ALL ABOUT BED BUGS
BED BUGS PEST CONTROL WITH ACTIVE HEAT TREATMENT – SERVING THE LOS ANGELES, CA AREA
Bed bugs
are increasingly becoming a problem within structures of all kinds, including residences, apartments, hotels, dormitories, hospitals, shelters, motels, theatres, airplanes, ships, trains, and anywhere else humans may spend long periods of time.
Also Known as red coats, wall lice, house bugs, and chinches, bed bugs are small wingless insects that feed solely upon the blood of warm-blooded animals. Hatchling bedbugs are about the size of a poppy seed, and adults are about ¼ of an inch in Length. From above they are oval in shape, but are flattened from top to bottoms.
Their color ranges from nearly white (just after molting,) or a light tan to a deep brown or burnt orange. The host's blood may appear as a dark red or black mass within the bug's body. Female bed bugs lay from 200 to 500 eggs (in batches of 10 to 50) on rough surfaces such as wood or paper. Eggs are covered with a glue and hatch in about 10 days after hatching.
The egg shells frequently remain on the substrate. There are five progressively larger nymphal stages, each requiring a single blood meal before molting to next stage. The entire life cycle from egg to adult is anywhere from 5 weeks to 4 months, depending in the temperature. A bed bug's ideal temperature range is 70 to 82 F.
Bed bugs are accomplished hitchhikers, and are usually first carried into a home, apartment, or hotel room by people, hiding in luggage, furniture, or other belongings. Signs of infestations include bloodstain fecal smears on bedding walls, curtains and other light colored surfaces.
At first, bed bugs hide in the cracks, seams and folds of mattresses, bedding, upholstery, and the bed frame or furniture itself. Picture frames, peeling wallpaper, and any area forming a crack can serve as a harborage, including at ceiling level. As the population increases, they move out into the rest of the room, harboring behind door frames, window frames, molding, under the edges of carpets and rugs, and inside walls. With larger numbers of insects or if poor control efforts have been used, bed bugs may become scattered within rooms and may move to adjacent hotel rooms, apartments, etc.
Successful control and eventual elimination of bed bugs from any building includes the following steps:
- Correct identification.
- Thorough investigation of infested rooms and suspect areas.
- Education of the unit or building's occupants and/or management.
- Implementation of non-chemical control measures.
- Application of necessary treatments to infested and non-infested rooms by a pest professional.
- Evaluation inspections to determine the possible need for further action.
Excellence Pest Control is licensed and knowledgeable to perform such treatments. We consider and propose a variety of methods to manage bed bugs.
