Bed Bugs
How we can stop bed bugs from affecting your home.
As a local, family-run business deeply rooted in the community for over a decade, we understand the importance of protecting your home.
Bed Bug Control Services In Snohomish, WA
Bed Bug Treatments For North King Home & Business Owners
Bed bugs are opportunistic hitchhikers that can be transferred on luggage, clothing, and other personal items. While many people associate bed bug infestations with travel, they can also be transferred to public locations or a visit to a friend's home. A bed bug infestation is not caused by poor hygiene or housekeeping, although those issues can make their elimination more challenging.
Bed bugs in Snohomish, WA are excellent travelers and will feed at night off of human hosts, and then return to their secretive nesting locations. They will travel between rooms, and apartment walls, and are drawn to the CO2 and scent of their human food sources. You may see them searching for a meal during the day in heavy infestations. A bed bug infestation can be difficult to properly identify and control due to its secretive hiding locations. While they will feed on animals, their preferred source is humans. Bed bugs were not an issue for many years in the United States until they began appearing again in the early 2000s due to pesticide resistance.
To ensure full bed bug elimination, it is imperative that proper inspections, monitoring, and treatment occur. These processes are best performed by trained professionals with experience in the behavior, techniques, and products, using the latest research on the best practices of Snohomish bed bug control. Over-the-counter products and solutions, in many cases, will provide temporary relief but will exacerbate the issue, making long-term resolution more difficult.
At Guard Pest Control, we provide and guarantee complete bed bug elimination.
One of our certified technicians will visit your home to complete a thorough evaluation of your bed bug situation. Your technician will then recommend a comprehensive treatment plan based on the type of structure, the severity of the infestation, and any potential barriers to successful treatment. All of our methods are backed by recent research findings, ensuring that our detection methods leave nothing missed or inaccurately identified.
Don't make the mistake of attempting to fight your bed bug problem by yourself. Contact the Snohomish home pest control professionals and commercial bed bug exterminators at Guard Pest Control for help, and find out why western Washington home and business owners call us first when the bed bugs bite.
Our Bed Bug Elimination Service
If bed bugs are keeping you up at night, there's only one solution: contact a professional pest control provider for help. Guard Pest Control has years of experience helping home and business owners in western Washington eliminate bed bugs from their property. Guard Pest Control is committed to ongoing education to ensure that our customers are offered the most appropriate and evidence-backed treatments in the industry. Bed bug elimination is a science.
Inspect
Guard Pest Control technicians will inspect your home for bed bug activity using multiple evidence-based practices that ensure accuracy in identifying infestations. Some companies utilize K-9 inspections, but research has shown these inspections to be unreliable and do not provide the most accurate report of activity in your home. A visual inspection alone may provide evidence of a high-level infestation but run the risk of missing lower-level activity.
Correct
Our eco-friendly green low-prep, non-chemical bed bug treatment methods use the latest and most effective bio-pesticide products available on the market, ensuring an end to your bed bug problem without leaving your family at risk. Treatments are applied strategically and safely, following product labels and guidelines.
Protect
The Guard Pest Control Proprietary Treatment Process is a complete bed bug treatment program and is guaranteed. Treatments are designed to minimize the need for costly re-treatments by preventing future infestations. Elimination, not "control".
Steps You Can Take To Prevent Bed Bugs In Western Washington
Bed bugs are incredibly difficult to treat once they infest a structure, making prevention a necessity. Here are some tips you can use to help prevent them in your home or business:
- Keep your laundry contained in sealed plastic bags when traveling.
- After returning from a trip or vacation, wash all your laundry at the hottest temperature to kill any bed bugs that might have stowed away inside.
- Keep bags and luggage off the ground, either stored on a countertop or on a luggage stand.
- Inspect any hotel or motel room you stay at for signs of bed bugs prior to taking in luggage or lying down.
- Inspect mattress seams for black fecal residue, and look for black streaks on pillowcases, sheets, baseboards, and wall outlets.
- If you are in a location in which you suspect could have a bed bug issue, avoid placing bags or personal belongings on any soft surfaces. Avoid sitting on any soft surface locations.
If you are in a location with a known bed bug infestation, use a sticky lint remover roller on your clothing and any personal items upon leaving that location.
Bed Bug Identification (Cimex lectularius)
What Are Bed Bugs?
Bed bugs are small brown bugs with flat, oblong bodies. Adult bed bugs grow to be about a quarter of an inch long and are distinctively reddish-brown in color. The eggs are difficult to spot, as they are only about 1mm in size and almost clear in color. Bed bug nymphs look similar to the adults but are both lighter in color and smaller in size.
Adult females are able to lay up to five eggs in a day, and those eggs are sticky, making them easily adherable to surfaces to keep them safe until they hatch. Once hatched, bed bug nymphs are incredibly minuscule, but they grow rapidly, shedding their exoskeleton with each blood meal. Bed bugs prefer human blood, but will also feed on other warm-blooded animals they come into contact with.
Bed bugs are primarily nocturnal, which is why they're mostly found in beds, hence their name. While you go to sleep, bed bugs will start biting you, feasting on your blood, and leaving you with itchy red bites the next morning. Their nocturnal activity is the main reason why hotels, motels, and other businesses that offer sleeping accommodations commonly have issues with bed bugs, and why many home bed bug infestations originate at these locations.
Are Bed Bugs Dangerous?
Common Warning Signs Of Bed Bugs
Although bed bugs aren't currently considered to be a threat to our health, their bites can produce itchy, red skin rashes, and scratching them can bring about serious health concerns if they become infected. While not a direct physical danger, bed bugs' tendency to keep people up at night can also have a damaging effect on their psyche due to lack of sleep and the constant feeling of being dirty.
Since bed bugs are such a difficult pest to handle, it pays to know the early warning signs they leave behind so that you can act as quickly as possible when they invade.
Common warning signs of bed bugs include:
- Small brown or black spots or smears of blood, especially on mattresses and bed linens.
- Tiny brown droppings found in sleeping areas.
- Shed exoskeletons left behind by growing nymphs.
- Tiny white eggs and egg casings often found in clusters. These eggs will look like small grains of rice.
- Live bed bugs found on mattresses or bedding.
- Bed bug bites found on your body. Keep in mind that 30% of people will NOT have a reaction to a bed bug bite and would be unaware that they have been bitten.
These warning signs are often found around bedding or other frequently-used furniture, on mattress edges and corners, in stitching on upholstered furniture, on outlet covers, and the surface of baseboards near the bed. They can also sometimes be found near electronics
These areas may also contain bed bug bodies. While they are rarely seen with the naked eye due to their nocturnal nature, bed bugs congregate together when active. Seeing bed bugs with your own eyes is a sure sign of a severe infestation, so if you're finding groups of small oval-shaped bugs in the same location, time to call a professional for help.
What Do Bed Bug Bites Look Like?
It's also helpful to know what bed bug bites look like, as they can appear differently for different people:
- Bed bug bites make the skin rise into a red or pink bump on the skin, similar in appearance to mosquito bites.
- Bed bug bites will appear in rows or clusters. Bed bugs feed multiple times a night, so bed bug bites will most commonly be grouped together at certain parts of the body instead of distributed across your skin.
- Bed bug bites will often have a rash around them which can resemble hives.
- Research has shown that approximately 30% of people will not have a reaction of any kind to a bed bug bite.
If you are seeing signs of bites or suspect that you have a bed bug problem, call a professional for bed bug service immediately!
Why Call Guard Pest Control For Help With Bed Bugs
Why Professional Help is Essential
Bed bugs are notoriously difficult to treat, especially for home or business owners trying to resolve the issue on their own. Their secretive hiding places and nocturnal nature make do-it-yourself methods largely ineffective. If bed bugs get inside, they won't leave on their own, and their ability to survive up to six months without a meal in hidden spaces makes the problem even harder to address.
Simply put, if you have bed bugs, professional assistance is a must. Here's why:
- Expertise and Training: Professionals have the experience and training needed to identify and eliminate all traces of bed bugs.
- Tools and Techniques: Guard Pest Control specialists use advanced pest control equipment to tackle infestations effectively.
- Long-Term Results: Proper treatment minimizes the need for costly re-treatments and prevents future infestations.
Guard Pest Control’s Proprietary Treatment Process
Our bed bug treatment program is a comprehensive solution designed to deliver results:
- Backed by years of research and proven success in the field.
- Effective for infestations of any size.
- Focused on elimination, not just temporary control.
At Guard Pest Control, we pride ourselves on providing complete bed bug elimination for Snohomish homeowners. Don't let bed bugs disrupt your peace of mind—contact us today for reliable home and commercial pest control services.
