- behind your headboard and around cracks and crevices of your bed.
- in the seams and tufts of your mattress.
- inside your box spring and along your bed frame.
- along bedroom baseboard cracks.
- in and around nightstands.
- other bedroom items, including window and door casings, pictures, mouldings, nearby furniture, loose wallpaper, cracks in plaster and partitions and clutter.
IDENTIFY BED BUGS!
What are bed bugs?
Bed bugs are insects with oval-shaped bodies and no wings. Bed bugs usually bite at night and will bite all over, especially around the face, neck, upper torso, arms and hands. There are currently no known cases of infectious disease transmitted to people by bed bug bites.
How can I find them?
Use a bright flashlight to look for bed bugs or their dark droppings in bedroom furniture, windows and doorframes. Or use a hot hair dryer, a thin knife or an old playing card to force them out of hiding spaces and cracks.
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Use a bed bug detecting dog
These services are another tool in the fight against bed bugs and can be especially useful in situations where bed bugs are suspected, but have not been located. Are you getting bitten but don't see any signs of bed bugs? This is a perfect application for the dog. The use of bed bug detection dogs is more efficient compared to manual inspections.
What does a bed bug bite feel and look like?
Bed bugs usually bite at night, and will bite all over a human body, especially around the face,
neck, upper torso, arms and hands. Individual responses to bed bug bites will vary.
Some people do not react to bed bug bites. But for those who do, bite marks may appear within minutes or days, usually where skin is exposed during sleep.
They can be small bumps or large itchy welts. Because the bites may resemble mosquito and other insect bites, a bump or welt alone does not mean there are bed bugs.
The most common rash is made up of localized red and itchy flat sores. Often bed bug bites appear as a group of three, which people sometimes call “breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” Small raised red swelling bites are also common.
In rare cases, some people may develop large raised, often itchy, red welts.
Are bed bug bites a threat to my health?
Although bed bugs and their bites are a nuisance, they are not known to spread disease in humans. Bed bug bites can be very itchy and irritating. Most welts heal in a few days but in unusual cases,
the welt may persist for several weeks.
The most significant health effects appear to be the psychological, including stress, anxiety, depression, and fatigue caused by the presence of bed bugs in the home. Anxiety about being bitten can
lead to sleeplessness, which can affect one’s wellbeing. Properly and effectively responding to bed bugs helps to reduce anxiety.
How do I treat bed bug bites?
Most bed bug bites go away by themselves and don’t need treatment. Keep the skin clean and try not to scratch. Usually an anti-itch ointment will help, but if bites become infected, you should see a
doctor. If the bites are very itchy, your doctor may prescribe cream or antihistamines to relieve the itchiness.
Oral antibiotics may be prescribed for any secondary skin infection from excessive scratching.
PREVENT BED BUGS!
How do I prevent bed bugs from entering my home or apartment?
Although even the cleanest homes and hotels can have bed bugs, regular inspection and house cleaning, including vacuuming your mattress, can help prevent or discover an infestation in its early stages. Clean up clutter to help reduce the number of places bed bugs can hide and to make inspection easier. Seal cracks and crevices with caulking, even if you don’t have bed bugs. This will help prevent bed bugs and other pests from entering your home or apartment.
Be careful when buying used furniture or clothes. Make sure to inspect the used item, and feel free to ask if the items were checked for bed bugs. Never bring discarded bed frames, mattresses, box springs, upholstered furniture or electronics into your home. These items may be infested with bed bugs.
How do I keep from bringing them home when I travel?
When travelling, inspect the room and furniture and look for blood spots, droppings or live insects. Request a different room if you find evidence of bed bugs. Inspect luggage when you return home, preferably before you bring your luggage into the house, and wash clothing in the hottest water possible followed by 30 minutes in a hot dryer immediately after returning from a trip.
Meet our hunters, Scout and Sherlock
Our beagle bed bug sniffing hunters, Scout and Sherlock, have been trained to specifically detect the presence of odor of live bed bugs and viable bed bug eggs.
Beagles are recognized as the best breed of dog for scent detection. Scout and Sherlock hunt with their noses, rather than vision, and they're able to detect as little as one adult bed bug.
Scout and Sherlock are trained using the same protocols that law enforcement uses to train narcotic, explosive, tracking, and search and rescue dogs.
What does this mean for you, the consumer? Simply that Scout and Sherlock are NOT going to alert on dead bugs, empty egg shells, fecal matter and cast skins. As part of our on-going training and quality assurance program, Scout and Sherlock detect live bed bugs and viable bed bug eggs daily! Because they detect by smell, rather than vision, they are able to detect as little as one adult bed bug.
Both Scout and Sherlock have been scientifically trained by the J & K Canine Academy in conjunction with staff entomologists at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.
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