Controlling and Removing Bed Bugs from Your Home
Bed bugs are more than just a nuisance; they are tiny bugs that can take over your whole house if they are not detected and removed. You can pick up bed bugs almost anywhere — offices, stores, hotels, gyms and other people’s homes! They can get into luggage, personal belongings, and clothes or even on you – and then enter into your home! Once indoors, they can be very difficult to control without the help of an experienced pest specialist that knows how to perform the correct bed bug treatment. You can reduce your chances of a costly bed bug infestation by catching them early.
About Bed Bugs
Female bed bugs can lay one to five eggs a day, and may lay 200 to 500 eggs in their lifetime. Under normal room temperatures and with a continuous food supply, they can live for more than 300 days. Bed bugs can carry diseases; however, they are not known to transmit diseases to people. Bed bugs feed exclusively on blood, and people have various responses to bed bug bites including itching, red spots and dry skin.
Bed Bug Bites and Symptoms
Bites are commonly found on the parts of the body that are more likely to be exposed to bed bugs during sleep – the hands, neck, face, shoulders, legs and arms. The size of bed bug bites varies with a number of different factors. Since people will have various sensitivities to the bed bug’s bite, the size of the bite will vary, as well. Some individuals who are bitten by bed bugs develop itching, red welts or swelling the day after being bitten. However, bites may not become obvious for several days or at all on some individuals. Many people do not react at all to the bite of a bed bug—many bites leave no mark and go completely unnoticed. Blood spots found on sheets, bites and the presence of bed bug feces and cast skins are some of the indications of a bed bug infestation.
How to Detect Bed Bugs
If you suspect that you have a bed bug problem in your home, you should call a bed bug exterminator immediately. They can perform a bed bug treatment and bed bug fumigation if necessary.
Bed bugs usually are found close to where people spend much of their time, and since bed bugs have flattened bodies, they like to get into small cracks and crevice near where people sleep. Signs that there may be bed bugs in your home can include small blood stains on your pillow cases or mattress covers – it can be from bed bug bites.
Since bed bugs thrive on blood it is likely that you bleed when they bite. You can often find blood stains in places where you have slept. Other areas where you may find bed bugs include mattresses, box springs, headboards, footboards, bed frames and other furniture that is close to the bed. Other common locations for bed bugs include cracks and gaps behind wall outlets, floor molding, window and door molding and where carpet edges meet the wall. Bed bugs can occur in many different locations if their population is large and they have dispersed from their more common areas to areas where they are normally less likely to be found.
Bed Bug Infestation
A bed bug infestation is a serious situation. If your home (or even just one room) is infested with bed bugs you will need a bed bug treatment that will most likely include bed bug fumigation. When you call a professional bed bug exterminator, they will send a professional to your home to examine your entire home including the bed, furniture, rugs, and linens. They will conduct an inspection of target areas, and if required, use special tools to check cracks and crevices.
They often start in the bedroom and work their way through your home, concentrating on the furniture and the areas immediately surrounding the furniture. A professional exterminator is an expert who will look for signs of bed bugs including:
- Actual bed bugs (dead or alive)
- Bed bug skins that have come off during the molting process
- Small spots of reddish-black fecal material
- Tiny cream-colored eggs usually found in dark crevices
Once the bed bugs have been detected a bed bug treatment plan can be put into place.
Bed Bug Treatment
A bed bug treatment is absolutely necessary if you find that bed bugs are present in just one or many rooms of your home. A professional bed bug treatment should be performed by a reputable bud bug extermination company like Beach Pest. Beach Pest Control Service offers a complete bed bug treatment solution. It includes preparation assistance, immediate removal of live bugs with triple HEPA filtered vacuums, laundry service when needed, low moisture hot steam, thermal remediation with hot dry air, freezing solutions with liquid CO2, organic and all natural products, long term killing residual products, trapping and monitoring devices. They always schedule follow up visits to ensure success of their bed bug treatment program.
Bed Bug Control
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are ways to try to prevent or control bed bugs before you call in a professional exterminator for a bed bug treatment or a bed bug fumigation. The EPA suggests the following:
Make sure you really have bed bugs, not fleas, ticks or other insects. You can identify them by looking at pictures or show a sample to a professional bed bug exterminator.
Don’t panic. It can be difficult to eliminate bed bugs, but it is not impossible. Don’t throw out all of your things because most of them can be treated and saved. If you get rid of anything it may spread the bed bugs to other people’s homes.
Think through your treatment options. Don’t immediately reach for the can of bug spray or try to treat the bed bugs yourself. You should be comprehensive in your approach. Try other things first. Integrated pest management (IPM) techniques may reduce the number of bed bugs and limit your contact with pesticides.
Clean up the clutter. This will reduce the number of hiding places for the bed bugs. A cluttered home provides more places for bed bugs to hide and makes locating and treating them harder. If bed bugs are in your mattress, you can use special covers on your mattress and box springs that make it more difficult for bed bugs to get to you while you sleep.
Wash and dry your bedding and blankets regularly. You should also regularly wash and heat-dry your bed sheets, blankets, bedspreads and any clothing that touches the floor. This reduces the number of bed bugs. Bed bugs and their eggs can hide in laundry containers, hampers and laundry baskets and bags. Remember to clean them when you do the laundry.
Don’t pass your bed bugs on to others. Bed bugs are good hitchhikers. If you throw out a mattress or furniture that has bed bugs in it, you should destroy it so that no one else takes it and gets bed bugs.
Consult with a professional bed bug exterminator. This is probably the best piece of advice that you can follow. Hiring an experienced, responsible pest control and bed bug professional can increase your chance of success in getting rid of bed bugs. They are trained to find treat and control the bed bugs in your home. They will suggest and implement the best bed bug treatment for your home.
Bed Bug Fumigation
Bed bug fumigation is an effective bed bug treatment. A bed bug fumigation treatment uses a gas that is pumped into an enclosed, sealed space stuffed with your household items. In a controlled environment, the gas replaces the oxygen, causing bed bugs and their eggs to suffocate and die. Used by qualified electricians and professionals, gas fumigant can eliminate bed bugs–from just a few pieces of furniture, bedding or other household items, or from an entire home or building.
Depending on size of the structure, or location being fumigated, the treatment times can range from several hours (approximately 18 to 48 hours total treatment time). Once released, the gas quickly breaks down to its two naturally-occurring ingredients and floats harmlessly away.
Is Bed Bug Fumigation Effective?
Following are some of the benefits of a bed bug fumigation treatment:
- Bed bug fumigation is an effective treatment against all stages of bed bug life, including the hard-to-control egg stage, in a single application.
- The bed bug gas fumigant penetrates into cracks and crevices, into furniture and any other hiding places including electronics — to eliminate the pests.
- The fumigation gas completely dissipates to leave no surface residue, odor or film behind.
- It can be used on very cluttered rooms.
- It will not damage electronics, antiques or sensitive fabrics.
Who Can I Contact For a Bed Bug Fumigation Treatment?
This is not something that any homeowner should attempt themselves. Contact a professional bed bug treatment professional like Beach Pest Control to evaluate the bed bug problem in your home and plan an effective treatment plan. If your Brooklyn home is infested with bed bugs, call Beach pest Control. They are experts in exterminating bed bugs, ants, bees, rats, mice and other pests within the home.
Beach Pest Control works with homeowners and commercial business owners to get rid of any type of bugs and pests that may be infiltrating their space. Call the bed bug exterminators and pest elimination specialists at Beach Pest Control Service Inc. at 929-259-0188 for all of your extermination needs.