Thursday, June 3, 2010

Bed Bug Hatching


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Bed Bug Pest Control | Exterminators - Seattle
What are bedbugs?
Eastside pest control company will help identify and remove bedbugs from the home.
Bedbugs are small, wingless insects that feed on the blood of people and animals while they sleep. They are easily moved from room to room on infested objects.Bedbugs prefer locations where they can hide easily and feed regularly, like sleeping areas. Their flattened bodies allow bedbugs to hide in extremely small locations: under wallpaper, behind picture frames, in electrical outlets, inside box springs, in mattress pads and in night tables.
Newly hatched bedbugs feed as soon as food is available. Bedbugs can live from several weeks to up to a year and a half without feeding. Older bedbugs can go even longer without feeding.
Bed bugs have flat bodies and may sometimes be mistaken for ticks or small cockroaches. Bed bugs feed by sucking blood from humans or animals. Adult bed bugs are reddish brown in color, appearing more reddish after feeding on a blood meal. Nymphs are clear in color and appear bright red after feeding. The wings of bed bugs are vestigial, so they cannot fly. However, they are able to crawl rapidly. Temperatures between 70 F-80 F are most favorable for bed bugs, allowing them to develop into adults most rapidly and produce up to three generations per year.
Bed bugs can live in any area of the home and can reside in tiny cracks in furniture as well as on textiles and upholstered furniture. They tend to be most common in areas where people sleep and generally concentrate in beds, including mattresses, boxsprings, and bed frames.
Bed bugs are most active at night and bite any exposed areas of skin while an individual is sleeping. The face, neck, hands, and arms are common sites for bedbug bites.
How do I prevent a bedbug infestation?
The first sign of bedbugs may be red, itchy bites on the skin, usually on the arms or shoulders. Bed bugs tend to leave straight rows of bites, unlike some other insects that leave bites here and there.
Get rid of clutter.
Vacuum often, including under and behind beds.
Repair or remove peeling wallpaper and tighten loose electrical faceplates.
Seal all cracks and crevices on wooden bed frames, between baseboards, and in walls, ceilings, windows, door frames and furniture.
Check any entry points on walls that you share with neighbours, and openings that allow access to the inside of the wall (like areas where pipes, wires and other utility services enter).
Check every item you bring into your home for the first time, including used books, new furniture, and garage sale or antique store furniture.
Be very cautious with second-hand or refurbished items.
New mattresses are often delivered in the same truck that carries away old mattresses, so be careful to check your new mattress before it enters your home. Insist that your new mattress be sealed before it is delivered.
Never take a mattress or sofa from a curb.
Check items before you put them in your vehicle and check your vehicle after helping a friend move.
Remove and inspect all bed linens, including pillows. If you see signs of bedbugs, wash the linens using the hot cycle of your machine.
Slowly lift up each corner of the mattress and examine all creases, tufts and buttons, along each side of any piping material sewn onto the edges, along mattress handles and air holes, and under pillow tops.
Slowly lift up each corner and check where the box spring sits on the bed frame.
Look closely at the top surface of the box spring, inside folds of material, along seams and where the fabric is stapled to the box spring. Also check along the edge of the cloth underside. If you see signs of bedbugs, flip the box spring upside-down and remove the cloth underside to look inside the box spring.
Check all surfaces, crevices, screws, staples, tacks, and under wooden plugs that cover screw or nail holes on the bed frame, legs and headboard.
Also go over the wall behind the bed (bedbugs can hide in wallpaper and electrical outlets). Remove electrical, telephone or cable faceplates to check behind them. Always be sure the power is turned off before opening an electrical outlet. Pay extra attention to gaps in the baseboard or rips or bumps in wallpaper.
Wall baseboards closest to the bed, using the crevice tool to check inside gaps.
Between the folds of curtains, along the curtain hem, inside curtain rods and under the hardware on the wall.
Around window and door casings and frames, along the hinges and in the hole for the door latch.
Under area rugs and the edges of carpets. Fold back the edges of wall-to-wall carpeting and check the carpet tack strips.
Remove any loose cushions and check the creases, especially the seams and around the zippers of upholstered chairs and couches. Check the seating area and any creases along the sides and back of the chair or couch. Check the legs and where they join the upholstery, and where the fabric is tacked to the frame.
Go over all corners and surfaces of wood furniture like dressers, cabinets, tables, chairs and bookshelves. Remove drawers and look at the inside, the top, sides, back and legs, paying extra attention to any cracks. Use the crevice tool to check any gaps
How do I get rid of bedbugs?
Professional pest control operators can use a variety of tools to control bedbugs. These include liquid insecticide sprays, aerosol insecticide sprays, insecticidal dusts, diatomaceous earth, pressurized carbon dioxide snow, and steam and heat treatments. Whichever treatment is used, it will only be effective if physical control methods and preventative measures are used together.
How do I make sure they don't come back?
Avoid moving to another bedroom. While you may feel a strong need to do so, surviving bedbugs could tag along which might lead to another infestation. Instead, continue to use the same bedroom, monitor carefully and often for any surviving bedbugs, and take the steps below to protect yourself from being bitten.
Completely enclose your mattress and box spring in zippered bed encasements available from allergy or pest control supply companies. Put duct tape over the zipper, because zippers have a space where bedbugs can enter or escape. Mattresses can also be wrapped and sealed in plastic film. As long as the encasement stays intact (no rips or holes), the bedbugs will not be able to get through it to bite you and will eventually die. It is a good practice to keep the mattress enclosed this way for a full year.
Coat bed legs with double-sided carpet tape or petroleum jelly, or place the legs of the bed in leg protectors or glass jars with a bit of baby powder to trap the bedbugs on their way up or down the bed leg. Commercially available bed leg interceptors are available and are a way to detect bedbugs.
Use white or light-coloured sheets. This makes it easier to spot them.
Remove headboards completely.
Paint existing wood furniture, including baby cribs, white for easier detection. (Use only paint that is safe for use on baby furniture.)
Replace upholstered furniture with metal or plastic, or material that can easily be cleaned with soap and water.
How do I avoid bedbugs when travelling?
Do a complete inspection of the room before bringing luggage, pets or other items in.
Do not put your luggage on the bed. Place your luggage on a tile floor (like in the bathroom), away from any upholstered (soft) surfaces.
Once you have checked the luggage stand (including where the straps are attached to the metal bars), keep your luggage on the stand instead of unpacking your belongings and placing them in the drawers.
Inspect the sleeping area. Slowly lift up each corner of the mattress and examine the creases and tufts of the mattress and box spring, behind the headboard and the wall behind the bed, the pillows, bed coverings and bed skirt, the bed frame and legs.
Use a flashlight to inspect the inside of the closet, paying special attention to any cracks or crevices.
During your stay, place your shoes in an open area. Do not store anything under the bed.
If you find signs of bedbugs, notify the front desk and ask for another room, or stay somewhere else. If you change rooms in the same hotel, make sure your new room is not next to the possibly infested room.
Before bringing luggage into your home, place it on a hard surface away from any places bedbugs could crawl to and hide, and check it carefully.
Unpack your clothing and check personal items (like hairbrush and cosmetic case).
Wash all clothing and fabric items in hot water, regardless of whether you wore them or not.
Dry non-washable items in the clothes dryer on the highest heat for 30 minutes.
Vacuum your luggage. Throw out the vacuum bag in a sealed garbage bag right away. Wash any vacuum cleaner brush or nozzle attachments you used in hot water with detergent. For a bagless vacuum cleaner, empty the dust collector into a garbage bag, throw out the bag immediately, and also wash the dust collector in hot water with detergent.
Avoid bringing your laundry in a cloth bag unless you plan to wash and dry the bag. Use light-coloured plastic baskets that are easy to inspect when they are empty.
Do not set your laundry basket on the floor, or near the seating area or trash cans. Place your basket on top of the washer and check it thoroughly before putting clean laundry back into it.
Check any chairs before you sit down.

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Do you think the bedbug problem will continue to escalate?
Q: Do you think homeowners are becoming paranoid about bedbugs?
Q: If someone has a bedbug problem, how do they get rid of them?
Q: What are the treatment options available?
Q: How long do the treatments take to work, and how much can a homeowner expect to pay to get rid of bedbugs?
Q: How does someone's home become infested with these pets?
Q: What can homeowners do, and what steps can they take, to prevent a bedbug infestation?
Q: What should a homeowner do if they suspect they have bedbugs?
Q: Do you have any other advice for homeowners? Should they be sure they're hiring a licensed company? Are there any other credentials they should look for in a pest control company?
Q: I know the bedbug treatments can be rather expensive, and some homeowners may be worried about being taken advantage of. Are there any redflags they should look out for?
Q: This is absolutely fantastic! What about other preventative measures, such as not bringing home used furniture and clothing? Is that something people should avoid?
Q: Also, do you recommend any products like mattress and pillow covers, or those discs that go under the bed posts (preventing the bedbugs from crawling up the bed)?
Treating Bed Bug Infestations
There are a variety of non-chemical approaches that have been shown to be effective. In addition, pesticides are available to aid in the control process.

Bedbugs Infestations, Bedbug Bites, and Getting Rid of Bedbugs
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Guidelines for the Control and Prevention of Bed Bug Infestations
Due to the elusive nature of bed bugs, control can be expensive and time consuming. Identify bed bug infestations will prompt more rapid treatment by ampm exterminators  and, thereby, prevent bed bug populations from spreading throughout the facility. A prompt response to the problem will reduce the financial burden of bed bug control to facility owners
Bed bugs are elusive and usually nocturnal (peak activity usually occurs around 5:00 or 6:00 a.m.), which can make noticing them difficult. They often lodge in dark crevices, and the tiny adhesive eggs can be nestled by the hundreds in fabric seams. Aside from bite symptoms, signs include fecal spots (small dark sand-like droppings that occur in patches around and especially beneath nests), blood smears on sheets (fecal spots that are re-wetted will smear like fresh blood), and the presence of their empty molted exoskeletons.

Bed bug Exterminator preparation | Tips on Controlling and preventing bedbugs
We recommend that you follow manufacturer’s specifications for cleaning all items. We cannot provide specific cleaning techniques
for personal items
Clothes, blankets, and linens should be laundered. Items such as shoes, luggage and other materials
not treated with pesticides also need to be vacuumed with the stiff brush attachment or washed with
essential oils .It is very important that you vacuum and clean on a regular basis to prevent
another infestation.
Bed bugs residing within the laundered items; therefore items should be
washed in hot water, regardless of normal washing directions, and should be dried on
high heat for 40 minutes or more. For those who have the ability to measure the
temperature of the water in their washing machine, or of the hot air in their dryer, the
target heat range is 140°F.
All furniture and appliances in the dwelling need to be pulled away from the
baseboards, and in the effected rooms with bedbugs all furniture containing potential
hiding crevices, such as bookshelves and desks, be emptied and left open for the
exterminator to spray.
It is extremely important to eliminate clutter and reduce hiding places for bed bugs.
Reduce clutter to the bare necessities to make treatments more effective.
Step 1: Before the PCO arrives:

If you have bed bugs, wipe them up with a wet rag and crush them. Mild soap and water will also remove bed bugs and eggs, but not necessarily kill them. The key to cleaning is detailed-oriented cleaning: simply dousing an area with soapy water will not help control bed bugs. Dirty wash and rinse water may be placed in a toilet and flushed down the sewer. You may also use a commercial steamer using "dry steam"steamer to kill the bed bugs and eggs, just be careful not to use too much pressure and blow them away before killing them. Steam will also kill the eggs. Vacuuming will also reduce large numbers of bedbugs quickly. Be careful not to spread the bed bugs to other areas of the house and properly dispose of the vacuum bag immediately after vacuuming to prevent the live bugs from crawling out of the vacuum. Seal used vacuum bag in a plastic bag and dispose it in an outside trash can.
Save a live bug sample in a zip-type sandwich bag. Coax the bug into a bag, gently flatten the bag to press out the air, and seal it completely. Have the sample inspected and the type of bug positively identified by a pest control operator. If you find bugs that do not look similar, save samples of the different bugs in separate bags. There may be bed bugs at different life stages, or there may be different types of bugs. The method of pest treatment will depends on what type of bug is present. A pest control operator will correctly identify the type of pest(s) present before they recommend a method of treatment.
Step 2: Obtain the services of a Pest Control Operator (PCO):

You will most likely need a PCO to help you eliminate a bed bug infestation, especially in a multi-family setting. Success requires knowledge and experience in finding infested areas (including neighboring units) and using a combination of control methods to eliminate them. Elimination methods will include a combination of non-chemical and chemical controls available only to a licensed pest control operator. A PCO will give instructions on how to prepare for an inspection and treatment of a dwelling unit. Follow the PCO's instructions. Failure to do so could potentially spread the infestation to other areas within the home or to adjacent units. There are many non-chemical measures available to help eliminate bed bugs. A PCO will ask for your help in eliminating the infestation. You may be asked to vacuum floors, beds and furniture, launder linens and clothes, and install mattress and box spring encasements, and remove clutter.
Step 3: Remove clutter (as directed by the PCO):

Clutter provides bed bugs a place to hide. Remove all clutter. Follow the PCO's directions to prevent spreading bed bugs. In the future, keep everything off the floor including old magazines, books, clothes, and keepsakes. Discard all unnecessary and unneeded items. Do not store things under or around the bed. Place all discarded items in plastic bags and place them in the outside trash where someone else will not get them.
Step 4: Clean (as directed by the PCO):

Clean areas where bed bugs are likely to hide. Use soap and warm water on surfaces that will not be damaged by moisture. Clean or vacuum bedding, linens, curtains, rugs, carpets, and clothes. Wash items in hot water and dry them on the highest dryer setting. Items that cannot be washed (like wool or fabrics that may shrink, stuffed animals or shoes) may be placed in a dryer on high heat for 30 minutes. Check to make sure high heat will not damage these items.
Dry cleaning will kill bed bugs but you must deliver clothes in a sealed plastic bag and inform the dry cleaner the items may be infested with bed bugs. Some dry cleaners may refuse infested items because they could escape and be taken home by other customers.
Scrub mattress seams and stitching along the mattress edge with a stiff brush to dislodge bed bugs and their eggs. Vacuum by scraping the seams and stitching with the crevice tool attachment, or while using a stiff brush to loosen eggs. Vacuum mattresses, bed frames, furniture, floors and carpets. Pay special attention to cracks, corners and hiding places.
After cleaning the mattress and box spring, cover them with bed bug proof mattress and box spring covers (encasements) that have been tested and proven to control bed bugs. These tight fitting bags keep bed bugs from getting into or out of a mattress or box spring and must be bed bug proof and rip-resistant. Good quality encasements cost more than $50 from online companies or linen stores. Avoid plastic encasements that are uncomfortable and may tear easily. Tightly zip the encasements closed so that bed bugs do not crawl through a gap at the end of the zipper. Leave the encasements on for a minimum of one year.
Independently tested bed bug-proof brand mattress and box spring encasements can be found on the web by doing a search on "mattress encasements". Box springs are structurally more complex and have more hiding places than a mattress; encase the box springs if only one cover can be purchased.
Vacuum carpets, especially along edges and where the carpets meets the walls.
Step 5: Disposal:

Prevent the spread of bed bugs. Do not resell or donate infested furniture or clothing. If you throw infested furniture away, make it unusable by destroying it or slashing the upholstery. Seal infested items in plastic bags before moving to prevent spreading bed bugs on the way to the outside trash. Spray paint or mark discarded items "Infested with bed bugs!"
After vacuuming, immediately place the vacuum cleaner bag in a sealed plastic bag and dispose of it in an outdoor trash container. Bed bugs can crawl out of vacuum cleaner bags.
Discard infested items that cannot be cleaned. If you decide to dispose of your mattress or box springs, wrap and seal them tightly in plastic before carrying them outside. Mark them with the words "Bed Bugs" to prevent someone else taking them home.
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Bed bug extermination BBC interview


signs of bed bugs

Red stains on bedding or mattress.

It's possible to kill bed bugs while they are feeding or just after when you move around or roll over in bed. The red stains are left on your bedding or mattress when bed bugs are crushed. This is easy to see if you have light colored bedding but is still possible to see even on darker bedding.

Bed bug feces on bedding or mattress.

Bed bugs will leave a blackish looking trail of fecal specks on your mattress or bedding. Bed bug feces is pretty much just dried blood. In fact, if you wet it very carefully with a small amount of water, it may turn red again and look like blood.

You'll often find feces in mattress seams and other cracks and crevices. Bed bugs are small and flat and often remain hiding in such places. Also check seams in pillows, furniture cushions, floor moldings and baseboards for both bed bugs and bed bug feces.

Bed bug exoskeletons (or eggs) in bedding, on mattress,couches or common areas.
Exoskeletons are the hard shell of a bed bug. This shell protects the bed bug and provides the structure for its muscles and organs. When the bed bug grows, it does so through a process called molting.

During the process of molting, the outer layer of the bed bug's exoskeleton (called the cuticle) cracks and is sloughed off. This allows the bed bug to expand. A new shell will harden and the bed bug will be at a new size. They leave the exoskeletons behind. When you see them, it is an indication that bed bugs are there.

Check in the same places you would for bed bug feces: seams of pillows and cushions, folds in bedding, baseboards, etc.

An unusual, sweet aroma.

It is said that when you crush bed bugs or have a heavy bed bug infestation, you can smell a sickly sweet aroma.

Take all of it with a grain of salt. If you don't have much of an infestation, chances are you might not smell anything. But if you are in your home and notice a new smell that seems out of place, it might be something to keep in mind.

It is common for people to mistakenly attribute the marks to something besides bed bugs. People going to the doctor with bed bug bite marks are sometimes told the marks are scabies or allergic rashes. Often these people are prescribed steroids or antihistamines. This is why it's important to not only pay attention to the timing of the symptoms.

Suspicious bite marks on body.

Bed Bug Bite Symptoms and Misdiagnosis


Bed bugs tend to leave bite marks in a straight line or trail. Often appear in a series of 3 or 4 bites. Bed bug bites often resemble mosquito and flea bites.

The body's reaction to a bed bug bite will vary from person to person. For most people, the reaction is limited to localized itching and swelling at the site of the bite. If the itching sensation is intense and you scratch the bites, there is a chance you could open the skin which exposes you to risk of infection. Some people however have an allergic reaction and require medical treatment.

http://www.ampmexterminators.com/Getting-rid-of-bedbugs.php

Hundreds of Bed Bugs Biting a Man's Arm


Seattle bed bugs Management
Pest control operators across the nation agree, bed bug arethe most difficult pests that they have ever had to control. To be effective, your pest management professional must be knowledgeable about bed bug biology and behavior and up to date in the latest bed bug control techniques.

After a preliminary inspection of the premises the pest professional should be able to provide you with the following
information:


• Information regarding basic bed bug biology, behavior, and medial importance
• The potential scope of the infestation, emphasizing the limitation of visual inspections
• A copy of the treatment protocol including the specific terms of the service agreement
• Your treatment preparation responsibilities
• A list of the chemical and non-chemical treatment products that they will use
• An estimate of how long treatment will take to complete based on the company’s current manpower.
• The labor for two technicians minimum and pricing estimates
The pest management professional should also be able to answer questions regarding the pros and cons of each
treatment method, and why their treatment methods may be differ from other companies you may have interviewed.
Some companies will provide a 30 or 60 day treatment warranty/guarantee. Be aware this is not a guarantee that the
bed bugs are gone.Because they are carry in pests. It just means that their company will treat again for free (or for less money) if any bed bugs occur within 30 or 60 days of treatment. Beware of anyone who guarantees that all the bed bugs, every last egg, will be gone after treatment. They are amateurs. How could they possibly know?

Bed bug inspection : Questions Ampm exterminators technician will ask our clients to better prepare for the treatment.

Why do you think you may have a bed bug problem?
How long have you had the problem?
Do you have a specimen?
Have you travelled lately?
Have you had house guests lately?
Have you recently had a child come back from college?

Bed bug Treatments

There are many products that have bed bugs as a target pest on the label. However,not all of these products have proven to be consistent in use.CDC has reported wide spread resistance in bed bugs to pesticides. As we can never be sure where the beb bugs come from. It is best to assume that resistance is a potential problem and recognize it as such when performing treatments
It has been found that efficacy of products is not always consistent .some materials kill adults well on contact, but have very little residual control. Some have been noted not to kill newly hatched nymphs. The fact that bed bugs spend a large part of their time in diaspora also plays apart in material effectiveness, as water based pesticides do not penetrate the exoskeleton well, and thus may have little effect on inactive bed bugs. The materials that are oil based, such as essential plant oils or those containing alchohol , do seem to penetrat the exo skeleton and are effective against most stages of the bed bugs cycle.

Bed Bugs exterminators


What are the key things people can do to manage bed bugs?

 Bedbugs are found in temperate and tropical climates worldwide. Bedbugs generally hide in the seams and crevices of mattresses and box springs, bed frames, old furniture, and in spaces underneath baseboards or behind loose wallpaper. Clutter and disarray also provide additional hiding places for bedbugs. Bedbugs may be transported from one location to another via luggage, furniture, clothing, and used mattresses. Although they are often associated with unsanitary living conditions, bedbugs are also found in clean, well-maintained living quarters. Bedbug infestations have been increasingly reported in hotels, dormitories, homes, apartments, nursing homes, jails, and hospitals.

It is a good idea to check the following areas for bed bug activity:

  • Any rooms that are used a lot such as sitting rooms, bed rooms, offices
  • Bed heads
  • Mattresses, including around any seams, under buttons, top and bottom
  • Bed frames
  • Bed base and under any material covering it
  • Around legs and casters of the bed base
  • Furniture top and bottom, turn furniture over and check base
  • Telephones and sockets
  • Plug sockets and electrical appliances like televisions, radios, computers
  • Skirting boards
  • Architraves
  • Carpet edges and under any loose carpet
  • Floor boards
  • Behind pictures/mirrors
  • Any cracks and crevices in joins and mouldings in walls, floors, ceilings
  • Books, between pages and bindings
  • Bedding
  • curtains and poles

Clean areas where bed bugs hide

Thoroughly clean all bedding, linens, curtains, rugs, carpets, and clothes.Washing items in hot water and drying them on the highest dryer setting will kill bed bugs. For those items that may be harmed by washing and drying at high temperatures, soak in warm water with lots of laundry soap for several hours before rinsing.
• Wipe away or vacuum all dust from the bed frame, nearby furniture, floors and carpets. Vacuum mattresses carefully. After vacuuming, immediately place the vacuum cleaner bag in a plastic bag, seal it tightly, and throw the bag away in an outdoor container.
• If you find bed bugs on the mattress, buy a waterproof zippered mattress cover. These covers often say “allergen rated,” or “for dust mites.” Scrub the mattress seams with a stiff brush to dislodge bed bugs and any eggs. Then enclose the mattress in the cover for at least one year. This will trap any remaining bed bugs inside the cover, killing them.
• Throw away and replace an infested box spring if necessary.
• Remove all clutter from bedrooms and any other furniture that people may sleep or nap upon. Place this clutter into a plastic garbage bag, seal it tightly, and throw it away. If you need to save it, make sure it stays sealed up for a year.

Bed Bug Exterminators in Seattle, Redmond, Bellevue, Bothel, Kent, & Eastside Regions, WA

Seattle Bed Bugs

Ampm Exterminators is specialize in providing bed bug exterminator services in Seattle, Redmond, Bellevue, Bothel, Kent, & Eastside Regions, WA. The common bed bug is a small wingless pest that nourishes on blood. Grownups can be up to a one fourth of an inches long (about the dimension an apple seed), generally darkish with a compressed body. Bed bugs are night time, coming out at night and remaining well invisible during the daytime. As they nourish, it's stomach grows and the bug will take on a red or further brownish color. After hatching, the premature bed bug, called a nymph, will go through a sequence of 5 molts until it gets to its full mature level. Nymphs range in dimension from a pinhead to a bit less heavy and smaller than the mature. A bed bug lifetime is generally 10 several weeks to a year and they can live up to 6 several weeks without providing. Each adult female can lay roughly 200 to 500 egg during her lifetime, generally 3-8 per day. They are very sturdy bugs, and very difficult to destroy.
Seattle Bed bugs are discovered in all types of places such as hotels, motels, apartments, beach rentals, park cabins, private homes, homeless shelters, schools, theaters and other public venues. Along with improved travel, the move to pesticides with smaller recurring activity and a more focused approach in pesticide use may have provided to their revival. Bed bugs are excellent 'hitchhikers' and propagate very quickly by hitching a drive on baggage, sheets, outfits or any other item transferred from one place to another. Because they are such prolific breeders, a few bugs can quickly become an infestation in a relatively short period of time. Although they may originally stay close to their food source, such as a bed, as their numbers increase they can be discovered throughout the residing.
Get rid of bed bugs is where your detective work can come into play. Think back and see if you have received any boxes, bedding, including used mattresses from a friend or used furniture store.bedbugs like to hide in bed frames, head boards, and folds of the mattress. Boxes, dressers,chests, are also a good place to inspect.

Bed Bugs! Attack! *EMMY WINNING DOCUMENTARY*


Know Your Options For Bed Bug Treatments

We have partnered with several local organizations to provide bed bug treatment options to the affordable housing and multi-family housing markets.
Bed bugs require technical expertise, experience and diligence! Choosing the right combination of services can mean the difference between bed bug relief and more sleepless nights. Sprague is a full service company and can help you select the services that best fit your situation.

Preventative Treatments

While we cannot prevent bed bugs from being introduced into your property, we can help to prevent severe infestations and take proactive measures to prevent bed bugs from crawling to other areas or rooms. Treatments include small, preventative applications of inorganic dust  around the base of the molding behind the beds and areas immediately adjacent to the beds, and any brackets or rails that support the headboard. This preventative application is intended to isolate bed bugs that may be introduced into the room, limit infestations and prevent bed bugs from spreading to other areas of the room or adjoining rooms.

Conventional Treatments

Conventional treatments use vacuums, steam, and the skilled application of pesticides to kill bed bugs. The treatment effectively kills adult and nymph bed bugs, but does not kill eggs. After the first service, two additional services are needed to kill bugs that hatch from the eggs. Three  services are needed to control all the bugs. This method is typically the least expensive.

Heat Treatments

Heat treatments involve raising the temperature of an infested area to 140o to kill all life stages of insects. Within a single 6-8 hour treatment, rooms can return to normal use, free of live bed bugs. Heat treatments are a non-chemical, non-toxic approach. In some cases, a chemical application may be used in conjunction with the heat treatment.

Mattress and Box Spring Protective Covers

Mattress and box spring covers protect you from being bitten by bed bugs living inside your mattress and box spring. They allow you to salvage your mattress instead of throwing it out. The covers also prevent bed bugs living in your mattress from re-infesting the rest of your treated home. Mattress and box spring covers also protect new mattresses from becoming infested.

Bed bug professionals answer your questions

 

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Mice & Rats : How Smart Are Mice?


Mouse Prevention and Rodent Pest Control in Seattle

Good sanitation is essential for effective long term control. Mice can enter any opening larger than 1/4 inch, making it virtually impossible to completely mouse proof a building.The control of mice can be widely varied, depending on the individual situation. It may range from physically altering the conditions allowing the infestation, such as covering holes, filling cracks, etc. to baiting or trapping.House mice live and thrive under a variety of conditions in and around homes and farms. House mice consume food meant for humans or pets. They contaminate food-preparation surfaces with their feces, which can contain the bacterium that causes food poisoning (salmonellosis). Their constant gnawing causes damage to structures and property.

Recognizing Mouse Infestations
Droppings, fresh gnawing and tracks indicate areas where mice are active. Mouse nests, made from fine shredded paper or other fibrous material, are often found in sheltered locations. House mice have a characteristic musky odor that identifies their presence. Mice are occasionally seen during daylight hours.

Mouse Control Tips: Information on Mice Feeding Habits

They have to consume about 10% to 15% of their body weight every 24 hours and require extremely small amounts of water.House mice are gray or brown rodents with relatively large ears and small eyes. An adult weighs about 1/2 ounce and is about 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 inches long, including the 3 to 4 inch tail.
Although house mice usually feed on cereal grains, they will eat many kinds of food. They eat often, nibbling bits of food here and there.Mice are nibblers. They do small amounts of damage to many food items in "home range", rather than doing extensive damage to any one item. While mice are nibblers and feed many times in many places, they have two main feeding periods, at dusk and just before dawn. Mice have keen senses of taste, hearing, smell and touch. They are excellent climbers and can run up any rough vertical surface. They will run horizontally along wire cables or ropes and can jump up 13 inches from the floor onto a flat surface. They can slip through a crack that a pencil will fit into (sightly larger than 1/4 inch in diameter).
In a single year, a female may have five to 10 litters of usually five or six young each. Young are born 19 to 21 days after mating, and they are mature in six to 10 weeks. The life span of a mouse is about nine to 12 months.

Pest Control Tips: Rat, Mice and Rodent Control Methods

Mice travel over their entire territory daily, investigating each change or new object that may be placed there.
Mice have poor vision, hence their activity patterns rely heavily on smell, taste, touch, and hearing.
Mice use the long sensitive whiskers near the nose and hairs on the body as tactile sensors. The whiskers and hairs enable the mouse to travel in the dark, adjacent to walls in burrows.
Mice also have an excellent sense of balance, enabling them to walk along telephone wires, ropes and similar thin objects.
Mice are excellent jumpers, capable of leaping at least 12 inches vertically.
Mice can jump against a flat vertical surface using it as a spring board to gain additional height.
They can run up almost any vertical surface; wood, brick, weathered sheet metal, cables, etc.
They can easily travel for some distance hanging upside down.
Although they are good swimmers, mice tend to take to water only if left with no other alternative.
Mice are basically nocturnal in nature.
House mice breed throughout the year and can become pregnant within 48 hours of producing a litter.
There are usually about 6 mice to a litter and females may produce as many as ten litters (about 50 young) per year.
It takes 18 to 21 days for gestation, and 35 days for a mouse to mature. Most mice live anywhere from 15 to 18 months.
They make their nests out of the same types of soft materials as rats, and as many as 3 females may use the same nest.
They commonly nest in insulation in attics, also in stoves and under refrigerators.
Mice do not travel far from their nest, about 12 to 20 feet.

Seattle Rat and Mouse Control Tips -- How to Get Rid of Mice, Rats and Other Rodents

1. Get rid of the reason rodents are being attracted. FOOD. The most common rodent attractant in urban locations is wild bird seed. Once a constant food source has been detected, rodents will leave pheromone trails for their family members to follow. This could result in a large populations being attracted to your home or business. An abundant supply of food will also speed up their reproductive cycle. Most people who feed wild birds don't realize they are probably feeding more rodents than birds. Pet food, grass seed and poorly stored human food are other attractants.
2. Eliminate the route rodents are taking to enter living and working space. Once inside a building, rodents will follow plumbing and wiring to access all levels and many rooms. Gaps around pipes should be blocked. Pay special attention to pipes under the kitchen sink, bathrooms, laundry room and hot water tank.
3. Remove the Rodents. Once you have stopped attracting them and blocked off their entry points, you can focus attention on eliminating the rodent population. You will have a hard time attracting rodents to bait on a trap or poison bait, if you have not eliminated their usual source of food.
Baiting techniques.
Don't bother trying to catch them in live traps. Click here for the reason.

Mice Diseases & Sanitation Factors


Mice droppings sometimes are confused with droppings from the larger species of roaches, such as the American roach.
Mice droppings are smooth with pointed ends, and are 1/8th to 1/4 inch long.
In six months, one pair of mice can eat about 4 pounds of food and during that period produce some 18,000 fecal droppings.
Deer mice are a primary vector of Hantaviral infections which cause hemorrhagic fevers.
Mice may infect food with their droppings transmitting such organisms as salmonella and the microscopic eggs of tapeworms.

Mice transmit disease in a number of ways including biting, infecting human food with their droppings or urine, indirectly via the dog or cat and bloodsucking insects.
The most common way mice transmit disease organisms is by contaminating food with their droppings and/or urine. The most threatening organism spread by mice is Salmonella, a cause of food poisoning, spread via droppings. Other transmittable organisms include tapeworms via droppings, rat-bite fever via bites, infectious jaundice/leptospirosis/Weil’s Disease via urine in food or water, a fungus disease (Favus) of the scalp either by direct contact or indirectly via cats, plague and murine typhus via fleas, Rickettsial pox via the mite Liponyssoides sanguineus (Hirst), lymphocytic choriomeningitis via droppings, and possibly poliomyelitis (polio). Another problem is house mouse mite dermatitis which is caused by these mites when they feed on humans.

Mice Sanitation. Mice can survive in very small areas with limited amounts of food and shelter. Consequently, no matter how good the sanitation, most buildings in which food is stored, handled or used will support house mice if not mouse-proofed. Although good sanitation will seldom eliminate mice, poor sanitation is sure to attract them and will permit them to thrive in greater numbers. Good sanitation will also reduce food and shelter for existing mice and in turn make baits and traps more effective. Pay particular attention to eliminating places where mice can find shelter. If they have few places to rest, hide or build nests and rear young, they cannot survive in large numbers.Mouse-Proof Construction. The most successful and permanent form of house mouse control is to "build them out" by eliminating all openings through which they can enter a structure. All places where food is stored, processed or used should be made mouse-proof. Dried grain and meat products should be stored in glass jars, metal canisters or other resealable airtight containers.
Seal any openings larger than 1/4 inch to exclude mice. Steel wool mixed with caulking compound makes a good plug. Patching material needs to be smooth on the surface to prevent mice from pulling out or chewing through the patching compound. Seal cracks and openings in building foundations and openings for water pipes, vents and utilities with metal or concrete. Doors, windows and screens should fit tightly. It may be necessary to cover the edges with metal to prevent gnawing. Plastic sheeting or screen, wood, rubber or other gnawable materials are unsuitable for plugging holes used by mice

Rodent Traps. Trapping is an effective control method. When only a few mice are present in a building, it is usually the preferred control method.
Trapping has several advantages:
(1) it does not rely on inherently hazardous poisons,
(2) it permits the user to make sure that the mouse has been killed
(3) it allows for disposal of the mouse carcasses, thereby avoiding dead mouse odors that may occur when poisoning is done within buildings.

The simple, inexpensive wood-based snap trap is effective and can be purchased in most hardware and grocery stores. Bait traps with peanut butter, chocolate candy, dried fruit or a small piece of bacon tied securely to the trigger. Set them so that the trigger is sensitive and will spring easily. Multiple-capture live traps, which can capture several mice once set, are also available in some hardware and feed stores. Set traps close to walls, behind objects, in dark corners and in places where evidence of mouse activity is seen. Place them so that mice will pass directly over the  (Rodenticides). Rodenticides are poisons that kill rodents. They can be purchased in hardware stores, feed stores, discount stores, garden centers and other places where pesticides are sold. Do not buy unlabeled rodent baits from street vendors or other uncertain sources. Do not purchase baits that have an incomplete label or one that appears to be “homemade.”

Building out” rodents and trapping are the most effective control methods.

Rodent baits should be used only to supplement these methods. If there is a repeated need to use baits, it is likely that sanitation and mouse-proofing should be improved. Remember that rodent baits are poisons. Make sure they are registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and always follow the label instructions exactly. If baits are used indoors, be sure they are labeled specifically for interior use.

The active ingredients in baits are used at very low levels, so bait shyness does not occur when using properly formulated baits. Most of these baits cause death only after they are eaten for a number of days, although some types can cause death following a single feeding. Make sure that fresh bait is available continuously until mice stop feeding. Depending on the number of mice, this may require up to three weeks.

Mice Removal & Control:Bait Selection and Placement. Baits are available in several forms.

Grain baits in a meal or pelleted form are available in small plastic, cellophane or paper packets. These sealed "place packs" keep bait fresh and make it easy to place the baits in burrows, walls or other locations. Mice gnaw into the packet to feed on the bait. Block style baits are also very effective for most situations. Proper placement of baits and the distance between placements is important. Place baits in several locations no farther than 10 feet apart and preferably closer. For effective control, baits or traps must be located where mice are living. Use of tamper-resistant bait stations provides a safeguard for people, pets and other animals. Place bait stations next to walls with the openings close to the wall or in other places where mice are active. When possible, secure the bait station to a fixed object to prevent it from being moved. Clearly label all bait stations "Caution—Mouse Bait" as a safety precaution.

Mice Removal & Control:Sound and Electronic Devices.

Although mice are easily frightened by strange or unfamiliar noises, they quickly become accustomed to regularly repeated sounds and are often found living in grain mills or factories and other noisy locations. Ultrasonic sounds, those above the range of human hearing have very limited use in rodent control because they are directional and do not penetrate behind objects. Also, they lose their intensity quickly with distance. There is little evidence that sound of any type will drive established mice or rats from buildings because they rapidly become accustomed to the sound.
Control by Cats and Dogs. Although cats, dogs and other predators may kill mice, they do not give effective control in most circumstances. In fact, rodents may live in very close association with dogs and cats. Mice and rats may obtain much of their diet from the pet's dish or from what pets spill.

Mice Removal & Control:Disposal of Dead Rodents



Always wear intact rubber or plastic gloves when removing dead rodents and when cleaning or disinfecting items contaminated by rodents. Put the dead rodent in a plastic bag; the bag should be placed in a second bag and tightly sealed. Dispose of rodents in trash containers with tightfitting lids. Traps can be disinfected by soaking them in a solution of three tablespoons of bleach per gallon of water or a commercial disinfectant containing phenol (such as LysolR). After handling rodents, resetting traps and cleaning contaminated objects, thoroughly wash gloved hands in a general household disinfectant or in soap and warm water. Then remove gloves and thoroughly wash your hands with soap and warm water