Castle Pest Control Services has seen a bedbug increase in the last five years.
The biggest hotspots are the hotels. When people check in to hotels, they throw luggage on the bed or near the dresser, and then the bed bugs crawl into the luggage and hide. When it's time check out, the bugs go, too.
Training and prevention tips are what's required to combat the bed bug invasion.
What is a bed bug?
The bed bug is reddish-brown in colour, small and flat. They are between the size of a tomato seed and apple seed. And although bed bugs are mostly known for their attachment to beds and box springs, there are other types of bed bugs that feed on bats and birds. A young bed bug looks exactly like its adult counterpart, unlike a butterfly with a larvae stage.
What are the signs?
When travelling, the first thing you should do is pull back the sheets to look for the tell-tell blood stains, which are the bed bugs' fecal matter.
Sometimes when people see the blood they think they've cut themselves. The first thing they do is look for a scab. Those bites usually are the first signs. Most people don't even notice they have bed bugs until they've been bitten.
The bites are small. Those who aren't allergic usually believe it to be a flea or spider bite. People who are allergic are the ones who really notice the bites because of the blistering. The skin will actually form a blister between a 5p and a 1p in size.
What can be done?
The Health and Safety Executive stopped the use of many of the materials and chemicals used to get rid of bed bugs. Even as late as eight years ago, many of the chemicals used to treat mattresses and boxsprings have been pulled off the market. And pesticides such as DDT, which was banned 1960s, helped to really eradicate the bed bug population.
To eliminate bed bugs today, a three-part treatment is required. The first day is inspecting the infestation and also treating the room. Castle pest control Services will then return twice more, looking to see if there are any more bed bugs and continuing treatment. Usually, by the third visit the bugs have been booted from the bed.
There are other methods such as steam, chronogenetic and heat treatment, both of which Castle Pest Control Services doesn't do.
What's the future?
There is an embarrassment about having bed bugs, yet the thought that bed bugs are only found in dirty places is a misnomer. Five star hotels are just as likely to be infested as a YHA hostel. Education is important: bed bugs don't necessarily mean dirty homes.
Making sure to repair wallpaper that's loose and the carpeting that's pulling up are just two things that can make sure bed bugs don't have a home. Vacuuming and inspecting the mattress also help. And remember the advice Mum always told you: Change your sheets often.
Keeping bed bugs at bay is about being vigilant. That means simple things such as not placing the suitcase on a bed until inspection, or better yet using the suitcase stand. Either way, bed bugs can be prevented: they're not wandering around Norfolk looking for any unlocked doors.
For more information visit http://www.castlepest.co.uk
May i say very interesting and informative, its made me look at hotel rooms in a different light.
ReplyDeleteMy wife has the bitter experiance of bedbugs after being bitten several times after our stay in a very up market hotel in London... great information
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