Tis the Bed Bug Traveling Season

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This is one of the best times of year to unknowingly obtain bed bugs from your loving family and friends. Don’t be a bed bug victim this holiday season! Its hard to be jolly when you’re waking up with bed bug bites.

If you know of a family member or friend who has dealt with bed bugs recently then you should be hesitant to invite them over for the holiday gatherings. If you can not bear to be without their presence then you could try to “decontaminate” them and their belongings in order to prevent a bed bug infestation in your home.

Bed Bug Decontamination Procedures:
1. Do not bring any luggage into the home. Leave it outside or in the garage.
2. All clothes need to be removed from luggage and put directly into the wash and dry using the hottest settings.
3. Also wash clothes that “contaminated” person is wearing.
4. Put shoes in the dryer or leave them outside.

You may also be interested in the Bed Bug Prevention Tips
or the Bed Bug Prevention For Travelers page.

Bed Bug infestations can begin with one pregnant female. They lay five eggs a day, they take ten days to hatch, and they bite from birth. It may take three weeks or longer for a bed bug infestation to become apparent.

How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs

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You have bed bugs!?! Take Immediate Action!

Step 1: Remove all bedding. Wash and dry them on high heat.

Step 2: Call Professional Exterminators

Step 3: Compare Treatment Methods and Guarantee Offered

Getting rid of bed bugs can be an expensive endeavor. Not the sort of thing that a person plans for or expects to happen to them. They saying goes “you get what you pay for” and that applies to bed bug treatment as well.

If a bed bug treatment is only $150, it is probably a chemical treatment performed by a technician using the wrong chemicals who makes $9 an hour. That is: $150 per treatment, per room, with no warranty. A “chemical only” treatment will take multiple treatments over weeks or months to kill all bed bugs.  Guaranteed to require multiple treatments.

If a chemical treatment costs over $600, then it should consist of more than just a quick spray and a pitiful 30 day guarantee. It should include a long term bed bug warranty with no charge for follow up visits.

Instead of opting for pesticide bed bug treatment choose to go with a more expensive heat treatment. This is a good choice for your peace of mind, though it may be hard on the bank account. A proper heat treatment does not include the use of a heat wand, blow dryer, or steamer (also known as localized heat). A properly executed “Heat Treatment” or “Thermal Remediation” kills all bed bugs and eggs within one day. This is obviously the more preferable option considering that bed bugs suck your blood while you sleep (if you didn’t know).

If you just can’t afford a good bed bug treatment, don’t give up! The longer you have bed bugs the more you are spreading them to others. It is worth it to borrow money from family to end the bed bug bites now! Many times your church will help if you can not afford to pay for bed bug treatment yourself.

Heat Treatment – The Cure for the Bed Bug Plague

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Bed bugs are now a widespread plague similar to plagues in Biblical record. These blood suckers are tormenting countless households in Arizona and throughout the country. The bites from Bed Bugs are not as menacing as the anxiety, insomnia, and paranoia they can cause. These psychological effects can be very detrimental to everyday life. Work performance can suffer and family life can become hostile.

Bed Bugs must be treated by a professional. They are the most difficult pest to kill. They are even more difficult to kill than cockroaches or termites. The store bought chemicals are a waste of money; the bed bugs are resistant to those types of chemicals. The natural bed bug remedies available online are also worthless. Diatomaceous Earth (DE) will not solve the problem either. The bed bugs can be killed with CERTAIN chemicals, although it will take weeks or months to get rid of them using any type of chemical.

The quickest way to get rid of bed bugs is with a HEAT TREATMENT. Our heat treatment will kill all bed bugs and eggs in a single day. Bed bugs at every stage of life will be killed, from egg to adult.

We are not using a steamer.
We are not using a heat gun.

We heat up the entire space to over 150 degrees for at least 4 hours. We can treat one room or an entire house.

The heat will penetrate the floors, walls, ceiling, and furniture.
It will not only kill all bed bugs, it will also kill bacteria and dust mites.

Is DE the silver bullet for bed bugs?

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Is DE (Diatomaceous Earth)  the silver bullet for bed bugs? Many websites claim that by simply spreading this powder throughout your home you can get rid of all bed bugs. This powder is cheap and very easy to find. It is also all natural and non toxic. This substance kills the bugs mechanically rather than with chemicals. This natural pesticide has been used for decades. As the bugs walk through the dust, their bodies are wounded by the sharp microscopic diatoms. Soon after, they will dehydrate and die.

Does DE work to kill bed bugs? It may kill some bed bugs, but it WILL NOT solve the problem completely. Many bugs will avoid the powder.

More than half of the homes that we treat are covered with DE.

If DE works so well to kill bed bugs, then why is there such a huge bed bug problem?

Drawbacks to DE:

Unsightly white powder throughout the home for weeks and months
Very Hard to clean off of surfaces
Does NOT work fast
Only kills some of the bed bugs
Can cause respiratory problems in humans and pets (from breathing the dust)
Follow the directions!
If you are going to apply DE in your home remember to always follow directions on the label. Apply only to areas where you will not come in contact with it and where it will not become airborne. DO NOT PUT DE ON YOUR BED, COUCH, OR DRAPES!

If you have bed bugs, don’t put your family through months of dealing with it. Call a professional. If you can’t afford the treatment, then borrow the money. If you’r family can’t help, then ask your church. It is worth it to get rid of them right and fast to ensure the health of you and your loved ones.

Natural Bed Bug Remedies

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The bed bug plague is spreading throughout the United States very rapidly. These bloodsuckers are very difficult to get rid of using traditional pesticide sprays. Sometimes pesticide makes the bed bug problem even worse by spreading them and causing them to become resistant to chemicals.

There are many natural remedies for bed bugs such as diatomaceous earth (DE) , rubbing alcohol, Vaseline, Heat Treatment (thermal treatment), cold treatment (cryogenic), sticky traps, and kidney bean leaves. Some bed bug remedies work, however others must not be relied upon as a sole defense against bed bugs.

The Bean Leaf remedy is the latest rediscovery. Basically the trick is to get a certain kind of bean leaf (kidney bean) and spread them all over the floor of the house. These leaves act as sticky traps due to their texture. Good luck finding enough kidney bean leaves to spread all over the floor and furniture.

There are many problems with this kidney bean bed bug remedy. The biggest problem with the bean leaf method is this: It won’t kill all the bugs. What is the difference between leaves that bugs stick to and sticky traps you can buy at Wal-Mart? Sticky traps won’t kill all the bugs, neither will kidney bean leaves.

Heat Treatment (Thermal Treatment) is the fastest way to kill all bugs and eggs. “Heat Treatment” refers to using heat to kill bed bugs with or without the use of pesticides. The most successful types of heat treatments involve heating the entire room, or the entire home, to over 140 degrees. the most unsuccessful types of heat treatments include using localized heat such as that produced by a blow dryer, heat wand, steamer, or the like. A Heat Treatment, if performed properly, will kill all bugs and eggs in just one day! The Heat remedy should ONLY be performed by a licensed company using the proper equipment. Care must be taken to ensure that certain items are not damaged by the heat.

Hot At Work

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Working inside of a home at 140 – 150 degrees is no joke. These are the sauna-like temperatures that kill bed bugs. Our employees are actually inside the structure while the heating process is being performed, though for no longer than a few minutes at a time. It is deadly for all forms of life to be in the home for the entire duration of the heat treatment, this includes people, pets, plants, and pests of all types. Some customers ask if they can stay inside the structure while it is being heated. with the latter statement you can see why the answer is “NO”. Our customers are welcome to stay on the property during the treatment, however cannot be inside the structure being heated.

Sometimes bed bugs will attach themselves to employees clothing and they can even be bitten while on the job. The bed bugs that may attach to the clothing of employees during treatment are killed as the technician is working in the heat. If the technician is performing a bed bug treatment without the use of heat, then the bed bugs can be carried on their person until their clothing is laundered using hot water in the washing machine as well as a dryer set to hot.

Our Heating methods and procedures ensure that your home is heated quickly and safely. No damage is caused to the contents of your home, or to the structure itself. Certain items that are heat-sensitive are removed from the heated areas and treated using different methods.

Safety is our number one priority, safety for you, your family, our workers, and your home. Our safety procedures are constantly being discussed and improved upon. With weekly safety meetings, we ensure that any and all safety concerns are addressed.

By using heat, we can eliminate all bed bugs and eggs in one day. This allows us to provide effective bed bug treatment and minimal or NO exposure to chemicals!