Slightly off-topic ---> Killing dust mites

I don't know the exact temperatures required but I would not hold out much hope. They are tough little bugs and after all, they will just be back before long. The old fashion way of removing places where they may live, lots of hot water washing and using the special spays made for the use (in that order) is the best.

I suspect you would freeze the pipes in your home long before you even got the bugs uncomfortable. I'll bet the eggs could outlast the next ice age.

I did a google search and got 22,000 hits from the phrase killing dust mites. Here is one that seemed informative

Good luck!

-> I've heard that household dust mites can be killed en masse by cold

-> temps. Now that it's winter here in NJ, if I open the windows in my

-> bedroom all day and let the sub-freezing cold air in for a day, will

-> this do the job? My wife has allergies and even regular vacuuming

-> doesn't solve the problem completely. Thanks.

Get rid of the carpet. Seriously. If whatever is underneath isn't very pretty, then lay yourself an nice, new, wood floor, or tile. You can use area rugs, which can be washed or taken outside for temporary freezing!

What makes you think you have dust mites? Don't believe the hucksters trying to sell you "cleaning".

If you don't have dust mites, you are one of the 13 people world wide that don't. They are everywhere. The issue is do you have a problem related to the dust mites. To check that you need to be tested by the algologist. Even then you can not be sure the problems are related to the dust mites.

You are correct there are plenty of hucksters out there and they use scare tactics to get you to buy their product, but never suggest that you should be tested and that most people have no problems at all from dust mites.

My advice is if you have a problem you think may be dust mites, it is worth the trip to the doctor to find out.

I don't believe it. What's your source for that claim, duct cleaning advertisements?

I hunted with a microscope through fistfuls of dust bunnies from my house looking for dust mites. All I found was ... dust.

Right, a psychiatrist.

Just what "problem" is uniquely caused by this creature that a physician could possible diagnose?

No, those duct cleaning advertisements are full of miss-information .

My information comes from my college biology courses, and allergists. I did do some quick research for you however.

Good for you, but I'll be someone with a little more skill, better tools and determination will find them.

Try an allergist.

Allergic reactions to their byproducts.

You consider the cooperative extension to be a scientific source? No, your citations are all just repeating ungrounded factoids. Not one surveyed and sampled actual houses. You believe without evidence.

You believe against evidence.

Not unique, therefore not diagnosable.

And you are believing because you did not see any mites looking at one sample? Frankly I would not trust myself to identify them, maybe you have more experience in the filed than I have. I would not expect to find them in a dust bunny anyway. That is not where they have been reported. I might add that my college biology course did cover them and I would tend to believe what I was taught was based on scientific evidence, not someone looking at dust bunnies.

I doubt that would be very useful. It isn't the live dust mites themselves that cause the allergy. It's the body parts of the departed and the feces of them, and the live ones, that become airborne. Killing the mites won't, by itself, eliminate those products and, if you have a suitable environment (humid climate) the house will be repopulated in time. A new house and new furniture does a good job as does residence in a very arid area (but only for dust mites) -- not suggested as a practical measure.

Richard Kinch also believes that drinking WD-40 in large quantities is completely safe and harmless. He's a usenet KOOK.

'nuff said.

BB

I simply would like to see an original scientific survey of prevalence.

These things are not microscopic. If they were prevalent, we would hear more actual sightings.

Anonymous lying coward.

I have to agree with Bill on this one. Richard fits the troll profile very nicely.

Don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain.

Thanks for all the info. Didn't mean to start any feuds though. I'll go with some of the suggestions.

_________________________________

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If I'm a troll, then you're a billy goat, trip trap.