Bed bugs are experts at infiltrating homes and spreading from room to room right under your nose. They feed on your blood then retreat to their hiding places for days or weeks before coming out again. Their slim, flat bodies make them exceptionally good at hiding. As a result, they’re hard to detect.
To make matters worse, these parasitic insects have evolved over the years and become resistant to chemical pesticides. This means for you to eradicate them, you must have a thorough knowledge of them and a carefully planned treatment technique.
One effective way of dealing with bed bugs is seeking help from a professional. Let’s take a closer look at what a bed bug exterminator has to offer.
Hiring Bed Bug Removal Companies
Hiring a bed bug pest control company is an excellent option if your infestation problem is into the heavy stage or you’re uncomfortable dealing with the pests yourself.
Other reasons that may make it necessary to hire an extermination company include:
- You lack the labor to carry out a thorough treatment, which includes lifting or moving furniture and bagging belongings.
- You or someone else you live with has a medical condition that can be worsened by chemical treatments.
- You’ve treated your home with techniques such as fogging and bombing, but are finding bugs in weird places such as the bathroom, kitchen, or the ceiling. Even if just a handful of bed bugs survive your treatment, your pest problem can rebound in a few weeks.
Bedbug extermination companies have technicians with the training and experience to address infestations. Apart from eradicating the pests, they can give you useful tips on preventing future outbreaks.
The sight of bed bugs in your homes can spark anxiety and insomnia.
How do exterminators get rid of bed bugs?
Bedbug extermination service begins with a detailed inspection of your home. This is done to ensure the infestation you’re facing is, indeed, a bed bug population.
A trained technician inspects your entire home using special tools like a quality flashlight, magnifying glass, and inspection mirror.
The infestation signs that he or she will look for include:
- live bed bugs,
- dead bugs,
- fecal material,
- bed bug eggs,
- molted shells.
Some bedbug removal companies utilize bed bug dogs to carry out inspections. These dogs are trained to detect live bugs and their eggs within a small amount of time.
Thanks to their sensitive sense of smell, these dogs have a higher rate of accuracy at detecting bed bugs than human inspection.
Female bugs lay tiny, white eggs. They hatch in about 6-10 days. Go here to learn how to kill bed bug eggs.
Once the inspection is complete and the pesky critters and/or evidence of their activity have been located, your pest control company will move forward with treatment.
What do they use?
There are several bed bug treatment solutions available.
The exact solution that a pest control company may choose to use depends on a number of factors such as:
- severity of infestation,
- type of property,
- state and local regulations,
- preferences of the customer.
Here’s some basic information on the common treatment methods used by professional pest control companies to eradicate bedbugs:
- Heat treatment
This method involves the use of portable heaters to raise the ambient room temperature to 120 degrees or above. This high temperature is maintained for a couple of hours. It kills all bed bugs from the eggs to the adults.
Heat treatment is environmentally-friendly. It’s an ideal treatment option for heavy infestations in cluttered conditions or if you need bed bug elimination in a single treatment.
- Conventional pesticide treatment
Conventional bedbug treatments involve the use of aerosols, liquid and powder chemicals. Liquids and aerosols fitted with crack and crevice tips are applied into cracks and crevices. Powders last longer and are usually used in open spaces and voids where liquids shouldn’t be used. A thorough pesticide treatment will require repeat visits from your exterminator.
Conventional treatments provide longer-lasting protection than other treatments. For that reason, they’re used in conjunction with other treatment options to achieve maximum bedbug control. For example, your exterminator may apply conventional insecticides to the border of your home or room after application of heat treatment to provide a residual effect.
- Steam treatment
This variation in heat treatment involves the use of powerful steam cleaners to eradicate infestations. The temperatures from the steamers kill bedbugs as well as their eggs on contact. The method requires the technician to move the steamer slowly enough for the heat concentration to be maintained on every inch of the surface being treated.
Steamers can be used to eliminate bed bugs on box springs, mattresses, upholstered furniture, and other areas where the application of pesticides is unfavorable.
- Fumigation
It’s a complicated process that involves releasing a poisonous gas to penetrate every part of your home including under floors and behind walls. During the exposure period, all life stages of bed bugs are killed. The gas is fully vented after the treatment.
Although it has a success rate of 99-100% against unwanted house guests, this treatment can take 2-3 days, during which you’ll have to stay elsewhere.
How much does it cost?
The cost of a complete bedbug removal is determined by your pest management company’s experience, the extermination technique you choose, and the extent of your infestation. You can pay as low as $300 to have a small room inspected and an early infestation eliminated or more than $4,000 to have your whole house treated.
Some companies include inspection costs in the treatment costs. Others charge $50-$200 per inspection. Inspections involving bed bug detection dogs usually cost $300-$600.
Treatment costs vary from one method to another.
Here’s a breakdown of the prices you can expect to pay:
- Heat treatment: $2,000-$4,000.
- Pesticides: $250-$1,000 per room.
- Fumigation: $4-$7.50 per square foot.
- Steam treatment: $250-$1,000 per room.
What Happens Before and After Exterminators Treat?
Bedbug extermination doesn’t just involve inspection and treatment. The area to be treated needs to be adequately prepared. It’s also important to implement prevention strategies to avoid future infestations.
Let’s learn more about these two crucial steps.
Bed bug service preparation
Preparation for bed bug treatment requires some work on your part. The treatment may be compromised if you don’t prepare your home properly.
Your bedbug removal company will require you to perform one or more of the following preparation steps:
- Gather all bed sheets, covers, blankets, pillowcases, and other washable fabrics and cloth items from infested rooms and seal them in sealed heavy-duty plastic bags for transportation to the laundry.
- Wash the items with the hottest water possible and dry them on high heat for at least one hour. Seal the plastic bags and dispose of them carefully. Transfer the clean fabrics to new plastic bags and store them offsite until your exterminator completes the treatment.
- Remove cardboard boxes from your rooms and seal them in plastic bags. Discard them in the trash outside. Cardboard is porous, hence provides a hiding place for bed bugs.
- Pull furniture away from walls.
- Take down any wall hangings in affected areas.
- Box or bag all loose items such as toys and shoes. These items should be inspected and/or treated before they’re placed back in their respective rooms.
- Plan to be out of your home during the treatment until 4 hours after its completion.
Post-treatment tips
Prevention of a bedbug infestation is more straightforward than treatment. Once the pest management company rids your home of these bloodsucking insects, you should take the necessary steps to prevent the problem from recurring.
Here’s what to do to prevent your chances of having to call an exterminator again:
- Vacuum your carpets frequently.
- Wash your bedding on the hottest possible temperature regularly.
- Invest in box spring and mattress encasements.
- Inspect any furniture closely before bringing it into your home.
- Keep your home clean, organized, and clutter-free. The annoying bugs hide easily in clutter such as cardboard boxes and dirty piles of laundry.
- Store your luggage on the luggage rack when staying in a hotel. Never place it on the carpet or your sleeping area. You can also wrap the luggage in plastic bags for extra protection during your trip.
- Wash all the clothing you carried with you when you return home from the trip. Use the hottest water that the fabrics can withstand.
Professional Control Services
You have to take great care when choosing a professional company to help you with your bedbug problem. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the number of businesses and individuals making impractical claims about their abilities to eradicate these nasty pests has increased.
To make sure you choose the best exterminator, be sure to consider the factors below:
- License. The pest management company you hire should be qualified and licensed. Call the pest control regulatory agency of your state to find out the status of the companies on your shortlist.
- Insurance. Check if the exterminator has liability insurance. This will cover any damages that occur during the treatment.
- Experience. Bed bugs are more difficult to control than many other pests. Make sure the company you hire has been in operation for 5 or more years.
- Follow-up visits. It’s not easy to annihilate bed bugs with just a single treatment. Make sure your exterminator provides follow-up service.
- Reviews. Companies may praise their expertise, but don’t take their word for it. Ensure the company you choose has a good track record and many positive reviews.
Bed bugs are not easy to control, even for the professionals. Some treatments can end up worsening your infestation.
It helps to know some of the well-known companies you can turn to when in need of extermination services.
Phoenix Bed Bug Expert
If you’re in Phoenix or its surrounding areas, you may want to consider hiring this company. They specialize in bed bug extermination and provide free inspection services. They offer heat and chemical treatments. The heat treatment comes with a 1-year warranty whereas the chemical treatment comes with a warranty ranging from 1-6 months.
The company has been in business for more than 4 years and has received more than 200 5-star ratings across different sites.
Does Orkin get rid of bed bugs?
Orkin is one of the leading pest control companies with more than 100 years of experience. After inspecting your home for bedbugs, Orkin technicians provide you with a customized treatment. They offer a 30-day money back guarantee.
Orkin offers extermination for many different pests including ants, rodents, roaches, and spiders. With regard to their bedbug extermination services, customer responses are mixed. While there are several decent positive reviews, a significant number of reviews are negative. In fact, there seems to be at least two negative reviews for every positive review.
The negative reviewers have found the company’s extermination to be ineffective against bedbugs.
In conclusion, a smaller infestation is always easier and cheaper to eradicate, so hire a pest control company once you spot the early signs of a bed bug problem. For quick and successful elimination of the problem, make sure you fully cooperate with your exterminator.
