Bedbugs - don't let them bite
Posted on 18th March 2019 at 08:46
Bed bugs are becoming the 21st Century 'Super Pest' - these blood sucking insects are spread all over the globe and we are now seeing resistance to chemicals meaning that they are harder for the pest control industry to control.
We were asked to attend and treat an infestation of bed bugs at a rental property in Reading town centre where the previous tenant had moved out and the landlord made a horrifying discovery on taking back the property.
Along with a lot of rubbish left in the house we found FOUR bed bug traps all full as shown in the photo above. This was a major bed bug infestation so we used electric heat appliance's to bring the temperature within each room to 60 degrees centigrade.
Bed bugs like all insects have whats known as a thermal death point - this is the temperature where they cannot survive above and for adult bed bugs this is 45 degrees; their eggs are around 50 degrees. We heat the rooms up to 60 degrees just to ensure that this level is achieved throughout.
We followed each room with a pesticide spray as the bed bugs will move away from the heat and we will use this in conjunction to prevent what we call 'flushing'. We had to remove the electrical sockets to check inside to determine how far spread the bed bug infestation was.
At Reading Pest Control we never rely solely on chemicals to control bed bugs: they have a resistance to some of the pesticides used and we cannot be 100% certain with only using this approach.
We always use some form of heat: either in the form of a portable steamer which uses 180 degree steam and is extremely effective at smaller infestations or the larger electric devices.
Either way we back our bed bug treatments up with the latest chemical pesticide; these contain two forms of pesticide and an insect growth regulator that prevents the insects from shedding their exoskeleton - this prevents them from reaching maturity and breeding.
At Reading Pest Control we approach all our bed bug treatments with a two step method - chemical and heat, we may need you to do some prep work for us as we will look to be as thorough as possible and that means a methodical approach to the bed bug treatment. We will dissemble your bed to get both the steam and chemical to every inch of it, treat the mattress with steam and a slightly different chemical that is safer for skin contact and then repeat this throughout every bedroom.
You cannot take short cuts when it comes to successful bed bug control - our treatment may take hours or all day if we take the temperatures up to 60 degrees - at Reading Pest Control our customers are our priority and we take care and pride when delivering all our insect treatments.
Tagged as: Bed bugs
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