Category Archives: Do it yourself Bed Bug

Albany, NY (PRWEB) April 03, 2014

Thomas Pest Services, serving the Albany and Adirondack Regions, releases the following statement regarding the control and treatment of bed bugs. "Bed bugs are one of the most difficult pests to treat. There are a variety of different methods that pest control professionals are administering to help get rid of bed bugs," says Sarah Thomas-Clark, Vice President of Thomas Pest Services, "but we have found that bed bug heat treatments are by far the most effective way to kill all stages of bed bugs."

It is safe to say that of all the invasive pests that make their way into homes and businesses, bed bugs are perhaps the most difficult to treat without professional help. They can show up at any time and almost anywhere there are people. The bed bug is nocturnal, becoming active at night or in the dark. Their tiny size also makes it easy for them to hide during the day. Bed bugs will burrow into the carpet, hide behind baseboards and window and door trim, under mattresses and bed clothing and behind light switches and receptacle covers.

In Albany, bed bug control has always been an issue with many business owners and homeowners. In fact, the control of bed bugs should not be a do it yourself type of treatment. The bed bug can survive without a blood meal for up to a year and about the time you think you have gotten rid of them, they suddenly surface again. On a professional level, there are various traditional methods of treatment. Canine scent detection is often used to find bed bugs and there are several bed bug control solutions available for your home and business.

Thomas Pest Services has found that bed bug heat treatments are the most effective way to kill bed bugs. Dry steam heat is used and once the temperature reaches 120 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, the heat is lethal to bed bugs no matter what stage of development they are in. This heat treatment method is environmentally friendly and highly effective. It is often in just one heat treatment that 100% of bed bugs are gone. This is a great option especially for businesses that cannot afford the downtime. The choice of which treatment to use often varies by the level of infestation and the particular environment. Bed bug heat treatments are not always the only choice of treatment and occasionally both conventional and heat treatments are used together in order to eradicate a severe bed bug infestation.

Additionally, Thomas Pest Services offers free education sessions for organizations teaching them travel tips and about the basics of bed bug prevention, detection and management tools. For more information on their bed bug services, visit 518gotpests.com.

About Thomas Pest Services

Thomas Pest Services provides effective pest control to homes and businesses throughout the Capital District as well as throughout the Adirondack region. In addition to treatments to get rid of current infestations, they offer solutions to prevent other pests like ants, termites, rodents and nuisance wildlife before they have a chance to cause problems for NY homes and businesses. Visit http://www.518gotpests.com for more information.

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Capital Region Pest Control Company Now Offering Bed Bug Heat Treatments

Earlier this week our office received an insect sample that was almost certainly the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius). However, given the potential expense and difficulties of managing a bedbug infestation, I didnt want to be responsible for a false positive. So I shipped the sample up to our Plant Disease and Insect Clinic at NC State just to make sure.

If you, a friend or a relative has or suspects a bed bug infestation, review carefully the bed bug information that has been made available to the public at the NCSU entomology website titled Biting and Stinging Pests, posted at http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/Urban/biting.htm. From this page, the note Bed Bugs (Biology & Management) is a great starting point in determining whether or not the signs and evidence point to an infestation.

Getting a reliable ID of the insect in question is obviously a critical part of the process. While bed bugs are usually correctly identified by the public and by pest control companies, our Extension entomologists do occasionally run into bat bugs and swallow bugs that can be difficult to distinguish without a microscope or high magnification lens.

When a positive ID has been obtained, its time to decide on a control strategy and get down to business. NCSU Extension entomologists strongly encourage the use of professional services in eliminating bed bug infestations, and caution that do-it-yourself chemical treatments are unlikely to be effective. Furthermore, frustration with this problem frequently leads homeowners to misuse insecticides inside the home, creating serious health risks for people and pets. In some of these cases, excessive insecticide exposure has resulted in the deaths of adults or children.

Even if you arent currently dealing with a bed bug problem at home, Bed Bugs (Biology & Management) would be worth a quick read, just to remind yourself of the various ways in which you could be at risk. An overnight stay in an unlucky hotel room is certainly one possible scenario, but bed bugs could also come to your home on a used mattress or other used furniture.

Oleander cold damage

Last week I noticed a significant number of oleander (Nerium oleander) with obvious signs of cold damage to the foliage. This is to be expected on oleander and other marginally cold hardy species whenever we experience temperatures a little colder than average for the Craven County area.

While oleander is better suited to warmer climates, it seems to have adequate cold tolerance for Craven County. But a protected landscape niche can significantly increase your chances of long term success with this species.

Since the extent of damage to local oleander may not be clear until weve had at least a few weeks of warm weather, it would be best to delay any corrective or clean up pruning until were into mid or late May. New growth might end up masking most or all of the cold weather damage.

Sago palm (Cycas revoluta) is probably even more susceptible than oleander to winter injury, and yellow or brown foliage is a strong indication that damage has occurred. As with oleander, dont be in a hurry to remove foliage

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Tom Glasgow: Dont take bed bugs lightly

Although heat treatments can be effective for bed bugs, this is not a treatment method you can do yourself.

A Lexington, Kentucky woman recently set her home on fire while trying to treat her home with heat to kill bed bugs.

WKYT reports,

Carol says theyve called exterminators in before to no avail. So frustrated, Carol says her mother took action, but it sparked an unexpected problem that required firefighters to the rescue.

We found the fire in the bedroom, and then upon investigation we found that the occupant was trying to get rid of bed bugs by heating the room up to 95 degrees, says Lexington Fire Department Major Shaun Brown.

Fire officials says a camping grill was used to heat the room, essentially trying to create a sauna like feel.

An idea Carol says came from advice on the internet, but one that clearly backfired.

Unfortunately, Carols mother was trying to use a camping grill to heat the home and as delorac pointed out when she drew our attention to this story in the forums:

using an outdoor grill inside in an enclosed space poses a real risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. So she could have died in two different ways had she been unlucky.

Although Carol and her mother had received some professional treatments for bed bugs, eliminating bed bugs requires knowledge, skill, and usually multiple treatments. People with bed bugs are desperate to eliminate them. Nothing underscores that fact more than when the news reports stories of people who take their lives in their hands while trying to get rid of bed bugs.

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Heat treatment for bed bugs is not a Do It Yourself project ...

Bed bugs do not discriminate

They may be associated with dirt and filth, but bed bugs do not show any type of discrimination.

Bed bugs have been found in the nicest homes and the fanciest hotels. In fact, they will set up home anywhere there are food sources, and those food sources are humans and pets.

Dr. Elisabeth Giedt, director of Continuing Education, Extension and Community Engagement at the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences at Oklahoma State University, said bed bugs can be found just about anywhere.

As you travel during the holiday season and other times during the year, always be on the lookout for these pesky creatures, Giedt said. Keep in mind bed bugs dont live on people or pets. They live in the environment and feed on you and your pets. Although theyre annoying and their bites can cause itching and skin irritation, they arent known to transmit diseases.

While bed bugs do not spend as much time on your pets as fleas, ticks, lice and mites, they still bite your pets. And your pet can serve as a taxi and bring them into your home. From there the pesky creatures can find their way to your pets bedding, as well as your own.

Look for signs of bed bugs along mattress seams, along baseboards, seams of clothing, behind bedframes, in curtains and your pets bedding. Giedt said if you find yourself in the midst of a bed bug infestation, contact a professional pest management service to help you develop a plan to get the bed bugs out of your home.

As far as your pet is concerned, you wont have to throw out Rovers bedding or stuffed toys. Launder the animals bedding in the hottest temperature setting, preferably at a minimum of 120 degrees Fahrenheit, she said. Set the dryer on the medium/high or high setting. If the materials cant be washed, but can be put in the dryer, put them in the dryer on medium to high heat for about 20 minutes. If the pets bedding has holes or tears, consider getting rid of it and replacing it with something new.

When looking for a bed bug preventive, such as what you use for fleas and ticks, make sure the label indicates it is intended for bed bugs. If bed bugs are not listed, the product may not be effective. Using the wrong pesticide, or using it incorrectly to treat for bed bugs, can make you and your pet sick.

Bed bugs can be difficult to eradicate, so its important to work with a professional. Its likely the treatment plan will include more than one visit, Giedt said. Bed bugs are tough critters, but if you stay diligent you can get them out of your home.

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Bed bugs do not discriminate

Hello, welcome to easy steps to ridding bed bugs.

Before we start anything I'd like to share with you a bit of information about bed bugs.

The bed bug start off as small creatures, so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. These little creatures grow off eating your blood, they can withstand many temperatures but none too cold and none too hot. They are very skinny and strong for their size which allows them to crawl throughout many small cracks in our homes. They are not the fastest insects but are very hard to find. If you start seeing them walk around your home during broad day or while you have lights on in the home then you have a great infestation. Usually they stay in one spot of the home and travel for food when they need to. They can live for months with ought any food. The most common place for them to be is inside the bed, hence "Bed Bugs". If anywhere else, they like to hide in small dark cracks.

About the bites, when a bed bug bites you, it doesn't appear right away. It could take as long as 9 weeks, usually about 5 minutes though. Some people do not feel the bites, some do. But they always leave marks. Once I teach you how to get rid of the bites, some might still appear but that's because they were previous. The bed bug doesn't transfer any diseases and not much happens when they bite you, besides a small swelling near the bite and a lot of uncomfortable itchiness. Good ways to get the bites itchiness to go away is to eat some garlic, just a bit.. It helps a lot, and use rubbing alcohol on the bitten parts. Now let's get down to business.

There are many ways to get rid of bed bugs, you have to commit to it though. Usually they would be in your room so first thing is, clean your room. If it's already clean, good job 🙂 If not, stop being lazy, do it once 🙂 You'll be happy in the end.

If your under a really warm climate and its hot near your area, clean your room and put your mattress and comforters and such outside, let the heat kill them. If you don't want to move it outside, open the window, make sure the light is hitting them, other than that, get some insect repellent, preferably gardening repellent, it's a liquid, just spray it around your home, or let it leak around your home, put it on your bed and stuff, make sure you get rid of the sheets on your bed first. Then spray it good, get it all over, make sure your windows open. Leave the room for about 12 hours. When you come back it will have a bid of an odour but that's okay.

Now if you live in a cold climate area, what you need to do is open your window, just open it. No big deal but make sure all the electronics you have are out of the area, computers, cell phones... Blah, because the cold could ruin them, 🙂 Happened to my computer, I left my window open to get rid of the bugs while I had the home pest control sprayed throughout my room and my computer crashed, I like my new one better anyways :). Now make sure you sprayed the room well.

If you see that the bugs went away, congratulations. If they come back in a few weeks that means that the bugs are also somewhere else in your room, at this point you can call an exterminator.. Or... You can do-it-yourself. It's a lot cheaper and not that hard, the thing about gardening pest control is that the bugs like the smell, they go to it, and it kills them very fast. So spray it around your home, but leave a window open or something, because the smell of that could knock you out, make you dizzy. Worst of all, diarrhoea. Well that concludes my guide, good luck all of you 🙂

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