Bed Bugs Exterminator Toronto

Bed bugs are everywhere these days. From retirement homes to private residences to college dorm rooms, this once-eradicated pest is back and going strong. They are even found in some of the most prestigious hotels, which is why it is imperative you always check the Bed Bug Registry before booking your stay in the United States or Canada.

While they are insects, they are not as easy to remove as other types of insects.

It is best if you contact a bed bug removal specialist in Toronto the moment you suspect you have a bed bug issue. The team at Power Pest Control can help you with your bed bug infestation.

We offer our services for residential and commercial properties, including communities, apartment complexes, retail locations, and hotels.

Our Bed Bug Extermination Process

A Power Pest Control Technician will conduct a through inspection within your home:

We will look for the signs of infestations such as fecal matter, castings (skin cells), and live or dead bed bugs. A detailed a report with findings will be presented to you and with a proper course of action in terms of preparation for the actual treatment.

If signs of infestation present themselves, we will then create a treatment plan that will vary depending on the severity of the infestation. Our technicians will treat the affected rooms and follow up with a second course of treatment to ensure that those nasty critters are gone for good.

Signs of Bed Bugs in Your Home

There are a variety of signals indicating that you might have a bed bug infestation.

Knowing these signs is best, because the sooner you contact a bed bug exterminator in Toronto, the better your chances are for removing them and keeping them from coming back.

Signs you might have a bed bug infestation include:

• Odor: Bed bugs release pheromones just like other insects. When the group of bed bugs is disturbed, you can smell that hormone released. It smells like that of a stink bug. You need a high concentration of bed bugs to catch the odor, but you’ll recognize it easily because it is highly unpleasant.
• Visual Inspection: Look at the areas under your fitted sheets and mattress covers. You will want to look along the edges of the mattress for droppings or bugs. Bed bugs, however, are easily missed during the visual bed bug inspection phase.
• Shed Skins: Shed skins and eggs on the sofa or mattress, which are hard to see unless you know what you are looking for, are indications of a bed bug infestation.
• Bites: Bites can occur anywhere on your skin, but you are more likely to notice them on the face, legs, arms, and chest that have been exposed to your sheets and are not covered with clothing. Small, itchy bites in little patches along these areas are common indicators of a problem. Bites are usually painless but do form itchy welts later. There is no red centre to the bites like flea bites.

Problems With Having a Bed Bug Infestation

Bed bugs can live anywhere in your home, but also be in public places.

The most common places they nest, however, are in mattresses, including the bed frame, mattress, and box spring. Therefore, they are more common in hotel settings and private residences.

The biggest issue with bed bugs is that they will move between units, especially in a multi-occupancy setting. So, retirement homes, college dormitories, hotels, hospitals, and more are at high risk for bed bug infestations — and they will spread quickly if the entire facility is not treated properly.

If you run a multi-unit facility of any kind, you must regularly check with all residents to see if they have any signs of a bed bug infestation.

Consider hiring Power Pest Control annually or bi-annually for an inspection of each unit to ensure there are no bed bugs. Early detection is critical, and it could save you thousands in treatment costs. Also, it could prevent you from facing any fines or penalties by the government for having bed bug-infested units.

How to Remove Bed Bugs From Your Home

Common DIY methods (and why they are ineffective)

There are plenty of do-it-yourself methods out there, but most are ineffective when it comes to bed bug pest removal in Toronto. This is because these methods will kill some of the bugs, but not all of them. This allows the adults to lay eggs and rebuild their colony once again.

Bed bugs have a high tolerance for insecticide sprays, so most will not kill them. Natural treatments, like alcohol or peppermint oil, will do nothing to kill or deter bed bugs either. These are common myths circulating the internet.

In the past, chemicals were used to treat bed bugs, but these chemicals have now been banned in Canada and the United States. The chemicals DDT and Malathion were effective treatments and long-term solutions, but with those treatments came high health risks.

There are bed bug covers out there that will prevent bed bugs from infesting or coming back after treatment. However, not all covers are equal. With a thorough bed bug inspection, most bed bug specialists in Toronto will recommend a cover that has a very thin zipper (so that there is no room for a bed bug to hide) and fits snugly over the mattress to prevent any existing bed bugs in the bed from escaping. There are different styles of covers:

• Mattress Encasement – This is used on the outside of your mattress to prevent bugs from entering and also kill bugs that are on the mattress. The bugs will no longer be able to feed and will eventually die. Those used for a bed bug treatment are known as reactive encasements, while those used to prevent are preventative encasements. Reactive covers are often pesticide impregnated to combat bed bugs that might remain in the mattress after
• Vinyl Cover – Vinyl covers are easier to clean and used for dorms, overnight camping, and hospitals that need sanitation.
• Fabric Covers – The fabric versions are used for personal home, hotels, and resorts because they are still easy to clean, but more comfortable.
• Hybrid Covers – A hybrid cover uses polyester and knit with a urethane barrier. It is self-locking too.

Dormitories, hospitals, retirement homes, and other facilities that offer beds to their customers should also consider an encasement for the pillows, mattresses, and box springs. Not only will it kill any bed bugs already present, but it will prevent guests from bringing bed bugs and creating an infestation in your facility.

Why call a professional exterminator

The best treatment for bed bugs is that from a professional. A professional will first do an in-depth investigation to find where the bed bugs are in your home, where they might have entered, and then work to eliminate the population. It might require multiple treatments to eradicate the problem fully.

Using a structural fumigation technique and extremely high temperatures of steam, Power Pest Control can remove bed bugs from your home, personal belongings, and prevent them from coming back. We use a multi-system approach that targets bed bugs, their eggs, and deters them from returning.

Inspection

While the inspection does cost money from Power Pest Control, you want someone to come to your home and perform a thorough inspection to find all bed bugs. There are some companies out there that will offer free consultations or guarantee they’ll correct your bed bug infestation without ever doing an initial consult.

These companies do not realize the extent of your infestation, will not know which rooms are also infected, and will only treat the one room you specified at the time of your appointment.

When all the bed bugs are not treated appropriately, they will come back and continue to spread through your home. Not only will this cost more money to treat, but it will also create further hassles for you and your family.

If your home is riddled with bed bugs, you have options for clearing your home of them for good. At Power Pest Control, you can book your initial inspection for $95, and a technician will come to your home and do a complete work-up.

We will examine every spot where we know bed bugs hide and lay their eggs. We will also look for signs of infestation in every room, including those you might not know have bed bugs.

Treatment

A potential client will call us to discuss their bed bug problem, and a Power Pest Control pest management professional will ask a series of questions to determine if bed bugs are actually present in the home.

If you have hired a professional for bed bug control in Toronto, you must prepare your home. Your exterminator should provide you with a preparation sheet, but some steps you can expect to complete before they arrive are:

• Removing all switch plates and outlets.
• Removing curtains, paintings, and anything mounted to the wall.
• Separating linens and putting them in bags.
• Taking apart your bed so that it is easily accessed for treatment.
• Emptying closets and drawers.
• Moving furniture from walls.
• Removing baseboards (if the heavy infestation is present).
• Vacuuming floors along the edges of walls and throwing out the container immediately after use.
• Washing all clothes at a temperature greater than 40 degrees Celsius for at least 30 minutes to kill all life stages of bed bugs.

If bed bugs are present in the home, the service professional will steam treat all fabric items, spray all baseboards and spot treat furniture with insecticide and apply a residual dust insecticide in wall voids such as electrical outlets

During the treatment, the service professional will make recommendation if it is safe to purchase bed bug covers for the mattress or if it would be safer to just throw out infested items.

Follow up

Our removal services are tailored to the extent of your infestation, and we use a follow-up treatment two weeks after the initial treatment to ensure bed bugs do not come back.

How to Prevent Bed Bugs From Infesting Your Home or Returning After Treatment

What Power Pest Control Does

Power Pest Control will send a technician to your home to complete an inspection of vulnerable areas and look for signs of bed bugs. We will then create an action plan to eradicate the problem. This will include a combination of steam treatment and insecticides.

Bed bugs are notoriously difficult to get rid of, which is why Power Pest Control requires a follow up treatment after the initial treatment. You are not billed a second time for this treatment; it is included with the cost.

What Homeowners Can Do

You can protect yourself from bed bug infestations.

Some things you can do to avoid bringing bed bugs home or inviting them in include:

• Put your luggage in the bathtub instead of on a luggage rack any time you stay at a hotel or overnight at someone’s house. This will help you avoid bringing them home in the first place.
• Bag all clothes from your travels and sanitize them with the hottest water and hottest dryer setting once home to kill any that did manage to get into your luggage.
• At a hotel, check the furniture, walls, frames, cushions, and mattress for any signs of bed bugs.
• Bed bugs can enter your home through cracks in your plaster too. So do not assume that the only way they enter is if you bring them back; they can find a way if they want to get in.
• Never store your personal items, especially clothing, with other people. When visiting a hotel, do not use the dresser drawers. Instead, only remove clothes as they are needed from your luggage.
• Reduce clutter in your home. When you have clutter, it can allow bed bugs to enter and give them plenty of areas to hide.
• Avoid purchasing second-hand furniture items like couches, mattresses, and other fabric materials.
• Clutter is one of the biggest hurdles for bed bug removals. If your home is extremely cluttered, even the best exterminator may not successfully treat your home.

It is advised that before you have a treatment, you prepare the space according to the exterminator’s directions, but also that you remove as much clutter as possible. Discard items you do not need or use — that way bed bugs have nowhere to set up their nest and start laying eggs.

About Bed Bugs

Before a bed bug feeds for the first time, it is only a ¼ inch long and difficult to see. After the bed bug feeds, it plumps and becomes a dark red bloated insect. Bed bugs can lay up to 200 eggs in their lifetime, and adults are up to 10 millimeters in length.

Eggs from bed bugs hatch quickly, taking only six to 17 days to complete the cycle. Bed bugs can distribute two to four eggs per day, and these eggs are stuck to surfaces around your home and in your mattress.

Bites from bed bugs are not always apparent and might take as long as two weeks to appear. Bed bugs have an increased resistance to pesticides, so DIY treatments rarely work. These insects can travel domestically and from abroad, making them hard to eradicate.

Bed bugs feed on the blood of their host (human or pet) at night, but they can still bite and feed during the day. They prefer humans because animals’ fur serves as a barrier.

Q: Where do bed bugs live?
A: Bed bugs are known to travel all over the globe, but they like to live within about eight feet of a sleeping human. That means they can get into the mattress, box spring, baseboards, and bed frame, among other places. Bed bugs have been found on most continents and have even been found in five-star resorts.

Q: Can bed bugs make you sick?
A: Not usually, but they can make you incredibly itchy, and the psychological impact of having creepy crawlies in your bed will linger for a long time. Bed bugs aren’t known to spread disease, but if you happen to be allergic to their bites, you may need medical attention. For most people, however, bed bugs are just an itchy, persistent irritation.

Q: What does a bed bug infestation look like?
A: There are few signs of an infestation, including the shed exoskeletons, actual bed bugs, and a peculiar sweet, musty smell.

Q: How will I know if I’ve been bitten?
A: You may not. Everyone reacts differently, ranging from no reaction to severe allergic reaction. Bites may not show for up to two weeks, so if you’ve been traveling, it’s hard to tell when you were bitten.

Q: How did I get bed bugs?
A: Bed bugs are world-class experts at travelling. Their bodies are small and flat, and they can get into really small spaces. Most people bring them back as unwanted souvenirs from vacation.

Q: Who is at risk for getting bed bugs?
A: In theory, everyone is vulnerable, but people who travel more frequently or sleep in shared accommodations are at a higher risk.

Are you ready for professional bed bug removal in Toronto? Call the bed bug experts at Power Pest Control to schedule your consultation at 647-708-7378 or contact us online.

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