Putting The Heat On Bed Bugs In Knoxville

Everything You Should Know About A Bed Bug Heat Treatment

Knoxville is home to pests of all shapes and sizes. Among those pests are bed bugs. These small, flat, blood-feeding insects are some of the most problematic pests around. Not only are bed bugs difficult to prevent, but they’re often difficult to identify as well.

Signs of a Bed Bug Infestation

Bed bugs are elusive insects. As a type of hitchhiking pest, bed bugs travel from place to place by crawling onto clothing, bags, or belongings. However, this means that bed bugs can only invade your property if you or someone you know brings them inside. Once they’ve entered your Knoxville home, there are a few signs you can look for that indicate that your home is infested.

  • Rows or clusters of small red bite marks on your skin
  • Spots of excrement on bed covers
  • Bloodstains on bedclothes, sheets, or pillowcases
  • Molted bed bug skins
  • Tiny white eggs the size of a pinhead
  • A strong, unpleasant musty odor, which usually indicates a larger infestation

Problems Bed Bugs Cause

What harm could one tiny bed bug do, right? Unfortunately, a lot. A single female bed bug can lay up to 500 eggs in its lifetime. If even one or two bed bugs are brought into your Knoxville property, you could have a severe infestation in less than 4 months. Early detection of a bed bug infestation is the best way to avoid most of the problems these tiny pests cause. Some problems bed bugs cause include sleeplessness, restlessness, and recurring bite marks. Many infestations aren’t discovered until after they have had time to become severe. Prolonged bed bug infestations can lead to health conditions such as anemia. (This disease is when there aren’t enough healthy red blood cells being circulated to muscle and body tissues.) The best way to avoid these problems is with professional bed bug treatment services.

Why You Need Bed Bug Heat Treatments

Bed bugs are resilient insects that often become resistant to chemical treatment methods. Also, these tiny pests are able to survive without a blood meal for up to five months. The most effective and efficient way to eliminate a bed bug infestation is with heat treatment services from Russell’s Pest Control.

Our bed bug heat remediation services use industrial heaters that are effective against even the largest bed bug infestations. These heaters radiate heat into areas where bed bugs like to hide, such as inside mattresses, electrical outlets, furniture, walls, and box springs. The bed bug heat treatments here at Russell’s Pest Control are eco-friendly and ensure the full elimination of your bed bug problems. For more information about our bed bug heat remediation services, or to ask us about any other pest problem, reach out to Russell’s Pest Control today.

Everything You Should Know About A Bed Bug Heat Treatment

Everything You Should Know About A Bed Bug Heat Treatment

We’ve all heard the horror stories. We all know that bed bugs have returned to our country, and bed bug infestations are quickly becoming the most frustrating pest problem in the United States. You may have even heard that heat is the best way to treat for these bugs. But it isn’t as simple as turning up the heat in your house. Applying a heat treatment to kill these blood-eating pests requires specialized equipment and specialized knowledge. Here’s why.

Specialized Equipment

If you’re thinking about cranking up the thermostat, using the oven in the kitchen, and setting down some heaters throughout your home, you should seriously reconsider. There is a reason there are so many new stories about houses and apartment buildings burning to the ground because of bed bug heat treatments. The temperature required to kill bed bugs in all stages of development is a consistent 120°F for 90 minutes. Getting an entire home up to this temperature is no easy task. At Russell’s Pest Control, we have to use state-of-the-art self-regulating heating units that shut down if the temperature rises above 135°F. Our team must also place down multiple real-time wireless sensors to remotely monitor the temperatures in every treatment space. The use of this advanced and specialized gear ensures the safety of the structure we are treating, while also ensuring complete eradication of all infesting bed bugs.

Specialized Knowledge

Effectively treating for bed bugs also requires a specialized knowledge. Even with proper heating equipment and temperature monitors, bed bugs can still evade treatment.

  • Bed bugs can live in wall voids. If a constant and consistent temperature is not created inside a structure, bed bugs can remain after treatment. It is important to know where to place heaters, monitors, and fans to ensure complete coverage.

  • Bed bugs are a hitchhiking bug. It is important to understand that these bugs can evade treatment by being carried out by residents. They can hide inside clothing, bags, and even electronics.

  • Without specialized knowledge, some belongings can be damaged. Our technicians know to remove all pets, houseplants, foods that can melt, cosmetics, prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs, wax items, stringed instruments, and irreplaceable family heirlooms.

  • Without specialized knowledge, dangerous items may be left in a home like fire extinguishers, hairspray cans, oxygen bottles, solvents, lighters, alcohol, etc.

  • Our technicians know how to secure paper, pictures, paintings, glass items, and other objects that can be disturbed by the large fans that are used to circulate the heat throughout the structure.

If you’ve found bed bugs, a heat treatment is the most Eco-friendly and effective way to eradicate them. Let the specialists here at Russell’s Pest Control help you take care of those bugs in a way that will guarantee complete eradication of all infesting bugs, and do it in a way that is safe for your family, your home, and your belongings. Give us a call today, and we’ll start taking care of those bed bugs right away.

Avoid Bed Bugs This Thanksgiving

Avoid Bed Bugs This Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving holiday will soon be upon us and we will be engulfed in turkey and dressing, pies and more pies! Some of you will travel great distances to be with family and close friends. Others of you will receive guests into your home and enjoy spending your Thanksgiving holiday together. Traveling is just a part of the holiday.

There is one nuisance pest that seems to really enjoy traveling and not just during the holidays, and that is the hitchhiking bed bug. Traveling and staying in motels increases the risk of exposure to bed bugs. Unfortunately, receiving guests into your home can also expose your residence to bed bug infestation.

The good news is that bed bugs are not known to transmit diseases and they cause no damage to your physical property. The most an individual will usually experience is a few itchy red welts from a bed bug bite. Even then, the bite itself is normally never felt.

The adult bed bug is only about 1/4th inch long and is oval shaped and has a rather flat body. Being nocturnal, they are rarely seen in daylight and very adept at hiding. However, one can usually see signs of infestation once they know where to look. The first thing you should do upon soliciting a motel room is to give the room a thorough inspection prior to bringing in your luggage. Lift up the bed sheets and look along the ribbing and edges of the mattress for any sign of bed bugs or bed bug feces. Look behind the headboard and inside the nightstand and dresser drawers. Any sign or hint of bed bugs is grounds enough for moving to a different room and possibly even a different motel.

Never store your luggage on the floor—use the luggage stand to keep it off the carpet. This is another common place in which bed bugs can hide. Keep your clothing in the suitcase rather than placing it in the dressers. These precautions will reduce the chance of a stray bed bug hitchhiking back to your home with you. Inspect your suitcase and clothing immediately upon arriving home. Launder your clothing as soon as possible to remove any chances of a stray bed bug traveling back with you.

Bed bugs are extremely difficult to eradicate once an infestation has occurred. DIY techniques are rarely effective due to the nature of the bed bug and the multiple places in which they are able to hide. Russell’s Pest Control has provided quality services throughout the area for more than 40 years. Sleep with peace of mind and contact Russell’s highly trained professionals to come inspect your home for bed bugs. We will be happy to explain our highly successful bed bug heat remediation program to you.

 

Bed Bugs Can’t Stand The Heat

Bed Bugs Can't Stand The Heat

Have you heard the expression, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen?” At Russell’s Pest Control, we have a slightly different saying. “If you can’t stand the heat, that’s too bad, bed bugs!” We have a hard time feeling bad for a bug that thinks it’s okay to live inside a mattress that does not belong to it and suck blood from people without their permission. That’s why you won’t find any bed bug relocation programs at Russell’s Pest Control. When we find bed bugs, we kill them.

At a sustained temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit, all stages of bed bugs die. This includes eggs and nymphs, but you probably already know that. Here are some of the questions we often get that you might not know the answer to.

“Does heat kill bed bugs that are inside my mattress and in the walls?” Yes. A heat treatment will radiate deep into every part of your home and kill these bugs, even bugs that are hiding in mattresses, furniture and behind baseboards.

“Will my home and property be safe?” When done by a professional, a heat treatment is completely safe. At Russell’s, our technicians know how to get your home prepared so that sensitive items are removed and nothing is present that will pose a fire hazard. We use sensors to measure the level of heat at all times and make sure that it stays within that safety threshold.

“Will the bugs return?” When our specialists help you rid your home of bed bugs, they will also look to see what conditions may have brought the bugs into your home in the first place. Bed bugs don’t come in through your walls; they are carried in on clothing and inside luggage. Getting a professional analysis will help you better protect your home from a future infestation.

“Can I do a heat treatment myself?” If not done with state-of-the-art temperature-controlled heating equipment, the risk of fire is high. The stories of homes being burned down are numerous. There is also a risk that bugs will return after a home-treatment. Bed bugs are resilient and able to hide from the heat; that is why it is so important to have a trained professional who knows where to place heating elements for thorough coverage. If even a single female bug escapes, you could be looking at another infestation in a few months.

When it comes to protecting your home from bed bugs, you can trust Russell’s Pest Control. We are members of the National Pest Management Association, and Bed Bug FREE Approved by Bed Bug Central, the nation’s most authoritative source on bed bugs. Let our team of experts make 100% sure your home is bed bug free by turning up the heat on those bugs, contact us today for more details.