Brief Description:

Bed bugs are big enough to be seen, with a flat body and a reddish-brown color.  Bed bugs feed on their host at night (nocturnal), and they move back to their hiding places during the daytime.  Usually crack and crevice locations near the host.  Bed bugs are located in dwellings which are frequently used.  Motels, hotels, dorm rooms, apartments, and used furniture departments.  They are attracted to warmth and the presence of Carbon Dioxide.  The bug pierces the skin of its host with two hollow tubes.  One injects its saliva, which contains anticoagulants and anesthetics, and the other withdrawls blood from the host.  They feed for about 5 minutes.  Then the bug returns to its hiding place.  These bites cannot usually be felt until minutes or even hours after the bite.  Bed bugs can live up to 18 months without feeding.  But usually be feed every 5 to 10 days.  Female Bed Bugs can lay up to 5 eggs in a day and 500 during its lifespan.  

Treatment Methods:

First, you want to identify the problem to make sure you have a Bedbug infestation.  Inspect the tufts, seams, and folds of mattresses for mature Bedbugs, bed bug husks, or bed bug eggs.  Blood stains or dark spots on the mattress from fecal matter is a sign of bed bug infestation.  Professional use mattress covers, contact and residual aerosols, liquid insecticides, dust formulations, and IGR's.  Second, I would recommend a Bed Bug kit, so you have multiple formulations to control the infestation.  Aerosols will kill on contact and others will provide a residual to kill mature bed bugs when they come back to the nesting area.  Dust formulations can be used for long-term residual as well.  Mattress covers are important once treatment is conducted to establish a barrier between the pests and their host.  Dusts, aerosols, liquid insecticides, and IGR's are important when treating crack and crevice treatments, curtains, tufts, seams, and folds in mattresses.  IGR's are important to disrupt the life-cycle of the Bed Bugs.

Dust Formulations:

When treating for Bed bugs, you want to treat folds and tufts of mattresses, coils and springs, hollow bed posts of bedsteads, upholstery of chairs and sofas, picture frame moldings, and all crack and crevices in the room should be treated.  Allow powder to be in contact with surface for 4-6 hours.  Thoroughly vacuum treated areas, dispose of  vacuum bag and place clean linens on bed. 

Liquid Insecticides:

clean floors and surfaces by vacuuming.  Apply course, low pressure spray to harborage areas including crevices around baseboards, beneath beds and furniture, bedsprings and bed frames, and headboards.  Do not spray on areas where people will be laying or sitting.

IGR's

You want to apply product under beds, bottom side of box springs, under and behind night stands, to points where carpet and wall meet, cracks in cove base, molding, and other areas where bedbugs harborage.

Aerosols

Apply as a spot treatment to cracks and crevices, around baseboards, floorboards, headboards, and walls.  Spot treat only areas that may harbor pests.  On mattresses concentrate on tufts, folds, and seams.

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