Dont Let the Bed Bugs Bite: Pest Control Services in London
The increase in international air travel in the past 10-20 years has brought its own problems for the pest control business. London is the busiest international city in the world, with thousands of visitors passing through every single day. With so many travelers from a wide variety of lands, it’s perfectly logical a few of them bring parasites along with them. Bedbugs can be transferred to hotels, hostels and houses in people’s garments, bedsheets etc.
Bedbugs (Cimex lectularius) feed on the blood of humans while we sleep. Their bites can cause pain, irritation and skin discolouration. There’s the additional danger of secondary infection. They aren’t large – even the biggest adults are no more than 5mm in length – making them harder to spot than more conspicuous pests such as rats and pigeons. They vary in colour from transparent to mahogany brown. They are prodigious breeders; the females lay 2 or 3 eggs a day. Their eggs are yellow/white in colour and a mere 1mm long, making them even harder to spot than the adults.
For these reasons and more, diagnosing a bedbug infestation takes real skill. Their bites are not dissimilar to those of other biting insects (e.g. fleas, mosquitoes). An initial inspection will help pest control firms to establish exactly what sort of pest infestation is afflicting you before beginning any form of treatment.
Bedbugs are so named since their resting places – where they spend most of their time – are tucked away in the cracks and crevices of buildings, e.g. bed frames, mattresses, skirting boards and behind the wallpaper. Depending on their size and age, they may only need to feed once every 2 or 3 weeks. The drawn out space between feeding times means residents frequently don’t even notice they have a pest problem until there are so many of them that bites become a nightly occurence. The result is that, as with many pests, the control services are often not called in until the infestation is well and truly established.
Bedbugs are interested in finding people to feed off, not how clean a place is, so having an infestation isn’t necessarily a sign of poor hygiene. Bed bugs are carried in by people, not dirt; so it’s really your guests who should be considering their own cleanliness! Unfortunately, most people don’t realise this. It is therefore especially important for hotel and hostel owners to call in the pest control services as soon as they notice any sort of an infestation. The presence of bedbugs can damage the reputation of a venue – particularly if a client decides to sue for damages because they have been bitten – and in these days of Trip advisor and the like, negative feedback can be death for small businesses.
To be able to treat a bedbug infestation, any potential hideouts will have to be checked out. In the case of bed frames and other fixtures, this will entail dismantling them. In particularly bad examples, the piece of furniture might have to be removed or replaced in order to reduce the chance of re-infestation. For the very same reason, it is recommended you don’t bring any new furniture into the house, hotel or hostel before the whole area has been fully dealt with.
Bedbugs can be difficult to treat, but London’s pest control services are here to help you. 3 comprehensive treatments are normally required to get rid of the problem, but it is the best way to help you stay bite free and your establishment’s reputation unblemished.
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