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Professional Bed Bug Services on Long Island and The 5 Boroughs of NYC
Regardless of what their name suggests, bed bugs can be found living anywhere that a host lives. This means they may be living in the carpets, couches, drapes, dressers and everywhere else in your home. Unfortunately, washing your belongings is not enough to kill bed bugs, and you need to understand the three major aspects of bed bug removal, which include preparing for an exterminator to treat your home, identifying bed bug infestations and following Arrow’s seven steps to successful bed bug eradication.
Your Responsibility in Removing Bed Bugs Before a Technician Arrives.
Bed bug eradication means the treatment must be capable of reaching all bed bugs where they’re hiding. As a result, you need to take a few steps to ensure the success of eradication, which include the following:
- Strip and wash all sheets, mattress pads, blankets, pillowcases, shams and other items on your bed.
- Remove all items from dressers, nightstands and closets, and place these items in plastic bags.
- Run all clothing, drapes and other fabrics through the dryer on the highest possible setting for at least 20 minutes.
- Remove all clutter-like items, such as boxes, bins, books and magazines, from the treatment rooms or area. In other words, do not simply move clutter from one area to another in the same room.
- Arrange for your pets, if any, to stay with a friend or relative during the treatment. Cover fish tanks, and disconnect their filters or aerators from the power sources.
- Put all bagged items outdoors.
These steps may seem like a burden, but they are critical to ensuring Arrow’s trained exterminators can adequately access and treat all infested areas.
How to Identify a Bed Bug Infestation
Bed bugs tend to hide in dark places throughout the day and come out to feed during the night. However, they may come out during the day if hungry, explains the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The most pressing sign of a bed bug infestation is the presence of actual bed bugs in the seams of furniture, between cushions and in areas of dense fabric, such as the foot of your bed. You may also find bed bugs in drawer joints or hiding in loose papers or books when the infestation becomes severe. However, identifying bed bugs requires you to think about what they leave behind too.
Look for unusual spots of blood on your sheets or mattresses, which may be crushed bed bugs, and unexplained dark, blackened spots may be bed bug excrement. In addition, you may notice bite marks or skin inflammation on yourself or family members from being bitten.
Arrow’s 7 Steps to Eradicate Residential Bed Bugs
- Inspect the whole home and pet-areas for bed bugs and eggs.
Since bed bugs can live literally anywhere in your home, your whole house and adjacent structures should be inspected for bed bugs. Furthermore, bed bugs may feed on mammals and birds, so homes with outdoor pets should be inspected more closely. - Prepare to treat the whole house.
Treating only part of the house can allow a bed bug infestation to continue. Prep the whole house now to save time later. - Use high heat to kill live bed bugs and destroy eggs.
Bed bugs cannot live above 113 degrees F. Clothing, shoes and pocket books must all be treated. - Treat all cracks and crevices.
Bed bugs can hide out in crown molding, cracks, crevices, and tiny holes. Treat all cracks at the same time. - Treat mattresses and mattress covers, furniture and curtains.
These items are highly important in the treatment process, and all parts of them must be treated. - Follow up after 10 days to ensure success.
This follow up is primarily looking for eggs that have hatched or bugs that escaped initial treatment. - After 30 days, bring a canine to perform final inspection.
The dog-assisted final inspection will identify any remaining traces of infestation to ensure bed bugs are completely eradicated.
