Bed Bug Pest Control London & Kent
Professional Bed Bug Treatment
Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) represent what is probably the most feared and reviled interior pest throughout the world. Everybody knows what they are, and those who have suffered with them will not forget the experience.
Bed bugs are common in London as well as other major cities across the world. Urban environments attract these insects due to the number of residents who swap the insects around when moving from place to place. Our pest control professionals in London are equipped to address bed bug infestations.
You may have heard how insanely difficult it is to get rid of these parasites but the process can be achieved if you are vigilant and hire the right pest control professional for the job.
This guide will explore everything there is to know about these tiny, yet feared insects. Read on to discover more about bed bug behaviour and ways to control the problem during treatment.
What is the Best Control Treatment for Bed Bugs?
The best pest control for bed bugs will involve a hefty amount of prep work and an experienced bed bug extermination team like us. Bed bug removal has to start with preparing the property for treatment.
All fabrics and clothing need to be laundered on high heat and sealed in plastic bags or containers. Clutter must be removed to remove hiding places and provide easy access for our bed bug removal team.
Bed bug pest control can include heat treatments, or sole chemical treatments depending on the severity of the infestation. Call or complete our website contact form for advice on the range of bed bug treatments we offer in London and across Kent.
How Long Does it Take To Get Rid of Bed Bugs in London?
Bed bug control can be achieved in as little as a few weeks to possibly a few months. Rarely does one treatment solve the problem the first time.
This pest loves to hide and burrow deep into the structures, therefore, control measures should be maintained by both the homeowner/tenant and our professional pest control team who will be in charge of your treatment. If you follow all the recommendations and keep all of your treatment appointments from your pest control professional, you can expect to have achieved bed bug control in roughly 4-8 weeks. We leave 7 – 14 days between each bed bug treatment, and re-treatment must not be left longer than 14 days or it won’t be successful.
How Long After Treatment Do Bed Bugs Die?
Heat treatments will kill the bugs immediately upon exposure to the heat. Chemical treatments can sometimes take a few hours or a few days based on when the insects cross into the poison.
Your bed bug control team will have a good estimate once the infestation is analysed. Call us today for expert bed bug advice. We operate across London and Kent.
Where Do Bed Bugs Come From?
Bed bugs are said to have originated around the same time as human beings thousands of years ago. The insects are about the size of an apple seed and are brown in color when fully grown. Nymphs appear transparent when they haven’t fed and bright red when engorged with blood.
Speaking of blood, bed bugs solely survive on human blood and the blood of warm-blooded mammals when humans are not present in their environment. Since humans are the primary food source of bed bugs, these insects prefer to live with their host as not to be separated from human blood.
Because bed bugs cannot fly and are so tiny with no natural defense against predators, these insects are completely interior dwelling parasites and do not live outdoors. Therefore, the insects have evolved to travel or ‘hitchhike’ to reach homes and apartments where the bugs will then set up shop near to where a person spends a lot of time in one spot–usually the bed.
Does Anything Attract Them?
Bed bugs are attracted to human blood and people in general. The bugs have antennae that seek out carbon dioxide (exhalation) and body warmth, which is what alerts them to start moving in the direction of where these two attractants are coming from.
Bed bugs like to hide, in fact, they spend their entire life hiding in the shadows as not to be noticed and then destroyed. Large amounts of clutter and fabric are the primary harbourages that the bugs will seek out.
Fabric is easy for the insects to latch onto and clutter helps them to stay hidden. The bed is the primary hiding spot for these insects since the box spring, mattress, headboard, and underneath the bed are dark and provides quick and easy access to a host when the person is sleeping through the night.
Bed bugs are also known to infest sofas, computer chairs, bedside tables, and any furniture that sees the host spend large amounts of time sitting in.
Bed bugs want to be near you, and they don’t want to have to travel far to reach a bloodmeal.
How Do Bed Bugs Travel?
These insects travel by latching onto clothes, shoes, luggage, handbags, backpacks, virtually anything that will take them back to your property where they work on infesting it. A common way to bring the insects home is by purchasing or retrieving used furniture or used property where the bugs were never exterminated from the items.
You can pick up these bugs in nearly any public place: offices, transit stations, and vehicles, movie theaters, restaurants, shopping malls and practically anywhere that sees large amounts of people crossing through. Visiting a friend or family member who has infestations is also a good way of taking home a hitchhiker or two.
Males and females almost always stay grouped together when looking for a host to attach to. This is why infestations occur in your home since the bugs start reproducing almost immediately.
How Often Do Bed Bugs Bite?
Bed bugs will feed as soon as they feel that it is safe to do so. This typically occurs at night when a host is asleep.
The pincher that the bugs use secretes a toxin that acts as a numbing agent as not to cause the host to awaken. Once a bug has fed, it returns to its hiding spot within the bed and the blood fertilises any eggs.
Bed bugs can bite often or, sometimes between intervals spanning 3-7 days. Blood is more of a necessity to feed eggs and produce nymphs to keep the colony growing.
How Long Can Bed Bugs Live Without Food?
These insects can survive upwards of 12-16 months without blood. This is a staggering statistic and represents one of the reasons why these bugs are so difficult to eradicate.
Sometimes, when treatment procedures are underway, these insects can hide deep within walls and the interior of a property. This survivable starvation is an evolutionary mechanism that allows the bugs to survive without feeding during treatment procedures.
Who Is Responsible for Bed Bug Treatment in Apartments?
In London, this is a tricky question. It basically comes down to what exactly is written in a lease agreement.
Your property manager may be found liable to provide treatment if it can be proven that the pest problem was existing in the unit before you moved in. In other instances, a local council may find that the insects were brought into the apartment by the tenant or during the tenant’s stay–by which your property manager may not be found liable to provide treatment.
What Insecticide Kills Bed Bugs and Their Eggs?
Insecticide treatments need to be pyrethroid-free concentrations. This pest has become notoriously resistant to commonly used chemicals. Metofluthrin is one chemical that seems to destroy the insects no matter if the strain is resistant to pyrethroids or not.
What Is Heat Treatment for Bed Bugs?
Heat treatment represents one of the guaranteed methods in bed bug extermination since heat at high temperatures can wipe out a bed bug infestation. When using heat during bed bug treatment, control services will typically clear the dwelling of sensitive electronics and furniture to pump extreme temperatures of heat to destroy the insects.
Unlike most chemicals, these insects cannot develop a resistance to heat.
How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs in a Mattress
There are ways to treat a mattress that has become infested, but the process is far from easy. If the bed bug infestation inside the mattress is severe, sometimes the best method is to have the mattress removed and destroyed.
Minor infestations inside the mattress can be contained with thick and sturdy mattress and box spring covers that will contain the pest problem for upwards of 16 months and prevent the insects from biting you–thereby starving them to death.
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Bed Bug Treatment Quote in London and Kent
Bed bug infestations represent one of the worst fears in all pest control and one of the biggest challenges for us as pest control professionals. A bed bug infestation can be addressed with either heat or chemicals depending on the severity of the bed bug problem within the property. Request a bed bug control today by completing our contact form:
