→ Bed bugs have been around since dinosaurs first walked the Earth, but we still haven’t found the “golden key” to eradicating them for good.
Pest control professionals and researchers alike have tried numerous techniques and what has been found is that a multi-tool approach is critical to bed bug elimination due to a pesticide resistance they’ve been building.
According to an article by BBC, a study out of New Mexico State University and University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that bed bugs were developing a resistance to both neonicotinoids and pyrethroids, the two most common insecticides used in the United states.
In the article, Dr. Alvaro Romero of New Mexico State University stated, “We need to emphasize that we need to use different tools – we can’t depend totally on chemicals we need to incorporate other alternatives,” said Dr Romero. He went on to add in the article, “The pest control industry is incorporating new tools, heat, vapor, encasement, there are a bunch of these non-chemical methods that definitely help.”
There are a number of non-chemical tools that pest control professionals can use to combat bed bugs including encasements, interception devices, vacuuming, steam, heat treatments and more.
Even though using just one of the non-chemical tools is a great option, many experts believe that a combination of the tools are the keys to successful bed bug eradication.
Not only do the tools help contribute to elimination but there have even been studies illustrating that using solely encasements and mass monitoring with interception devices, some low-level bed bug infestations can be eliminated without using any pesticides.
According to a study done by Richard Cooper, Changlu Wang, and Narinderpal Singh, mass trapping using interception devices was evaluated in an apartment complex where there was no use
of pesticide treatments.