KNOW YOUR OPTIONS

It can be difficult to figure out what your options are when dealing with bed bugs. Here they are.

1. FUMIGATION
Fumigation should not be confused with foggers. Foggers should NEVER be used for bed bugs. More on this later. In a fumigation treatment, the entire house is sealed under a vapor-proof tent, and filled with a toxic gas, typically sulfuryl fluoride.  Some companies skip the expense and hassle of a huge tent and just try to seal windows and doors with tape.  This method is much less effective.  After about 48 to 72 hours the house is ventilated and the gas dissipates into the atmosphere.

PROS- 
** Fumigation will kill all pests within the structure (if done correctly).
**It leaves no residue behind after the gas dissipates.
**You are not required to remove belongings from the house other than food, medications and such, and items in the house will not be damaged by the gas.
CONS-
**Fumigation is one of the most expensive methods for eliminating bed bugs, and this is the biggest barrier for most people.

**Fumigation is not an option for multi-unit buildings, unless the entire building is done at once.**You will need to be gone from your property for a few days.

**Too many companies are cutting corners by not tenting, using less sulfuryl fluoride to save money, and fumigating for too short a time.  The fumigation fails.

**There is no residual protection, so reintroduction of bed bugs after treatment is very common. Along with price, this is one of the biggest shortcomings of fumigation. It is entirely possible to pay thousands of dollars for fumigation, and have bed bugs re-infest the property afterward.

**Sulfuryl fluoride is a potent greenhouse gas that is entirely man-made, and atmospheric levels continue to rise.  One ton of sulfuryl fluoride traps as much heat in the atmosphere as 7,510 tons of carbon dioxide, and sulfuryl fluoride released into the air today is expected to take 30 to 40 years to break down, mostly after being absorbed by ocean water.

**Some pest control operators may tell clients that the gas displaces the oxygen and the bugs suffocate.  This is, at best, a misdirection, but more like an outright lie.  Sulfuryl fluoride is a highly toxic gas that will kill all living organisms, including insects, animals, people and plants.

2. HEAT REMEDIATION
Bed bugs die at high temperatures. With heat treatment, the whole structure is heated with electric or propane heaters. A temperature of about 140 degrees is maintained for several hours, heating furniture and even walls all the way through. Heat is very effective for killing bed bugs. It is not, however, without it’s drawbacks.

PROS-
**Kills bed bugs at all life stages including eggs (eggs are very difficult to kill).
**Once the house has cooled, there are no harmful residues left behind.
CONS-
**As with fumigation, heat remediation is one of the most expensive methods of treatment.
**A fair amount of prep work must be done, removing items that may be damaged by the heat. Heat can damage electronics, window blinds, photographs and more. Any of us who are old enough to have had a cassette player in our car surely remember melting a tape or two in the summer sun. It’s kind of like that.  If any items removed from the house are harboring bugs or eggs, the pests will be reintroduced to the house when the items are brought back in.

**If heat treatment is done for too short a time, or if the temperature is insufficient to eliminate all cool spots within the structure, the treatment will fail.

**Heat treatment in multi-family housing or hotel rooms often pushes bed bugs into surrounding units.  Bad idea.

**Heat treatment leaves no residual protection, so reintroduction of bed bugs is highly likely.

3. CHEMICALS
Bed bugs have developed resistance to most of the chemical pesticides that have traditionally been used to treat infestations. Many chemicals will kill bed bugs if you can directly saturate the bug, however, bed bugs are experts at hiding, and exposing them all is virtually impossible.  Many companies do multiple treatments with multiple chemicals, hoping that if one chemical doesn’t kill the bugs, maybe another one will.  A current industry trend is new synthetic chemical insecticide products containing multiple chemicals with multiple modes of action.  These products can show better effectiveness for awhile, but the effect is always temporary.  Most chemicals work by disrupting the bed bug’s central nervous system, and there are continuous mutations going on in bed bugs’ central nervous systems.  Bed bugs that survive chemical treatments pass on that resistance to their offspring, making chemical treatments less and less effective on subsequent generations.  Bed bug populations are already showing resistance to the latest and greatest chemical treatments.  In addition to the mutations in the nervous system, bed bugs are also developing thicker cuticles.  The cuticle is the bugs exoskeleton which is made up of three layers.

The Epicuticle is a waxy outer layer that makes the bug waterproof and gives it the ability to retain moisture and keep it from dehydrating.

The Exocuticle is a hard middle layer that provides armor.

The Endocuticle is a flexible inner layer.

The thickening of these layers provide the bed bugs with more protection from things they encounter in their environment.  Protection from things like chemical insecticides and diatomaceous earth.  It’s a bit like wearing a wetsuit over armor.

Another recent development is the production of enzymes within the bed bug’s bodies that metabolize the chemicals that they do absorb.  Think of it as the ability to digest those chemical insecticides and poop them out.

By continuing to try to eliminate bed bugs with chemical insecticides, the pest control industry is slowly putting out fire with gasoline.  The strongest, most resilient bugs continue to survive, and at this point we are fighting ‘Super Bugs’.  Everyone seems to underestimate how adaptable bed bugs can be.  There is a great BBC article in the Brian’s Bug Bits and Bytes section of this website that discusses this.

PROS-
**None, really.
CONS-
**Ineffective and continues to make the long term problem worse.
**Exposes you and your family to the chemicals

4. DIY (Do It Yourself)
There are countless over-the-counter products and home remedies out there. In a nutshell, they are pretty much worthless. Claims printed on the packages are largely unregulated and unverified. I could drown some bed bugs in a glass of orange juice and make the claim “Orange juice can kill bed bugs!” As mentioned previously, most chemicals are ineffective, and over-the-counter chemicals are much weaker than the ones used by pest control professionals. Insecticide foggers are not only ineffective, but they often cause the bugs to scatter into a wider area making them even more difficult to control. Why are there so many of these products on the market?  $, that’s why.  Unapproved pesticides, rubbing alcohol, and many other “I read it on the internet” remedies, in addition to being ineffective, can be very dangerous.  Just don’t.  Diatomaceous Earth is the microscopic fossilized shells of prehistoric plankton and algae (diatoms). D.E. has gotten a lot of attention as a treatment for bed bugs, but it has been more effective in laboratory testing than in real world use. The quality and composition of diatomaceous earth can vary greatly. The more impurities there are in the D.E., the less effective it becomes. D.E. also contains crystalline silica, which can be a serious health hazard if breathed. Most people do not know how to appropriately apply D.E. in order to get the most benefit from it. They can end up with a big mess and very little control, and it’s use can adversely affect products that really do work.  You might find people claiming that ‘essential oils’ can help with bed bugs.  It doesn’t.  Table salt, baking soda or boric acid?  NO.  Drinking alcohol before bed won’t stop bed bugs.  Insect repellents won’t stop bed bugs.  If all of those OTC and DIYs lived up to the claims, we wouldn’t have anywhere near the problem that we have now.
PROS-
**Few. Limited control may be possible with D.E.  Read more about it in the drop-down menu under the Bed Bugs menu tab.
CONS-
**Waste of money, and often makes the problem worse.  Just don’t.

5. GP HOME DEFENSE
I am a natural born skeptic.  When some product is hailed as having tremendous results, my natural reaction is to set out to prove that the claims are exaggerated.  It takes good evidence to convince me otherwise.  When I began researching bed bugs and remedies for the elimination of bed bugs, I found that once you get past the blustery claims and high hopes, the real world results were almost always dismally poor.  After countless hours of personal research which included rearing colonies of bed bugs fed with my own blood so that I could study them, reading research articles published by major universities, and cultivating relationships with some of the leading entomologists in the country, I have found approaches that hold up to scrutiny.

GPHD uses methods that are both effective against bed bugs, and also very cost effective. We do not use ANY of the above methods to eliminate bed bugs.  We use products that are not only proven to be safe and non-toxic, but are also the most effective weapons in existence for the fight against bed bugs.  The greatest weapon we have in fighting bed bugs is knowledge, knowing and understanding bed bug physiology and behavior.  And GP Home Defense knows the enemy well.  We know where they hide.  How they travel.  We know their feeding and reproducing behaviors.  We know the incredible lengths they go to in order to survive and reproduce.  We know their strengths, and we know their weaknesses.  We exploit their Achilles heel(s) and wipe them out, one infestation at a time.

There have been great advances recently in the war against bed bugs, and GP Home Defense LLC is on the cutting edge of that technology.  One of those advances has been the development of a new bio-pesticide containing a naturally occurring insect pathogen.  Colorless and odorless, it is safe for people and pets, but causes a lethal infection in bed bugs.  Never have I seen a product that is more devastating to bed bug populations, or has such long lasting effects (it continues working for months).  Unlike chemical insecticides, this bio-pesticide does not attack the bug’s central nervous system.  It doesn’t matter one bit what nervous system mutations the bed bugs have.  It doesn’t matter what metabolizing enzymes the bugs have developed.  That’s not how this works.  It doesn’t even matter how thick their cuticle has grown.  This pathogen starts out as a microscopic spore that sticks to the bed bug’s body.  The spore then germinates and produces an enzyme of it’s own that dissolves through that cuticle as it grows.  Drill baby, drill!  The pathogen then grows inside the bug and the bug dies.  It is 100% effective if expertly applied by someone who really knows what they’re doing.  No type of resistance can be passed on to subsequent generations when there are no survivors.

Our goal is not to charge you for repeated treatments to achieve bed bug elimination. Our goal is not to keep your infestation ‘under control’.  We are almost always able to wipe out a bed bug infestation with one visit, and if we do need to return to address a lingering issue we don’t charge for the follow up visit.  Our goal is not to gouge you on price for expensive treatments that may not have any long term protection.
OUR goal, our MISSION, is to kill the bed bugs and keep you protected from them for as long as possible, for the least cost possible, and we stand behind our work.  Bed bugs have finally met their match.

And now, bed bug prevention is a reality.  We can provide service that will ensure that your home or business never becomes infested!  If bed bugs are brought into your home or work environment, they will not be able to survive and reproduce.  We GUARANTEE it.  Homes, apartment buildings, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hotels and motels, medical facilities, schools and offices of all kinds.  What is your bed bug concern?  We have solutions.

Call today and let GP Home Defense help you live bed bug free.  We are The Bed Bug Authority.
785-829-0644