Why eggs are the hard problem
A female bed bug lays 200-500 eggs in her lifetime, glued into cracks where contact sprays struggle to reach. Eggs hatch in 6-10 days. That is why a 'successful-looking' chemical treatment often relapses after two weeks — the adults died, the eggs hatched, and the population rebuilt from zero. Any treatment that does not kill eggs is not really a treatment.
The lethal temperature for eggs
Peer-reviewed work from the University of Minnesota (Pereira et al., 2009) established 100% egg mortality at 48°C for 71.5 minutes. Industry practice rounds this up to 55-60°C for two hours at the coldest monitored point — a sensible safety margin that allows for heat-resistant hiding spots like deep mattress seams and inside hollow bed frames. We monitor probes in those exact spots to prove the temperature was reached, not just guessed at.
Why chemical sprays cannot reliably kill eggs
Eggshells (the chorion) are largely impermeable to the pyrethroid insecticides used in the UK. Even with newer 'ovicidal' actives, coverage on every laid egg is impossible because bed bugs lay in cracks the spray nozzle can't enter. The standard chemical approach is to treat, wait for eggs to hatch, then treat again — two to four visits over six weeks, with the bugs reproducing between visits.
FAQs
If heat kills eggs in one visit, why does anyone still use chemicals?
Lower upfront price, lower technician training requirements, and sometimes because heat equipment is unavailable. None of those reasons help the customer.
Are there any eggs that survive heat treatment?
When the protocol is followed (probes in cold spots, sustained 55-60°C for two hours), no. Failure cases almost always come from under-equipped operators using one or two heaters instead of the correct number for the cubic volume.
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