If you suspect that bed bugs have hitched a ride from somewhere and are now living with you in your bedroom, it is important that you don’t start sleeping in another room or on the couch or even go and sleep elsewhere – the bugs may follow you and creating a bigger problem to get rid of or create a problem for a friend, relative or infesting your local hotel/AirBnb! Bed bugs have the ability to live dormant for up to 18 months.

Bed Bugs won’t be solved overnight, once you’ve had your place treated, you may still be bitten. This is normal. They will decrease and then disappear. If you are still be bitten or see bed bugs, have an additional treatment 10-14 days after the first treatment, and continue to have your place treated every two weeks until you no longer see bed bugs (this includes signs of bed bugs – bug faeces stains on linen) or are being bitten. It is important not to try a different pest controller during this time thinking that we haven’t done the job. It is common to have to do several treatments to truly rid your space of bed bugs.

Once your house is being treated, it is important to isolate bed bugs and keep them in as few beds as possible, so staying in your home, sleeping in your bed is part of the treatment – You are the bait attracting the bed bugs to the poison and their death!

Things to know:
• Don’t assume you will see lots of bed bugs, but if you do please try and pick them up with clear packing tape so that your Pest Control expert can correctly identify that you do have bed bugs.
• Bed bug bites are similar to mossie bites in that they are an allergic reaction and some people will react to bed bug bites and others won’t react at all.
• DO NOT TRY AND TREAT THIS YOURSELF WITH CHEMICALS! Spraying pesticides can disperse the bed bugs, spreading them around your home and make them harder to treat. Unless you know what you are doing with pesticides, do not try and treat bed bugs yourself as they are one of the most complicated pests to rid you premises of.
• DO NOT RELEASE A FOGGER OR BUG BOMB! Do not allow anyone (family member, housemate, landlord or even an exterminator) to use any fogger or bug bomb device on your home when you have bed bugs. Foggers and bug bombs do not work on bed bugs and will only spread them and then your problem will be even bigger.
• It’s important not to start bagging up your belongings with the exception of washed and dried clothing. We may want to inspect possessions for bed bugs. Just remember, if you do bag belongings, the only treatment for them is to go sealed into storage for over 18 months to kill the life cycle of bed bugs. The best solution is to leave possessions where they can be attracted to the poisons to be killed.
• Whilst we recommend that items aren’t simply sealed into bags, we do recommend that you start dealing with linen and clothes. Washing them in your machine on a hot wash and then dry them in the dryer on hot for 2 hours. Dry cleaning is okay. Remember pillows, comforters, down coats, and other thick items may take longer. The key: after washing and drying, bag items in sealed, airtight bags, and do not remove them until you have spoken to your pest controller.