With all the news about them, particularly the infestations in Paris last year, bed bugs have become an increasing worry for both hospitality business owners and people enjoying their homes. Those who travel regularly, either for holidays or working away from home, can be at greater risk of coming into contact with these annoying pests when staying overnight in hotels.
Bed bugs can hitchhike a lift on clothing or in your luggage or travel bags, they can spread relatively easily, and they feed on blood which can result in itchy bites on the skin.
So, what are the best ways to avoid bed bug infestations and how do you eradicate bed bugs once an infestation has been identified?
What are Bed Bugs? Know Your Enemy
Bed bugs are small red/brown insect parasites that grow to around 5mm as adults—about the size of a grain of rice or the rubber on the end of a pencil.
Bed bugs are normally active at night, can cover a distance of up to 30 metres to a food source, and they survive solely by feeding off the blood of humans and other animals generally while they’re sleeping.
Bed bugs can spread rapidly as one female adult can lay 1-10 eggs a day, and 200-500 eggs in their lifetime – meaning prompt detection and swift, effective action is key to controlling an infestation. Bed bugs are resilient and can enter a dormant hibernation-like state, where they can go without feeding for a full year. This means it can be difficult to effectively monitor bed bug infestations or know if you have one.
Where Might You Find Bed Bugs Hiding?
The name bed bugs is somewhat misleading; their habitats are not confined to beds and bedding alone.
The bodies of bed bugs are flat, which means they can get into any small spaces, loose material such as clothing, cracks in furniture and bed frames, pillows, duvets, carpets, laundry baskets, under peeling paint, books, and even mobile devices and electrical appliances.
Reducing the Risk of Infestation | Prevention Better Than Cure
There are several steps you can take to reduce the risk of bed bug infestation and prevent them from spreading to other parts of your property. These include
- Removing clutter and other potential hiding places for bed bugs in your home or business
- Vacuuming carpets and around the area of your bed regularly
- Regularly washing and heat drying any bedding, blankets, or clothing that touch the floor
- If mattresses need to be disposed of, wrap them in plastic coverings to avoid spreading the bed bugs throughout the property.
- Avoiding moving bedding to other parts of the house or sleeping on the sofa, as this could spread an infestation
- Vacuuming carpets, rugs, upholstered furniture, bed frames, under your bed, and around the legs—all the nooks and crannies in the room where bed bugs could be lurking
- Changing the vacuum bag after each use and putting the used bag in a plastic bin bag in an outside wheelie bin
- Ensuring bed sheets are not in contact with the floor and that the bed is not too close to the wall
- Avoiding putting your suitcase on or near the bed when travelling (popping luggage onto a hard surface like the bath or shower cubicle while you check the room for signs of bed bugs is a good idea)
- Checking bedsheets and matressesfor tiny droplets of blood that may leave reddish-brown stains, which can look like mildew marks
- Cleaning laundry baskets and hampers where dirty washing is stored
How To Get Rid of Bed Bug Infestations
Bed bugs cannot survive in temperatures hotter than 45 ℃. However, this does not mean you can simply turn up the thermostat or put electric heaters in the room if that’s what you were thinking.
To successfully get rid of a bed bug infestation, a higher temperature needs to be maintained at a constant rate—in all corners and crevices of a room where bed bugs could be hiding.
In order to get rid of bed bug infestations fully, you need very high temperatures and specialist equipment.
Specialised Heat Treatment for Bed Bugs
At Rentokil Ireland, we use an advanced treatment for removing bed bug infestations in homes and businesses, known as entotherm heat treatment.
Often, home remedies will not be enough to get rid of bed bugs entirely. Entotherm heat treatment kills all bed bugs at all stages of their life cycle, including eggs, larvae, and fully-grown adult bed bugs.
Our team of surveyors at Rentokil Ireland specialise in bed bug infestation removal and use entotherm heat treatment for many reasons, including
- Entotherm reaches all areas of infestation whilst causing no damage to furniture or household objects
- The entotherm system operates on dry transferable heat, making it highly suitable for hospitality industries, restaurants, hotels, and homeowners
- Bed bug infestation can be eliminated in one day with a single, fast-acting treatment
- Entotherm heat treatment is chemical-free and pesticide-free, meaning it can be safely used around food preparation areas
- The treatment causes minimal business disruption and no interruptions to the schedule of homeowners
- It is a discreet and swift service, saving any potential embarrassment or neighbour gossip
Limitations of Home Remedies—Why is Specialist Treatment Needed?
Monitoring and controlling the spread of bed bug infestations using home remedies is notoriously difficult and ineffective.
You can wrap your mattress, duvet, and pillows in plastic sheets but the bed bugs will probably just climb onto your bed from the carpet. You can vacuum all your carpets and furniture but there is no guarantee of catching all of the larvae, eggs, and adult bed bugs living there. If they are buried deep within bedding and other fabrics, they can be difficult to remove.
There is an added complication as bed bugs are not only particularly hardy and resistant to most treatment methods but they can also lay dormant and go without feeding for up to a year. This means that monitoring infestations and ensuring they are dealt with can be particularly troublesome.
This is why specialist heat treatment from experts in infestation removal is required to fully eradicate a bed bug infestation from your home or business.
Call the Experts | Rentokil Ireland
When you are operating a business with a great reputation, or sharing a home with family or friends, you cannot afford to take half measures and allow the parasites to roam free where they can affect your family members or customers.
If you think you have a bed bug infestation or have seen signs of bed bugs but are not sure if they are present, contact our expert advisors immediately.
Our specialists at Rentokil Ireland can discuss any symptoms you have or evidence you may have seen that suggests bed bug infestation.
We can ascertain over the phone whether or not bed bugs are likely to be present in your property and dispatch a quick response team to assess your property and, if necessary, eradicate the bed bug infestation with a single application of our advanced heat treatment method.
If you are worried about a potential bed bug infestation in your home or business, or if you have any questions about bed bug symptoms or possible signs of bed bug presence, get in touch with our team today.
We are more than happy to answer any questions you may have and can offer a free quote and a free call out to your home or place of business.
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