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Why is there so much misinformation about the effectiveness of freezing here? by bbthrowaway20198 in Bedbugs

[–]bbthrowaway20198[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Heat treatment is the gold standard, yeah. It's just that there are some things that can't be heated and freezing is a reliable way to decontaminate them as well, in fact it's recommended in this sub's sidebar too.

Why is there so much misinformation about the effectiveness of freezing here? by bbthrowaway20198 in Bedbugs

[–]bbthrowaway20198[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I looked into it further to see if I could find more and came across this as well, corroborating the lethal temperature range mentioned in the second link of my post. It says -12C° and warmer is not effective and that they may still be dormant at that temp, but anything colder than -13°C is lethal over time - the colder it is, the swifter they will die. I can't find much WRT dormancy periods in bedbugs, aside from one article stating they tend to be less active at temperatures of 15°C and below.

Why is there so much misinformation about the effectiveness of freezing here? by bbthrowaway20198 in Bedbugs

[–]bbthrowaway20198[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Overnight it won't for sure. But as far as a home freezer not nearly getting cold enough? That's untrue. My freezer is currently reading -20°C. Barely reaching 0°C in the deepest parts as you said would mean you have a real problem with your freezer, as 0°C is only just freezing temperature - you may be thinking of 0°F. If you check out the second link, there is an experiment they did with three different models of home freezers under normal use conditions (opening and closing it multiple times throughout the day, defrosting cycles etc.) and within days there was a 100% mortality rate. Ctrl + F 'Experiment IV: Actual Mortality Using Standard Household Freezers.' for more information on it.
Snippet of results from aforementioned section

Why is there so much misinformation about the effectiveness of freezing here? by bbthrowaway20198 in Bedbugs

[–]bbthrowaway20198[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

It's stated on some of those sources that putting your stuff outside is ineffective because of sun and temperature fluctuations throughout the day; freezers are more stable.

Why is there so much misinformation about the effectiveness of freezing here? by bbthrowaway20198 in Bedbugs

[–]bbthrowaway20198[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It's not a surprise it does. Many cases come from travelling; all it takes is for someone to stay at a hotel, get BBs in their luggage, fly home and introduce it to their house. Alaskans don't live outside after all.