FAQ
Find out more about Bed bugs
and heat treatments!
Find out more about Bed bugs
and heat treatments!
What are bed bugs?
Bed bugs are insects that feed on the blood of people and animals. They are small brown insects, flat and oval in shape.
Bed bugs can travel up to 100 ft in a night, but generally live in cracks and crevices within 8 feet of their host and feed every 5-10 days.
Under ideal conditions, they take 37 days to develop from an egg to an adult and adult females lay up to 1-7 eggs a day (up to 500 in a lifetime).
Bed bugs are not known to transmit any disease to humans but many people experience itchy skin and trouble sleeping while sharing their space with them.
Left untreated, bed bug populations double every 16 days and within a few months their population can number in the thousands.
Chemical: Many exterminators and hardware stores will offer a chemical spray as their first line of defense. They typically spray the baseboards, bed frames and underside of your mattresses. This treatment is effective against adult bed bugs when they come in contact with the sprayed surfaces. However, it does not affect their eggs and almost always requires 3 or more treatments. They are unable to spray your clothing or inside furniture such as dressers/wardrobes where bed bugs like to hide. The biggest concern with repeated chemical treatments in the growing chemical resistance that is being found in bed bug populations around the world.
Heat: Research has shown that bed bugs and their eggs are not able to survive temperatures of +50 Celsius (122F). There are several approaches that use heat to kill bed bugs.
1. Manually steam treat the cracks and folds of your mattress, box spring and bed frame.
2. Heat the entire home/property in one treatment.
3. Heat treat bedrooms and living-rooms where the main concentrations of bed bugs are found.
Biochemical: Recent technology has developed an approach that utilizes Beauveria bassiana fungal spores that hatch within a day of contact with bed bugs and can wipe out an infestation with just one treatment. Unfortunately these products can't be used on carpeted areas of your home. Check out www.aprehend.com if you want to learn more.
Note: No matter what treatment method you choose, it's highly recommended that you heat your clothes in the dryer on high heat for a minimum of 15 min before wearing them to work etc. This kills adults, juveniles and eggs that may have been hoping to hitch a ride out.
By using our commercial grade, electric heater and high temp fans to circulate the air and heat the room, it's contents and it's adjacent wall cavities up to 50+ Celsius, you are able to kill all eggs, babies and adult bedbugs in the vicinity. With proper prep and adequate treatment time to make sure the heat permeates the entire space, this is chemical free solution is simple and effective.
Bed bugs can be seen with the naked eye - adult bed bugs are aprox. the size of an apple seed.
Typically, bed bugs are first discovered due to the small red bite marks that they leave on the skin of their host.
You can also identify an infestation by looking for:
live bugs in the crevices of your mattress, box spring, or bed frame.
cast off exoskeletons left behind.
black poop markings on your mattress and box spring.
tiny white eggs (about the size of a pinhead).
Bed bugs are attracted to your body heat and carbon dioxide when they are coming to feed. Studies have shown that as the temperature in a space rises, bed bugs have come out of their harbourages to feed and then retreat to their harbourage when they realize that it's getting too warm. Heat treatments utilize high velocity fans that circulate the heat which thoroughly permeates the space, killing bed bugs and eggs in their harbourages.
Our DIY Heater Package includes the following:
□ 1 x Mosebach Bk-15 electric bed bug heater
□ 2 x 50ft 240v cables
□ 1 x 240v oven/dryer adapter
□ 4 x 50ft orange extension cords
□ 2 x 20ft black extension cords
□ 2 x high temperature fans
□ 1 x Sensorpush Wifi Gateway w power adapter
□ 2 x Sensorpush Heat Sensors
□ 1 x handheld Infrared Temperature Monitor
□ 4 x Under-the-Bed BB Traps per bedroom/living room treated
□ 1 x storage bin
□ 1 x Instruction Booklet
Accessories available for an extra charge.
Bed bug eggs, nymphs and adults die in minutes after be exposed to 54.8C/130.6F or hotter!
Our base cost for a DIY 24 hour rental is $399 which includes delivery, pickup and the initial setup/training! Each additional day is $150. Additional add-ons are available for an extra charge.
Please check out our Pricing Estimator for more details on what it would cost for your specific space!
None of the components are exceedingly heavy or cumbersome, but proper preparation is key to a successful heat treatment. It often takes a homeowner an hour or two to setup a space for heating, aprox. another hour to change the setup from room to room, and about an hour to pack it all up and return the room to normal.
Please check out our Heat Treatment Prep document for more detailed information about what's involved!
Adult bed bugs, in ideal conditions, have been known to survive for over a year without a blood meal! However it is more likely that their lifespan would "only" be around 4-6 months in typical conditions.
BF Pest Control is currently offering remote identification, pest education and advice, onsite inspections/treatments and DIY Bed Bug Heater Rentals.
Even heating up your house room by room can cause the overall temperature to rise significantly, with homeowners often experiencing temperatures upwards of 30 degrees in areas adjacent to the treatment area. Depending on the size of your home and your own comfort levels with a warm house, it is totally fine to stay at home during the treatment. If you are nervous about leaving, know that in most situations we are able to setup wireless sensors to track the temperature live - and our heaters have an automatic shutoff at 60 Celsius - minimizing the risk of damage to your space!
Yes, freezing does work. The recommended time for killing bed bug eggs, nymphs and adults is 4+ days in a deep freezer (-18 degrees) This is a valid option if you have a precious article of clothing that you want to be sure is bed bug free and you're unable to spray it or heat it (in the dryer, or with a heat treatment). Unfortunately, if you try to deep freeze bed bugs from your home during our Canadian winters, you're likely just going to come home to a bunch of burst pipes and an icy flood in your basement! Don't do that!
We are unable to provide accurate estimates for this service but some basic research revealed a $1.75/Sq Ft price point from a local heating company. A 1000 sq ft home would cost around $1,750 + taxes...
This service is recommended if the bed bug infestation is severe (aka, there are hundreds crawling all over the house and visible at all hours of the day)
Running on full power for a 24 hour period (long enough to treat 2-3 rooms in your home), our commercial grade Mosebach BK15-3 heater would consume aprox. 333.6 kWh.
When we multiple that by Manitoba's cost of hydro (× $0.1037/kWh) we end up with a total of $34.61.
Adding our high temp fans to the calculation would bump our estimate to around $40 for a one day rental.