Selecting an Experienced Pest Management Company Your may already have a contract with a licensed and certified pest management company. However, that company may have little or no experience with bed bugs. Find out immediately. Call and ask the manager (not your technician or salesman) about the company’s bed bug experience. How many bed bug jobs did they do last year? Do they have a printed copy of their treatment protocol? What products do they use? What is their protocol for follow-up treatments? Ask them to provide you with bed bug references. If your current company does not have the expertise you need, find one who does. The price of a good bed bug company will be higher than you have paid for routine pest control. But keep in mind that time = money in bed bug control. You want your company to take the time they need to get the job done, or you risk not being satisfied with the results. What Information Should You be Given Regarding Treatment? Many people expect their pest management company to come in and apply a magic potion that will get rid of the bed bugs forever in one easy application. However, pest control operators across the nation agree, bed bug are the most difficult peststhat they have ever had to control. To be effective, your pest management professional must be knowledgeable about bed bug biology and behavior and up to date in the latest bed bug control techniques. After a preliminary inspection of the premises the pest professional should be able to provide you with the following information:• Information regarding basic bed bug biology, behavior, and medial importance • The potential scope of the infestation, emphasizing the limitation of visual inspections • A copy of the treatment protocol including the specific terms of the service agreement • Your treatment preparation responsibilities • A list of the chemical and non-chemical treatment products that they will use • An estimate of how long treatment will take to complete based on the company’s current manpower. • The labor for two technicians minimum and pricing estimates The pest management professional should also be able to answer questions regarding the pros and cons of each treatment method, and why their treatment methods may be differ from other companies you may have interviewed. Some companies will provide a 30 or 60 day treatment warranty/guarantee. Be aware this is not a guarantee that the bed bugs are gone. It just means that their company will treat again for free (or for less money) if any bed bugs occur within 30 or 60 days of treatment. Beware of anyone who guarantees that all the bed bugs, every last egg, will be gone after treatment. They are amateurs. How could they possibly know? Disposal of Furniture Before throwing away expensive items that you may have difficulty replacing, speak to your pest management professional about your options. Instead of throwing away your bed, have the mattress and box springs put into a mattress encasements (see below), then have the bed frame treated with a low toxicity insecticide. If you do decide to throw away furniture items, your pest management professional can advise you how to wrap it and remove it from the premises without dropping bed bugs on the way out. Many pest management companies will wrap and remove the item for you. Your company can also advise you how the item should be marked or damaged so that other people do not take it out of the trash and spread the infestation. Your company should also dissuade you from replacing any infested furniture until after the treatment protocol is complete. You do not want to bring new furniture into a room that may still contain bed bugs. Treatment Preparation Instructions Your company should supply you with instructions regarding how to prepare the apartment, office, or room for bed bug treatment. These instructions will typically include the removal of clutter (stacks or boxes of stored items that bed bugs can use as places to hide), laundering clothing, and making small repairs. Some companies may have extensive preparation instructions (stripping the bed, emptying closets, etc.), while other companies will not want the bed bugs disturbed prior to treatment. In this case, the preparation instructions only include cleaning out items from under the bed and bagging clothes that are on the floor. If the structure is going to be heat treated (see below), the preparation instructions will be minimal. Regardless of what your company’s instructions may be, follow them to the letter so that you have the best chance of being satisfied with the treatment results. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for Bed Bugs: Integrated pest management (IPM) is a term used to describe a multi-faceted approach to bed bug control. Basically, IPM means that many treatment methods, both chemical and non-chemical, will be used simultaneously to attack the bed bugs from several angles at once. The methods listed below are considered best practices that can be incorporated into a bed bug IPM program. Inspection. Your pest management company will most likely do a cursory inspection of the premises at the time of your initial call. They will then give you a time and treatment estimate. On the day of the treatment, the company will conduct a thorough inspection, looking for all possible bed bug hiding places, and treat the structure or infested room. The beds will be stripped and the mattresses inspected.The box springs will be opened and inspected with a flashlight. All furniture, head boards, picture frames, drawers, air conditioners, holes for set in screws, chips in the paint, loose wallpaper, curtain rods, curtains, cabinets, drawers, closets, carpet tack strips, baseboards, popcorn ceilings, electrical outlets, desks, light fixtures, electronics, toys, wheelchairs, smoke detectors, books, magazines, basically everything possible, will be carefully searched for signs of bed bugs. If you have something you don’t want the inspectors to see, inspect it yourself and get it out before the treatment date.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:09:46 +0000
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