bed bug control Archives

How to Check for Bed Bugs

Bed Bugs / September 02, 2022

The Greater Toronto area including Oakville, Mississauga, Brampton, Markham, Scarborough and Oshawa has become a hotspot of bed bug activity and cases have only risen since the COVID-19 pandemic started. People started opting to visit each other in their homes instead of public spaces, bringing the unwanted hitchhikers along with them.

Toronto area homeowners who suspect they may have bed bugs should act quickly to identify the problem and determine if they need to call a pest control service to complete a bed bug removal treatment. Bed bug infestations grow notoriously fast and treating a smaller infestation is significantly easier than a large one. Unfortunately the less conspicuous nature of smaller infestations makes them harder to identify. In this article we will go through the key indicators of an infestation and walk you through how to do your own mattress check to determine if you are sharing your sleeping quarters with bed bugs.

Can bed bugs fly?

No – bed bugs cannot fly nor can they jump. Phew! They are also quite slow maxing out their speed at about 3 to 4 feet per minute. This is likely why most bed bugs don’t stray more than 30 feet from where they are feeding.

What do bed bugs look like?

Bed bugs are very good at staying hidden and come out to feed only when you are resting. This is why actually seeing a bed bug isn’t the most reliable way to tell if there’s an infestation. It is also easy to mistake them for carpet beetles or other insects. If you have already noticed a creepy crawly around your home look for these key traits to know if it may be a bed bug.

2 – 5 mm long depending on the age
Flat oval shaped body
Adults have consistent reddish brown colour
Young nymphs are either colourless or a light yellow colour all over

TIP

Look for uniform colouration all over the body. Many other beetles, including carpet beetles have speckled patterns on their backs.

What do bed bug bites look like?

Contrary to what you may think, noticing red bites on your skin is not a concrete sign of bed bugs. Small red bumps could be caused by other insects such as mosquitos, or be related to eczema or hives. The reason their bites are so hard to identify is because everybody’s body reacts to them differently and on some people they are not visible at all. This is why the best way to tell if you have bed bugs is a mattress inspection.

Can I starve out bed bugs?

Bed bugs can live for months without a blood meal and in some laboratory experiments they have survived over a year without eating! Trying to starve out bed bugs is not an effective solution to an infestation.

How to check for bed bugs?

To perform a bed bug mattress check you’ll want to use a flashlight and a rigid flat tool such as a credit card or paint scraper to help pry open and illuminate small cracks. Bed bugs like to hide in very small spaces and this is where you will find the clearest evidence of them. Bed bugs are primarily found in mattresses and in the cushions of furniture that is used frequently. Start your search there and then expand to other common hiding spots as listed below.

Common Bed Bug Hiding Spots:

Seams and tags of mattresses
Seams and joints of upholstered furniture
Between pillows
Between carpeting and the walls
In the folds of curtains
Around the the edge of the ceiling especially in the corners
Around electrical sockets

As you do your search look for the following:

Blood stains
Black feces spots
Eggs & Molted skins

Blood Stains

Small reddish brown blood splotches are created when a bed bug gets crushed, usually from someone sitting or lying down on it. Look for them on your sheets and mattress especially.

Feces spots

Black spots about the size of a pen tip are a sign of bed bug feces. They also bleed like a marker would on fabric. Look for them everywhere in your search on your sheets and mattress and in all the crevices in which bed bugs might hide.

Eggs & Molted skins

Eggs are also roughly the size of the tip of a pen (1mm) and pale yellow in colour. You may find them whole or crushed as they are molted and discarded when a bed bug matures. Look for these in all the bed bug hiding spots listed above.

If you do spot some of these signs it’s time to contact your local pest control experts. They will be able to confirm whether you have bed bugs or not and work with you to find a solution that fits your situation. Bed bugs are notoriously hard to control and an infestation can grow rapidly so time is of the essence.

Terminix uses safe & non-toxic bed bug treatments to effectively eliminate bed bug populations of any size and severity. We offer expert pest control services across Canada including BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Call us today to learn how we can help.

The Added Benefits Of Environmental Pest Control

Residential Pest Control / April 22, 2022

April is Earth Month, with Earth Day happening on April 22. So, this month, Terminix Canada wanted to focus on the importance of environmental pest control, as some pest control practices can be very harmful to people, pets, and the planet.

True to its name, environmental pest control is all about getting rid of pests with minimum impact on the environment. That means finding pest control solutions that go beyond simply spraying and praying with dangerous pesticides.

However, more than just being environmentally friendly, natural pest control can be more effective than traditional pest control solutions, offering longer-lasting results with less impact on your day-to-day life.

Long-Term Pest Control With Integrated Pest Management

Health Canada and the Pest Control Products Act regulate the sale, use, and handling of pesticides across the country. They promote an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to pest removal. Integrated Pest Management is an ecological approach to pest management that focuses on techniques to eliminate pests effectively, economically, and with environmental consciousness.

IPM is an environmental pest control method that seeks to remedy pest infestations by getting rid of the root causes of the infestation. While insect applications can temporarily get rid of pests, if it doesn’t address those root causes, you can be sure the critters will return as soon as the smoke clears.

Ultimately, IPM is about creating a holistic pest management plan that will get rid of pests without having to resort to chemical pesticides, except in extreme cases. Examples of Integrated Pest Management include exclusion and getting rid of conditions that could create pest habitats, such as removing standing water in your backyard.

By striking directly at the heart of your pest infestation, you’re ensuring years of pest-free living, instead of buying a few months of peace as the surviving pests breed and repopulate.

Eco-Friendly Pest Control Is Safe Pest Control

In addition to keeping the environment safe, eco-friendly pest control reduces the amount of chemicals inside your home. While you can be sure a reputable pest control company will take every precaution to use pesticides safely, weekend warriors attempting to use store-bought pesticides can easily put themselves and their loved ones at risk!

In addition to being safer than spray treatments, natural pest control is also a great way to save energy. This is because it avoids multi-day treatments or applications. Instead of having to pack away all your things and spend days in an expensive hotel while other exterminators spray away bed bugs, all-natural bed bug heat treatments can get rid of the pests in a matter of hours without disrupting the comfort of your home.

Whether you need to get rid of bed bugs or remove raccoons, Terminix Canada offers natural pest control solutions for all kinds of infestations. For Canada’s top eco-friendly pest control, call us today.

How Terminix Stands Out From The Competition

Terminix Canada lives and works in the same neighbourhoods as our customers, who trust us with their homes and businesses. Each day, Terminix teammates and our partners serve more than 50,000 customers around the world. These customers have come to trust us because our frontline cares deeply about the quality of their work and the relationships they have built.

But this trust depends on our commitment to protect the health and safety of our teammates, customers, and communities. As well as creating a healthy and sustainable environment. We value that trust, and it’s our responsibility to live up to these commitments.

QualityPro Mark

Terminix Canada takes great pride in ensuring our products meet the highest standards. That’s why you’ll see the QualityPro mark on our website. This mark designates that our technicians ascribe to professional pest removal standards. These standards far exceed the requirements of provincial and federal regulations. QualityPro is considered “the mark of excellence in pest management”. This is because it is designed to increase professionalism in the pest removal industry. As a QualityPro employer, Terminix Canada undergoes extensive background checks including driving and criminal history. Additionally, we strive to maintain a drug-free workplace to ensure a healthy, safe, and secure work environment.

At Terminix Canada, We:

Comply with all laws and regulations.
Empower all teammates at every level within the organization to:
Take personal responsibility for their safety and the safety of others.
Stop work immediately to avoid the risk of injury or environmental harm.
Actively share ideas to continuously create a safer place to work.
Design products and services to provide maximum benefit with minimal environmental, health and safety impacts.
Hold ourselves and our stakeholders accountable for the quality and safety of the products and services they provide to us and to our customers.
Strive to continually improve the safety of our processes, tools, and technology with the goal of being incident-free.

When You Need Safe And Effective Environmental Pest Control, Call The Experts At Terminix Canada

Terminix Canada is one of the most respected providers of pest control services nationwide. We offer 24/7 services coast-to-coast with over 90 years of experience.

Our government-licensed technicians use tried-and-tested techniques to get rid of pests and stop them from returning. We 100% guarantee results with our pest control services. If not, we’ll give you your money back. We safeguard residential homes and commercial businesses throughout Canada with effective pest control. That means offering effective protection against ants, birds, cockroaches, and other pests threatening human health and safety.

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How To Identify Signs Of Pests In Your Home

Residential Pest Control / April 04, 2022

It might sound like a no-brainer but identifying signs of pests in your home means getting rid of them quicker. While Terminix Canada has many more years of experience than your average homeowner in dealing with pest infestations, learning the common signs of pests living in your property is always beneficial.

Ever found yourself playing detective as you hold up a magnifying glass to pieces of dust? Chances are you were trying to determine whether you just encountered rodent droppings or not.

We understand that it’s easy to get paranoid about signs of pests in your home when you don’t know what to look for. However, once you know the real signs of common household bugs and rodents, you’ll be better equipped to quickly identify any infestation before calling your local pest exterminator. Ultimately, the faster you call for pest removal, the more effective it’ll be.

Signs Of Pests – This Blog Covers:

1. Bed Bugs
2. Cockroaches
3. Rodents
4. Silverfish

Signs Of Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are one of the tiniest pests around, but this doesn’t mean you can’t successfully identify them. Firstly, you should inspect your skin for red, itchy bites. Bed bugs don’t spread disease to humans, but their bites can be rather irritating. If these bites develop after a (bad) night’s sleep, chances are you have bed bugs. These thirsty bloodsuckers like feeding on exposed skin with arms and shoulders commonly under siege.

Besides your own body, bed bugs leave behind blood stains on beds. As you inspect your bed, look out for small rusty coloured spots, often found near the edges of your mattress. Bed bugs molt (shed their skin) too, so you may also find disgusting oval-shaped exoskeletons in your discoveries.

Did you know that you can also smell bed bugs? Bed bug infestations leave behind a strong and musty odour from the release of pheromones. It’s just like that wet towel smell – nasty! Lastly, you should also inspect the clothes in your closet. Bed bugs have mastered the art of travel and will have no problem clinging to your clothing. Grab a magnifying glass and brush any invading insects away.

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Signs of Cockroaches

The insidious thing about a cockroach infestation is that it’s easy not to notice you have one. This is until their numbers explode! These tenacious pests can take refuge in the deepest nooks and crannies, beneath floorboards, and behind cupboards. Reproducing rapidly, a single cockroach egg capsule contains between 30-40 eggs!

However, the good news is that roaches tend to congregate in areas near water. The areas worth paying attention to are your kitchen and bathroom. If you start to notice reddish-brown smear marks on your tiles, then you can be sure you have a cockroach infestation.

Other signs of cockroaches in your home include finding shed skins and egg sacs, as well as an increasingly musty odour in your kitchen and/or bathroom.

You should remove food from countertops, ensure dirty dishes aren’t in the sink, and remove crumbs from your floor to dissuade cockroaches from getting comfortable. As a nocturnal pest, roaches are notoriously evasive and require persistent vigilance to remove them.

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Signs Of Mice And Signs Of Rats

Fall might seem like a long way away but it’s never too early to learn about rodent vigilance. As Canada cools down, armies of mice and rats seek shelter from the freezing cold temperatures of winter. Dozens of them could have already spent time living in your walls and foundations rent-free. Makes you shudder, right?

Luckily, the signs of a rodent infestation are relatively obvious. The first thing you might notice are mouse or rat droppings in cupboards and underneath cabinets. You should also look out for bite marks on cables, insulation, and food containers, like bags of pet food.

If you wake up in the night to the sounds of scratching inside your walls, don’t dismiss it as a nightmare. Mice and rats are most active at night, and the more intense the scratching, the larger your rodent infestation is.

The biggest problem with rodents is that they can cleverly sneak through the smallest spaces, holes, or cracks. If you have a crack or space in your structure that’s any bigger than 1.75 cm wide, you may be susceptible to a rodent infestation.

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Signs Of Silverfish

Don’t be fooled. Silverfish aren’t fish-like but take their name from the pest’s silvery scales that are metallic in appearance.

Silverfish constantly search homes for moisture and food sources high in sugars and starch. Nevertheless, these pests can survive for weeks without food or water. Entering homes through door gaps and foundation cracks, silverfish infestations can start from simply leaving dirty dishes out too long.

Common signs that you have a silverfish infestation include holes in wallpaper, books, or cardboard storage boxes. Additionally, fecal matter resembling small peppercorns suggests silverfish have breached the perimeter. Elsewhere, yellow stains on clothing, wallpaper, books, and papers are sure-fire signs of silverfish.

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Remove Pests Professionally With A Little Help From Terminix Canada

Have you found these or other signs of pests in your home? Call Terminix Canada for rapid, effective pest removal near you. Backed by over 90 years of professional pest control experience, our teams can identify and rid you of all common household bugs plaguing your property. Visit our Branch Locator, find your nearest Terminix Canada branch, and give them a call today.

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The Difference Between Bed Bug Bites And Scabies

Bed Bugs / November 22, 2021

Scabies and bed bug bites: neither are pleasant to think about nor are they something you’ll want to brag about. However, waking up from your slumber to itchy, uncomfortable red spots on your skin is something you’ll want to get to the bottom of quickly.

That’s why in this blog we’ll go over what exactly bed bugs and scabies are, how to differentiate which one is plaguing you, and what your next steps should be.

What Are Scabies?

First things first, there is a pretty big difference between scabies and bed bug bites. One is well, a bite, that you get from an insect that has made your house their home. Scabies on the other hand, is an infestation of human itch mites (Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis) on your actual skin.

Scabies mites are microscopic and can burrow into the upper layer of your skin, where they live and lay their eggs. Eek!

Common symptoms of scabies include pimple-like skin rashes and intense itching. Scabies are usually contracted from prolonged skin-to-skin contact with a person who is infected with scabies. In adults, scabies is often spread through intimate partners or household members, as it requires prolonged contact.

Scabies can be found across the world, similarly to bed bugs. Additionally, just like bed bugs, crowded institutions such as prisons, hospitals, childcare facilities, nursing homes and extended care facilities are often common locations for scabies outbreaks to occur.

It’s important to note that if you are immunocompromised (have a weakened immune system), you may not develop the same rash that others would. Immunocompromised people are more likely to develop what is known as crusted scabies. Crusted scabies is thick crusts of skins that develop on your body that contain large numbers of scabies eggs and scabies mites. Crusted scabies spreads much easier than regular scabies. If you develop crusted scabies, it’s important to receive prompt and aggressive treatment.

Common Symptoms Of Scabies:

Extreme itchiness
Pimple-like rashes
Rashes are usually constrained to one area and are commonly found on wrists, elbows, armpits, webbing between fingers, waist, beltline and/or buttocks
Rash can sometimes include small blisters or skin sores that can then become infected
Occasionally, tiny burrows can be seen on the skin appearing as tiny raised, greyish-white or skin-coloured lines
Rashes in infants are often seen on the head, face, palms, soles or neck

How To Treat Scabies

If you’ve never had scabies before, it can take a long period from time of the initial infestation for symptoms to appear. Symptoms can take 4-8 weeks to show, however even without displaying symptoms, you can pass scabies onto others.

If you’ve already had scabies once before, symptoms will appear much quicker the second or third time around. You will likely show symptoms within 1-4 days of exposure.

Different from bed bugs, scabies does not require a bed bug exterminator to solve the problem. It actually doesn’t require a pest control specialist of any kind. Scabies is treated medically, requiring creams and lotions, such as permethrin. However, before running out to your local drug store to pick up lice remover, it’s important you get your scabies infestation properly diagnosed by a medical professional, as your rash may be the result of something else. Additionally, proper scabicides require a doctor’s prescription.

It’s important that you follow all the instructions on the medication and wear clean clothes while applying the medication, so scabies infested clothes cannot re-infest you. Do not use scabicide intended for agricultural or veterinary use on humans.

If you live with anyone else, it’s important that other members of your household also use the medicated creams, even if they’re not yet showing symptoms. It’s important to eradicate all of the infestations at once, so they don’t continue to spread throughout your household.

What Are Bed Bugs?

Bed bugs are small, reddish-brown insects that feed on humans and animals. They are quite small, 4 to 5 mm long or about the size of an apple seed and are extremely good at hiding from the human gaze. They often hide in cracks and crevices of mattresses, beds, headboards, bed frames and any other objects around your bed during the day, sneaking out at night to feed on humans’ blood. A meal for a bed bug usually takes about three to ten minutes, leaving the human or animal host with an inflamed and itchy bite.

Generally, bed bugs only live for four to six months, however they can live up to five years and go months without feeding. The main issue with bed bugs is that you’ll never have just one, or even two. A female bed bug can lay anywhere between 200 to 500 eggs in their lifetime. Eggs hatch in seven days, fully developing in 21 days.

Bed bugs cannot fly, but they can move very quickly over ceilings, walls or floors. However, bed bugs usually travel from place to place on clothing, bedding, furniture and other fabrics or soft materials. They do not live in nests, instead hiding in crevices in groups of bugs.

[LEARN MORE: 10 NIGHTMARE-ISH FACTS ABOUT BED BUGS]

Identifying Bed Bug Bites

Bed bug bites are characterized by harsh red bumps in groups of three or four on the arms, back, shoulders and/or neck. Unlike scabies, bed bugs don’t live on the human body, but nest in hiding places near couches and sofas where they can sneak up on unsuspecting blood bags (re: you).

When you call in an expert bed bug exterminator like Terminix Canada, they’ll be getting rid of bed bugs either by using safe, ethical pesticides or a totally non-chemical bed bug heat treatment.

Common Symptoms Of Bed Bugs:

Blood stains on your pillows or sheets
Dark or rusty coloured spots on your sheets, mattress, clothes or walls
Fecal spots, egg shells or shed skin in hiding spots (sheets, mattresses, bed frames, etc.)
A musty odour that bed bugs excrete

What Do Bed Bug Bites Look Like?

Itchiness
Inflammation
A burning or painful sensation
Red, itchy bumps with clear centres
Small red welts or bumps in a zig zag or line pattern
Red bumps surrounded by hives or blisters
Small spots of blood from the bites left on your skin or sheets

While bed bug bites are uncomfortable, they do not regularly harm your health. However, in rare cases, some people may develop serious symptoms such as:

Fever
Swollen tongue
Irregular heartbeat
Nausea or flu-like symptoms
Blisters
Difficulty breathing

If you experience any of these symptoms, it’s important to seek medical attention promptly.

How To Treat Bed Bug Bites

Once you’ve figured out that you are suffering from a bed bug infestation instead of scabies, it’s important to act fast. As we’ve stated above, female bed bugs lay many eggs in their lifetimes, so a few bed bugs can quickly turn into a huge infestation which can be difficult to get under control. Call a professional pest control company, like Terminix Canada to quickly and efficiently exterminate bed bugs from your home. Additionally, Terminix Canada will act as a bed bug cleaning service, removing any traces that bed bugs were ever in your home.

Do not rely on DIY bed bug control, as it can only make matters worse and help aid bed bugs in becoming more resistant to traditional bed bug pest control methods. However, here are some steps that you can take to help control your bed bug infestation while you’re waiting for the experts to arrive.

Bed Bug Prevention Tips:

Remove any clutter from your home, especially in areas where you strongly suspect bed bugs.
Move your bed or mattress away from walls and other furniture.
Vacuum every part of your home every day, but you must empty the vacuum bag immediately after cleaning any infested areas of your house. Otherwise, you’re more likely to spread the infestation than you are to fix it.
Wash all clothing and bedding in hot water, and then put them in the hot dryer for at least 30 minutes. You should also be washing mattresses and box spring covers.

When dealing with bed bugs, it’s as important to know what not to do as it is to know what to do.

Terminix Canada Bed Bug Exterminators Can Help You

If you have bed bugs, you need affordable and effective professional pest control to quickly fix your bed bug infestation. Terminix Canada utilizes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to ensure the problem is taken care of.

On your initial service, our trained and licensed technicians will hunt high and low for any bed bugs or bed bug eggs, documenting all of our findings in a comprehensive inspection report. Using both chemical and steam bed bug treatments, we’ll effectively reach even the tiniest of crevices, ensuring that all bed bugs and their eggs are wiped out.

Usually, only one visit is required from Terminix Canada to properly eradicate your bed bug infestation. However, at your request, we will return to treat the inside of your home again. Terminix Canada 100% guarantees all of our services.

What are you waiting for? Find your local Terminix Canada branch today!

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Do Bed Bugs Fly? And Your Other Bed Bug Questions Answered

Bed Bugs / November 08, 2021

Ask anybody what their favourite superpower would be and they’d probably respond – to fly. Nope, not as a passenger on a Boeing 747 but with their own metaphorical wings, flying high above civilization below. What an awesome view that’d be!

It appears humans are so obsessed with flying that we’ve enviously assumed that some pests can do what we cannot. In other words, “do bed bugs fly?” receives over 500 average monthly searches on Google. In short, myths and rumours travel fast. This Terminix Canada blog is here to help you determine the fact from the fiction. For starters, the answer to “do bed bugs fly?” is an emphatic no!

Do Bed Bugs Fly?

While bed bugs can get around surprisingly quickly, they can’t actually fly. Also, contrary to other similar species of parasite, they can’t jump long distances either. In reality, bed bugs can crawl rapidly but that is it. There’s no imitating Kawhi Leonard in the Toronto Raptors’ incredible run to the 2019 NBA Championship title.

A bed bug’s primary form of transportation is hitching a ride within your luggage or bags when you aren’t looking. While bed bugs don’t travel around on a person, their ability to infiltrate fabrics and belongings makes bed bug prevention very difficult.

What Are Common Bed Bug Signs?

Common bed bug signs include red bloodstains on your apartment, house or condominium sheets and mattresses. These red stains form when sleepers roll over and crush bed bugs that have intruded into your bedroom.

Elsewhere, other bed bug warning signs include dark bed bug excrement stains on mattresses and walls. Egg shells and shed skin lying around your sleeping area also suggests you have a bed bug infestation. Lastly, bed bugs leave behind a distinctive musty odour too. If you smell an offensive odour, this is likely from bed bugs’ scent glands.

How Easily Do Bed Bugs Transfer?

The good news is that bed bugs don’t spread from residence to residence super easily. However, they can definitely get around your home quickly. They do this by travelling along pipes and wires. Unlike other parasites like fleas, you don’t have to worry too much about them hitching a ride on your pet dog. Nevertheless, if bed bugs find their way into your luggage or bag, they can set up shop in your next sleeping area relatively quickly.

When traveling abroad and staying in hotel rooms, always make sure to check your mattress and sheets for any signs of bed bugs before you unpack.

How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs

The best long-term solution of how to get rid of bed bugs is through Integrated Pest Management (IPM). In other words, making your home uninhabitable for them with the help of registered pest control professionals like Terminix Canada. This involves inspecting bed bug hiding places and eliminating them. In extreme situations, you might need a bed bug chemical treatment or a bed bug steam treatment to combat your bed bug infestation.

What Is Bed Bug Steam Treatment?

Bed bug steam treatment takes different forms, but it generally is what it sounds like – killing bed bugs with lethal temperatures. Common bed bug steam treatment includes placing infected items in hot boxes, steaming treatments in your bedroom, and placing infected clothes in dryers. Killing bed bugs with steam has to be accompanied with an IPM plan, otherwise the bed bug infestation could return if left unchecked.

Where Do Bed Bugs Come From?

Originally, bed bugs come from caves in the Middle East. Bed bugs actually appear in ancient Greek writings with physicians actually claiming they could help heal ear infections and snake bites. This was still an age when bleeding was considered the leading form of medicine. Since then, bed bugs have spread across the world due to our reduced use of pesticides as a society, increases in international travel, and our use of second-hand furniture.

Are Bed Bug Bites Painful?

While actual bed bug bites aren’t painful enough to wake you up, the resulting inflammation could be painful and discomforting. The itchiness could also cause you to over-scratch and harm yourself. Ultimately, reactions to bed bug bites vary from one person to the next.

Leave Bed Bug Control And Bed Bug Removal To The Professionals At Terminix Canada

As we enter hibernation season, you want the peace of mind that comes with a nice and cosy bed bug-free bed.

Luckily for you, Terminix Canada is trained to handle bed bug infestations big or small. Our team is backed by 90 years of experience terminating household pests.

Now you’ve discovered the answer to “do bed bugs fly?” do something about your own bed bug problem. Visit www.terminix.ca/branch-locator, find your nearest Terminix Canada branch and give them a call.

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Bed Bug Sniffing Dogs: Man’s Best Friend Is A Bed Bug’s Worst Enemy

Bed Bugs / November 01, 2021

Discovering a bed bug problem in your home is as inconvenient as it is unsettling.

And it’s more unnerving considering us humans almost wiped out bed bugs in the 1950s via pesticide treatments. The wily household pests developed a resistance to pesticides, allowing them to aggressively reproduce their populations and torment homeowners and tenants worldwide once more.

So how can humans get rid of bed bugs that have evolved beyond man-made pesticides? Well, that’s two ways. You can hire pest control experts who utilize Integrated Pest Management (IPM), such as heat treatments and chemicals to effectively rid your home of bed bugs.

However, the second solution is a four-legged friend who knows how to sit, stay and come on command.

According to a study conducted by the University of Florida, trained and certified bed bug sniffing dogs are nearly 100% successful at detecting infestations.

This is opposed to the approximate 35% accuracy rate of even the best-trained human bed bug inspector. In short, a trained bed bug control technician can only detect visible signs of bed bugs in a room, however a dog can literally sniff them out, even if there are no signs available. Carry on reading to discover just how incredible a bed bug sniffing dog’s nose is!

Bed Bug Sniffing Dogs Are Beasts Who’ll Remove Your Burden

It only takes one pregnant bed bug hidden in your home to create a full-blown bed bug infestation.

Utilizing their heightened sense of smell, a bed bug detection dog can track as little as one bed bug. This is even in the most unlikely of places through walls, floors, and even underground. Whether they’re hiding behind an outlet, under a baseboard, or inside your child’s stuffed animal, no bed bug is safe when sly bed bug sniffing dogs are on the job.

Ultimately, dogs have smell receptors that are 10,000 times more accurate than a human. In other words, their nose is strong enough to detect substances at concentrations of one part per trillion.

A bed bug detection dog can successfully identify bed bugs at all phases of their life cycle, from eggs to nymphs to adults. In addition, they can crawl into tight spaces that human inspectors cannot.

Ultimately, a K9 inspection can be far more thorough and accurate than alternative bed bug removal methods. So how does a bed bug dog inspection work in practice?

A K9 inspection involves bed bug dogs alerting pest removal technicians. After this, technicians have a good idea whether the removal of mattresses and box springs is necessary. Once intruding bed bugs have been identified in any area, bed bug sniffing dogs will perform what is called a ‘passive alert’. This is where a bed bug detection dog points out any infested area to the technician they are working with.

Expertly trained, these bed bug dogs can also differentiate live bed bugs and bed bug eggs from the markings of an older infestation, for instance, empty egg shells and caste skins. This all helps to determine the severity of a particular bed bug infestation.

A Dogged Training Regime

Bed bug sniffing dogs aren’t simply recruited from the street and hired on the spot. They undertake rigorous certification and training programs to ensure their aptitude.

Did you know it takes at least 600 total hours of training before a single K9 is eligible to perform a proper bed bug dog inspection? Typically, training is spread over two months and it costs approximately $10,000 for a dog to be able to detect bed bugs. Once fully trained, bed bug dogs can smell through walls, floors and even underground long before humans can see any visible warning signs.

So there you have it – man and dog working in unison like a well-oiled, bed bug extermination machine!

Leave Bed Bug Control And Bed Bug Removal To The Professionals At Terminix Canada

When a bed bug infestation is wreaking havoc in your home, you need a permanent, safe solution that guarantees results.

Select Terminix Canada locations nationwide have access to their own bed bug sniffing dogs. Terminix Canada’s trained K9 inspection team and their handlers have certification from the National Entomology Scent Detection Canine Association (NESDCA).

The locations that don’t have a trained K9 inspection team aren’t any less effective however. All of our technicians are expertly trained and licensed to spot bed bug infestations and effectively clear your home of them using our Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

To find out more about the bed bug removal options available in your town or city, visit www.terminix.ca/branch-locator, find your nearest Terminix Canada branch and give them a call. Now you’ve discovered the power of a bed bug dog inspection, give this foolproof solution the green light, get rid of bed bugs, and love your space again.

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Bed Bugs – The Best (And Worst) Ways To Remove Them

Bed Bugs / February 18, 2021

This probably goes without saying, but the last thing you’d ever want to do in a zombie outbreak is to pretend like you know what you’re doing. Because the chances are, you’re not going to make things any better, regardless of what your intentions may be.

Bed bugs are a little bit like zombies. Not only can they also survive for lengthy periods of time without feeding (18 months!), but they also feast on humans and can multiply rapidly.

There are many courses of action that may seem logical to you in the heat of the moment. You might even come to believe that you’re capable of single-handedly winning against the overwhelming horde of bed bugs living in your home. You might dream of valiantly driving them away from your abode, graciously winning your family’s praises for your cunning wit and valour. But we assure you, you’ll most likely be doing the very opposite.

Bed bugs are known to be extremely resilient and devilishly crafty. Here’s our list of the best ways to treat bed bugs, as well as some of the worst!

Bed Bugs – Warning Signs

The best time to deal with any infestation is before it actually happens. Don’t let bed bugs catch you off guard! A single female bed bug can lay up to 500 eggs in her lifetime. But if you find and eliminate the source early on (aka, her), you can stop her from breeding and increasing her followers.

Here are some signs that you should look out for:

1. Bed Bugs Leave Spots

If you have bed bugs, you’d normally see small, dark spots on furniture, walls and flooring near their hiding spots. They’re composed of your undigested blood that the bed bugs had to excrete. Gross!

2. Bed Bugs Dispose Of Exoskeletons

These annoying pests molt five times in their lifetime. They molt and grow in size with every life stage from instar nymph, to full adult. You might find their empty shells in the crevices and corners of your home.

3. Bed Bugs Leave A Musty Scent

Individually, they probably won’t smell of anything. But when huge groups of them are clustered together, you’ll most likely detect a distinctly musty-sweet odour wafting in the air. What, you can’t recognize a bed bug infestation when it hits you right in the nose?

BED BUGS: LEARN MORE

Don’t Use A Bed Bug Fogger

Where do we even begin with this one?

A bed bug fogger, also known as the bug bomb, sounds like a quick and easy solution to exterminate those nasty suckers from your home in one clean sweep, right? WRONG!

Foggers use an aerosol propellant to disperse its contents through the air, which settles onto open surfaces. However, bed bugs tend to hide when they aren’t feeding. And guess what? They tend to hide in spots the foggers don’t reach.

Not only are the foggers ineffective, they’ll cause the bed bugs to scatter and dig deeper into the nooks and crannies of your home to get away from the source of the chemicals. Ultimately, this means a more settled in, hard-to-reach pest infestation.

Foggers also contain a very low concentration of pesticide, which means that they’ll likely fail at killing the bed bugs they DO reach. And the bad news doesn’t stop there. The low-level exposure to pesticides actually helps the little buggers to develop immunity – and they’ll only continue to get stronger as time passes. You’ll actually be making them harder to kill!

Do Protect Your Bed From Bed Bugs With A Mattress Encasement

If you encase your mattress and box springs, you can trap the bed bugs inside and keep them from gorging on your blood. They’ll be unable to feed and eventually starve to death.

Furthermore, bed bugs will be very easy to spot and remove, since they can only scuttle around the white surface of the encasement. Mattress encasements are easily one of the best ways to prevent these bloodsuckers from making your home theirs! Just make sure you install them properly and get a handle on how they should be maintained. Remember that the encasements should stay on for at least a year.

Don’t Dispose Of Your Bed

We can’t stress this enough. It’s very common for people to assume that they have to get rid of their beds and textiles once their homes are infested with bed bugs.

No, no, and no. Doing so will do more harm than good:

Hauling that infested mattress could spread the infestation even further throughout your home.

You’ll be giving the remaining bed bugs a chance to throw another housewarming party on the new mattress that you’ll be bringing in.

Your hard-earned money will be spent for no reason.

Do Eliminate Any Clutter In Your Home

Bed bugs are great at hide-n-seek. Giving them a playing field will only make it worse! Try to reduce clutter and organize your personal possessions as much as you can.

In particular, don’t store anything under your bed, and keep the floors neat and tidy. If you’ve got any piles of laundry, newspapers, magazines, shoes and toys lying around, you better clear them out. They give bed bugs millions of hiding spots, and bed bug treatment will become close to impossible!

And if you need to dispose of any items, make sure you seal them tightly in plastic bags before tossing them in the outdoor trash.

Don’t Escape To A Friend Or Relative’s Home

You don’t want to be doing this since these pests are notorious hitchhikers. They’d definitely be more than happy to tag along and settle into your friend’s humble residence too. Furthermore, bed bugs can live up to 18 months without feeding, so escape just isn’t an option.

Have Bed Bugs? Call A Licensed Exterminator For The Best Results

This is THE way to go for a complete extermination. There’s only so much you can do alone! Remember, the safest and best bed bug treatments can only be performed by an experienced team of professionals. Foggers and other pesticides come with a list of health risks and other dangers that you don’t want to be dealing with! Licensed exterminators can provide effective heat treatment options, which require specialized equipment and expertise.

Save yourself the trouble and let us take care of your bed bug problems right now! Terminix Canada has provided superior bed bug extermination services all over Canada for over 90 years. Our chemical and steam bed bug treatments will get rid of your unwanted visitors once and for all.

For more information regarding our pest control services, call us at 1-888-801-6348!

GET BED BUG CONTROL RIGHT NOW