Is your property at risk from bedbugs?

If you’re a landlord with rental properties, a hotel manager, or you manage housing association properties, hostels or sheltered accommodation schemes, your property could be at risk from bedbugs.

Bedbugs are an interior pest, which means they are active all year round. Often, they seem to become more prevalent in the summer months, but this is thought to be due to increased travel and hotel visits during the summer holidays, rather than a seasonal occurrence.

Bedbug infestations are caused by the parasite being transferred from other infested areas and they’re particularly common in buildings where there’s a high turnover of occupants. Bedbugs will hitch a lift on clothing, luggage, backpacks, second-hand furniture, soft furnishings, such as cushions, throws or blankets and mattresses. Bedbugs can be difficult to spot and often aren’t discovered until the bites are visible, by this time the bedbug infestation could be widespread.

Monitor Pest Control are specialists in treating bedbug infestations and provide pest control services to businesses in Kent and the South East, including bedbug treatments in London, bedbug control in Kent, bedbug extermination in Surrey and bedbug pest control in Essex.

Bedbug bites aren’t dangerous, but they leave red marks on the skin and can cause various levels of skin irritation. Bedbugs multiply quickly and in just a few months, a few bedbugs can lead to a full infestation, which could damage your property and reputation.

What do bedbugs look like?

The adult bedbug resembles a small brown disc, about 6 mm long – the size of a match head. It is wingless, but the legs are well developed, and it can crawl up most vertical surfaces, e.g. bed legs. The young resemble the adult and grow by moulting. Each nymphal stage needs one full meal of blood before it proceeds to the next stage.

What are the signs of a bedbug infestation?

Bedbugs are mainly active at night, but you don’t need to see a full specimen to identify an infestation.  Bedbug excrement leaves a brown stain on mattresses and bed linen and there may be small blood stains where bedbugs have been accidently crushed.  You may also find bedbug skins, which they shed as they grow and notice a musty smell.

Where do you find bedbugs?

Bedbugs are most commonly found in the seams of mattresses, in bedding, bedframes, carpets and furniture. The elongated eggs are cemented in cracks or crevices close to a human host, so they can quickly feed when they hatch.

How to get rid of bedbugs?

If you find bedbugs, wash all clothing and bedding on a ‘hot’ setting (at least 60 degrees), or tumble dry them for at least 30 minutes. You can also kill bedbugs by putting affected items in a deep freezer for 3 days.

Self-treatment of a bedbug infestation is unlikely to be successful and fully-grown bed bugs can endure starvation for up to a year in some cases, creating the false impression that the infestation has been eliminated.

If you’re based in Kent or the South East and suspect that your property (or one occupied by a resident) has a problem with bedbugs, call Monitor Pest Control on 01474 358855. We will use professional grade products to immediately control the situation and help prevent recurrence.