Do Bedbugs Go Dormant? How to Get Rid of Them for Good!

Bedbugs are persistent little creatures. Once they’ve had a good, filling meal, they can go dormant for more than two months. This can make things quite difficult if you happen to have an infestation and would like to get rid of them. A sleeping bedbug is difficult to detect.

So… how do you wake them up? Bedbugs respond to two things: body heat and Carbon Dioxide ( CO2 ). These two things act as little alarm clocks for the bedbugs, and as soon as they wake up you can trap them and end a bedbug infestation.

To awaken and remove dormant bedbugs, you can use dry ice and fans. The dry ice will generate CO2. How do you do this? Bring in some dry ice, turn on fans, and then move all items in your room in a way that exposes any surface that is potentially harboring bedbugs to the CO2 . Use a fan in order to make sure that the CO2 gets into every nook and cranny. For example, if you suspect that they are sleeping in your closet, take each and every article of clothing out and expose the surfaces to the CO2. This will wake up the bedbugs, and they will fall off of whatever they were sleeping on, and into your trap. You will need to do this a few times over the course of a week to ensure that they have all been woken up and removed.

There are other ways to eliminate bedbugs, but these ways are not nearly as simple or as quick. You can starve them by closing off the room and opening it up to cold weather all winter, or you can wash each and every item in very hot water in your washing machine, and dry it in your dryer. Both of these approaches are effective, but they can take a lot of time and/or energy.

Contact ABC Pest Control today for a free consultation and let our bed bug exterminators help with a bed bug infestation in Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey or Burnaby, BC home or business.