Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: ns8t on 04/03/2011 00:20:13
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We have heard of heat being common ways of warfare against bedbugs. Is there any other way to kill them? I have heard that Tomato leaves crushed into a powder is a toxic residual poison to insects.
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i was preying that dust mites would attack, so i dont have to clean the house.
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"I have heard that Tomato leaves crushed into a powder is a toxic residual poison to insects."
Tomato leaves are made entirely from chemicals.
Probably mainly water, cellulose, and sugars, but I guess the chemical you were thinking of using was this one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomatine
Be careful; the stuff is poisonous.
If you really want to avoid adding chemicals then I think you are down to heating, drying or irradiating.
Of those, heating is by far the most practical (and it's still not easy).
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introducing cockroaches or house-centipedes will destroy them, but then you have to kill the roach and centipedes.
By irradiate do you mean microwave?
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If you really want to avoid adding chemicals then I think you are down to heating, drying or irradiating.
or freezing ... http://www.ehow.com/how_5007449_kill-bed-bugs-cold-temperatures.html
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Since bedbugs are attracted to CO2 (and heat) one could make a dry ice trap. This is pretty much just a piece of dry ice in a bowl. The bedbugs will climb into the bowl toward the dry ice. From there on it's your choice on how to kill them, maybe pour some acetone into the bowl and make some poor-man's liquid nitrogen [:)].
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NS8T, any radiation would do if you used enough of it. I was thinking of gamma rays, but microwaves might work. You might have problems with the metal springs etc.
RD, good catch. I bow down before your better knowledge of bedbugs.
(incidentally, cockroaches and centipedes are made of chemicals too.)
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Unlike mice and roaches, which are abetted by filthy surroundings, bedbugs do just fine in a well-scrubbed home.
"Anyone who stays in a hotel, rich or poor, can bring them home in a suitcase," said Richard Kourbage, whose company, Kingsway Exterminating in Brooklyn, does about a dozen bedbug jobs a day. "Some of the best hotels in New York have them."
... that new mattress delivered from a reputable department store, which kindly hauled away your old one?
It may have spent all day in a truck wedged against an old mattress collected from a customer with a bedbug problem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/nyregion/27bugs.html
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Gamma rays? Something maybe not too many homeowners have access to. I have plans to make a sourdough trap. Empty Soft drink bottles, with sourdough starter or water and yeast inside, and a long tacky glue trap shaped in a tube or funnel over the opening to catch them. Well, the yeast will attract them, and the glue will catch them, and it is a little easier to make than dry ice trap.
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glue trap maybe?
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I've found that a hammer is usually quite effective, but you do have to get them to stay put for a few seconds.
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It is very difficult to treat bedbugs without professional insecticides however this is not impossible. I have been doing pest control in North London for over 20 years now and as the resistance to insecticides increases so do the bedbugs. As a professional pest control company we sometimes have difficulty ourselves in completely eradicating bedbugs infestations and normally have t carry out more visits. Once we complete successful eradication we provide a non insecticidal dust to teh tenant/client so that they can prevent them. This dust is know as diatomoaceous earth and is sold under different brand names (you will have to google it) and if sprinkled under the edges of the carpet in the box spring and any other places you have had bedbugs this will be effective in keeping them away.Treating a large infestation of bedbugs with this is going to be difficult.
Mod edit - link removed
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Bed bugs are one of the most irritating creatures on the planet. They are little insects that suck human blood for their survival. Though the commonly accepted is that they are too tiny to be seen, it's not entirely true. These insects often come to life in our homes at night, therefore making it all the more difficult for us to spot a bed bug infestation.To deal with the bed bugs home made control may involve heat based and co2 based as this is best method mod edit - link removed is demonstrating how to control bed bugs.
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The leaves of Neem are very effective on the bed bugs, but I always prefer to use [an Exterminator], they are more effective on bed bugs and other termites.
Mod: SPAM removed.