Stop Bed Bugs From Biting In West Palm Beach, FL
Bed bug infestations are often associated with unsanitary conditions, but in reality, they don't care how clean a place is as long as they have a steady supply of blood to feed on. The pest experts at Above And Beyond Pest Control pride themselves on their expertise and knowledge of area pests in Lake Worth, FL. Their pest-free guarantee includes protection from bed bug infestations.
What You Need To Know About Bed Bugs
When it comes to bed bugs, the more you know, the better able you are to detect an infestation in its earliest stages. When people don’t understand bed bug habits and behaviors, they don’t know what to look for to identify an infestation. The following information will help you know what bed bugs are like so that you can know what to look for in your house.
- Bed bugs are good at hiding.
This is true for two reasons. First, bed bugs are nocturnal. Although they can be awake and moving around during the day, they tend to avoid movement during daytime hours and are most active at night when you are likely sleeping.
Second, bed bugs prefer tight spaces. This means you probably won’t see them out in the open. Although they’ll venture out to find a meal, they’ll spend most of their time hidden in cracks and crevices, in the seams of mattresses, or in other tight places.
- Bed bugs easily move from place to place.
Bed bugs are easily able to move, not only from building to building but also from room to room within a building. They do this primarily in two ways. The first is by using wall voids to go from room to room. The second is by moving to a new place while on a host. Bed bugs don’t just feed on humans, but also use animals, such as dogs, cats, birds, and rodents, as hosts. If they are physically on a host when the host decides to move to a new location, the bed bug will go along with it, infesting a new area when it climbs off the host.
- Bed bugs are survivors.
Bed bugs have lived around humans for thousands of years, primarily because of their ability to survive our repeated attempts to eliminate them. What makes them survivors?
- They can take anywhere from five weeks to eight months to fully develop from egg to adult.
- Their lifespan can range from six months to one and a half years. They can go dormant for months, allowing them to “reappear” after you think they’re gone.
- They can survive without a meal for months at a time, allowing you to believe they are gone when they’re not.
- Female bed bugs lay hundreds of eggs in their lifetime and cement the eggs in cracks and crevices to make them both harder to detect and harder to eliminate.
Our Bed Bug Control Process
Using proven Integrated Pest Management techniques, Above And Beyond Pest Control has developed an efficient process for eliminating bed bug infestations. This process includes an inspection, custom treatment plan, and routine follow-up care to be sure the problem is gone for good.
Inspection
The first step in gaining control of a bed bug infestation is to thoroughly examine areas they are likely to hide. These areas include all soft furnishings but pay special attention to mattresses and box springs. Once we finish the inspection, you will receive a quote for treatment services on the spot and schedule your appointment.
Treatment
We will provide a checklist before your scheduled treatment that will detail specific tasks the homeowner will need to complete. We will then apply a liquid spray treatment to the affected area to eliminate the live bed bugs and any eggs and nymphs. We recommend that homeowners stay out of the house for at least four hours after applying the treatment.
Follow-up
Ten to fourteen days after the initial treatment, we will apply a second treatment, in the same manner, to guarantee that we properly purge the entire infestation from your home.
Once we eliminate the bed bugs from your house, we also offer mattress and box spring encasements at an additional cost. These encasements provide protection against future bed bug infestations, and we highly recommend them. After we complete the treatment process, you can sleep soundly knowing that your home is bed bug-free!
Bed Bug Facts
Below are some facts about bed bug behavior, biology, and characteristics, as well as what this means to you:
- Bed bugs are nocturnal, and exhibit shy behavior during daytime. They easily avoid detection, causing populations to grow.
- Bed bugs are thigmotactic; they prefer tight spaces. They will hide in every crack and crevice available within a room or wall void.
- Egg-to-adult development ranges from five to eight weeks, to as long as eight months. Bed bugs can live beyond traditional service programs.
- Lifespan ranges from six months to one and a half years. They can go into a dormant stage, and reappear several months later.
- Females lay eggs in batches of ten to fifty, and can produce 200 to 500 during their lifespan. Uncontrolled populations can grow very rapidly.
- They cement eggs in cracks, crevices, and wall voids. This enhances the survival rate of eggs by avoiding commonly treated areas.
- They can go without feeding for 80 to 140 days; one study showed 550 days! This creates a false sense of security due to the lack of bites.
- Bed bugs travel very well within wall voids. Room-to-room movement is very likely, and hiding in wall voids makes control very difficult.
- Bats, birds, rodents, and pets can act as hosts. These hosts can move an infestation around a structure.
Bed Bug Preparation Checklist
- Strip the beds and launder all sheets, pillowcases, mattress pads, and blankets.
- Remove everything from bedroom closets and place items in plastic bags.
- Remove everything from dresser drawers, nightstands, and dressing tables and place items in plastic bags.
- Have all clothing and fabrics laundered or dry cleaned.
- Remove drapes and have them laundered, dry cleaned, or replaced.
- Discard cardboard boxes, shoe boxes, paper and plastic bags, old newspapers, stacks of magazines, and similar items in infested rooms.
- Vacuum all infested rooms. Besides the floor, also vacuum mattresses, bedsprings, couches, chairs, closets and closet shelves, shoes, inside dresser drawers, and bedside table drawers. Vacuum bags are to be placed in a plastic bag and discarded.
Important notes:
- Discarding of any compromised (ripped/torn) materials or heavily infested items may be required.
- Dismantling of bed frames and other items will be performed as part of the service program.
- Should the box spring remain, removal of the cheesecloth underside is required for proper inspection and/or application.
- All clothing, linens, and other items that have been cleaned (free of bed bugs) must be kept isolated until the bed bug problem is eliminated.
- If laundering, a hot water and detergent cycle and dryer must be used (40 minutes in the dryer).
- A clutter-free environment must be provided to allow access for the service technician to treat all of the needed areas.
- Before removing all bagged items the client should inspect for pest activity.
- The client should not touch or move any monitoring device.
- “Booster” insecticide treatments MUST NOT be performed by the client.
- People and pets must leave the area during treatment and wait the stated amount of time before reentering (4 hours).
- Make sure your Above and Beyond Pest Control professional can get to all furniture, closets, beds, and baseboards to inspect and treat.
Please allow 15 days for treatment to work. If after 15 days, the problem persists, call the office for a follow-up service.
Keep Bed Bugs At Bay With Above And Beyond Pest Control
Bed bugs often go unnoticed because of their small size, and they're often mistaken for other biting insects. Fortunately, Above And Beyond Pest Control professionals are well educated on pests common to Lake Worth and the surrounding areas. With over 20 years of experience in environmentally friendly pest control techniques, we offer the best in pest protection. As a family owned and operated company, we know the importance of keeping loved ones safe and healthy. We make it a priority to give our clients a personalized and professional experience the whole way through. Contact us to request your free inspection or to schedule services! We look forward to working with you to maintain a pest-free home, guaranteed!
Learn more about our home pest control and commercial pest control solutions.
Customer Reviews
They came out the next day from my initial call, so very accommodating, as we had a roach problem so…. George was very prompt and very knowledgeable and answered all my questions. Gave me all my options and recommended having our septic tank checked, but said we should still have a one time service to kill what is left in the pipes and house. Left it that we would have the tank drained. Drained yesterday. And he was spot on- once the lid was lifted, 100+ roaches were running scared. We will be booking our spray of the house Monday morning. Great service and doesn’t push unnecessary services on you.
