Will Bed Bugs Die if You Freeze Them?

Bedbugs are very difficult to eliminate. Ultrasonic devices advertised to scare bedbugs away is not effective. Bombing bed begs is worthless. Bedbugs are developing resistance to a pesticide that is typical once destroyed them. (even though the chemicals perform, they can be dangerous for the people who used such chemicals.) High heat range can succeed, but not everyone can afford the high cost.

Various research reports have suggested that cold may possibly kill bedbugs shortly after 1 hour. But research that is new in the Journal of Economic Entomology discovers that’s not the truth. Cold can kill a bedbug, but only after days.

Joelle F. Olson … University of Minnesota Twin Cities froze bed bugs at different life cycles, unfed and fed, for varying lengths of time. The headlines that is bad that the pests didn’t die nearly as quickly as other studies had found, merely a hour or two at -16° or -17° Celsius. “during our study, bedbugs lived in lower temperatures, and eggs with short term exposure … to climate temperatures only -25° C,” the scientists explained .

Nevertheless the insects are not adaptable to freeze conditions, the experts said, and they are killed — no matter their stage of life or status that is feeding. 80 hours in conditions of -16° C will eliminate the bed bug.

The finding concurs with a practice that is normal museum collections and food commodities: oftentimes infested products are frozen to kill any hidden insect pests. And it provides a technique that is wholly safe of for average people, at the least for items they can fit into the freezer. The researchers advise:

Items suspected of infestation need to be bagged prior to placing into the freezer to restrict bedbugs from getting out of the items and perishing elsewhere inside the freezer. Bagging an item before laying it in a fridge will shield it against also alterations in condensation or harm due to dampness. Infested items is put in the freezer at –17.8° C (0° F) for no less than 3.5 [days], though time could be decreased to 48 [hours] if temperatures average below –20° C.