The New Frequent Flyer

Bedbugs are hitching a free ride right into your home!

What Is A Bedbug?

Adult bed bugs are brown to reddish-brown, oval-shaped, flattened; Adults grow to 4-5 mm long and 1-3 mm wide.

Their flat shape enables them to readily hide in cracks and crevices. The body becomes more elongate, swollen, and dark red after a blood meal. Bed bugs have a beaklike piercing-sucking mouthpart system.

The adults have small, stubby, non-functional wing pads. Newly hatched nymphs are nearly colourless, becoming brownish as they mature.

Nymphs have the general appearance of adults.

Their bites and their presence can be traumatic, painful and treatments require a drawn-out process as well as an extensive pest control regiment.

Where Do Bedbugs Come From?

Research has proved that bedbugs do not fly (unless they are hitching a ride on an aeroplane) not do they jump, which leaves many people who have been infested with bedbugs wondering just how they managed to find their way into their bed.

Bed bugs are now a problem worldwide with homes, hotels, movie theatres, libraries and even offices being infested

How is it possible for bedbugs to be in these areas when there are no beds, it’s quite simple, they are latching onto people and are being transported into places we would never have previously seen bedbug infestations.

Unlike ticks or fleas, bedbugs cannot jump and they cannot fly, but instead they hitchhike a ride on clothing, bags & even laptops.

Where Can Bedbugs Be Found?

The most common places that could expose you to a bedbug infestation

• Airports
• Hotel rooms
• College Dorm rooms
• Used furniture which has been exposed to bedbugs
• Sleeping in someone’s bed
• Overseas visitors staying over
• Students regularly moving from one premise to another

Travel Guide Before & During Your Flight

• During the booking process ask the airline representative what steps the airline take to keep bed bugs out of their passenger areas.
• Once on the flight, inspect your seating and surrounding areas ensuring you look for shed bed bug skins/shells, reddish brown streaks or spots and bed bug eggs
• Use your own travel pillow
• If you see any signs of bed bugs, notify the cabin crew immediately.
• Carefully inspect your luggage once you leave the baggage claim.
• Keep your suitcases covered in plastic and off the floor when you travel.
• When you travel, take a small flashlight to help you look for bed bugs.
• When you return from a trip, wash all of your clothes – even those that have not been worn – in hot water to ensure that any bed bugs that may have made it that far are not placed into your drawers/closet.

Have you found an active infestation?

The first detection of bedbugs is usually the bites. As bedbugs are nocturnal pests, they can be very difficult to see during the day as they are in hiding.

It is not uncommon for bedbugs to infest adjacent or neighbouring properties as they can crawl through the wall space and begin breeding.

When bedbugs bite they inject a saliva with an anticoagulant property. This numbs the area so the host is not aware that they are being feed on until after they wake up and find the bite marks.

Many people do not have a reaction to bedbug bites, however other people do, and prolonged scratching can cause infection.

Did you know that bedbug feedings over a long period have cause anaemia?

Bedbugs are the vampires of the insect world, while you are not going to turn into a bedbug if you are bitten, their bites can cause a person a lack of sleep, anxiety and itchiness!

If you are being bitten call the experts and get your home treated as soon as possible, because the longer you leave an infestation untreated the harder and more expensive it will be to treat.

Don’t Waste Your Money

There are many products and gimmicks out there that claim to either prevent or eradicate bedbugs. While these products may help ease your mind, you will not be able to obtain a complete eradication.

We have had customers who have spent thousands of dollars on doctors, specialists, biopsies, gimmicks, cure-all treatments have not been able to eradicate the issue.

How Are Bedbugs Treated?

Internal:  We use a chemical application to all affected areas; this may be done to one room or the entire house, just depending on the level of infestation.

If more than one room is affected, we would recommend that you treat the entire house.

The areas treated will include:

• Bed – Slats, bedframe or ensemble
• Mattress
• Draws
• Power points
• Behind pictures
• Carpet and edges
• Floorboards
• Behind electrical equipment
• Anywhere deemed necessary

How do bedbug treatments work?

For the bedbugs to die they need to come in contact with the chemical application, which when they have done so can take up to 10-12 hours to die.

Tests have proven insecticides that “try” to eradicate instantly fail as the bedbugs just run move on to other rooms.

As bedbugs are nocturnal which means they sleep during the day and are awake at night, it can take time for them to come across the chemical application.

Heat Treatments – Why they are not recommended.

For heat or steam to be effective against bedbugs the temperature needs to be between 65-75 degrees for a sustained period. Apart from the risk of fire, burns from the heat and steam areas such as cracks and crevices may not penetrate the heat, deeming the process inadequate.

Heat and steam can also damage furniture and has the potential of causing mould from the moisture left behind after steaming.

Numerous houses across the world have burnt to the ground after DIY heat applications for bedbugs.

How does freezing kill bedbugs?

Any item for freezing should be placed loosely into a bag, and as always, this must be done in the infested room prior to removal.

The amount of time in the freezer would be dependent on the size of the item; the larger the item, the longer in the freezer.

If the freezer is operating at or around -200C, then two hours at this temperature will kill all stages.

However, for the average household freezer, studies indicate that 10 hours will be required.

Dense items may take several days for the centre to cool sufficiently to kill the bugs and the longer an item is kept frozen, the more likely the bugs will be destroyed.

Naylor and Boase suggest that 10 hours of freezing is required per 2.5kg of dry weight of laundry.

Preparing for a bedbug treatment

Internally:

Before you begin to treat for bed bugs, Sydney’s Best pest Control recommends

• Wash all clothes, shoes, bags, etc, in wardrobes, cupboards in hot water and eucalyptus oil.
• Place in a hot dryer. If you cannot place in a Hot dryer, FREEZE THE CLOTHES
• Place in plastic bags and wear your clothes in and out of the plastic bags for the next 6 weeks. We understand that this is difficult, but 6 weeks is a good indicator if the little bed bugs are gone.
• 2nd treatments maybe be required but not before 4-6 weeks. This enables any live bed bugs and eggs that have hatched to come across the insecticide.

We believe any further treatments within the 1st 3 weeks to be too soon as the insecticide application is still present

Note: If you intend on taking your clothing to the dry cleaner you do need to make them aware that you have a bedbug issue at your property so they can keep your clothing away from other customer’s clothes. Bedbugs can spread via clothing.

Disposal of furniture:

There is no need to throw away your furniture. All furniture can be treated successfully. So many times, I have had customers call me up saying; we have thrown away all our furniture!

By throwing away bedbug infested furniture you are in fact creating a greater hazard for those around you. Many people will throw away their bedbug infested mattresses and furniture into the street, people may pick it up and thus transfer it into their homes. If you have made your mind up and want to throw the furniture away, do the right thing and mark on it that it has bedbugs!

What to expect after a bed bug pest control treatment

Bed bugs will decrease over the next 6 weeks.

You can expect a 50% reduction in the 1st week and this will continue to decrease over the next few weeks. It is quite normal to still see and get bitten by bedbugs during this time and If after 6 weeks you are still getting bitten or seeing bed bugs this is the indication that the follow up treatment is required.

If you are not getting bitten, but you feel see or think there are bed bugs, give us a call to discuss.

If you have not prepared as per above instructions, chances of 2nd treatments will be much higher

Exclusive Offer To Qantas Pilots

Sydneys Best Pest Control will offer all QANTAS pilots 15% off* ANY pest control service.

*Mention the discount only after you have been given the price so you know you are getting a discount

If we can’t solve your pest problem, no one can! 

 

 

Website: www.pestcontrolsydney.com.au

Phone: 1800 819 189

Email: info@pestcontrolsydney.com.au