Bed Bug Treatments: A Comprehensive Guide.

The Origin of Bed Bug Infestations:

House cleanliness has nothing to do with the arrival of bed bugs. Bed Bug infestations enter homes through travel. Developments in the way we travel and how wide ranging our traveling patterns can be have placed people in close contact with Bed Bugs, it can be as simple as sitting on a bus and having a female bed bug latch on to your clothing, or a Bed Bug traveling back to your property in your suitcase after a holiday abroad.

As such it is always best practice if you regularly take public transport of travel to check your clothing as you enter your home for Bed Bugs, early identification of an unwanted travelling companion ensures that curative measures can be taken immediately before an infestation has time to establish.

Combined Actives:

When treating any type of infestation it is always advisable to follow the principle of combined actives, in short multiple insecticides and delivery methods within a restricted time frame, creating an overlap of insecticides. This gives quick and wide ranging knockdown across all stages of the lifecycle while minimising the risk of missing eggs, which if left can transition into adults and lead to re-infestation.

Bed Bug Treatment Template:

One of the most important application methods of insecticide when treating a bed bug infestation is the use of a contact dust/powder. The Pest Expert Formula ‘P’ powder contains a potent synthetic insecticide called permethrin, you will want to apply this powder to the carpet of the room, paying close attention to coverage underneath the bed and along the edges of the carpet, whilst also applying to the stitching lines on the mattress. Due to its fine grade make up the powder will penetrate into the fibres of the carpet and into the stitching, these are key egg harbourages. Another component to the comprehensive strategy is the use of residual insecticides safe to use and leave around mammals. The Pest Expert Formula ‘C’ Spray is a water-based solution which can be sprayed anywhere you are comfortable having a light water dusting, it is non staining, odorless and solvent free.

The spray will dry to form a film of cypermethrin, although safe for mammals, to insects it acts as a contact neurotoxin. The key areas to apply the spray are on the mattress, bed frame and carpet, not only will it kill on contact the film will afford the user up to 12 weeks residual protection in untouched areas. Formula ‘C’ acts as an ongoing pest control process, helping avoid the risk of missed bed bugs re-establishing breeding and causing re-infestation. Fumigation is another important component to any eradication treatment, as bed bugs can live in the smallest of cracks and crevices a fumigator will fill up the volume of the room with an insecticidal gas/aerosol, penetrating into these harbourages and killing on contact. In terms of monitoring a bed bug infestation, the AgriSense monitoring traps are a great tool in detecting bed bug infestations but can also be used to monitor activity following an insecticidal bed bug treatment.

Repeat Treatments:

Due to the nature of bed bugs being one of the most resilient insect pests, they are more difficult to totally eradicate with one round of treatment, it is likely that if the infestation is established you may have to treat more than once. However it may not be imperative to conduct a full treatment using the above stages, you can follow up the first treatment with the application of contact dust and topping up the residual element formed by the Formula ‘C’ Spray. Determining whether or not you need to repeat the full treatment is something that you have to monitor and personally asses. It is always advisable regardless or the re-occurrence of bites that you re-spray with Formula ‘C’ a few weeks after your initial treatment as a precautionary measure.