The job of the pros is confirmation or mistake. If it’s the former, they’ll know what to do immediately and can likely fix things fast. If it’s the latter, they’ll make sure the bug is correctly identified, often quickly alleviate whatever’s actually biting (misdiagnosed bug bites are part of the problem with bed bugs in the news – the actual bed part isn’t usually involved), and steer you to the actual source, which might not even be in the bed or bedroom.
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Why Misidentification Is So Common
Bed bugs are misidentified at an alarming rate. Carpet beetles, spider beetles, and bat bugs all bear enough of a resemblance to cause someone undue distress, not to mention expense, with the wrong treatment.
Four out of five pest control technicians were summoned to eliminate a different bug mistaken for bed bugs. Identifying them visually is more challenging than most realize. A professional can identify a fecal spot, the tiny black smudge of partially digested blood that bed bugs excrete readily and that appears nearly indelible on cloth because it’s semi-liquid. They can tell at a glance that it has no obvious parallel in rust or mildew. They’re searching for cast skins, the moulted exoskeletons which the nymphs shed six times as they mature. But a visitation of shells doesn’t confirm an active infestation yet – a finding of live bed bugs or viable eggs (which are conveniently distinct from the shiny casings, being pearly white and no bigger than the head of a pin) is required for that.
What the Inspection Actually Involves
The first step is to conduct a hot spot analysis beginning with a 15-foot radius around sleeping areas. That’s where an estimated 80% of bed bugs harbor. They’re dormant while their hosts (humans) are sleeping and engaging in other stationary activities, so there’s little need for them to expend the energy to travel far from a consistent food source.
Afterward, trained inspectors proceed in a systematic fashion through common harborage areas: the seams of mattresses, the interior of box springs (which are often stripped of the dust cover on the bottom to expose the frame), the area behind the headboard, electrical outlets, the edges of carpeting along baseboards, and drawers in nightstands. When bed bugs are suspected, furniture such as nightstands will be inspected and possibly partly disassembled – this isn’t an “I’ll just have a glance around with a flashlight” kind of situation.
Some companies leverage canine scent detection – a process that involves trained dogs identifying the pheromones emitted by live bugs and viable eggs. Dogs can traverse a room much more quickly than a human inspector and can be alerted to the presence of insects within the voids of walls and under the floors that separate rooms that would elude detection during a visual check.
For residents of densely packed urban buildings, the assessment must be different by necessity: How do infestations spread from one unit to the next? A licensed NYC Extermination Company is required in part because the spread of an infestation from apartment to apartment through shared walls, electrical outlets, or even the plumbing chases can dramatically alter the nature of the inspection in comparison to that of a single-family home.
What You Should Do Before the Inspector Arrives
Avoid using bug bombs or spraying any kind of pesticide. This is one of the common mistakes that compromise inspections and lower the effectiveness of treatments. Bug sprays disperse bed bugs further into the walls and other unreachable areas. The pests will simply hide instead of dying.
Another helpful tip is to remove clutter as much as possible. Clutter provides more hiding spots for bed bugs and makes it difficult for a professional to inspect common areas like baseboards and items under the bed. Ideally, clothing should not be lying around. Also, bedding should be cleared to give easy access to mattress seams.
Finally, avoid moving any furniture from one room to another prior to an inspection. This will only spread the infestation.
How to Read the Inspection Report
A good inspection should be accompanied by a written report, and that report needs to tell you more than “yup, bed bugs in the house.” It needs to indicate whether the infestation is active or historical and assign a level to the infestation based on how many life stages and how many zones you found bugs in: low, medium, or high.
That is important information because the level of infestation gives you a good idea of what treatment will involve. A low-level infestation that’s been caught two weeks after you brought home that thrift store headboard might be nipped in the newly blood-sucking bud with chemical application or steam. A high-level infestation where bugs were found in two or more rooms and in electrical outlets in the wall will almost always require a heat treatment, in which your entire living space is heated to a temperature that kills bugs in all life stages simultaneously. Chemical-only approaches at that level are likely to fail because of pyrethroid resistance, which is common in bed bug populations exposed to repeated treatments of over-the-counter pesticides.
Interceptors – little plastic cups that go under furniture legs – are often part of the monitoring apparatus left in place post-inspection to make it easier to track the bugs’ movements and help confirm that they’re gone. The report should leave you with a timeline for follow-up and let you know what you’ll be monitoring for the next four to six weeks.
Getting the Information Right Before Doing Anything Else
The most costly advice in dealing with bed bugs is to “just do something”. Doing “anything” can include throwing out your possessions, spreading toxins in your home, and still not solving the problem. It’s simply a fact that proper preparation, correct treatment, and necessary follow-up all take time. So if someone tells you to “do something before it gets worse”, and “something” means acting without sufficient information, reassure yourself with the knowledge that the problem will certainly get worse.
