Bed bugs are among the most challenging pests to eliminate from your home because they reproduce extremely quickly. In fact, one lone insect can turn into hundreds in just a few months if not promptly treated.
Fortunately, the extermination experts at Poulin’s Pest Control are ready to jump into action and attack your bed bug infestation. Using effective methods such as canine detection, a Poulin’s bed bug exterminator can identify where the insects lurk and eliminate them to ensure the troublesome guests don’t return. If you think you have a bed bug problem in your home or business and require treatment, call Poulin’s at 780-477-1671 or toll-free at 1-877-477-1671 or contact us through our Edmonton website.
Identifying bed bugs
Bed bugs are tiny. However, you can see them with the naked eye. Adults are about four to five millimetres long and have flat, oval-shaped bodies with horizontal bands. They’re usually pale yellow as nymphs and darken into brown or reddish-brown as adults.
Signs you have bed bugs
Before noticing the insects themselves, you may see signs that they’re in your home. For example, if you wake up with tiny red welts on your body, you may have been bitten by a bed bug. Bed bug bites may occur two or three in a row. These insects get nourishment from sucking blood from humans, pets, and livestock. Bed bug bites can get inflamed and itchy and trigger allergic reactions in severe cases. However, not everyone reacts the same way to the bites and some people don’t react at all.
Additionally, you may notice tiny rusty-brown stains on your sheets or furniture caused by bed bug feces. You may also find bed bug exoskeletons on your furnishings. If you see any of these signs, it’s best to schedule a treatment or inspection from Poulin’s in Edmonton.
Where bed bugs live
Bed bugs often hide in small, dark places. They hide in cracks in mattresses, bed frames, and box springs. They also shelter in the gaps between your couch cushions, the spaces behind your baseboards, around picture frames, underneath carpets, and in the clothes in your closet. They can live for months (almost up to a year) and can survive without a blood meal for months.
How bed bugs enter your home
It doesn’t matter if your home is meticulously clean or not; bed bugs can enter your home through various means. In most cases, humans transport bed bugs from one location to another. For instance, they can hitch a ride on:
- Luggage and backpacks
- Purses
- Gym bags
- Second-hand furniture
- Items and clothing left close to beds and couches
- Shoes
No matter how they arrive in your home, you must act quickly and schedule a professional bed bug assessment and treatment.
Conventional bed bug treatment
When you schedule a bed bug treatment, your home will first require a thorough bed bug inspection from a licensed and certified pest control exterminator. They may use canine detection to discover where the bed bugs are hiding and design a comprehensive treatment program. If there’s an infestation in an apartment or condo, the suites directly beside, above, below and across from the infected unit should also be inspected.
Bed bugs often require multiple treatments and are seldom eradicated the first time. A technician will treat cracks and crevices, nightstands, baseboards, floorboards, door and window frames, behind loose wallpaper, attics and other enclosed places with a residual pesticide. A Poulin’s technician will also use (residual) insecticidal dust in wall voids, light switches and conduits. Your living space may need to be treated every 10 to 14 days until the technician is satisfied the bed bugs are gone.
Bed bug heat treatment
Poulin’s bed bug heat treatments effectively rid your home of bed bugs. This process uses heaters and powerful fans to raise the temperature of bed bug infested areas to about 52-57 °C, baking the insects to death. Bed bugs can’t survive for long at this temperature. The heat effectively kills every bed bug at any stage of its life cycle, including eggs, nymphs, and adults. Moreover, heat treatments have a 99 per cent success rate after only one treatment.
Bed bug control in Edmonton and surrounding areas
At Poulin’s Pest Control, our technicians are trained to diagnose and treat all types of bed bug problems. We’ll design a custom solution for your living space and won’t stop until every bed bug is gone. Schedule a bed bug assessment with an exterminator and Maggie “The Bed Bug Dog” by contacting us in Edmonton today.