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Fighting Bed Bugs - Why Heat Treatment Works Better Than Traps

 

Bed bugs are a menace because they are parasitic insects that feed on human blood. You can usually find them in furniture, beds, and other regions where people rest or sleep. Bed bugs are hard to detect, reproduce rapidly, and resistant to many insecticides. They can be the root cause of significant discomfort, including itchy and painful bites, sleep disturbances, and psychological distress.

Bed bugs can also be challenging to eliminate once they infest a home or building. They can hide in cracks and crevices, making it difficult to find and eliminate all of them. Bed bugs can also travel from one location to another by hitching rides on clothing, luggage, or other personal items.

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How Do Bed Bug Traps Work?

Bed bug traps work by luring bed bugs and trapping them in a sticky substance or a pitfall trap. The function of bed bug traps is to provide an early warning system for detecting bed bug infestations and to help control bed bug populations.

You can use bed bug traps in several settings, including homes, hotels, and other locations where people sleep or rest. They can be used as a proactive measure to monitor for bed bugs before an infestation becomes established or as part of a larger bed bug control strategy.

What Is Bed Bug Heat Treatment?

Bed bug heat treatment is a pest control method employing elevated temperatures to exterminate bed bugs and their eggs. The treatment involves raising the temperature of the infested area or room to between 120°F and 135°F for a prolonged period, typically several hours. According to Forbes, only temperatures above 120°F kill bed bugs and their eggs.

Professional exterminators use heat treatment by various methods, such as specialized heating equipment like a bed bug heater or a steam cleaner. The goal is to raise the temperature in the infested area to a level lethal to the bed bugs while ensuring that all areas in the room are heated evenly.

How Heat Treatment Scores over Bed Bug Traps

Heat treatment and bed bug traps both are effective methods for controlling bed bugs, but they work in different ways and have their advantages and disadvantages.

Heat treatment employs high temperatures to kill bed bugs. Heat treatment is effective because it can reach every corner of a room, including areas where bed bugs may be hiding, and it can kill bed bugs in all life stages, including eggs.

On the other hand, bed bug traps are devices designed to capture bed bugs. Bed bug traps are useful for detecting bed bugs and monitoring the effectiveness of treatment, but they may not be as effective as heat treatment in eliminating an infestation.

Conclusion 

Heat treatment is more effective than bed bug traps for eliminating bed bug infestations because it can kill bed bugs in all life stages, and reach areas where bed bugs may be hiding. However, heat treatment can be more expensive and may require more preparation than bed bug traps. Additionally, bed bug traps can be useful for monitoring the treatment effectiveness and detecting bed bugs in areas where heat treatment may not be feasible.

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