Bed Bugs: description, signs, options, cost to treat, and what you need to know in looking at pricing for a treatment! PART 2 of 4
Get a quote
Free quotes are fairly standard practice for potential bed bug treatments. Because the factors involved in determining treatment are so complex, most inspectors will provide free, on-site quotes to give an accurate cost estimate and treatment plan. Once you schedule a quote, the inspector will come to your home to perform a complete visual inspection to assess the treatment needed. Reputable pest management companies will recommend an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach.
How much does bed bug extermination cost?
Different areas in different states have various pricing for treatments, nothing is standard across the board. Companies charge in different ways. I’m going to elaborate on various ways to quote your treatment and the tell you why we price the way we do in the last installment.
Another factor is the severity of the infestation, how many rooms are affected, and the particular type of treatment being performed. Let’s start out with severity, some companies charge by the square footage of the house, some charge a flat fee by the number of rooms being treated and some charge an hourly rate. Personally we treat the whole home or we don’t treat. For the companies who treat some rooms and not all and your getting prices based off this, here is something to consider. First you don’t know how you got them, who brought them in and what room were they introduced to first. A lot of companies charging by the room don’t treat a kitchen or bathroom (supposedly saving you money) since they don’t “typically” harbor and wait for a meal in those rooms.
Let’s think back to getting ready for work or school, what is your routine? Do you sit on your bed and tie your shoes or even simply put your socks on? Could one have climbed onto your clothes as you sat there for a couple minutes or mere seconds. Then where do we go? Do we leave or do we go into the bathroom to re-comb our hair after pulling on a shirt and messing it up, does that hitchhiker fall off in the bathroom that we don’t want to pay to treat (cause we’re saving money)? Or did we go to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee and have breakfast, and did that hitchhiker from the bedroom fall off on a kitchen chair?
So now we leave and the bed bug company comes to treat all the bedrooms and living room, but NOT the kitchen and bath. Is there a live bedbugs in one of the untreated rooms? Did we really save any money since your going to pay them to come back or another company to come in and treat EVERY SINGLE ROOM OF THE HOME. Because bed bug populations multiply so quickly, it's important to get on top of treating your infestation quickly, so your light infestation doesn't turn into a heavy infestation.
More factors playing into the cost of a treatment that some companies look at.
Most bed bug inspectors will do a walk-through before providing a quote so they can assess the space, recommend the right treatment and price it accordingly. If they will give a price over the phone without seeing what they will arrive and have to deal with, I consider that a red flag. They show up and it’s not what they pictured as you described on the phone, now they need to add in some additional fees for whatever reason????
Some companies will nickel and dime you on their pricing especially when quoting by the room. The more furniture you have in an infested room, the higher the cost you can expect to pay to treat that room. For example, some companies charge an average of $50 for every piece of additional furniture, like a chair or cabinet, in a bedroom beyond the STANDARD one bed, two nightstands and one dresser. This makes technicians have to inspect and treat all pieces of furniture in each infested room. Every extra piece adds 30-60 minutes to the time it takes to treat a room, and requires more product. For example, if you have three extra pieces of furniture in your bedroom, that's an additional 90-180 minutes of the technicians time — which means higher labor cost.
Dirt doesn't affect whether bed bugs hang around your house, but clutter does. They love nooks and crannies to hide and lay eggs in. Clutter can be antiques, Knick knacks, piles of mail, magazines and books. It directly affects the level of work and cost of getting rid of them. If a home is messy or has a lot of clutter, the rate per room will be higher. “Clutter” creates more work in two ways:
1. Technicians must sort and clear the clutter to prepare the area for treatment.
2. Technicians must use more product to treat all of the excess clutter.
The construction of your home can affect pricing also.
How your home is constructed will impact the overall cost of the treatment. If your entire home is infested, you will need to treat under the house. Homes with pier-and-beam construction can harbor bed bugs underneath the house. These services cost more. Slab homes (homes without any space between the home and the foundation) usually don't need this.
Depending on your situation, a fumigation may be recommended. This is a more extreme solution as it involves completely sealing your home and pumping in a gas. You and your family must leave for two days, and costs may range on average anywhere from $3,000 to $7,000. The good news is fumigation will eradicate all signs of bed bugs.
Bed Bugs: description, signs, options, cost to treat, and what you need to know in looking at pricing for a treatment! PART 1 of 4
We are going to spend the next few weeks here and there putting out information for you to read and hopefully share & pass on. You never know when they will strike, I didn’t say IF, I most definitely said WHEN.
First, who gets bedbugs???
If you have bed bugs, does that mean you have a dirty home or office, or have done something wrong. ABSOLUTELY NOT, IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT AT ALL!!!! It just means that one of these pests have hopped a ride home with you, just like a tick does in the field or woods. They climb on and you have no clue, it’s usually from luggage, backpacks, secondhand furniture and clothing, or even a close friend or family visitor. The bedbugs have now made themselves at home. Fortunately (according to the CDC), bed bugs are not known to transmit infectious disease, but they do cause itching and scratching, bite marks, and allergic reactions — and they do spread easily.
Bed bugs multiply quick, they will NOT disappear on their own and bed bug infestations WILL get worse, NEVER better, if left untreated. The minute you notice signs of a bed bug infestation, call D2B Pest Control of Southern Indiana. If you deal with the problem early on, it will prevent the infestation from spreading to other parts of your home, and from passing the bed bugs on to visitors who will then carry them to their homes.
How do I know if I have bed bugs?
The easiest indicator that your home or office has bed bugs is when you actually see bed bugs, or the exoskeletons their larvae shed as they mature. You may also find itchy bites, which often appear in lines or clusters, on your skin. Since not everyone has the allergic reaction to the bites not everyone reacts the same way. It's best not to go off skin reactions alone, since they could be a sign of another bug problem, like fleas. You must check all area’s for other signs as well.
Another indicator is their fecal droppings — rusty or blackish in color, thanks to blood — found on bedding and furniture. You may be able to spot their eggs, which are clear or yellowish and about the size of a pinhead. If you spot any of these signs you can also do a search to discover their hiding places — but be very careful, if you disturb them it could lead to wider spread throughout your house.
How to spot a bed bug!
Bed bugs are tiny, about the size of an apple seed and are no thicker than a credit card — unless engorged with blood. They can be hard to spot. Bed bugs don't have wings and don’t fly, but you may see the adults run across a bed or piece of furniture.
If you think you have spotted a bed bug, check to see if the bug has six legs a short antennae that points forward, and that it is rust or mahogany in color. Eggs, a dult females lay white or clear eggs that are no bigger than a pinhead — approximately 1 millimeter in size. The eggs hatch within 4-12 days, producing white-yellow or clear nymphs that begin to grow. As nymphs grow from approximately 1.5 millimeters to approximately 4.5 millimeters, they will progress to the next developmental stage, where they shed their current exoskeleton. Bed bug skins are a strong indicator of a pest problem.
More signs of bed bugs!
Bed bugs are primarily nocturnal; most nymphs and adults feed on sleeping or resting humans in the darkness, although they will come out in the daylight if they're hungry enough. This is why bed bug activity is often discovered on or around mattresses and bed frames — they like to stay close to their meals. They take advantage of exposed skin, so your neck, arms or legs are often easy targets while you sleep. Bed bugs feed on human blood.
Where can bed bugs be found?
As their name implies, they are often found in mattress seams, bedding, and dark crevices of the bed frames. Beyond that, bed bugs can fit almost anywhere and seek out dark, tight hiding places. Look inside curtain rod seams and any furniture seams; behind picture frames and mirrors, inside cracks in the wall or around window and door frames; in tightly cluttered spaces like closets; in luggage, briefcases and backpacks; and even inside electrical outlets. Bed bugs will often crowd together into cozy cracks and crevices, but are also prone to going off alone, especially the females. If you find one grouping of them, that does not mean you have discovered them all, and treating just that area may not control the whole infestation.
The Mystery of Pests
The Mystery of Pests
Second-guessing investing in pest control services? Maybe after reading our informative blog at D2B Pest Control of Southern Indiana, LLC located in Washington, Indiana, you can make up your mind. Read our blog to learn how insects, termites, and bed bugs can destroy your home!
When Should Professional Pest Control Be Done at Home? Winter? Summer? Fall? Spring?
That’s a regular question I have been asked for the past 5 years or so. Which season should professional pest control be done in the home, do we really need winter service?
This week I was asked if it’s worthwhile doing pest control for ants in winter? My answer was, “Can you live with ants in your house, sink, cupboards, living room, shower, bathroom, etc. all winter? Do you really want to wait for spring for pest control to be done?”
Their reply, “can’t we just call when they pop up in the winter and then come back in to treat them?”
Each type of pest, whether it be a rodent (mice or rats) or an insect (cockroaches, ants, fleas, bedbugs, wasps, etc.) has a season in which it reproduces faster (usually summer) but that does not mean that pest control is only done in the summer. The best time to do pest control is when a certain pest is identified in a place where you do not want it to develop and propagate, no matter what time of year it is.
For example, what will you do if you noticed a number of ants walking on the kitchen counter in January? Wait until April? And in the meantime the ant nest will grow and the ants will wander around the kitchen counter for another three months until “the appropriate season” comes around. I guarantee the female half of the relationship isn’t going to wait when she walks into a room and turns a light on and watches roaches run everywhere, so why wait to renew services after they have taken a foothold?
The best advice I or any other company is going to give you is to do the year-round pest control, with it typically comes a warranty, most pest control companies give a warranty on all pest control actions (the duration of the warranty depends on the type of pest). If you cancel for the winter we have lost our chemical foothold we had and are starting over from scratch. If we start over there is an initial service fee for starting over.
Our seasons aren’t cold enough, nor long enough, like they were 20 years ago. I can pull a picture up on my phone of a mosquito on a wood post last February in my back yard. Our insect killing winters are a thing of the past. We have a few days of cold and snow and then back in the 50’s like a yo-yo.
Ewww... what’s that smell??? STINKBUGS
For a long time we’ve been told that stinkbugs aren’t controllable. We’ve been following the research of some scientists waiting for the magic dust or spray to be brought to the market. They have some thoughts about chemicals and practices that we are applying to our treatments and look forward to trying in the future.
It is highly recommended that you start treating for stink bugs in Early August and continue MONTHLY treatments with a control program. Full control may not be attained the first year, they assure us that following their protocols we will see a drastic reduction. Part of the issue is the ones that’s harboring inside the walls of your home. We will need for them and their offspring to re-emerge the next season to come into contact with our products.
We will apply a dust insecticide. The dust insecticide will need to be applied every 6 months directly in cracks and crevices around the exterior of your structure:
• around window and door frames
• around areas where cables, pipes and wires enter the structure
• around eaves and soffits
• any crack, crevice or gap where pests can enter
We will apply a liquid insecticide every 30 days around the exterior perimeter of your structure. We will apply the solution to the following areas:
• 1 foot up the foundation of the structure and 1 foot out on to the ground
• around areas where cables, pipes and wires enter into the structure
• around door frames and window frames
• around vents and soffits
• any other area on the structure where entry can be made
We use this combination because the liquid insecticide will be exposed rain & to UV rays or applied to porous surfaces all of which can reduce the effectiveness of the application. Dust applications are long lasting and work well as added protection against persistent invading insects.
After stink bugs have made their way inside they are hard to control. That is because they like to stay tucked away inside mostly inaccessible areas. If some stink bugs come out of hiding the best way to eliminate them is to vacuum them up and then empty the bag or canister outside.
Another option in helping eliminate the stink bugs is pest proofing your home by caulking small gaps and cracks.
NOTE: In most instances where homes or other structures have had stink bug invasions in the past it can take more than one season to gain complete control. Typically about 80% control will be attained the first season.
Call D2B Pest Control of Southern Indiana to schedule your homes evaluation for services. We will happily show you what you can do yourself in pest proofing your home or give you a price for us to do the pest proofing service for you. Let’s get started in eliminating the stink bugs around your home.