Will Home And Garden Insecticide Kill Bed Bugs

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Worried about bed bugs?

While public health agencies recommend against do-it-yourself treatment of bed bug infestations, knowing what's involved – from correct identification to the range of treatment options available – will go a long way towards ensuring a safe and successful resolution to your bed bug problem.

Preventing and Managing Bed Bug Infestations

BigBedBug Bed bugs are stealthy insect parasites that live with people in their homes. Adults are brownish-red, oval-shaped and flattened like a lentil. By day bed bugs hide in cracks and crevices, mostly in and near beds, and by night they become active to feed – but they are happy to adjust to their host's schedule. Bed bugs are not known to spread disease, but most people experience painful itching and swelling from their bites.

It only takes one mated female to start an infestation, and populations can double within 2 weeks. Bed bugs can last several months in the home, but without feeding, all life stages die after about 70 days.

Stop Bed Bugs From Inhabiting Your Home

Bed bugs are transferred between residences, hotels, and other facilities by stowing away in items that people move around, primarily luggage, clothing, and furniture. They can also move between rooms and apartment units through cracks in floors and walls. Bed bugs are just as likely to infest a clean home as a messy one – even surviving months in an empty home – but clutter does make control more difficult. Here are some important steps you can take to prevent bed bug infestations.

Tips for the Home

Seal cracks and crevices around floor moldings, cabinets, and plumbing fixtures.

Inspect all rented or used furniture for bed bugs before bringing it home, including antiques and garage sale finds.

Do not use bed frames, mattresses, box springs or upholstered furniture found on the street.

Be conscious of what visitors might bring in their suitcases, and be aware of the potential risk when helping a friend to move or agreeing to store someone's belongings.

If you suspect you have been in a bed bug-infested room, wash and dry your clothing on hot settings or store it in a sealed plastic bag until you can.

Tips for Travelers

Inspect hotel beds, closets, luggage stands and furniture for signs of bed bugs. Also check overhead luggage bins, taxis and other luggage contact areas. Inform management if bed bugs are found.

Keep suitcases on luggage stands pulled away from the wall. Keep belongings stowed away.

Inspect your bags before you leave and again before bringing them into the home. If your suitcase was closed for most of your journey, it is unlikely bed bugs will be inside. A quick swipe with a lint roller can usually find any hangers-on.

If you suspect your baggage has bed bugs, contain and isolate it until it can be treated. Wash and dry the contents of the suitcase and vacuum the inside and outside of your suitcase to kill any hitchhiking bed bugs. There are also products available to safely treat luggage with heat, including PackTite decontamination systems.

How Do I Know If I Have An Infestation?

Most bed bugs live up to their names by residing in or near beds. Lift the mattress and inspect seams, surfaces and box springs with a flashlight. All life stages can be seen with the naked eye, but using a magnifying glass is helpful. Also check crevices in upholstered furniture, bedroom cabinets, along baseboards, under peeling wallpaper, carpets, and wall hangings. Favorite hiding places include the ceiling-wall junction and under the mattress tag.

Clear signs of infestation are the brownish skins shed by growing nymphs and tiny white eggs.

Dark or rusty stains from droppings and crushed bugs on sheets and furniture, as well as an unpleasant odor, may accompany infestations.

Cup-shaped monitoring traps installed on bed legs will capture wandering bugs. Professionals also use dogs trained to detect bed bugs by smell. It is recommended that you use a third party certified bed bug K9 unit, such as those available through Pestec, to provide scent detection and inspection services.

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Read on to learn more about low-impact approaches to managing bed bug infestations. Also included is a comparison of the active ingredients commonly used in bed bug pesticide products.

Interested in finding out more about specific bed bug insecticide products? The Pest Smart app is now available in the iTunes Store. Conveniently access pesticide data on your iPhone and iPad while on the job, in the store, and at home.

Search by product name or registration number.
Search by pest to find pesticide products that target common household and garden pests like ants, fleas, cockroaches, lawn weeds and aphids.
Quickly verify the eligibility of a pesticide product for use in the LEED v4-certified Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program.
Compare products and find least-toxic alternatives to streamline decision-making.
Link to PRI's Pest Management Bulletins to learn about low-impact methods of pest control that minimize pesticide use and exposure.

Low Impact Approaches

Using a combination of non-chemical methods for treating and preventing bed bug infestations is important for any successful control plan. These are measures that you can take, as well as methods that require special equipment and services provided by pest control professionals.

Exclusion
Don't panic! Most items can be treated and saved. Throwing everything out is expensive, could further the spread of bed bugs and cause more stress, so discard infested belongings only if necessary.

Seal as many cracks as possible that bed bugs can enter through and use as hiding places. Bed bugs will take advantage of all cracks and crevices, especially inside walls and around doors and windows.

Temporarily prevent bed bugs from accessing a clean bed. First, move the bed away from the wall and other objects. Then make the bed legs impossible for bed bugs to navigate by either placing each leg into a container of water or oil to form a moat, or coating the legs in petroleum jelly.

Place interceptor traps on all legs of a piece of furniture to help prevent bed bugs from infesting it and reduce the movement of bed bugs already on that piece of furniture to the rest of the room. Interceptor traps are inexpensive an can be made out of common household items.

Consider using mattress covers specifically designed to keep bed bugs from establishing a population in your bed. Note that more research is needed on their effectiveness.

Sanitation
Sanitation is key for both treatment and prevention. Keep clutter down to reduce hiding places.

Use a vacuum wand with strong suction to remove adult bed bugs, nymphs, and eggs.

Target the mattress seams, cracks, and other nooks where bed bugs live.

Follow a thorough vacuuming routine in coordination with other treatment methods and promptly dispose of the vacuum bag each time.

Launder bedding and clothing in hot water and dry in high heat for at least 10 minutes. The hot-water wash will kill many bed bugs, but the dryer will really finish the job.

Heat Treatment For Rooms
Pest control professionals have developed total-room heat treatments that are highly effective at killing bed bugs and their eggs. Pestec was an early adopter in using heat to manage bed bug infestations for residential, commercial and hospitality clients and continues to use this technique for treating heavier infestations, cluttered spaces and contaminated items.

Using large heaters, temperatures are gradually raised 130 to 140 ºF (54.4 to 60 ºC) for two to three hours within an infested room.

High velocity fans are used to blow the superheated air into all corners of the room, where heat sensors are strategically placed to monitor temperatures in cracks, crevices and other hard-to-reach areas where bed bugs like to hide.

Once all sensors show that the thermal death point (113 ⁰F) has been reached, the heating process is continued for another hour or more to kill all bed bugs and their eggs.

Belongings, including most electronics such as computers and appliances, remain unharmed. Before heat treatment, unplug electronic devices and check the manufacturer documentation for heat sensitive devices like plasma TVs to find the safe temperature range.

Steam Treatment for Beds and Furniture
Steam cleaning is an effective way of reducing bed bug infestations, particularly in locations where insecticide use may be undesirable.

Using a professional steamer, go slowly to ensure that heat concentration (160-180 ⁰F) is maintained over every inch of surface. A good pace is 12 inches every 30 seconds.
Once you start the treatment, it is best continue cleaning all surfaces in the same time period to prevent bed bugs from relocating back into treated areas.

It is important to have a device with a large steamer head, a long length of cord and a large water tank to allow for a continuous cleaning session.

The eggs are difficult to kill with one steam treatment. Instead, aim to repeat the steaming process at weekly intervals for a few weeks so that you can kill them as they hatch.

Steaming is a methodical process that requires patience to successfully treat mattresses, carpets and furniture.

Cold Treatment for Infested Items
Exposure to an extended period of below-freezing temperatures can kill all life stages of bed bugs.

Temperatures below 25^oF will kill bed bugs within hours. Home freezers are usually not cold enough to be completely effective.

Putting items outside in freezing temperatures can kill bed bugs, but it can take at least 4 days when the temperature is 0° F and almost a week when the temperature is 20°F.

Some pest control companies use commercial freezers or use spot-freezing equipment to treat areas where bed bugs are found or suspected. Used correctly, this will kill bed bugs and eggs.

Use of cold treatments provides is no residual protection against re-infestation. Spot-freezing and steaming methods also have a limited ability to penetrate wood, fabric and other materials bed bugs inhabit.

Bed Bug Pesticides

Potential Consequences of Using Bed Bug Control Pesticides

Recognize that when you use bed bug control pesticides, you should be ready to deal with these potential consequences:

An infestation can be made worse through inexperienced or incorrect pesticide use. Bed bugs are known to disperse into adjacent rooms and apartments to avoid pesticide sprays.

Some bed bug populations have developed resistance to nearly all pesticides approved to treat them, an inherent risk of using pesticides. Using pesticides on resistant populations can only worsen your problem and contribute to overall resistance.

The CDC has documented illness resulting from the use of bed bug pesticides, even when label instructions were followed. Both applicators and people who enter rooms following treatment are at risk. Symptoms include headache, dizziness, difficulty breathing, nausea, and vomiting.

Many bed bug pesticides do not kill eggs. Re-application or other methods for long-term control will almost certainly be necessary.

Precautions to Take When Using Bed Bug Control Products

If you determine that pesticides are necessary, take these precautionary steps to reduce the potential for adverse effects:

Avoid the use of insecticide foggers or "bug bombs." Exposure is inevitable with these products, either through breathing the fog or touching a surface contaminated by fogger residue.
Avoid daily spray treatments. These approaches are ineffective, contribute to bed bug pesticide resistance, and put people at unnecessary risk of exposure.

Pay special attention to whether the product is approved for indoor use, and make sure that it is intended for bed bugs.

Apply powdered pesticides only in locations that are inaccessible to children and pets.

Inform everyone living and working in the area of the treatment plan and the safety precautions they should take to avoid illness.

Always read and follow the label instructions on the pesticide product. The label is the law and you could be liable for any damage resulting from not following instructions.

Use only U.S. EPA-approved products (see Regulatory Update below for more details).

Types of Bed Bug Pesticides

There are more than 300 pesticide products approved for use against bed bugs; most of these contain compounds called pyrethroids as the active ingredient. Many bed bug populations have developed resistance to pyrethroids and their botanically derived cousins, pyrethrins. Some bed bug pesticides are restricted for use only by licensed pest-control professionals. In general, professionals have the resources and experience to apply pesticides more effectively than residents can do on their own.

Lower Impact Pesticide Bed Bug Treatments

Type of Active Ingredient	Representative Chemicals	Hazards	Product Formulation
Botanicals	Neem oil Phenylethyl propionate	Neem is a natural tree oil that is practically non-toxic to humans, pets, wildlife and plants. Phenylethyl propionate is a natural botanical extract that poses a low acute toxicity risk to humans and pets. Botanical oils do not provide residual protection against bed bugs.	Pressurized Liquid, Dust, Ready-To-Use Solution, Emulsifiable Concentrate
Insect growth regulators (IGRs)	S-Hydroprene Pyriproxyfen (also called Nylar) Methoprene	Very low acute and longer-term toxicity to humans and pets. Take care if applying near fish tanks–IGRs are highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates. Most products with IGRs also contain an insecticide, usually a pyrethroid.	Pressurized Liquid, Emulsifiable Concentrate, Ready-To-Use Solution
Mineral compounds	Diatomaceous earth (silicon dioxide) Fumed silica Boric acid	Low toxicity to people and pets when confined to use in out-of-reach areas. Boric acid has shown some evidence for reproductive toxicity. Diatomaceous earth, while not classified by EPA in terms of carcinogenic potential, is listed by the State of California as a known carcinogen. Avoid inhalation and skin exposure during and after application.	Dust
Pyrethrins		Unlike synthetic pyrethroids, these plant-derived compounds break down quickly and have low risk for long-term toxicity. However, they are toxic to the nervous systems of people and pets (especially cats), and can trigger allergic reactions and asthma. They are classified by EPA as possible carcinogens. Resistance is an issue for effectiveness in some areas.	Pressurized Liquid, Dust, Soluble Concentrate
Isopropyl Alcohol		Isopropyl alcohol, commonly known as rubbing alcohol, poses a slight acute and low longer-term toxicity risk to humans and pets. Isopropyl alcohol is flammable and should only be used for spot treatments.	Ready-To-Use Solution

Pesticide Bed Bug Treatments With Significant Adverse Effects

Type of Active Ingredient	Representative Chemicals	Hazards	Product Formulation
Chlorfenapyr		Classified by the US EPA as a possible carcinogen. This chemical is moderately acutely toxic to humans and pets. Treatment takes several days to be effective.	Emulsifiable Concentrate, Ready-To-Use Solution, Pressurized Liquid
N-Methyl Carbamates	Carbaryl Propoxur	These chemicals pose a high acute toxicity risk to humans at low concentrations and are toxic to the nervous systems of people and pets, especially children. Take care if applying near fish tanks– N-Methyl Carbamates are highly toxic to aquatic life. Carbaryl is listed by the EPA as a probable carcinogen and by the State of California as a known carcinogen. Not intended for use in areas where children may be present.	Aerosol, Ready-To-Use Solution, Flowable Concentrate, Dust, Soluble Concentrate, Emulsifiable Concentrate, Pressurized Liquid
Neonicotinoids	Acetamiprid Clothianidin Dinotefuran Imidacloprid	Neonicotinoids are toxic to the nervous system and pose a moderate acute toxicity to humans. They are absorbed through the skin to some extent. Most are highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates and bees. Acetamiprid poses a low acute toxicity risk to humans and is only moderately toxic to bees. Bed bug treatments containing neonicotinoids are often combined with other active ingredients, including pyrethroids and diatomaceous earth.	Dust, Emulsifiable Concentrate, Pressurized Liquid, Soluble Concentrate, Ready-To-Use Solution
Organophosphates	DDVP (also called dichlorvos) Malathion	This group of chemicals is highly acutely toxic to humans at low concentrations. They also are toxic to the nervous system, especially for children. US EPA has classified DDVP as a probable carcinogen. Malathion is classified as a possible carcinogen and is a suspected endocrine disruptor.	Impregnated Materials, Emulsifiable Concentrate
Pyrethroids	Bioallethrin Bifenthrin Cyphenothrin Cyfluthrin Cyhalothrin Deltamethrin Permethrin Esfenvalerate (and other chemicals ending "-thrin")	Pyrethroids are toxic to the nervous systems of people and pets (especially cats). They can also act as sensitizers, causing allergic reactions and asthma in some people. Some chemicals in this group show potential for long-term reproductive impacts through endocrine disruption. US EPA has classified permethrin as a probable carcinogen, and bioallethrin and bifenthrin as a possible carcinogens. Bifenthrin is also a reproductive and developmental toxin. Most products containing pyrethroids also contain a synergist that increases the insecticidal activity of the pyrethroid. Typical synergists include piperonyl butoxide (PBO) and N-octyl bicycloheptene dicarboximide. US EPA considers both of these synergists possible carcinogens. In some areas resistance is an issue for treatment effectiveness.	Ready-To-Use Solution, Emulsifiable Concentrate, Flowable Concentrate, Spray, Wettable Powder, Microencapsulated
Sulfuryl Floride		A central nervous system depressant and a volatile gas, this chemical poses a high acute inhalation toxicity risk to humans and pets. Fumigation with sulfuryl floride involves sealing or tenting a structure, enabling the gas to exterminate pests within the enclosed space. This is a highly specialized and regulated treatment method that should be a last resort. Fumigations can only be performed by pest control professionals. Fumigants have no residual effects and must be used in combination with other control methods.	Fumigant

Regulatory Updates on Bed Bug Pesticides

The Federal Strategy on Bed Bugs Draft was released for public review on September 9th, 2013 and can be accessed on the EPA's web site. By combining their collective expertise and knowledge, the Federal Bed Bug Workgroup (EPA, CDC, HUD, USDA) created this strategy for the Federal government and others who are affected by bed bugs. By providing current science-based, quality information and education materials, encouraging objective evaluations of interventions, and promoting research to improve prevention and control techniques, the Workgroup seeks to raise awareness and increase collaboration among stakeholders.

This resource is organized in sections devoted to the prevention of bed bug infestations, surveillance and IPM for bed bugs, community efforts, education and communication, and research. This document is in draft form and continues to be developed as an important resource for bed bug control

EPA has created an online product-search tool specifically for bed bug pesticides, enabling easy access to up-to-date, basic information about EPA-approved pesticides. The agency has also issued a pesticide alert to help people avoid the most common problems associated with bed bug pesticides.

References and Additional Resources

University of California, Davis IPM Online: Pests of homes, structures, people and pets.
University of Florida IFAS Extension: How to Make a Bed Bug Interceptor out of Common Household Items
National Pesticide Information Center: Provides objective, science-based information about bed bug pesticides and other control methods to facilitate informed decisions.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Environmental Health Services bed bug resources
New York City Health Department: Preventing and Getting Rid of Bed Bugs Safely, A Healthy Home Guide
State of Michigan Bed Bug Information Outlet: Links to more informational resources on bed bug prevention and treatment.
Webinar with Dr. Dini Miller, Virginia Tech University: Get Rid of Those Bed Bugs.
Pestec: Provides pest control services using integrated pest management throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:
- Federal Bed Bug Strategy Draft
- Bed Bug Product Search Tool
- Bed Bug Information Clearinghouse
- Bed Bug Information in Multiple Languages

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