Customer Reviews

Pronto Kill bedbugs and dust mites spray - 10 Oz

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Unlikely extremely negative reviews for other supposed bedbug killers, I can assure you that this stuff kills 'em DEAD. The catch-22 is that they also find it repellant, so they will run away from a sprayed area. The secret to success is spraying a wide area *around* the location with the infestation (a "cordon sanitaire" in military lingo), and THEN go after the bugs themselves. When they try to flee, they will run up against the chemical barrier you laid down first.

Del Pharmaceuticals sells a 6 ounce can of what they call "Pronto Plus" for six bucks. As far as I have been able to determine, this is exactly the same product as 10 ounce "Pronto," but at nearly twice the price. The problem I ran into with plain "Pronto" is that the last couple of ounces wouldn't spray out of the can, so I effectively had 8 ounces of usable insecticide.

I have tried regular ant & roach sprays on these d___d critters and they do NOT work -- bedbugs have a different physiology (and a grotesque life cycle - look 'em up on the net; there's at least one full web site dedicated just to them -- Cimex lectularius is their scientific name).

READ THE LABEL DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY! Spray and leave the room while it works its mojo to avoid poisoning yourself.

The bad news about Pronto is that however much you buy, you'll always discover that you need at least two extra cans, so buy it in quantity. I have not found its claim to be lingering to be quite true: you'll slaughter dozens of the things with the first spraying, but you must repeat the spraying every few days to guarantee that you have killed all of the little vermin. On furniture, use your eyes to look for tiny pinpoints moving across fabric -- those are nymphs and they, too can suck your blood. Scoop 'em up and dump them into the toilet. The good news is that bedbugs apparently cannot swim at all, unlike roaches and other insects. If you see a live one crawling on a piece of paper, gently lift the paper and keep turning it so the bedbug stays on top (they have a powerful grip); then flick it directly into your toilet bowl. More bad news is that they can live for up to 140 days without feeding (starvation actually EXTENDS their lifespan!), so keep extra cans handy for future eruptions. The tiny transparent bugs you may see when you have a bedbug infestation ARE bedbugs -- just ones which haven't sucked up your blood to fill their grotesque bellies -- kill them without mercy. (Sorry, Gandhi!)

If you have the vermin in your carpet, get a vacuum cleaner which filters particles through water, or use a steam cleaner to get rid of them. If you have a lot of books, just assume that the bed bugs are within the spines or under the covers, or inside the dust jacket, so just vacuum the bejeezus out of all of your books (on LOW, or you'll rip the pages or damage the binding). Speaking of vacuum cleaners, if you don't have one which uses a water filtering system and can't use steam (on books, for example), then TRY to get a vacuum cleaner with a multi-stage HEPA filter to keep from spraying minute bug bits into the air -- these can trigger severe allergic reactions in some people.

Other useful devices are hair dryers -- the vermin dehydrate and die at about 120 degrees F or thereabouts, and hot tumble dryers -- half an hour in that should kill any in your clothing and bedding. (They LOVE to hide during the day -- under fitted sheets, inside pillow cases, in you school backpack, in your pants pockets, etc. If you don't stop them quickly, they will over-run your whole home.)

C. lectularius CANNOT swim. If a bedbug gets onto your skin, first try to gently shake it off into a toilet bowl, or scoop it up (gently!) with a piece of paper and dump it in the toilet (make sure it hits the water!). If possible, just thrust the whole area where the bedbug is under a powerful stream of water, as in a shower or a high-pressure kitchen or bathroom faucet. DO NOT GRAB A BEDBUG WHICH IS ON YOUR SKIN!!!!! These things are EXTREMELY vicious and will ACTIVELY defend themselves instead of running away. Yanking at a bedbug crawling on your skin is an invitation to it to bite you and hold on until it dies, and it WILL make you bleed. Bedbug bites are VERY slow to heal, and if one's sucked your blood for a while, the itchy mark it leaves behind may last two or three months (maybe longer).

If you develop a histamine reaction (localized swelling) take as much benadryl or vistoril (hydroxizine) as your doctor will allow -- it reduces the swelling and stops the itching for hours if you take a large dose. DO NOT (!!!) drive or operate machinery if you are taking an antihistamine. If you develop a pronounced allergic reaction (hives, difficult breathing, etc.) call 9-1-1 or go to a hospital emergency room IMMEDIATELY -- allergic reactions can cause shock and even death.

It is highly advisable to use a HEPA air filter in any room with bedbugs or mites to remove their feces and other nastiness from the air. (I use a Holmes Model HAP 240.) DO NOT get one of those silent, "ionic air cleaners" such as the Sharper Image sells -- they are all but completely useless; get something with a HEPA filter and make sure it's big enough for the room you want to refresh. DO change the filter regularly, especially if anyone in the dwelling smokes (tobacco, weed, whatever -- the air filter will clean the tiny pollution particles out of the air as long as it's kept clean and happy).

One technique you might try ONLY IF THERE IS NO SMOKER AROUND, NOR ANY CHILDREN OR PETS (!!!!) is to drench an infested piece of furniture with isopropyl rubbing alcohol of at least 70% strength. Isopropyl alcohol kills almost every living thing, so if you can alternate that with Pronto you can help to prevent resistant strains of the devils from developing.

Bedbugs have anal (Cloacal?) glands whic release a pungent stench like a stink bug. If you smell something like formaldehyde in a part of your home or office, it's a safe bet that there are bedbugs present.

Now for the good news: bedbugs CANNOT crawl up smooth surfaces like glass or stainless steel, so major appliances are an obstacle to them, walls and furniture ARE NOT. Another obstacle to them is petroleum jelly (one of Pronto's ingredients is a petroleum product). Smearing the legs of tables and chairs with petrolatum creates a barrier which they don't like and have difficulty crossing. (A 99 cent store brand is just as good as a $3 jar of Vaseline for this purpose.) If you have chairs and tables which won't be damaged by water (resin chairs, for example), you can put the legs in a shallow saucer or pie pan of water -- once again, bedbugs can't swim, so they can't reach the furniture itself.

The best news of all? Despite the huge number of horrible disease which blood sucking insects can transmit, BEDBUGS DO NOT SEEM TO TRANSMIT *ANY* DISEASES TO HUMANS! (But they CAN trigger allergies.) If you're bitten, I'd recommend a tetanus booster and keeping the bite covered with an antiseptic cream (most of which also contain petrolatum, so you're not only protecting yourself from bacteria in the environment, you're keeping the bedbug from returning to a proven feeding ground).

I hope this has helped you, gentle reader. I have studied the little monsters and even let myself be used as a human guinea pig ( ... ah ... "volunteer research subject"), so I know a lot about the damned things, and the more that are killed, the better off we'll all be, sez I. (Sorry, Dalai Lama -- pray for me.) If you get your Pronto *pronto* and start slaughtering the things before they can spread, you will probably escape the need for a professional exterminator who will charge you hundreds (or thousands) of dollars to spray ... pretty much the same ingredients which are in Pronto, just a whole lot more of it.

****** Pronto earns six stars out of five! Long live Pronto! DEATH TO ALL BEDBUGS! ******

I was being eaten alive by a sudden infestation of fleas and bedbugs. My comforter was so filled with bugs and eggs I threw it away but I used both Pronto and Steri-Fab on my pillows, mattress and box spring. There is no petroleum odor associated with either product. Just spray in a well-ventilated area and let them air out through the day and you can sleep on them that same night. I've had no skin irritation from using these products and my nasty infestation is gone! Good products if you're unlucky enough to need them.

I saw a bedbug crawling up to my ceiling in the daytime, which is what they seem to do after they feast on us at night. I was happy to have received my Pronto spray, because although I've been spraying, I'm just spraying, not really able to tell a big difference or not. Still getting bitten about twice a night. So I was happy to see this live bug and I could see the effect of this spray for myself. NOTHING! I sprayed that bedbug until I coated him with white and he still kept right on crawling. You want to know what stopped him finally, Lice MD, the spray that people with head lice use on their furniture. I couldn't believe it. I was so angry. This stuff isn't the best smelling stuff in the world and then for it not to work, not right. But there was the proof right there in my face as I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed that bedbug. I've done the same with rubbing alcohol and it would stop them in their tracks and they would fall right off the wall. I've done it with peroxide, same thing, they clutch their little grimy throats and fall right off the wall, but when I sprayed, no saturated that critter with this Pronto, it kept right on trucking baby.

Don't waste your money!!

Spot on it does kill them, takes seconds if you spray them directly. However, my only dissapointment is that I was looking for more of a fogger that would cover all areas. Instead I needed to do a little more work and go from area to area and spray. This stuff is strong smelling so yes you prob need to do this a couple of times to up your chances of really getting the eggs and the adults. Order many bottles, best to have them on hand than risk new eggs hatching cause you missed them orginally.

Thanks to Jaundiced Eye's helpful review of this product, I decided to buy 4 cans of Pronto, and let me tell you folks: IT WORKS! If you follow instructions carefully, by cleaning, vacuuming and sweeping all areas of the home FIRST before applying Pronto, you will summon death to all Bed Bugs!

I first noticed, after 3 weeks business trip away in NY, I returned home and noticed there were bedbugs invading my brand new mattress and they kept showing up as a relative had slept on my precious new mattress while I was away, they brought bed-bugs! Arrgh! I said NO MORE! I read the reviews and instructions and decided to go with Pronto, and I couldn't be more happy! Bed Bugs have been eliminated with no signs of returning! I can now sleep with short sleeves or just shorts and I wont have any bed bug bites!

As other reviewers have stated, buy Pronto by the bulk! But remember, you MUST dust, clean, sweep and vacuum all areas between beds, near the headboards including the mattress itself etc. DO NOT store any cardboard boxes or anything UNDER your bed, if you have shoeboxes or anything under the bed you MUST remove them and discard of them. Bed Bugs LOVE dark areas, wood, and cardboard. You MUST move the bed vacuum between it & the boxspring, clean the bed itself and apply clean or new sheets. Spray Pronto within a foot of the walls from one end to the other, spray along cracks, and the floor under the bed. I also recommend purchasing & fitting your bed with mattress covers to prevent bed-bugs from ever getting inside the mattress ever again! If this is done properly & carefully (took me and my brother about 5hrs) you'll never see a bed bug again guaranteed!

This product is great. I order 4 cans of Pronto and they arrived within one week. I spray around the beds, then worked my way inwards. I have a queens side bed which had the most so i removed the bed to the outside of my apartment building late at night. I sprayed the whole can on the bed(box Spring)and Knocking off any dead bugs with the brim. I even sprayed any bugs i seen. They die on the spot. Also buy bed covers for both parts of your bed just in case, mine hd cuts in it but they still work. So far I have been two weeks with seeing one bug.I still don't sleep as well due to not knowing where these bugs came from in the frist place but i am sleeping. Buy this Pronto stuff. I know i'm back to order 2 more cans. Just in case. Good luck.

I had a bad case of bedbugs in the apartment I moved in in the end of August 2008. I managed to get out of there with no legal consequences, but my bed had to stay behind. Even though I took careful measures not to transport these guys with me (washing, bagging straight from the dryer, inspecting everything), the second night in my new place I got two small bites on my ankle. When I got bitten again the following night I was sure the bedbugs are back.

I bought Pronto and NEVER got bitten again. I was still spraying every week for a while just to make sure, but I am certain this thing works.
Good luck!

I don't know what purpose bedbugs serve in the grand scheme of things, but this product will snuff out the lives of those ruining your personal grand scheme. I haven't had time to deal with my bedbug problem fully, and I have sprayed the perimiter of my room, the doorjambs and threshholds, and the legs of my bed, and have managed (knock wood) to keep them corralled in the interim.

And I have found dead bugs around the legs of my bed, so it's working.

I put a bedbug in a jar. I sprayed it with Pronto. 2 hrs. later it was still alive and well. THIS kills 'em:
Adams Flea and Tick Spray. The aforementioned bed bug died within seconds of being sprayed with THAT! Maybe Pronto does eventually work, but if an insecticide spray takes more than 2 hrs. to kill, I don't want to take a chance on it.

Loved the fact that I could get a good night's rest starting from the day it arrived. Was forced to go through Terminix treatment by the leasing office guys (for which they forced me to pay btw), but this has pretty much taken care of my bed bug problem.

The shipping takes a long time -which is the only downside. Till then I used to swab lots of oil on the 4 legs of the bed -that works but only if you do it every night before turning off the lights.