Pre Treatment Advice

Pre Treatment Bed Bug Advice

Hi.

Here we are going to go over a few things that are useful to know before you have a bed bug extermination treatment. EPB Control would always make a client/tenant aware of these things beforehand by phone or during an inspection but this will still be useful I am sure to some people.

Room Preparation:

Preparing your room correctly will not only make the pest technicians life easier but also increase the effectiveness of the treatment. However, do not rush into moving items from the room to another room of the property until you are absolutely certain that those items are free of eggs.

If you move items with eggs on them to other rooms that may not be infected they soon will be and you will require further treatments. If you are unsure on what eggs look like, see below. If you are still concerned then air on the side of caution and do not move it until the pest controller has inspected it for you.

Eggs:

Note that eggs will not always be laid in clumps such as the first and second picture and on a white surface can be very difficult to locate to the untrained eye. Eggs could be laid anywhere, curtains, bed frame, back of pictures, back of bedside unit, wardrobes, walls, items under the bed.

Furniture:

When preparing for a bed bug treatment I would always insist that the wardrobe, chest of draws and bedside units be empty and all clothing placed into sealed bags to be washed at 60c. It is not uncommon to find heavily infested furniture in a property.

Always pull furniture 6 inches from the wall before the technician arrives as any good knowledgeable bed bug technician will inspect and treat the rear of the furniture.

What Else?

• Curtains should be checked by the pest control company you use, particularly if they over hang the bed. It is very common to find bed bugs in the top folds of the curtains. Remove and wash at high temperature. 
• Hoover the floors before the treatment. Empty hoover bag/cannister to a bin out of the property.
• Remove all bedding. Ensure under the bed is clear of items. 
• Ensure there are no children's toys in areas that are being treated with insecticide.
• Remove any aquatic pets from the room.

Bed bugs can and will infest everywhere. If you have a bed bug infestation deal with it by contacting a professional straight away. Do not leave an infestation to develop and for eggs to become present. I would also advise against wasting money on cures from the internet, most of all smoke bombs which only make an infestation worse.

Any questions please email me, I will be happy to reply and assist you.

Regards
Darren Groves
EPB Control

www.epbcontrol.co.uk
Reviews

Items Infected With Bed Bugs

Dealing with bed bug infected items.

Should you dispose of infected items?

You will not need to dispose of items unless extremely infested to the point of no longer being of use, but the following may apply and then you may consider disposal.

• Heavily infested with eggs/excrement/blood to the point of being unusable and unwanted. 
• Items that are in poor condition with holes and tears, such as heavily infested mattresses with a high amount of eggs and evidence of bugs inside the mattress. 

Although it is not required to remove and dispose of beds and mattresses once an infestation occurs, as these can be treated by an experienced pest controller, as mentioned above, there are circumstances when you may wish to remove the mattress. 

If the mattress is in extremely poor condition with holes and tears and you cannot face using it again, this is a decision you will have to make, but obviously it has cost implications on replacing it and disposing of it correctly. 

Items that are stored under an infected bed or in close proximity such as bed side units or even in wardrobes/chest of draws (particularly if returning from holiday/travelling with bugs in luggage and transferring to furniture via clothing) are likely to show signs of being infected, this would usually be the presence of eggs or live bugs. 

Clothing and other fabric items, curtains, bedding and so on will require being washed at a temperature of 60c or above or in a tumble dryer on high heat for over an hour. 

Depending on the type of treatment you are to have will depend on how to deal with items such as books or canvas paintings that are commonly found on bedroom walls. 

If you have found evidence of bed bug activity on these (pictures on the wall above a bed is a common location for bed bugs, check the rear) then I would first place them into something like clingfilm or into a sealed air tight bag, such as zip lock to contain the infected area if you are going to move them as you do not want to spread the bed bugs to another area. 

How to deal with these items depends on the type of treatment you are having. Chemical treatments would not be suitable to treat these items as they would ruin them and also make cleaning them after difficult. However, if you are to have a heat treatment, if your location permits, those items would be able to be treated as the property will be sealed and then the temperature raised to a level that will kill the bugs.  

Some DO NOTS.

• Do not move items to other areas of your property, another property or your vehicle until you are sure they are not infected with bed bugs.
• Do not place infected items into public areas such as shared doorways, communal areas of flats as this  could spread the infestation. 
• Do not give infected items away or donate them.
• Do not think that by simply re decorating or moving property you will rid yourself of bed bugs.
• Do not use items such as microwaves/ovens to try and heat items. This is a fire risk.
• Do not believe all the horror stories you read regarding bed bugs. Find yourself a good pest controller by asking questions, reading reviews and researching. A good pest controller will explain everything to you before and during the treatments, if he has not, you are not using a good pest controller. 
• Do not entertain and fogging or smoke bomb treatments.

Some DO'S. 

• Do follow the advice of your pest controller and prepare you property for treatment before he arrives. Some pest controllers (I myself do) will be happy to check personal items for you once they arrive if you are concerned of the presence of eggs/bugs before you move them. 
• Do ask questions. Any good pest controller has spent many years carrying out these treatments and learning all they know, they will be only to happy to discuss the process, treatments and bed bugs with you. If they are avoiding doing so, do you feel comfortable using them?
• Do take care if you are disposing of anything, do so correctly, wrap it, seal it, mark it as being infected. The side of the street is not a suitable way to dispose of items. 
• Do take care when visiting friends and family. Bed bugs are excellent at hitching a ride!

Darren Groves

EPB Control

 

Bed Control Services in London

Bed Bug Control | London | Essex | Kent | Guaranteed
Here is some additional bed bug information from my website.  Here you can find more about how to have bed bugs removed from your property by EPB Control.

How to prepare for a treatment.

Having a bed bug extermination treatment can be daunting in itself. I see the effects it can have on people when people contact me for advice or treatments. When the pest controller tells you all the measures you need to take before the treatments can commence is nearly enough to push some people over the edge. 

However, it needn't be to much to worry about as long as you follow the instructions given to you by your pest control company. I should ad, if they have given you none and are booked in to do a treatment, you may want to cancel with them before you go any further!

What you really want to remember when preparing for a treatment is to make the areas that are to be treated as clear and accessible as possible for the technician but also being careful not to move and spread the problem to other rooms. Be as cautious as possible as it only takes a few eggs moved on an item to another part of the house to cause on going problems. 

Eggs are small and easy to miss.

EPB Control, myself that is, will always give the following instructions and if you follow these, you wont go far wrong. 

How to prepare for a treatment:

• Empty bed side units, wardrobes, chest of draws, furniture in bedroom - All clothing into bags, tied and sealed, washed, bags thrown straight out of property. Books, paper work, items in bedside table checked for signs of bugs and eggs. Place in empty bath and shake and inspect.
• Items under bed checked thoroughly as they are likely to have bugs and eggs on. Dispose of anything that you are willing to if heavily infested.
• Bedding - Bagged and washed. 
• Furniture - Pulled away from the wall six inches.
• Personal items - Ensure floor is clear of anything valuable or that could be in the way.
• If you have been on holiday, travelling, cases may have eggs in them.
• If you hoover, empty the hoover straight away. 

If you have items under the bed that cannot be treated, such as expensive shoes, leather bags, Toys or such like, and there are signs of bugs under there and eggs, then you either need to spend a long time checking them over or simply place them into a tied sealed bag (must be sealed) and place them in your garden shed if you have one, or an outside storage area. 

Only do this if you can bear not to use these items for a long period of time, have somewhere suitable to store them that they will not be damaged by the weather and are adamant on keeping them. Always use common sense. Bed bugs will die eventually through lack of food, blood, and young bed bugs need many feeds to moult. If you decide to do this, I would recommend leaving items there for greater than 7 months.

Do not- Take items from one room to another that is not being treated without checking them over first. If you have a good pest controller then just ask him if he can assist you in checking some personal items you are worried about. I often arrive at a property earlier to help people do this. I can walk into a room that someone says there are no bed bugs and find them, eggs and excrement in a minute. This is because I do it daily and no the signs. It is always best to seek professional assistance from professional bed bugs services.  

I hope this information is of use, if you would like any more advice you can contact me through my website  http://www.essexpestcontrolandbirdcontrol.co.uk/bed-bugs-advice and I also have a you tube channel if you would like to see some more videos of bed bugs - Darren Groves Channel. 

Eggs from a bed bug

Good, clear picture of some bed bug eggs on a wooden slat that would support the mattress. A common area for bed bug activity.

For more pictures of bed bugs or videos see my website EPB Control or my you tube channel which has various different videos of bed bugs, eggs, excrement as well as cockroaches. 

Bed bugs and eggs on bed frame.

Welcome to the bed bugs London blog.

Thank you for joining us on the battle against bed bugs in London.

These pictures from EPB Control show bed bugs and their eggs.

Bed bug eggs are the main concern when carrying out treatments as they can lay them on a range of items within the infested area and if not identified and removed could mean various treatments are required.

Any personal items stored under the bed are likely to have eggs on them and will require a thorough inspection.

Bed bug video

Watch "Bed bugs on box bed and wall." on YouTube

Video of bed bugs on from Essex Pest Control and Bird Control, you can also find various other videos of bed bugs as well as cockroaches on our pest control videos page. 

More videos will be coming soon.

Bed Bug Images

By Essex Pest Control and Bird Control

One thing I am always being asked as a bed bug exterminator is what do bed bugs look like. So, I thought I would do a post with some pictures.

Bed bugs may not always be easy to find, it really depends on the level of an infestation. If you do think you have an infestation of bed bugs it is best to call in a professional pest control company to deal with the issue early. If you wish to learn more about treatments see bed bug treatments, what do to.

 

Also here are some bed bug videos that may assist you in identification. 

And another which clearly shows bed bug eggs on part of the support for the mattress. 

A female bed bug can spread her eggs far, over the bed frame, skirting boards, book shelves or the rear of pictures above a bed. If you have a major infestation of bed bugs and find eggs, it would be best to remove any items that are not essential to keep. Boxes under a bed, books and such like are more common areas to find eggs. 

Have you ever?

Have You Ever?

Here I am going to ask the question that you probably wouldn't admit to if you friend asked you in person, but for here it is fine as no one will know who answers. 

I am interested to know the circumstances people are coming into contact with bed bugs with, or maybe not, as I am hearing many stories lately of people seeing them on public transport, at schools (where I, EPB Control have done inspections) and in other strange places.

Although not unusual to find them in strange places and places other than the bedroom, it just seems to be more common now.

Please take a moment to do the poll, and also leave any comments on the post if you wish. As you know from my previous posts such as Bed Bug Treatments What To Do or Where To Find Bed Bugs  I try to be as informative as possible and now I would like some feed back which will help me with my upcoming post.

Have you ever come into contact with bed bugs?

Thank you for taking the time to take the poll, please take a look at some of my other posts and feel free to share. 

Bed Bug Facts and Tips

Bed Bug Facts and Tips

Welcome to this bed bugs Facts and Tips post from Essex Pest Control and Bird Control. Here we are going to go over some information that may be useful to know if you are seeking bed bug control in London or just bedbugs help and information. 

If you think you may have an infestation of bed bugs in your home then some of this information may come in useful to you before you have a bed bug treatment or if you are trying to understand more about bedbugs.

Understanding bed bugs will help in removing them from your home and prevent further bed bug infestations in your home or how to prevent getting them when travelling or holidaying for instance.

The information I am sharing is fact but I will also give you some tips that I have discovered during all my years in pest control and carrying out several bed bug treatments weekly. 

Okay lets start with some facts on bed bugs.

Bed Bugs UK

Bed Bugs UK This is another post by Essex Pest Control and Bird Control but on my on site blog posts. This blog covers Bed bugs, Rats, Mice, Cockroaches as well as proofing and other general pest control information that I think may be useful to people. It also has some videos on there of insects.

There are also several other blog posts on there such as Treatments and others.

Please go over and take a look and maybe if you find something you like or you feel is useful share it with others.

More posts will be coming soon.

Thanks

Bed Bugs - Bed Bug Excrement - Extreme

Bed bugs can clearly be seen walking around the mattress and the black marking visible are excrement marks that have built up from an extremely high infestation that has been present for some time.

Essex Pest Control and Bird Control 

Bed Bug Eggs

Essex Pest Control and Bird Control

Bed bug eggs are one of the most difficult things to deal with in fully removing an infestation of bed bugs. This is due to their size, the places a female bed bug will lay them and the amount she can lay.

The chances are that if someone is suffering an infestation of bed bugs then there are likely to be eggs present. The longer the problem is in place, the greater the risk of eggs. 

What do bed bug eggs look like? In the picture below you can see the eggs, white, small and oval.