If you have bed bugs on your clothes and want to isolate them, or just want to suffocate the little critters, bagging them up may seem like the ideal solution. There are a few components that determine how long a bed bug will be able to successfully remain alive inside of a plastic bag for. Below are by far the most important factors that will dictate survival rate timescales. One of the most important factors to consider is how long it has been since the bed bug last had a feed.
Bed bugs prefer to eat about once per week. While bed bugs may eat about once a week when possible, they by no means need to do so. They will not begin to starve until much longer periods of time have passed. In fact, bed bugs have been known to live for as long as six months or more without feeding. Another important consideration when trying to estimate the survivability of bed bugs inside of a sealed plastic bag is the temperature.
Bed bugs prefer to live in the same type of climate-controlled environment that humans do. Therefore, you can decrease the life span of bed bugs by placing the plastic bag inside of a very hot or cold environment. Rates have skyrocketed in the U. One of these promising avenues is vacuum treatment. The scientists used bed bug colonies in laboratory settings to test their idea.
They sealed them in half-gallon jars, and gradually flushed out the regular air inside. They replaced it with pure nitrogen gas. Each jar contained a different level of oxygen: 0. There were also a number of jars that had different levels of oxygen and different temperatures. They were trying to find the optimal way to kill bed bugs in the shortest time possible. They found that every single bed bug life stage was susceptible to ULO treatment. The lower the oxygen level, the longer the treatment lasted, and the higher the temperature, the quicker they died.
After 8 hours at 0. You will have noticed that they used a defined, medical term: ultra-low oxygen. Two more studies had similar outcomes: one in the Journal of Medical Entomology , and one for the International Conference on Urban Pests.
This looks like a promising new way to kill bed bugs. You can kill as many bed bugs as you like. Not only that, but bed bugs are so small that they hardly need any air. The same, of course, applies when you seal bed bugs in a ziplock bag or a regular plastic bag. Because of the way bed bugs spread—they love anywhere dark, where they can hide from the light and from you—they love clothing, especially if you leave it on the floor.
Bug bugs live in plastic, and considering adults can survive approximately five months without feeding, this removal method is not effective. Not to mention that by simply placing bed bugs in plastic bags haphazardly, you risk spreading the infestation from one location to another.
Though putting items that are infested with bed bugs in plastic bags may not kill them, it can be beneficial when preparing for professional treatment. And when done right, it can help prevent their relocation in your home.
Just be sure to seal the bags tightly before moving, tip the bag directly into the washing machine, and then immediately dispose of it in an outdoor bin. In rare cases of severe infestation it can sometimes be recommended that you throw a few things away. Or, you may choose to get rid of some specific items on your own. If you intend to discard things such as stuffed animals, linens or articles of clothing you believe to have been infested with bed bugs, plastic bags can come in handy.
But, make sure to follow the proper steps to avoid spreading the problem. Place any items infested with bed bugs in plastic trash bags and seal tightly.
Plastic bags can kill people and most any bug by rapidly removing oxygen but even so, suffocating bed bugs in this manner is challenging.
While lack of air certainly is a good start to eliminating bed bugs, trapped inside they will starve to death before suffocating. Adult bugs continue to require blood to breed as well.
While it generally works well to trap bed bugs in plastic bags, the bugs hide in many other places beside clothing and bedding. The seams of a stuffed animal are excellent hideouts, or joints of a picture frame, or miniature slots in a computer keyboard. Sealing items like these in plastic bags and placing in a freezer will kill off bed bugs but you need to keep the items in a freezer at 0 degree F or lower for up to five days to ensure all the bugs are dead. Other items that can be frozen include shoes, picture frames, jewelry, small toys, and small electronics.
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