Bed Bugs Treatment & Removal

Bed Bugs Description

Small, oval, flattened body; six legs, two antennae; adept at hiding in narrow spaces.

Bed Bugs Size

Adults measure about 4 to 5 mm, roughly the size of an apple seed.

Bed Bugs Color

Reddish-brown, darkening after feeding; abdomen shows noticeable color change as blood is digested.

Bed Bugs Habitat

Favors dark, secluded spots close to sleeping areas, like mattress seams and furniture joints.

Bed Bugs Diet

Exclusively blood; prefers humans but will feed on other mammals if necessary; nocturnal feeder.

Bed Bugs Lifecyle

Undergoes incomplete metamorphosis: eggs, several nymph stages, and adults; requires blood meals to grow.

Types of Bed Bugs in Canada

In Canada, the Cimex lectularius is the predominant bed bug species found. These pests thrive in environments with consistent human activity, such as homes, hotels, shelters, and apartment buildings. They are highly adaptable and can spread quickly in urban settings with high population densities and frequent turnover, such as hotels and apartment complexes. Understanding the common types of bed bugs is essential for implementing effective control and prevention strategies.

Problems caused by Bed Bugs

Bed bugs cause itchy, red bites that can lead to allergic reactions and secondary skin infections. Their presence often results in significant psychological distress, anxiety, and sleep disturbances. Economically, managing a bed bug infestation can be costly, requiring professional extermination services and sometimes the replacement of infested furniture and bedding. These pests can also cause reputational damage to businesses like hotels and rental properties.

Appearance and identification

Bed bugs are small, wingless insects, measuring about 4 to 5 mm in length, comparable to the size of an apple seed. They are reddish-brown, turning darker after feeding on blood. Their flat, oval-shaped bodies allow them to hide in narrow crevices, such as mattress seams, bed frames, and furniture joints. Identifying features include their segmented antennae, six legs, and a distinctive, sweet but unpleasant odor in larger infestations.

How worried should I be about Bed Bugs?

While bed bugs do not transmit diseases, their presence can cause significant discomfort, anxiety, and stress. They reproduce rapidly, making infestations challenging to control without professional help. Immediate action is crucial to prevent a small infestation from becoming severe. Professional extermination, combined with preventive measures, is necessary to effectively manage and eliminate bed bug populations, ensuring peace of mind and a healthy living environment.

Why do I have Bed Bugs?

Bed bugs are expert hitchhikers, often entering homes via luggage, clothing, or used furniture from infested locations. They are attracted to the warmth and carbon dioxide humans emit. Their flat bodies enable them to hide in small spaces, making detection difficult. High-turnover environments like hotels, hostels, and apartment buildings are particularly vulnerable to infestations due to the frequent movement of people and belongings, allowing bed bugs to spread easily.

How can I prevent Bed Bugs?

To prevent bed bugs, regularly inspect sleeping areas, mattresses, and furniture, especially after traveling or receiving guests. Use protective covers on mattresses and pillows to deter infestations. Keep living spaces decluttered to reduce hiding spots. Be cautious when bringing second-hand furniture into your home. Regularly wash and dry bed linens at high temperatures to kill any potential bed bugs. Promptly seal cracks and crevices in walls and furniture.

How Does Our Bed Bugs Treatment & Removal Work?

Bed Bug Inspection

Pestcheck’s initial service includes a thorough inspection where we diligently search for bed bugs and their eggs in every conceivable space within your home. Our team examines mattresses, furniture, and tiny crevices, meticulously documenting each finding. This comprehensive approach ensures we capture the full scope of any infestation, providing a solid foundation for the precise application of our tailored treatment strategies.

Bed Bug Control

At Pestcheck, we prioritize safe and effective bed bug control using environmentally responsible products. Our treatments penetrate deeply to eliminate bed bugs in all life stages, ensuring thorough eradication. We focus on minimizing pesticide use while maximizing efficacy, providing sustainable solutions that protect your family, pets, and home, and preventing future infestations for lasting peace of mind.

Bed Bug Follow-Up

Our bed bug control strategy is designed to be efficient, often requiring just one visit to effectively handle the problem, saving you both time and money. However, if additional assurance is needed, Pestcheck is prepared to perform subsequent treatments. These follow-up visits are focused on ensuring that your home remains completely free of bed bugs, maintaining the safety and comfort of your living environment long-term.

Frequently Asked Questions

We have been helping our Metro Vancouver residents and businesses with their pest control needs for several years. We have gathered the most common questions that we have received, and we answered them for you. The following is a list of questions and answers at your disposal.

Bed bugs are small insects that live off the blood of people and animals. They have flat, oval-shaped bodies that are usually brown, although they take on a reddish colour after they’ve fed.

Bed bugs can enter your home through clothing, luggage, or second hand furniture. They are commonly picked up while travelling, when staying in hotels. They can also spread into nearby rooms or other apartments after they’ve settled into a home.

Bed bugs are mostly active at night and bite people while they are sleeping. They can bite anywhere where there is exposed skin, but recurring bites usually appear in the same general area.

Bed bugs can spread through contaminated clothing, luggage, and furniture. They can also spread from one room or apartment to another. Bed bugs spread by crawling and are known to contaminate many rooms in a home. They can easily hide in books, in the back of pictures hanging on a wall, inside of fabric furniture, bedding and clothing.

If you suspect that you have a bed bug infestation, remove all your bedding and check for signs of the bugs such as shed skins or excrement. Peel back the fabric in your box spring and check the wood frame. You should also check nearby shelves, dressers, and any cracks in the walls. If you aren’t sure what to look for, contact Pestcheck Pest Control.

Signs of bed bugs include bites, small brown spots on bedding and small blood smears on sheets.

The most common place to find bed bug eggs is in the tucks and folds of the mattress and box spring. They also hide behind headboards, along baseboards, sofas and other soft furnishings.

Finally, the most important FAQ: bed bugs. If it turns out that you have a bed bug infestation, you should follow the following steps in order to properly get rid of them:

Wash all your bedding and affected clothing in hot water. Then dry them on your dryer’s highest setting. Any stuffed animals or other soft furnishings that cannot be washed should be placed in your dryer at the highest setting for 40 minutes.
Use a stiff brush to brush away any bugs or their eggs from the seams on your mattress. Vacuum your mattress and the surrounding area. Place your vacuum cleaner bag outside in your garbage can away from your house.
If you have any cracks in your walls where the bugs might be hiding, repair them with plaster to remove these potential hiding places.
Since bed bugs can live for up to a year without feeding, place an encasement over your mattress to keep the bugs from getting in or out.
Keep the area around your bed free of clutter.

A question asked by landlords and tenants alike. Who is responsible for the treatment of the unit if a bed bug infestation is discovered? The simple answer is that the landlord or property manager is responsible for the treatment of the unit. However, the tenant is responsible for cooperating with the landlord’s efforts to manage the bed bug infestation – such as prepping the unit for treatment, washing and bagging clothing etc.

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Latest Articles About Bed Bugs

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