Pest control advice and fees - Bed Bugs
Our fees
If you have a three bedroom house or less we can treat bed bugs for you. How much does this service cost? View the table of charges. The fee includes up to two revisits if the infestation is not eradicated.
Any request for a revisit must be made within two weeks of the date of the initial treatment otherwise the full fee will be charged for any further treatment.
Book a pest control service. (domestic properties only)
Note: If your property has four or more bedrooms you will need to contact the council's current pest contractor, Total Pest Control on 01235 819511.
They will discuss options with you and supply a quote for treatment. Any agreement for treatment and payment will then be between you and contractor.
About bed bugs
The adult bed-bug is a flat, oval insect 5mm long by about 3mm broad. It is reddish brown in colour. You will need professional help in dealing with an infestation of bed-bugs.
Distribution
Bed-bugs do not fly so they must crawl or be transported in clothing, luggage, books, and furniture; in fact anything that provides them with harbourage.
Bed bugs feed on blood and they can survive for long periods of time without feeding. Bed-bugs are usually associated with poor, overcrowded and unhygienic conditions but can be transported to any premises. In domestic premises most infestations are found in the bedroom. Their hiding places will be close to where their host sleeps - in the bed frame, mattress, bedside furniture, skirting boards or wallpaper, in fact anywhere that affords a dark hiding place during the daylight hours for these nocturnal creatures.
Significance
Bed-bugs' habit of biting a person and feeding on their blood can cause severe irritation to some people. The very thought of being preyed upon by such creatures is often sufficient to encourage immediate action to control them.
There are a number of factors that are helping to maintain the numbers of bed-bugs including the increased use of central heating and the resultant warm conditions which stimulate continuous activity and feeding over the winter months and the movement of second hand furniture which may transfer bed-bugs from one property to another.
Bed-bugs' blood feeding can cause severe irritation in some people. They are not, however, known to carry disease, unless, that is, you regard insomnia as such.
Life cycle
The female bed-bug lays pearly white eggs approximately 1mm long, which are 'glued' into cracks and crevices in bed frames, furniture, wallpaper, in fact anywhere that provides dark harbourage during daylight.
They will lay about 150 eggs which will hatch in 10 to 20 days and will reach adulthood in approx. nine weeks under reasonable conditions, but will be considerably longer if the temperature is low.
The adults live for up to 18 months, usually feeding weekly, but can survive for over a year without blood.