In this episode, Jeff will discuss what the typical recommendations are for bed bug treatment that most of the pest control industry is requiring and what Bed Bug Central's position is on preparing for bed bug treatment. Please remember that regardless of the information provided in this episode, you should also follow what the pest control company is asking you to do for bed bug treatment. Typical bed bug preparations include: emptying dressers and closets and laundering all clothing contained within those areas, stripping the beds of their bedding and laundering those items and standing the beds on end. Most pest control companies require you do perform these tasks because there may be a bed bug in personal clothing and the pest control company cannot treat those items with pesticide. By laundering them you kill any bugs associated with those items and if you strip the bed and stand it on end, it makes the treatment easier the day of treatment. Bed Bug Central's position on bed bug preparation is to clean your home so that the pest control company treating the home can move freely in the house. Outside of cleaning the home, we will ask you to empty closets and dressers only if we find evidence in those areas. Emptying dressers and closets and laundering all of those items because there may be a bug contained within them we feel is unnecessary and an unfair amount of work when finding bugs in these areas is only common in very high level infestations (only about 10% of bed bug infestations). We also don't want homeowners/renters to strip the bed and stand it up because we want to see the infestation as it was originally and performing these tasks will distribute bugs into unpredictable locations. Please remember that this is Bed Bug Central's position on bed bug preparations and you should always follow whatever your pest control company is asking you to do.
Bed Bug Preparations
– July 6, 2010Posted in: All Episodes, Bed Bug Basics
Jeff,
Just found your site it is educational. My issue with this episode about preparation is in telling folks not to empty closets/dressers is so wrong..I am a licensed PCO in Columbus Ohio and have been for over 10 years…In my experience and I have quite a lot of BB experience 9 out of 10 times there are bugs at the dressers and closets..We do a lot of apartment treatments. I just wanted to remark because it is rather hard to get tenants to comply as it is and believe comments such as yours can cause general population to further not comply…
Sincerely, Tereasa
pest control is necessary specially if you have an expensive wooden home and if you are cultivating some plants :;,
pest control is necessary specially if you have an expensive wooden home and if you are cultivating some plants ‘.’
I have had exterminators in and believe they've gotten the adults, but I think there may be some nests that they missed. (My infestation was very light AND I had slept in different beds pevious to being exterminated, which, I believe, established several very light locations for bed bug infestation.
I think the nymphs are biting now, but there is some disbelief on the part of the exterminators and they don't want to come back. I'm getting pin-prick bites, smaller and larger-than-pinprick-but-not-full-adult-bites – some of which are only visible when I work out. The reason I think they are nymphs is because they have the same constellation pattern.
Do you have pictures of nymph bites? Do you have a picuture of nymphs? Needless to say, I don't want these possible adults to become adult, but it's also possible I'm bugging out.
Here's my theory: About three weeks after a trip to Italy, I began getting classic bed bug bites. I didn't know it then, but a lot of research showed me that large welts in patterns of "breakfast, lunch and dinner" that itch like mad and take forever to go away, must be bed bugs. Our apartment in Italy had french doors that opened onto a patio that was home to hundreds of pigeons. When we opened it to get air, we might as well have been living in a pigeon coop. That would seem a likely way to get bird mites but the initial bites we got were very typical of bed bugs. After an aggressive treatment and not sleeping or relaxing for several months, the big bites stopped and we began getting the tiny pinprick kind. They come on suddenly and make you jump a little..actually, I have seen my dog do this, wake from a deep sleep with a little squeal of pain and a twitch and it looks like the same thing that happens to us. After a few more months of steaming and endless treatment, even showering with Cedar oil, the bites stopped and we got back to normal for three years. Now the pinpricks are back, worse than ever. They seem to bite mostly on the back, crook of the elbow, neck and feet and the same spots over and over again. I have to believe that bed bugs and bird mites are somehow related and that we are now being bitten by nymphs. We don't see anything, but there is no doubt we are being bitten, even though everyone thinks it's a "mental" issue.
I know there are lots of you out there, tired of being called paranoid and looking for something concrete.