Bedbug control

Appearance of bedbugs

Bedbugs (Cimex lectularius) have a flattened, oval-shaped, brown body. Adult bed bugs are up to 4-5 mm long and 3-4 mm wide. They have black eyes and antennae on their head, one of which is a stinging and sucking mouthpart used to pierce the skin and extract blood. Bed bugs are parasites. Bed bugs do not have any hind wings and their legs have claws that allow them to climb over uneven surfaces. Female bed bugs are much larger and round. In spring, female bedbugs lay white eggs in cracks and crevices in walls and floors in apartments and houses, usually in hiding places such as picture frames, under floorboards, in wallpaper, etc. A female bedbug lays between 250 and 500 egg during its lifetime. If the adults feed regularly, i.e. every week, they can live up to 2 years, but if they don’t find a host, they only live a few months. The bed bug comes out at night, when people are sleeping, and pierces the skin to drink their blood, usually for about 5 minutes. During the painless bite, an anaesthetic secretion from the salivary glands is introduced into the wound, which prevents the blood from clotting. Afterwards, the bite may feel itchy and burn, and then blisters will appear.

Where can you find bed bugs?

Bed bugs are most commonly found in places such as apartments, hotels, public transport, etc. They love to settle in old sofas, mattresses, sockets, mouldings, paintings and even inside furniture. Bed bugs make their homes in cracks and crevices. Bedbugs are a problem in blocks of flats because they can easily move from flat to flat (for example, through ventilation systems or pipes), which makes it difficult to get rid of them.

Signs of bedbugs

A specific, unpleasant odour in your flat or house may indicate the presence of bedbugs. The unpleasant odour in your flat or house is caused by the secretion of the bedbug’s salivary glands. You can also recognise the presence of bedbugs by blood-stained beds and traces of faeces, which look like a hard-to-remove brown stain. Of course, the presence of bedbugs can also be seen in the bite marks on our bodies, which are often itchy.

What can you do to prevent bedbugs from appearing?

It is best to prevent a bed bug problem from occurring in the first place. A good prevention method is to separate the livestock area from the living area. To prevent unwanted insects such as bed bugs from appearing, you should remove bird nests from both the living area and the livestock area. It is also worth making sure that your flat or house is insect-proof. Any cracks or holes should be sealed to prevent bedbugs from entering from neighbouring rooms. Keeping the livestock area clean will also help to reduce the number of bedbugs. It is important to frequently sweep the apartment, wash the floors, vacuum, clean dirty areas, furniture and beds, and seal hiding places where bedbugs can hide, such as wallpaper and paintings. Dry cleaning is also an important method of preventing bedbugs. Change bed linen frequently and vacuum the bed and mattress.

Where do bedbugs come from?

Our flat is usually infested with bedbugs because we travel a lot and the bedbugs are usually transported in our luggage. Therefore, we should check our luggage to avoid having to deal with bedbugs later on.

How to get rid of bedbugs?

The most effective method of getting rid of bedbugs is a process that requires the use of professional preparations used by specialised companies. First, a thorough inspection of the premises and the location of the bedbugs is carried out. Chemical and physical methods of disinfestation are used to eliminate all stages of the human bedbug (i.e. eggs, larvae, adult).

Chemical methods of controlling bedbugs

Chemical methods are used to combat bedbugs, which means that bedbugs are killed by using agents such as pyrethroids, carbamates or organophosphates.

The chemical methods of bed bug control include spraying, dusting and fogging.

Spraying

Removing bed bugs by spraying means that preparations containing permethrin are used to treat beds and mattresses, for example. When treating these areas for bedbugs, care must be taken to ensure that mattresses, quilts and bed cavities do not become saturated and that the treated area is dry before the person goes to bed. For this reason, it is important to use the preparations with the working fluid in moderation. Spraying an apartment to get rid of bedbugs is a procedure that must be carried out without the presence of people or animals. The vapours of the preparations used to get rid of bedbugs must be able to reach the hiding places of the parasites.

To get rid of bedbugs, it is also possible to dust the surfaces using powdered agents.

Fogging

Bedbug control is also carried out by fogging. This is one of the most frequently performed treatments, thanks to which the pest control company is able to get rid of insects such as bedbugs. Fogging is a treatment in which a chemical ‘fog’ is produced that enters the small crevices of our apartment. This ensures that even bedbugs hiding in the nooks and crannies come into contact with the biocidal substance.

In order for the disinfestation treatment to be effective, the fogging method must be carried out by a professional pest control company.

Physical methods of combating bedbugs

In order to get rid of bedbugs in places, flats or houses where chemical products cannot be used, physical methods of bedbug control are used.

Bedbug removal using these methods includes steaming infected equipment with hot water or taking it outside in severe frost. Unfortunately, such home methods are usually ineffective, which is why bedbug control should be entrusted to a professional company.

Disinfestation services to control bedbugs are also carried out using the dry ice freezing method.

Dry ice freezing

In this method, the problem of bed bugs is solved using a machine that produces dry ice at a temperature of -78⁰C. Freezing an apartment or house with dry ice does not require the use of chemicals, as only liquid carbon dioxide CO₂ is used. Disinfestation using this method is important when sick people or children live in places where there is a problem with bedbugs. In this case, no chemicals are used, the method is 100% ecological. The service allows you to get rid of both adult insects and larvae and eggs. The advantage of getting rid of bedbugs in this way is that the flat does not have to be prepared by the customers. There is no need to leave the flat for the duration of the bedbug control service, and thus no need to air it out afterwards, or to protect food products and take pets out. The rooms of our flat are dry and do not need to be cleaned. Furthermore, the freezing method of bedbug extermination leaves no smell and has an immediate effect.

If there are bedbugs in several flats in one block or in several animal housing units, the whole building must be treated. With the use of effective measures, bedbug control preparations, the total result can be achieved after the first service, while if the bedbug infestation is severe, it can take up to several months to get rid of the bedbugs.

Home remedies to get rid of bedbugs are ineffective and it is necessary to call a pest control company!

The Andrzej Panfil Disinfection, Disinfestation and Deratisation Company specialises in exterminating insects – bedbugs! The Andrzej Panfil DDD Company guarantees discretion – our cars are not marked and our employees only put on protective suits at the customer’s premises.

Bedbug extermination is our speciality. We use highly effective chemicals. Thanks to our many years of experience, we have developed effective methods of bedbug extermination, which we adapt individually to the requirements of our customers.

We provide a full guarantee for our bedbug extermination services!