TERMITE CONTROL, ROACH CONTROL, AND BEDBUG TREATMENT SPECIALIST IN MARYLAND

American Pest Control

Bedbug Detection

Sleeptight Bedbug Guide
  1. Get a correct diagnosis.

    The publicity about bedbugs has caused many people who have what appear to be bites to assume that they must have bedbugs. American Pest Control will not treat your home for bedbugs until the infestation is confirmed. A pest control operator is obligated to be sure of the diagnosis, so they are treating the correct insect, in the correct area, with the correct materials for that insect.
     

  2. What are the other possibilities?

    Bites or skin irritations may come from fleas (visible marks), skin diseases such as scabies (doctor will do a skin scraping), lice (eggs visible in hair), or allergic reactions to substances. Also, although carpet beetles do not bite, their larvae have bristly appendages to which some people have an allergic reaction.
     

  3. Signs that you have bedbugs.

    1. Bites:
      Dermatologists may tell you that you have had an insect bite, but they usually cannot be definitive about the type of insect. Bedbugs sometimes leave a distinctive triangle pattern of bites that may be the result of having been disturbed during feeding or while doing test probes.

    2. Classic Signs:

      • Bites which occur only at night

      • Small blood smears or dots on bedding/pillows

      • Dark fecal stains which appear in a cluster of dots on corners of mattress or box springs

      • Patches of egg casings that are shed when the egg hatches. The casing may drop to the floor in "dust bunnies" or be visible on wooden headboard or furniture near the bed. They look like tiny translucent seed husks, smaller than a sesame seed.

      • Sweetish, musky odor
        (This odor is usually found in infestations so significant that bedbugs are in full view everywhere.)

    3. Further Investigation:
      Absence of these signs does not mean that you don't have bedbugs, so you may need to investigate further. During a daytime inspection, use a bright flashlight and slowly cover the area of the headboard, mattress, and box springs nearest where you are being bitten. In wood crevices, a slight gleam may deserve a second look because, with a full belly, the bedbug and its eggs are a bit shiny and sticky.

    4. Bedbugs can be elusive.
      You can be looking right at the evidence and still not see it. The professional will have seen evidence so often that it stands out to him/her right away.
       


Where do they hide out?

  1. Wood and other porous surfaces.
    Bedbugs prefer darkness and being in tight places. They like to have their legs and backs touching a surface, so tiny cracks where wood is porous or wood pieces are joined together are favorable to them. Often, so many pictures and references to the mattresses are made in literature that wooden headboards and nightstands, which are also equally susceptible, are ignored. Taking out the drawers of nightstands and dressers and flashing light in the dark front corners can increase chances of seeing bedbugs.

  2. Mattresses and box springs.
    Bedbugs can disappear into the seams particularly at the tuft around the edge, the stitching which makes the decorative pattern on the mattress, and anywhere a tag or sticker is attached. The box springs provide hundreds of hiding places. Again you would be looking at the tuft, the stitching and tags but also where cloth is stapled to the wood frame, around plastic guard frequently placed at the corners, and under the cloth staples to the bottom of the box springs. If you remove that cloth cover you will see all of the places where the wood frame comes together and so many crevices that are potential hiding places for bedbugs. Many people use mattress covers in an attempt to contain bedbugs and have a false sense of security. An unfed adult is so thin that it can go right through the zipper teeth on a mattress cover; and nymphs (bedbugs during an earlier life stage) can easily make it through the cover as well. If they hatch inside a mattress cover, their presence would only become visible after the blood and feces built up as they exited and returned from feedings.

  3. Trying to get a sample.
    If you haven't gotten a sample yet, try keeping a flashlight very near the bed. About an hour before sunrise, when the room is dark and filled with exhaled air, and they are more likely to be out, turn the flashlight on the mattress area. They are not very fast, but if you took the time to get up out of bed and turn on the light, it may be enough time for them to scurry away. Also a sticky substance such as petroleum jelly applied to the headboard or the foot of the bed may capture a sample.

For more information about our bedbug treatment, please contact us.
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