Treatment Options for Bed Bug Infestations
Deciding on your treatment options for ridding your home, or business, of a bed bug infestation can be one of the most important decisions you can ever make. With all the various sprays and other touted methods available the decision process can be quite daunting and often times very confusing. We will attempt to help you unravel this tangled web by providing you with some factual information regarding these options.
The long time most accepted method and the one most favored by pest control companies is to treat your home with poisonous pesticides.
These pesticides are known to be effective (sometimes), but come with some very definite drawbacks. First of these, of course, is pesticides are highly toxic to humans and pets and a known carcinogen. Our research tells us that there is no proof available indicating that any person has ever died from a bed bug bite, but certainly deaths from pesticide absorption are well documented. There is a secondary class of pesticides known as pyrethroids and various forms of these pyrethroids are found in many do it yourself treatment sprays. There are even claims being made that pyrethroids are safe and this is certainly not true.
In an article written by the Center For Disease Control it is clearly stated “…. you would be better doing nothing than treating your home with pyrethroids….”* This chemical is a neurotoxin and quite simply is harmful to humans and pets. In addition to the harmful effects of pesticides there is the extensive logistical nightmare of preparing your home for a pesticide treatment.
The pest control company may charge a few thousand dollars for the treatment, but this cost often times pales in comparison to the costs associated with having to discard expensive home furnishings. Mattresses and box springs should be discarded,if infested. All bedding (sheets, pillows, bed skirts, dust ruffles, bed covers), clothing, draperies, and fabric blinds, and personal items, where possible, must be placed in a dryer at high temperature for 25 minutes. The contents of all closets, dressers, chests, nightstands and tables need to emptied. In addition all floor surfaces must be vacuumed, with special care taken to properly dispose of the vacuum bag and finally all electrical plates, phone jack covers, and light switch plates must be removed along with anything hanging on a wall, which must be taken down and placed on the floor for treatment.
If you have had the misfortune to go through all of this it also needs to be stated that the pesticide treatment may need to be repeated for weeks, or longer, as new hatchlings emerge, and most distressingly may not work at all. It has now been documented that certain bed bug strains have begun to develop immunities to the pesticides being used to control them and do not work on the future strains being hatched*.
Manufacturers are then forced to continually develop new pesticides, when the old ones fail to work against certain new strains of bed bugs.
How Is Lights Out Bed Bug Killer Different?
We at Lights Out are proud to say that our safe and all-natural bed bug killing spray is 100% non-toxic to humans and pets and simply needs to be applied according to label directions. Once your Lights Out application has dried (about 1 hour) your bed bug infestation has been properly treated. There is no need to discard expensive furnishings, mattresses or box springs, or take down draperies. You may also rest easy, in knowing, that your home has not been sprayed with carcinogens or neurotoxins.
Green Doesn't Always Mean Good
There is a class of bed bug sprays that manufacturers refer to as safe, all natural, green, or any other adjective that might suggest the contents of their bottle is not harmful to humans. Following along with the so-called “green” designation, these manufacturers are also stating that their product is effective for killing bed bugs. We must back up a second and point out, that the product label attached to the bottle must state the ingredients contained in that bottle. If you look through enough different bottles purporting themselves to kill bedbugs you will come across any number of different active ingredients, most of them legitimately non-toxic.
However just because it is non-toxic does not mean it really works, to control bed bug infestations. There are essential oils of many varieties (cedar, clove, lemon, peppermint, rose, etc.), some products contain an ingredient called sodium lauryl sulfate, which is generally used in shampoos and other cleansing products. Much of the time manufacturers mix some of these chemicals together and call it their bed bug killing spray. There are even manufacturers mixing a pesticide based killing agent into their product and then adding a non-toxic ingredient, such as an essential oil, and then calling their product “green”, which it most certainly is not. One manufacturer simply puts rubbing alchohol in a bottle and calls it a bed bug killer.
A Rutgers University study found that a few of these products did achieve bed bug mortality within ten days, but were in fact “worthless in the real world for controlling bed bug infestations.”* The study also found that most of the products calling themselves green or non-toxic did not work at all.* How is it that a few of them did achieve bed bug mortality, but were considered worthless for controlling bed bug infestations? The answer lies in the fact that the product only kills the bed bugs that are visible and most bed bugs are the opposite of visible and hide in cracks and crevices and behind walls. These bed bugs continue to lay eggs, which are hidden better than the bed bugs themselves, and those eggs hatch every 7-10 days continuing the infestation. Also, products taking ten days to achieve mortality are not really effective because the bed bugs that do not die immediately then also lay more very well hidden eggs.
Bed Bugs Die within Minutes with Lights Out
Lights Out begins to achieve visible bed bug mortality within minutes and comes with a unique residual compound in the formula, that is effective in killing the bed bugs for up to 30 days. This residual compound dries on the surfaces which it is sprayed (colorlessly and odorlessly) and as the bed bugs that you could not see to spray crawl through it later, it begins to kill them then. If you are dealing with a bed bug infestation, of 90 days or longer, the females have had the opportunity to lay thousands of eggs during that time and of course the new eggs hatch additional females, which then lay even more eggs. It is practically impossible to locate and treat all those hidden places where the females have laid their eggs, during the first treatment, and it may be necessary to treat affected areas a second or third time, but rest assured that Lights Out will ultimately eliminate your bed bug infestation safely and effectively.
How is it that we know that the hidden bed bugs will eventually crawl through our residual compound?
Our scientific studies show us that bed bugs are attracted to the carbon dioxide we exhale, as they know their food source (us) is at the end of that carbon dioxide trail. The facts are that you can kill all the bed bugs you can see, but this is meaningless to eliminating the bed bug infestation, unless you also have a way to kill the ones you cannot see. Lights Out begins to kill the visible bed bugs, within minutes, and then kills the non-visible bed bugs, including all the newly hatched bed bugs coming out the eggs hidden so well by the female. The thirty day residual compound ensures that you have completely eliminated the infestation because by the end of thirty days you will have killed all of them no matter what stage of their life cycle they are in.
Only Lights Out is safe and all-natural, 100% non-toxic to humans and pets and controls and eliminates bed bug infestations. Any other competitor that states that they do this also we simply ask that they provide true independent laboratory testing certifying this fact. Lights Out has this testing, as done by the American Academy Of Entomological Science; we do not believe anyone else has this same kind of testing and their product will not perform to both killing bed bugs and eliminating the bed bug infestation.
This matter of claims that many manufacturers make, about the purported efficacy of their bed bug spray for killing bed bugs and controlling infestations, has been a matter that has caused the Federal Trade Commission to take action against certain manufacturers making these false claims*. When the FTC decides to take punitive action in the matter of false claims they literally attempt to fine the offending company out of business. Unfortunately these legal actions take time and some of these very same products remain on the market today. Often times these unscrupulous manufacturers simply start a new company and rebottle their worthless product under a new name, or sell it to another company who does the same thing. When you are deciding what product to use to eliminate a bed bug infestation, this crucial decision should be guided by what product has the actual independent laboratory testing that will prove its claim, to eliminate bed bug infestations. Lights Out has this testing and anyone that does not should have their claims carefully considered for truth and accuracy.
TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR FLEAS
Lights Out will work just as safely and effectively, on your dog or cat, to control fleas, as it does against bed bugs. Fleas and bed bugs share similar body chemistries and Lights Out was bio-engineered to react with a molecule in the body chemistry of both of these insects. Once Lights Out makes contact with a flea (or bed bug) the onset of insect mortality begins within minutes. Lights Out contains only all-natural ingredients and is 100% non-toxic to pets (and humans also). There is no longer any need to use the well-known, but toxic, flea control products on the market. The flea collars and the pills can harm your pet, as they are neuro-toxins, just the same as the top selling pesticide sprays that are used for insect elimination. To treat your pet with Lights Out it is recommended to first bathe your pet and dry them well, then simply apply a very light spray of Lights Out to your pets coat; there is no need to over saturate your pet with Lights Out. For pets with heavier coats you will want to work the light spray into the coat. Lights Out is water soluble and it will need to be re-applied after bathing your pet, or if your pet goes swimming. Lights Out should also be used to treat pet habitat areas, as fleas will also infest those places. Just treating your pet, without treating habitat areas, will only lead to continued re-infestation.