Nonchemical Control

Various nonchemical means of regulation can be undertaken to either decrease the biomass of

the bed bug infestation or realize widespread control. Nonchemical technologies predispose to

have a more rapid effect on lowering bed bug numbers and have the added advantage of being in

general less hazardous than pesticides (Lola 2017).

The modest form of nonchemical control is the dumping of infested items. These items need to

be sealed in plastic before elimination to avoid them from becoming a infection risk. Furniture

reserved for disposal should be either damaged or rendered useless to prevent others from taking

the items and consequently obtaining the infestation. Throwing away is not always required, as

many items can be treated, but the removal of infested items may be the only economically

practical choice for greatly cluttered premises (Megan, 2017).

Vacuuming can very quickly reduce the bed bug biomass in an infestation and even remove

many eggs. Vacuum equipment are cheap, need little training or operator licensing, and present a

slight risk of distributing an infestation. The vacuum machine must have a reusable bag

immediately detached and sealed in plastic after use. Vacuum machines may not eradicate bed

bugs in deep harborages (Sathya, 2018).

Heat is an efficient and effective means of nonchemical bed bug control. The exposure of C.

lectularius to 45°C for one will kill all stages, and at temperatures over 60°C, all bed bugs are

rapidly demolished. Heat can be applied through the use of steam, through the washing of pest-

ridden clothing and bedding, via hot washing and drying, and through the use of contained or

circulated heat treatments. The heating of whole rooms comes with the hazard of spreading the

infestation, as bed bugs will look for cooler areas above temperatures of 30°C to 35°C, and there
can be thermally protected areas that do not reach the mandatory temperatures to kill all bed

bugs, specifically in disorderly rooms. The application of heat after insecticide application was

found to intensify bed bug death, as the heat draws the pesticide out of porous exteriors. In

contrast, the draping of pest-ridden mattresses in black plastic and revealing them to the sun for

thermal control was found to be improper for bed bug management (Bizan, 2018).

On the contrary, cold temperatures can also be fatal to bed bugs. Infested items can be positioned

into the freezer; temperatures of −17°C for at least two are required to kill C. lectularius. Various

systems employ gases to freeze bed bugs immediately; however, these can function only under

high pressure, and it is known that small air currents can scatter bed bugs. Such devices have

been left out from the Australian bed bug code of preparation for their susceptibility to blow bed

bugs about nonlethally and thereby possibly spread an infestation.