Do I Really Need to Call a Pest Control Company If I Get Bed Bugs?

In case you get bedbugs, you do not have to name a licensed pest management firm, however you would be silly to not, is the take-away message from a warning issued by the Environmental Safety Company (EPA) final August. “Utilizing the flawed pesticide or utilizing it incorrectly to deal with for bedbugs could make you, your loved ones, and your pets sick,” the EPA stated in a client alert quoted by The Hill Healthwatch on-line. “It could additionally make your house unsafe to dwell in – and should not resolve the bedbug drawback.”

Alarmed by studies of harmful pesticide misuse and excessive measures being taken by some owners and condominium dwellers in do-it-yourself efforts to eradicate mattress bugs, the U.S. EPA and Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) issued a joint assertion final July warning shoppers in opposition to utilizing outside pesticide merchandise inside their houses in makes an attempt to eliminate mattress bugs. Studies from licensed pest management professionals within the subject and information media of individuals dousing their beds, their pajamas and even bathing their kids in backyard pesticides has precipitated rising concern amongst authorities officers, the medical neighborhood, public well being guardians, and the Nationwide Pest Administration Affiliation (NPMA). The usage of harsh chemical compounds not authorised by the EPA for residential use could cause extreme burn-like irritation of the pores and skin and eyes, potential harm to the central nervous system, and should even expose you to carcinogens.

There have additionally been quite a few information studies of home and condominium fires begun by determined folks utilizing extremely flammable liquids to kill bedbugs. In January, a Cincinnati, Ohio man who was wiping down his furnishings with a combination of insecticide and alcohol began a hearth in his condominium when his cigarette ignited fumes from the chemical combination. In July 2008, an Eatontown, New Jersey man blew up his condominium whereas making an attempt do-it-yourself pest management. A pilot mild ignited the chemical spray and fumes inflicting an explosion that blew out the entrance home windows of the condominium and resulted in a hearth that destroyed the person’s condominium and precipitated severe harm to neighboring models.

“Pest management corporations reported seeing many ineffective and doubtlessly harmful measures utilized by do-it-yourselfers, together with ammonia, bleach, hearth, smoke, kerosene, wasp spray, and bug bombs, in addition to concentrated pesticides purchased on the web,” College of Kentucky entomologist and nationwide bedbug knowledgeable Michael Potter, writes in Bugs With out Borders, Defining the International Mattress Bug Resurgence, a world survey of pest administration firms just lately performed by the College of Kentucky along with the NPMA. “As bedbug victims change into extra determined, severe harm might consequence from such purposes, particularly amongst those that select to not rent an expert,” he warns.

Bedbugs don’t at all times reply to dwelling therapy. These apple seed-sized bugs that feed on human blood are exhausting to kill, a perform of their biology and conduct. At greatest, do-it-yourself dwelling remedies might power bedbugs to relocate, spreading infestations extra shortly. These bugs have a troublesome, protecting carapace that isn’t simply penetrated. To kill, pest management merchandise should come into direct bodily contact with the insect; and their eggs are unaffected by merchandise presently authorised by the EPA for residential use. When not feeding, bedbugs conceal in inaccessible areas deep inside minute crevices, inside partitions, behind baseboards, underneath floorboards, and inside digital gadgets. Bedbugs and their eggs are additionally simply transported on clothes and belongings, permitting infestations to shortly unfold by means of a house or condominium constructing. This mix of biology and conduct makes it almost not possible to kill a complete bedbug infestation with a single pest management therapy. Three skilled pest management remedies spaced two weeks aside are usually required to efficiently exterminate a bedbug infestation and be certain that all hidden bugs and newly-hatched eggs have been killed.

Skilled extermination by a licensed pest management firm with an experience in mattress bug elimination is the simplest technique to exterminate mattress bugs. The EPA, on the Mattress Bug Data Web page posted on its web site, states, “Getting a pest administration skilled (PMP) concerned as quickly as potential quite than taking time to attempt to deal with the issue your self could be very efficient at stopping additional infestations.”

Quick motion is crucial in battling mattress bug infestations. Mattress bugs reproduce at an alarming price and infestations can develop shortly. Throughout its 6- to 12-month lifespan, a feminine mattress bug can lay 500 eggs with offspring able to reproducing inside a month. It’s common to see three or extra mattress bug generations current in a longtime infestation. Immediate therapy within the earliest levels of infestation can restrict the infestation and prevents it from spreading.

To efficiently deal with bedbug infestations, licensed pest management professionals make use of a mixture of environmental administration procedures, referred to as Built-in Pest Administration (IPM), and quite a lot of pest management supplies authorised by the EPA for residential use solely by licensed pest administration professionals. Efficient bedbug extermination begins with meticulous pre-treatment preparation to take away litter, clothes, mattress linens and different objects that may enable bedbugs to flee publicity to pest management supplies. When website preparation is full, a mixture of pest management supplies is employed to assault bedbugs on a number of ranges.

Considerations about well being and questions of safety which have arisen from misuse of pest management chemical compounds by unlicensed or improperly skilled pest controllers and unqualified contractors attempting to money in on public concern prompted the EPA to warn shoppers to keep away from insect extermination companies made with “unrealistic guarantees of effectiveness or low price.”

Final July, a Newark, New Jersey Pest control service firm was accused of unlawful software of chemical compounds not authorised for residential use. Whereas offering mattress bug remedies to 70 houses and residences models, technicians sprayed highly effective chemical compounds on mattresses and kids’s toys. In Cincinnati, Ohio final June, an unlicensed contractor employed to exterminate mattress bugs saturated an condominium complicated with an agricultural pesticide, sending seven tenants to the hospital and inflicting public well being authorities to quarantine the property.

Within the hopes of stopping such incidents, the NPMA just lately developed Greatest Administration Practices for Mattress Bugs (BMP) to function a information for each the business and shoppers. An inventory of client ideas for choosing a pest skilled supplied within the BMP recommends that buyers rent solely certified and licensed pest administration corporations to guard their well being and security and be certain that the pest management companies they obtain are secure and efficient. The NPMA additional recommends that buyers give preferential consideration to licensed pest administration corporations which have attained QualityPro certification, indicating that they exhibit the best technical, academic and moral requirements within the business.