What to do if you think you have bed bugs.

If you think you have bed bugs you will need to either hire a pest company professional to inspect your home or workplace, or try to inspect on your own. Most pest professionals will not treat your home without a specimen or convincing evidence that bed bugs are in your home.

If you decide to inspect your own home, start at the bed.

• Inspect the entire bed, headboard, including screws, screw holes, mattress piping, tags, box spring and pillow.

• If you do find bed bugs, kill them by spraying them with 90% rubbing alcohol, then put the bug(s) in a ziplock bag in your freezer to show your pest professional that you do indeed have bed bugs. You can also wait until after their inspection to see if the PCO (Pest Control Operator) can find them. If you have found them and they can't, you might want to give that some weight in selecting your pest company.

Watch this video for tips on how to conduct an inspection
(more videos below)

• Do not spray household pestacides on bed bugs. Only pesticides labeled specifically for bed bugs will kill them. Do not use insect bombs. Consult a professional or do extensive research before attempting to self treat.

• Use a flashlight and magnifying glass to see possible bugs and eggs.

• If you do find bed bugs or eggs do not allow yourself to believe you've found all the bed bugs in your house. Seal any bedding, papers or items in trash or giant zip lock bags wherever you find bugs.

• Do not move the objects to the bag or trash or you may spread the bugs around your house as they fall off the items. Bring the bag to the bugs.

• Be prepared to kill any bed bugs or eggs you find on the spot using either steam, 90% alcohol, putting infested items into a pail of extremely hot water, or vacuuming (throw the bag out immediately when done) and clean the vacuum with alcohol, or hot water.

How to inspect a room

When the PCO (pest control operator) comes to your home, point out specifc items in our house and ask them how they will treat it if you hire them.

For instance, point to your sofa and ask how they will treat that? If they are vague or tell you they can't give away company secrets, consider having a different company inspect your home.

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