JonTK9

At Trust K9 we have long experience in detecting and eradicating bed bugs. Over the years we have tried out just about the entire arsenal of bed bug pesticides. Through trial and error we have narrowed them down so we are now confident we use the most effective chemicals available. But our weapon of choice these days is heat.

All creatures have a temperature above which they die. It’s called the thermal death point and for temperate bed bugs (the kind we usually come across in the UK) this is 46C. Just a few minutes at this temperature kills ALL bed bug life stages. Pesticides do not destroy eggs. It is possible that eggs will continue to hatch for three weeks after a chemical treatment – meaning there will continue to be a risk of being bitten. When we heat a room, we take the temperature up to around 60C and hold it there. This destroys even the eggs – meaning the room can be slept in straight away without any risk of being bitten at all. You might to leave it a while to cool down first though….

Whether or not you live in minimalist austerity or amid agreeable clutter makes no difference to your chances of getting a bed bug problem. Once you have a bed bug problem, though, the state of your home can make a difference. Bed bugs need hiding places and clutter provides this. This makes detecting them that much more difficult. Of course, if you have extraordinary bed bug sniffer dogs like we have, this is much less of an issue.

Clutter also poses problems for traditional chemical treatments. When we do chemical treatments we always remove items under and around the bed and advise clients to keep it that way for a few weeks after a chemical treatment. This increases the chances that the treatment will be 100% effective the first time.

For our heat treatments, though, there is less of a problem. When we use heat we raise the temperature of the room to around 60C – bed bugs die at 46C – we hold it there for a couple of hours. This gives the heat time to penetrate all areas of even the most cluttered rooms.

Most of the people we treat ask the same question: why me? The answer is always the same: bad luck. Bed bugs are brought into your home in or on luggage, clothes or in second-hand furniture. It could be you that brings them in or your visitors. When the bed bugs make that fateful step onto whatever it is that brings them into your house they have no idea whether you live in a palace or a hole in the ground. As long as there are people to bite it’s all the same to them.

But despite this, people are embarrassed by having bed bugs. Much more than, say, having a rat problem. Despite the pure randomness of bed bug infestations, they are still associated with a lack of hygiene. As bed bugs become more widespread – and the  incidence of bed bugs are increasing alarmingly  throughout the developed world – this embarrassment will fade.

Meanwhile, rest assured that whether you live in a palace or, indeed, in a hole in the ground, our bed bug sniffer dogs and heat treatments will be equally effective.

We reckon there must be a mattress mountain somewhere, judging by the number we know are being thrown out. Probably half of the cases we treat have already got rid of their mattresses before we have been called.

We understand why people do it. Seeing bed bugs or their signs on mattresses can be quite disturbing and it is a natural reaction to want to get rid of them. However, in many cases, it really isn’t necessary. While bed bugs do live on mattresses, they generally prefer the cracks and crevices found in bed bases, headboards, in bedside furniture and under skirting and floor boards close to the bed. This is because their ideal conditions are darkness and stillness. If there are bed bugs living on your mattress, the chances are that there are more living in the bed base or surrounding area. Because of this, throwing out the mattress will rarely solve your problem. You’ll just end up spending a lot of money for nothing.

Except in the heaviest infestations, our advice is to have the problem treated first. Our heat treatment penetrates even the thickest of mattresses and kills all bed bug life stages – including the pesticide-resistant eggs. For those opting for chemical treatment, too, we can generally get rid of the infestation without throwing out expensive furniture. Save yourself the cash and call us first!