen can shrink after such exposure.
Ironing. Set the iron to the maximum setting and carefully iron the items in which bedbugs have settled, on both sides.

All of these methods are inferior to chemical disinfestation; it is the most reliable way to get rid of bedbugs in an apartment.

Are bedbugs afraid of hot steam?

Hot steam successfully kills bedbugs; a stream of hot steam can reach a temperature of 90 0 C, which will leave no chance for pests. This jet can be achieved by using a household steam cleaner or steam generator.

The steam generator produces dry steam, so you don’t have to worry about damaging your furniture. A steam cleaner works on a similar principle, so if you don’t have a steam generator, you can use that too.

The disadvantage of a steam generator is that the steam jet may not reach secluded places. Therefore, cracks or joints will need to be processed additionally in another way.

When using the steam generator, you must: following rules:

exclude places where there are sockets and wiring from the area where steam is sprayed;
Do not direct at varnished surfaces, as well as wood and glass surfaces;
monitor the humidity level. It shouldn't be too high.

Is it possible to freeze bedbugs at home?

Washing temperature to kill bedbugs

In addition to bed bugs, there are also so-called linen bugs. They can be killed by washing things in a certain way. The rules differ for machine and hand washing.