Often, even the residents of the cleanest apartments notice a chain of bites on their body. They can only guess why bugs appeared in their apartment. As a rule, their cleaning is systematic, and the carpets are knocked out, but parasites still appear and spoil the lives of residents.
Before you start a protracted battle with parasites and find out at what temperature the bug dies, it is important to figure out where the insects came from. This will help to prevent a new invasion in the future.
The reasons for the appearance of bugs in the apartment
There are several factors due to which bedbugs may appear even in a sterile apartment:
- Neighbors. The main "suppliers" of bugs are those who live in the neighborhood. Parasites use tiny gaps in the floors and easily make their way from one apartment to another. The smell of human blood makes the bugs move in a vertical direction. They can easily climb the wall and seep into the ventilation holes. Adults are able to tolerate long starvation, so climbing to a floor higher or lower is not a problem for them.
- Pets. Bedbugs often use pets as a means of transport. The blood of animals is not suitable for feeding parasites, so they wait until the animal returns to the apartment. Even a single female bug is enough that after a short period a whole colony of bed bugs is formed in the house.
- Travels. A business trip or camping in the nearby park can cause bugs in the house. A simple inspection of the clothes will not help. Parasites can hide in the folds and seams of the bag. To protect yourself and loved ones, it is recommended that after returning home to hand over things, including a suitcase, to dry cleaning.
- Old furniture. When buying supported furniture, you cannot be one hundred percent sure that the family of bed bugs does not live in it. It is best to purchase new products, as in factories, parasites lack one thing - people.
Life expectancy of bugs in various conditions
To understand the temperature at which a bug dies, it’s worth a closer look at their life expectancy. In the most favorable conditions, the larva turns into a parasite in thirty-five days. The bug is able to live for about a year.
If the larva develops at high temperatures - from twenty-five to thirty-two degrees, the process of development of an adult individual is noticeably reduced. Heat also shortens the parasite's lifespan to ten months.
At temperatures from twenty to twenty-five degrees Celsius, bugs live longer - up to fifteen months.
If the ambient temperature drops below the mark of plus fifteen degrees, then the larvae stop in development, and adult individuals fall into suspended animation. In this condition, they can spend up to eighteen months.
Critical temperatures - a means of combating bedbugs
High temperatures are deadly for bedbugs. But at what temperature does the bug die? Fifty degrees above zero kill him in a few minutes. The life of an individual is reduced to thirty minutes if it finds itself in an environment where the temperature reaches forty-five degrees. The maximum larval life is 24 hours.
Bed bugs are also sensitive to cold. Ten degrees of frost make them fall into suspended animation. Fifteen degrees below zero are fatal to bedbugs. But they die only when this temperature persists for more than three days. Minus twenty degrees - and the bug dies in a few hours. The larvae last for two days, and then die.
Steam and boiling water against bedbugs
When it is already known at what temperature the bug dies, you can proceed to the next step - their destruction. First you’ll have to decide which of the two methods to use: exposure to high or low temperatures.
Destroying bugs in an apartment is not an easy task. Failure to follow all instructions may result in the reproduction of parasites. But knowing at what temperature bed bugs die, you can completely get rid of them. There are several ways to combat parasites with high temperatures:
- Steam generator. The device allows you to clean any surface from bugs. The hot fog created by the generator from bugs destroys both larvae and adults.
- Residents can use to combat bugs and a heat gun, which is used when installing stretch ceilings. Destroying bedbugs in an apartment with a heat gun takes a little time: the air must be heated to sixty degrees and the temperature maintained for thirty minutes.
- You can wash bedding and clothes from bedbugs by washing. Things must be washed in water, the temperature of which will be ninety degrees.
- How to get rid of bed bugs in the apartment yourself? The answer is simple: ironing. Lingerie and clothes will need to be ironed on both sides, using the maximum temperature for things.
- To get rid of bedbugs in baseboards and crevices, you can fill the parasite habitat with boiling water.
Advantages of high temperatures in the fight against bedbugs
The advantages of using high temperatures against bedbugs are enough. Among them:
- Harmless to the human body. Only clean water is used for disinfection.
- Processing surfaces with steam or boiling water is quite simple, this is an excellent answer to the question "how to get rid of bed bugs in the apartment yourself."
- Water and steam help get rid of insects living in clothes and bedding without using insecticides.
The disadvantages of the method:
- Steam does not penetrate the crevices.
- Unable to clear book bugs.
- Steam can damage electrical appliances.
Low temperatures and freezing
Having figured out at what subzero temperature the bugs die, you can begin to destroy them with the help of freezing.
In cold seasons, bugs move closer to heat - in apartments and houses. You can freeze them only when the thermometer fixes fifteen degrees below zero. In such cases, it is necessary to open the windows wide and leave the room in this condition for several days.
When the thermometer column fixes minus twenty degrees, it will take only a day to completely get rid of bed bugs. But it is not always possible to leave the windows open for several days. In such cases, you can take the "infected" objects to the street. If the nest of parasites could be found and localized, then they can be destroyed in the freezer.
Disadvantages of the method
Using low temperatures to control parasites is a quick and absolutely inexpensive way to clean a room from bugs. But the method has significant disadvantages:
- Suitable mainly for non-residential premises.
- During the disinfection, the decoration of the apartment may be affected.
- Pipes may not withstand critical temperatures.
Bedbug Safety
During the fight against parasites with the help of high temperatures, residents must observe the safety precautions:
- When using a steam generator, do not direct it at people, furniture, varnished, and wallpaper.
- During the warming up of the room, it is better to take out all the plastic objects.
- Low temperatures for controlling bugs can only be used in rooms where there are no sewage and heating pipes.
If you can’t get rid of bed bugs on your own, then the only way out is to turn to specialists for help.