Category Archives: Bed Bug Information

Bed Bug Information, Bed Bugs

Bed Bug Extermination

In the pest control industry, we are seeing a peak in bed bug infestations and request for treatment. The problem has been growing slowly over the past three years, with peak activity occurring just this past year. Bed bugs are a growing threat to hoteliers and even home owners.

What is even more concerning than a proliferation of bed bugs is that the chemicals used to treat them are becoming less effective. Bed bugs are rapidly becoming resistant to many of the chemicals that we have used to treat them with effectively. The pest control industry is working rapidly to find a new combination and protocols that can continue to be effective against bed bugs, but the overall news is not looking good at this point for a clear resolution.

Prevention and containment is still very important for hotels, cruise ships, and now even sleeper trains. France has just reportedly removed several trains from service for treatment due to bed bug infestations. Being cautious when you travel has become critical to your own personal comfort and for the protection of your family and home when you return. In the next several posts I will talk about what to do when you travel so you can minimize bringing a bed bug problem home with you.

Bed Bug Information, Bed Bug Resources, Bed Bugs

Ordering Bed Bug-Proof Encasements Just Got Easier

Demand for our bed bug proof bedding encasements has been so great from both the hospitality industry and worried individuals that we have created a special Shop Now order page on our website to assist our customers. Click the post title to check it out and order bed bug proof encasements for your beds.

Stern Environmental Group only sells top of the line Protect-A-Bed mattress and box springs covers, the most effective bed bug-proof encasements on the market. Enclosing your mattress and box springs in a protective cover, called an encasement, is the most proactive measure you can take to protect your bed from a bed bug invasion.

Specifically designed and engineered by bed bug experts to stop bed bugs, the professional-grade BugOff encasement products sold by Stern Environmental Group come with impenetrable BugLock zippers. BugOff by Protect-A-Bed has been certified by a top Entomology Laboratory to be bed bug proof. It is the only encasement on the market specifically designed for the pest management industry for use as part of a professional bed bug prevention and control program. Click here to find out more about impenetrable BugOff bed bug proof encasements.

Bed Bug Information, Bed Bugs

Flea Market Find Becomes Bed Bug Nightmare

“The little white nightstand will be perfect in my daughter’s room,” that’s what Amanda Thor remembers thinking when she paid $10 for it at a flea market in St. Charles, Illinois, west of Chicago.

“The first time we knew something was wrong we saw a bed bug here by the leg of the nightstand,” she said. At the time she didn’t know that’s what it was. She thought it was just a little bug that had wandered in from outside. She squashed it and went on with her day.

A few days later her daughter Ellie woke up with a dozen “mosquito” bites on her body. Then they started biting Amanda and her newborn daughter. They weren’t mosquitoes; they were bed bugs, and they turned the next three weeks into a nightmare for Amanda and her family. It didn’t take them long to trace the infestation to the new nightstand. That $10 nightstand wound up costing the family $3,000 in exterminator fees and replaced belongings.

With the help of a professional exterminator, Amanda’s home is now bed bug free, but the scars remain. She still has nasty bite marks on her legs and brown stains on her mattress from the bugs’ droppings. Amanda and her family were lucky. By promptly calling an exterminator they were able to keep the infestation from spreading through their entire home. Bed bugs have been found in all 50 states. Pest control experts report a 75% increase in bed bug calls over the past five years.

Gone are the days when it’s safe to pick up furniture at a garage sale, flea market or off the curb without a thorough and careful inspection. Bed bugs creep into tiny cracks and crevices in furniture or into cushions. Before you bring second-hand furnishings into your home:

  • Look for evidence of live bugs. Don’t bring it home if you see anything remotely suspicious.
  • Look for brown dots or smears where surfaces meet or at the edges of cushions. Check all surfaces, especially inside drawers and underneath.
  • Scrub all surfaces with cleaner and a stiff brush to dislodge any possible bed bug eggs. They are very tiny, pearly white and can be laid singly or in clusters.
  • Keep your purchase isolated and away from other furnishings in a garage or basement. Tightly enclose it in well-sealed plastic and inspect it again in a few days for signs of bed bugs. There’s no point in spraying it with household insecticide; it’s just not strong enough to kill bed bugs.
  • There’s no guarantee your purchase will be bed bug free even after taking these precautions, but you stand a better chance.

If you simply can’t help yourself and you do wind up bringing bed bugs home with your new treasure, call the bed bug experts at Stern Environmental Group immediately. The faster you call, the easier it will be to contain and eradicate bed bugs from your home. Click the post title for more information about this annoying pest and what you can do to protect yourself and your family.

Bed Bug Information, Bed Bug Resources, Bed Bugs, Insect Control

How Bed Bugs Can Impact Your Job

My friend is understandably upset. Her landlord stopped by this weekend. Bed bugs have been found in one of the units in her apartment complex. Not in her building, thank heavens, but close enough to cause concern.

Of course, my friend is worried about getting bed bugs in her home, but she is more concerned about how this might affect her job. She works as an aide to hospice patients. Should bed bugs spread to her apartment building, she is extremely worried about spreading them to her patients. Skin breakdown is a serious problem for people who are bedridden. For her patients, bed bug bites could cause not only extreme discomfort, but bed sores, which are both painful and very slow to heal.

My friend is afraid that if she tells her employer, she won’t be scheduled to work. Since she supports a four-year-old son, she can’t afford to lose any income. But she wants to be fair to her employer and patients. My friend went round and round all weekend trying to decide how best to handle the situation. This is what she decided to do:

  • Be proactive. She bought bed bug-proof mattress covers for the two beds in her apartment and encased both her mattresses and box springs. (Click the post title to find out more about mattress encasements.) Since my friend has a limited budget, this will protect her mattress from bed bugs by sealing them out. It will also make it easier to spot and kill bed bugs if they invade her apartment. Not only will the little buggers show up against the cover where they can be vacuumed up or smashed, but they won’t be able to hide in her bed.
  • Minimize socialization. She made the decision to minimize social contact with other people in her apartment complex. Not an easy decision for a 26-year-old single mom, but a wise one. Bed bugs are easily spread on clothing and an infected friend could unwittingly bring them into her apartment. Or she could become infected visiting a friend in an infested apartment. Since bed bug activity may be hard to spot in the early stages of an infestation, my friend made a wise, if difficult, choice.
  • Daily inspections. She carefully inspects her body (and her son’s) for welts and her bed for dark smears — both evidence of bed bug activity — every day.
  • Tell your employer. She did tell her employer who, largely because of the proactive measures she had already put into place, was more supportive than she expected.

If bed bugs spread to her unit, my friend will have to take more drastic steps to protect herself; but for the time being, with the menace two buildings away, she is doing all she can to ensure that neither she nor her patients become infected.

Bed Bug Information, Bed Bug Resources, Bed Bugs

After Vacation: Protecting Your Home from Bed Bugs

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When you come home from vacation, maintaining a bed bug-free home may take a little extra work, but it will be worth it. The only thing you want to bring home from vacation is memories — not bed bugs! If you know or suspect that you’ve been exposed to bed bugs during your vacation — or if you just want to be extra careful — follow these steps to prevent them from infesting your home.

How to Have a Bed Bug-Free Vacation
Homecoming
What to do when you return home

  • Perimeter guard. Don’t take your luggage into your home. Unpack outdoors or in the garage.
  • Battle stations. Place a supply of plastic bags and ties by your washing machine (and take one with you to the cleaners if you have a bag of dry cleaning). You’ll bring each bag in from outside one at a time, dump the contents directly into the washing machine, immediately put the plastic bag that held the dirty clothing into a clean plastic bag, seal it and immediately dispose of it in an outdoor trashcan. If you brought bed bugs home with you, this procedure gives you the best chance of keeping them from escaping during laundering.
  • Into the fray. Launder all items on hot (140 degrees), then dry on hot for at least 30 minutes until thoroughly dry. Any items that cannot be laundered and dried in this manner should be dry cleaned. Make sure you tell the dry cleaner the items may have been exposed to bed bugs.
  • Mopping up. Under good lighting, carefully inspect all items that cannot be laundered such as luggage, toiletries, etc. If sealed in clear plastic bags, it’s unlikely the items were exposed. Remove them from the bags, immediately disposing of the bags as noted above.
  • Stand down. Store your luggage in an airtight plastic bag, ready for your next trip.

Following these precautions will not guarantee a bed bug-free vacation, but it will hugely increase the odds in your favor. If the worst happens and bed bugs do hitch a ride home with you, call the bed bug professionals at Stern Environmental Group. We will get rid of your bed bugs — guaranteed. Click the post title to find out more. You’ll sleep well tonight when you get “Stern” with your pests.