Bed Bug Pest Control

Bed bug problems are on the rise in the UK. While some pests will be attracted to dirty, messy environments, bed bugs are less fussy: as long as there’s a human presence, they’re happy to call anywhere their home.

These tiny creatures can travel easily, and they can be notoriously hard to get rid of once they’ve made themselves at home. Without expert advice and bed bug extermination services, it’s likely you’ll be stuck with them…but we’re here to help. DIY bed bug treatment in the UK is highly unlikely to resolve the problem – so read on to learn more about bed bugs, and more about how Pest Stop Boys can help.

Adult bed bugs are tiny – around 5mm long and oval in shape – and tend to be brown, red or dark yellow in colour. Their diet is 100% human blood and they will normally eat at night, their bodies turning bright red after a feed.

Because of their size they can be tricky to spot by eye unless the infestation is significant – and their eggs are even harder to see. Bed bugs lay 10-50 eggs at a time and these eggs are no bigger than a grain of salt. They hatch in just 10 days and a bed bug’s lifespan is as high as 10 months, so you can see just how quickly an infestation can grow.

Bed bugs have no wings, but that doesn’t stop them from travelling easily from place to place. They’ll hitchhike on luggage, clothing, transport seats, handbags…any soft surface where they may potentially recognise a human odour. It’s humans who – unknowingly – carry them from place to place, be this from foreign travels, from hotel or hostel rooms, public transport or public buildings like schools with steady streams of visitors.

Here are the signs you need to look out for.

Signs of Bed Bug Infestation

Bites are often the first sign that someone needs bed bug pest control services. Bed bug bites are itchy, but generally cause no health issues. You’ll often find them on areas that are exposed while sleeping, like the face, neck or arms, and also on the torso. Bites can also appear differently on different people, from raised red bumps to blister-like lumps.

If bites or itching are a problem, check your bedding. If you have tiny spots of blood on your sheets, pillowcases or duvets, bed bugs could be the culprits. Check too for bed bug poo: it’ll appear as sticky dark brown or black spots in more hidden places on soft furnishings, like corners, seams and buttons.

If you think you have bed bugs, a DIY solution may be tempting. However, it’s very unlikely to work. For bed bugs, pest control from seasoned experts is the only surefire way to completely eradicate the issue.

If you’ve got a problem with bed bugs, you’ll want to be certain that the treatment you choose is the most effective one possible. With the bed bug extermination services that we offer at Pest Stop Boys, you can be confident that this is the case.

Choose Pest Stop Boys and you’ll be choosing a company that is industry-accredited, has incredible customer reviews, and works with both homes and businesses. We know just how distressing a bed bug infestation can be and will work with you to banish them quickly, effectively and with great attention to detail – as our Checkatrade reviews will confirm. What’s more, we’ll also provide you with tips for preventing future infestations (you’ll see some of these below).

You may have heard about heat treatments for bed bug removal. However, we choose to focus on chemical treatments – and this is why.

Why we don’t use heat treatment

Neither bed bugs nor their eggs can survive prolonged high temperatures – and by “high” we mean 50C for two hours, or 52C for one hour. These temperatures need to be applied to the entire room and its contents to work: if it’s simply the air temperature that’s this high, the bed bugs are likely to survive.

This requires seriously powerful specialised heaters – often with fans to direct the heat to the right places. Because of the power involved, you’ll need to make sure furniture and any perishables are removed from the room before you begin.

To be effective, this heat needs to permeate the entire room – as well as through walls and ceilings – or the bed bugs will simply hide. When done correctly, heat treatment can kill bed bugs in minutes – or even seconds. However, it’s a huge undertaking – and an expensive one, at that. You may have found companies offering cheap heat treatment to get rid of bed bugs, but can you guarantee that they’re genuine?

Chemical treatments can work just as effectively – and that’s the route that we go down.

We understand that many people looking for a heat treatment are doing so because they wish to avoid the use of chemicals. The best solution to exterminate bed bugs from your property would most likely be a dual treatment – using both heat and chemicals – but the cost of doing so would be far too high.

Our chemical treatments offer good results after just one visit. However, in cases where the infestation is particularly heavy or well-established, we may suggest a follow-up treatment for peace of mind.

Rapid Tests for Bed Bug Detection

Another tool in our armoury is TruDetx: a rapid testing device that can detect even the smallest of bed bug infestations with 90% accuracy.

Using this test, we swab an area where bed bugs are likely to gather and combine the sample with a liquid, just like the COVID-19 lateral flow tests. Within five minutes we’ll have the results and can establish whether bed bugs really are the cause of the problem.

This way, we’ll only start bed bug pest control (a process which can be laborious, as well as disruptive for you) if we’re certain that it’s needed.

For bed bug pest control to work properly, you’ll need to spend time preparing the area before we come in. Furniture should be pulled away from the walls and the entire room should be vacuumed, paying close attention to skirting boards and any cracks where bed bugs may have hidden or laid eggs.

Any bed linen should be removed and washed at a high temperature (at least 60 degrees), and if we’re treating a bedroom, we’ll ask you to remove anything that’s stored underneath the bed.

Before a chemical treatment, we’ll recommend that all clothing is washed at a high temperature, where possible. Where this isn’t possible, clothing can be put in the freezer instead.  There are certain things that can’t withstand heat treatment that we’ll ask you to remove from the room, though: things like food, paint, computers and medications (we’ll give you a full list before we start).

When the treatment is complete, we recommend that soft furnishings should not be cleaned or vacuumed for up to three weeks, to avoid removing the residual properties of the products we use.

Post-Treatment Care and Prevention Tips

After we’ve finished treating your property for bed bugs, we’ll make some suggestions for post-treatment care and prevention. We’ll give you detailed instructions regarding post-treatment cleaning and prevention: including how to clean any items that you’ve needed to remove from the room, and what to do about introducing new items after the treatment is finished.

There are also steps you can take to minimise the risk of bed bug infestations in the future. These include reducing the amount of clutter in your property, vacuuming regularly (including skirting boards and cracks in the walls), and checking sheets and mattresses for signs of bed bugs when you’re staying away from home. Follow these simple tips and you’ll reduce the likelihood of needing bed bug pest control services again in the future.

If you think you’re in need of bed bug extermination services, Pest Stop Boys are here to help. Get in touch to learn more about what we offer.