Category Archives: Canada Bed Bugs

Identify and Control Bed Bugs SurfKY News (registration) (blog) They cannot jump long distances, instead moving by crawling and climbing. They can climb heights and drop down from above onto beds to find a meal. Orkin of Canada says that, since bed bugs are nocturnal and small, detecting them can be challenging. and more »

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Identify and Control Bed Bugs - SurfKY News (registration) (blog)

"How do I know if I have bed bugs?" it's a very common question. Many people with bed bug infestations don't know that they have pests in their home. This is because bed bugs are nocturnal nesting parasites they emerge before dawn, feed for 5-15 minutes, then return to their hiding places. Their ability to hide deep inside cracks and crevices make bed bugs difficult to spot, but there are ways to help confirm their presence through bed bug monitors, fecal matter, shed skins, blood spots, and even a unique smell. Most bed bugs hide out within 10-15 feet of your bed, which makes that a good place to start looking. Below are some tell-tale indicators that you may have these unwanted pests.

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Knowing what bed bugs look like is key in diagnosing an infestation. Pictured above is a close-up of an adult beg bug, about the size of an apple seed baby bed bugs are much smaller, and can appear almost transparent More Bed Bugs Pictures

2

Waking up in the morning with a row of red welts that burn and itch could be a sign of bed bugs. Bed bugs tend to leave straight rows of bites, unlike some other insects that leave bites here and there. More Bed Bug Bites Pictures

3

Bed bugs often leave blood stains on sheets, pillows, and furniture. These small red spots, often left in trails, are from bed bugs spitting up some of the blood they were drinking, or from them being crushed by people rolling over in their sleep More Pictures of Blood Stains

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Bed Bug Feces, usually thin black spots or streaks, are made up of digested blood that was excreted by the bedbugs as they returned to their hideout. To confirm that the mark is from a bed bug, try dabbing it with a wet paper towel; it should leave a red smudge More Pictures of Bed Bug Feces

5

Bed bugs shed their skin as they move through the 5 stages of their development. This clear skin with a tint of brown or amber can be easily spotted. This is a great indicator that bed bugs may be present More Bed Bug Skin Pictures

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Bed Bug Products: Learn How To Get Rid of Bed Bugs at ...

When escaping to the sun this winter, youre probably expecting to come back with a tan, not bedbugs.

According to Health Canada, bedbugs bite people while they sleep and feed on their blood, usually causing minor skin reactions. In rare cases, it can lead to severe allergic reactions.

Before leaving for vacation, travellers are urged to learn how to spot bedbugs and avoid bringing them home in their luggage, clothing and other personal items.

Bedbugs are brown and have small, flat, oval shaped bodies that are similar in appearance to an apple seed. In advance, you should do your research and learn how to spot them.

When youre on the trip, you should check your hotel room before you unpack. If you find signs of bedbugs, you can notify the front desk and ask for another room, or stay somewhere else. If you change rooms in the same hotel, make sure your new room is not next to the possibly infested room.

Bedbugs can hide in many places, like under wallpaper, behind picture frames, in electrical outlets, inside box springs, in mattress pads and in night tables, so make sure to check everywhere.

Bedbug fighting tips:

When you return home, carefully check your luggage and all of its contents. It is also a good idea to wash and dry all clothing and fabric items at a high temperature after you get back, to help kill any bedbugs you may have picked up.

Excerpt from:
How to avoid bringing bedbugs back from vacation - KelownaNow

Bed bugs may be tiny, but they can do incredible damage as youll see in our massive photo collection! They are excellent at hiding in tiny spaces where they wait for you and your loved ones to fall asleep and attack when youre most vulnerable.

This website is full of images that show you exactly what they look like, what can happen when they attack you in numbers, how to treat bites and most importantly, how to locate and kill these blood suckers yourself using inexpensive all-natural products.

We also have a very popular checklist that will walk you through the process of identifying infestations in hotel rooms. A few simple precautions can help you find these elusive bugs and prevent the nightmare from ever happening in the first place!

We receive a number of complaints about infants being attacked while sleeping as shown in the photo at the top of this page. That poor baby was taken to the doctor, and unlike many doctors, it was correctly determined that the bites were from bed bugs. Note: Many inexperienced doctors misdiagnose such bites.

The mother of the child shown above searched the crib and found the frame was infested with bed bugs (see more pictures of bed bug bites). Rather than do it herself, she called out a professional pest control company to eliminate the infestation. It is believed that the infestation started with baby cloths found at a garage sale.

Bed bug bites tend to have a pattern and this photo shows the perfect example of what they look like. If this were an attack by many bugs or by a few that are not as hungry, the pattern may not be noticeable.

People from around the world bitten by bed bugs have submitted photos for you to view, some are simple bites while other are horrible attacks that not only left physical scarring, but emotional scars as well.

It cant be said with absolute certainty that a bite was caused by a particular bug, but by viewing our collection of images and matching the pattern, it can give you a good start!

Weve got an impressive collection of bed bugs pictures that Im sure youll find very helpful in identifying the bug you found.

Finding bed bugs in your home has nothing to do with poor hygiene! It takes only one bed bug to hitch a ride on your clothing (furniture, suitcase, etc) and infest your residence. Whats worse is that they can live up to one year without drinking a drop of your blood. Feeding takes about 10 to 15 minutes for adults and less for the nymphs; they feed about every three days. Depending on the conditions, bed bug nymphs can survive for months without feeding.

Bed Bugs are insects, more specifically, True Bugs, which have piercing mouthparts that in most species are used for feeding on plants. Unfortunately, there are some species of bugs with mouthparts that have been adapted to feed on human blood while inflicting very little pain (most never feel the blood feeding).

The eggs are white and about 1mm long. The nymphs look like adults but are smaller. Complete development from egg to adult takes from four weeks to several months depending on the temperature and amount of feed available, see the bed bug life cycle chart on your left.

On average, females begins to lay eggs 4 days after mating and produces 260 eggs throughout their year long lifespan; eggs take 7 to 10 days to hatch. On average, bed bugs lay 5 eggs per week with populations reaching into the thousands in only 30 days!

They DO NOT have wings but that doesnt slow them down, they move at 4 feet per minute and usually are within 20 feet of their victim, however, motivated bed bugs may reach up to 60 feet! When hunting for food, they pick up bits of CO2 until they get close to the source, then follow the heat your body gives off.

NOTE: Although bed bugs dont have wings, it doesnt mean they cant fly 🙂 Believe it or not, some bed bugs can enter your home by riding on bats!

The grouping and number of bites shown on Monica earlier is a good sign that an infestation may be close by. A telltale sign would be mold like spots on your mattress. The picture to your right is of a mattress infested with bed bugs which was missed during an inspection! (click to enlarge) Its a great example of what you might see in a hotel room because it shows eggs, shells, feces and the bedbug itself.

Notice the shell that was shed in the left side of the photo and then again below and to the right? They are very hard to spot, as are the fecal stains (black mold like dots). These are just some of the signs youll look for when trying spot an infestation.

I should also mention that the visitor who submitted this image (her name is V) had an inspection and this slipped through. She left comments complaining of bites and couldnt find any sign of bugs, but we worked with her and through patience and determination, she was able to spot the source of the infestation, performed her own treatment and is now bed bug free!

So how do you know if you have an infestation? Its easy, and we created a bed bug checklist to help you find them in your home it works great for a hotel room as well 🙂

My page on how to get rid of bed bugs will walk you through the extermination process step-by-step, but in general, youll do a lot of cleaning and then apply the mixtures I provide on that page and apply it everywhere bugs might hide.

Uninterrupted, a bed bug can fill up in little as 5 minutes and do this about once every 6 days.

If youre going to be your own exterminator, then youll find everything you need to be successful right here on this site; however, you should be aware of things that can make matters worse often, uneducated landlords will suggest some of these items! Ill list them below:

The first thing you should do is make sure your hotel is bed bug free!

Understand that ANY hotel, 5 star or not, can get bed bugs so check for signs BEFORE you spend the night regardless of how clean it looks! Ive got an entire checklist at the top of this page that will show you where to look in detail this is extremely important!

A few ways to prevent bed bugs from getting into your home after youve used our checklist above include:

Why isnt the Government doing more to prevent infestations? Actually, they are and according to the EPA on bed bugs and infestations, have awarded more than half a million dollars to universities and agencies in hopes a way to eliminate these bugs once and for all will be discovered.

They have also created the Inter-agency Bed Bug Task Force that includes the CDC, Department of Health, USDA, Housing and of course, the EPA which created an entire site dedicated to educating people about bed bugs; however, they are limited on DIY information and lean toward hiring professional exterminators.

Bedbugs do damage, not only to the body from attacks, but also in the form of mental fatigue. Living with an infestation for too long may cause a paranoia that leads the victim into believing they are being bitten when in fact, they are not.

The Cost of Extermination There are thousands of comments on this site and many complain of outrageous costs, some of up to $5,000 for serious home infestations. The average fee reported by visitors for heat treatment is around $1,800 per visit and often, there are no guarantees.

Weve also had an incredible number of complaints where pest control companies took the victims cash and left the bed bugs; when the victim complained, they were told the bed bugs where killed but that the home owner must have brought bugs back into the home.

There are other methods of professional bed bug treatment which we cover in detail, but the most important point when hiring a professional is to make sure they are certified with specialized training on killing bed bugs!

If an exterminator tells you they can remove an infestation in one visit then keep looking. It takes at the very least two visits to make sure the treatment worked.

Below is just one of the many stories visitors have shared about being covered in bites after a deep sleep. In this case, an embarrassed mother who has been fighting bedbugs took the time to share only asking that we change her name to Restless, this is her story:

I Never knew anything about bedbugs until now. They have truly ruined my life. I cant have friends or family over and I cant sleep anymore. I live in a building that consists of 16 units. I discovered the problem a couple of weeks ago.

I woke up itching very bad and saw five bugs in my bed. I looked the bug up online and found out what it was. I started crying and didnt know what to do. I went to the hardware and bought bedbug sprays and also set off bedbug bombs. My daughter came to me crying because her face was swollen from a bite. I flipped over her box spring and tore the fabric off the bottom, there I found the problem. Bedbugs nesting and sleeping. I threw up from the sight of it. I continued to do the same for all the beds in the house, found the exact same thing. Then it was on to the couches. The bugs lie dormant in the wood of the couches. I immediately discarded everything in my apartment. Did my research and found out that I had to contact my landlord. He sent an inspector out the very next day. The inspector told me to bag up everything in plastic bags real tight and throw out old books and paper that I didnt need and said I needed three treatments and he said he would be back on Monday.

While standing in the neighborhood store I overheard neighbors saying that all of the landlords other buildings were infested with bedbugs as well. Why didnt the landlord treat all of the units just in case to avoid the spread of bedbugs? In my opinion, I think that the maintenance workers were transporting the bugs, seeing how the people with the bugs live in different buildings, and have never stepped a foot inside any of the other units. My landlord was careless not to inform all of his tenants about the infestations.

I have nothing now. Everything I own has gone to the garbage. I only had the furniture for one year and a half. I spent thousands of dollars on my furniture, and Im not working now and cant afford to replace anything. I really feel helpless with no-one to trust. Im going crazy. Im so sick of living out of plastic bags. I dont know what to do anymore. The third treatment was completed 2 days ago and this morning I found a bedbug on my sheet.

Its been awhile since then, and Ive learned there is no short cut! My advise to those reading this is, do not use sprays! Many act as a repellent and can cause bed bugs to travel to other areas not being treated. If you want to get rid of bed bugs, then you need to use DE and follow the instructions on this website. It will take time but in the end, its the only DIY method that works.

Want to read more? A LOT of people have shared their experience with bed bug bites!

A ton of people ask me that question and Im happy to help you determine if you have one of these little blood suckers, just use this form to upload your pictures of the suspected bed bug and/or bite.

Do It Yourself Pest Control Youll find great information on how to identify kill these bugs yourself and prevent another infestation. In fact, youll find a large number of success stories by people who took the time to do it right; however, if you have a big infestation but dont have the time and patience to treat it properly, then paying for a professional exterminator may be a better than doing it wrong and causing them to spread. You CAN do it yourself, but there is no quick fix. (unless your like some of the lucky visitors to this site that happened to find and kill the bug before it could multiply).

Not sure where to start? Then read our page on pest control / bed bug treatment or jump right to the bed bug dust solution and see comments left by visitors that now enjoy a bug free life.

Perhaps you can help identify the bug bite left by a visitor, know of pest control method not mentioned, or have a story to share? If so, please leave a comment and help out. Bedbug infestation is a frightening experience and knowing that others have been down the same road can really help, so please comment whenever possible.

Looking for Consumer information on getting rid of bed bugs? The FTC has a nice page on battling these blood suckers; most of it is centered around using pesticides and providing a list of products approved by the EPA.

Take a look around and enjoy the site!

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View Bed Bug Bites and ID Bugs with easy DIY Treatment

Pictures of bed bugs could help you identify and even prevent the blood-fed pests from wrecking havoc in your place. But sadly, people often skip checking out what they really look like.

With just the rashes or bite marks they got, many are quick to decide which pest they have and need to get rid. And often, without even verifying if the assumed insect is indeed the cause of it, they would treat themselves and do a pest elimination with a product that they just deem is the best.

Now, what is wrong with that picture? A lot.

For one, the pest was not verified. The marks, they could be the bed bug bites or of other insects. If you go ahead and just assume things, you could use the wrong product for the pests and even the marks.

Bed bug bites and rashes actually look similar with other conditions and insect bites. Scabies, allergic reactions, chicken pox and mosquito bites are some examples of them. So if youll just base your diagnosis with the marks, there is a fat chance that youll get it wrong. And because, as said, that could lead you to the wrong bed bug bite treatment, you could worsen your condition.

Check out pictures of the bed bug bites in comparison with other insect bites and skin conditions.

Bed Bug Bites

Mosquito Bites

Scabies

Skin Allergy

Chicken Pox

Needless to say, if you go ahead and get the pest-control product not specifically made for the insects that you actually have to get rid, you will just waste money. No matter how many times youll apply it or how much of it you will use, it wont get your problem solved.

Say, if you have bed bugs at your home but based on your bite marks you bought a product for cockroach, you will just give the vampire-like pests the chance to multiply and even cause you more problems. And that means more bed bug rashes and even bigger spending.

And though there are also some people who actually search first the area where they got bitten to identify the pest they have to deal with before taking any step, still they couldnt get the bed bug problem fixed. The reason is that they identify the insects incorrect. And that could bear similar negative effects.

But apart from the misinterpretation of their bite marks, why is it that many people often think they have other insects when. in fact, it is bed bugs they got? Well, thats basically because bugs look similar with booklice, small cockroaches and even carpet beetles.

Particularly though, here are the bed bugs physical characteristics that could help you differentiate them from others.

And here are some pictures of bed bugs in comparison with other pests that look like them:

Bed Bugs

Booklice

Young Cockroaches

Carpet Beetles

To avoid mistaking the blood-sucking pests as other common house insects, pictures of bed bugs are needed. They could give you a clear image of what they look like. And with you familiar with their appearance, you could differentiate them from other insects. Consequently, that will help you implement the right elimination steps and pick the appropriate pest-control spray.

So, if you think you have bed bugs at home but not sure if they are exactly the vampire-like pests, follow the following steps:

Grab a complimentary sample of Bed Bug Bully

Bed Bug Bully 32 OZ

Bed Bug Bully 40 OZ

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Here are some pictures of bed bugs in different stages that would surely help you identify them right.

Bed Bug From Egg to Adulthood

View more pictures of bed bugs in different stages

Whats the Latest Bed Bug News?

Learn How To Kill Bed Bugs in Seconds

Here are pictures of bed bugs from eggs to adults.

Bed Bug Eggs

Bed Bug Nymphs

Feeding Bed Bug Nymph

Adult Bed Bugs With Their Nymphs

Flat Bed Bug Before Feeding

Plump Bed Bug After Feeding

Before you could identify bed bugs though, first, you have to find them. But be warned, small and sneaky as those bloodsuckers are, they are often hard to find. If you know exactly where to look though, you could spot them early. And that saves you and your family from the worst of their negative effects.

Below are pictures of bed bugs in areas where you will most likely see them.

Bed Bugs in a Mattress

Bed Bugs in Couch Cushion

Carpet Full of Bed Bugs

Bed Bugs on a Backpack

Usually, bed bugs stay in cracks and crevices. Those could be in the wall, floor or furniture. But most often, they hide in the gaps of couches and beds because those give them easy access to their source of meal, which could be you.

They are also likely to hide in closets, cabinets and under the carpets. In fact, even in books, they could make a home too.

And given that bed bugs could actually conceal themselves in the most unlikely spots and items, so you wont miss them, the following is the list of questions you need to ask yourself before starting your search for them.

The answers to these questions are keys to finding bed bugs in your home. Hence, be sure to go over it every time you suspect there are bed bugs in your house.

When looking for bed bugs though, just a mere glance at the places where they are likely to hide is not enough. Know the signs of a bed bug infestation so even if you dont see the pests, you will know they are or were there. Those signs will basically tell you to inspect deeper. And that is crucial because bed bugs could go on hiding even without going out and feeding for months.

Always be on the alert of the following bed bug signs and symptoms. They are the key to your bed bug inspection.

Bed Bug Droppings

Bed Bug Molts

Bed Bug Infestation That Could Exude a Pungent-Sweet Smell

So now that you know you have bed bugs and even know where they hide, what then? What else could you do but to eradicate them?

If you wait any longer before eliminating them, you would just give them chance to cause you more problems. Thats because in a short time after discovering their presence, bed bugs could multiply or transfer to other areas in your house.

An adult female bed bug could lay up 3 to 4 eggs in a day. Say there are 20 female reproducing bed bugs in your house. Do the math and you could have 80 more bed bugs to deal with the next day if you miss out eradicating them on the same day you found them. Sure, those 80 more would still be eggs. But think about the other eggs laid before them. They could already be hatching.

Whats more is that some of the bed bugs could have transferred to other areas in your house the following day. Remember, bed bugs are fast-paced. And once disturbed, they could easily sneak into other spots and items.

So to prevent more of the said blood-fed pest and to block their widespread, do the bed bug treatment right after bed bugs are discovered.

However, there are several methods to kill bed bugs. You must determine which of them is the best for you before doing the elimination. While pictures of bed bugs could ensure if they are indeed the pests that you have to deal with, the right bed bug treatment will secure your home from their re-infestation.

Three of the most popular bed bug treatment methods are the heat treatment, hiring of bed bug exterminators and the use of bed bug sprays.

Heat Treatment

This method basically uses high temperature to kill bed bugs. To get this done, some use the process of steaming the area infested while others implement thermal treatment.

Though slightly different in the way they are executed, the same principle applies to both steaming and thermal treatment. That is the higher the temperature the shorter the time needed to kill the pests.

There is one problem with heat treatment though it could cause fire accidents. There were already a number of fire incidents reported to have been caused by it.

Bed Bug Exterminator

Hiring someone to get rid of the pests for you is the easiest method. But the problem is that bed bug exterminator cost is too high. Because of that, it is often reserved for just massive bed bug infestation the kind that could get worse if you handle it yourself.

In case you would really need to hire a bed bug exterminator though, pick the one based within your area. That is so he could do the inspection and elimination promptly. But of course, you have to make that his quality of work is great.

Bed Bug Spray

But for a less-expensive bed bug treatment, you could just do the elimination yourself. Just make sure you could handle the situation.

The best help you could have for a personal bed bug treatment is a bed bug spray. Apart from saving your pocket, it also offers a prompt bed bug treatment. That means you dont have to wait for hours or days before the pests are eliminated. And that cuts their chance to populate.

In terms of the work required, the use of a bed bug spray is actually easy to implement. Compared with the other two options, it is much more convenient. You just got to make sure you apply it spot on.

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See Pictures of Bed Bugs, They Could Already Be Sleeping ...