What are bedbugs?

The common bedbug (Cimex lectularius), is a wingless, red-brown, blood-sucking insect that grows 4-7mm in length and has a lifespan from 4 months to 1 year. While bedbugs feed in the wild on birds, bats, and small mammals, they are mainly associated with human dwellings and can be found on furniture, clothing, and even inside wall cavities. Because bedbugs are nocturnal and feed while humans are asleep, an infestation may go unnoticed for several weeks.

Why choose heat?

Precision-controlled heat is fast becoming the preferred method of bedbug eradication. It’s particularly necessary when working with chemically sensitive clients, or customers who would prefer a greener alternative to traditional chemicals.

Traditional chemical treatments for bedbug eradication can be expensive and time consuming. In most cases, multiple treatments over several weeks are required to achieve complete pest removal. During each treatment, residents are forced leave their homes for 2-3 days while their home is essentially torn apart in search of every insect hiding spot. In severe infestation situations, holes must be drilled every 16 inches along the walls to drop chemicals behind the sheetrock. It’s disruptive, it’s damaging, and it’s expensive.

With heat, however, the process is much simpler. By quickly and evenly raising the temperature inside the building above the bedbugs’ thermal death point 113?F (45?C), you can kill the insects at all stages of life: eggs, larvae, and adults. Because the heat penetrates deep inside mattresses, nooks, crannies, and wall cavities, there is nowhere for the insects to hide, and no need to tear apart the home to find them.

Plus, heat treatments provide much faster results than traditional chemicals. In fact, most treatments require just 8-10 hours to complete from setup to tear down, so residents can leave their homes in the morning and return to sleep in their beds that very same night.

Using heat for pest eradication is environmentally friendly and chemical free; it requires no special licensing; it’s fast, hassle free, and, best of all, it works with just one application*.

*Heat eradication provides no residual protection against future infestations. Bedbugs can “hijack” on to clothing and be reintroduced into the home. It is especially important that residents take care to put on freshly washed clothes when they leave their home prior to treatment.

What can Jon-Don do for you?

From small, single rooms in a dormitory, to duplex apartments, to large healthcare or nursing home facilities, Jon-Don can customize the heating solution that best meets your needs. Packages start as low as $1,500!

To begin customizing a heating solution, contact a Jon-Don Heat Specialist at (800) 556-6366 or fill out the form below and one of our representatives will give you a call at your convenience.

Sources:

Delaunay P, Blanc V, Dandine M, Del Guidice P, Fanc M, Pomares-Estran C, et al. Bedbugs and Healthcare-associated Dermatitis, France [letter]. Emerg Infect Dis. 2009 June; [Epub ahead of print]

Hwang, Stephen W, Svoboda, Tomislav J, De Jong, Iain J, Kabasele, Karl J, Gogosis, Evie. Bedbug Infestations in an Urban Environment. Emerg Infect Dis. 2005 April. www.cdc.gov/eid

Bedbug Treatment. www.badbedbugs.com/bed-but-treatment/.