Bed bugs, which had almost completely disappeared from the majority of industrialized countries have made a comeback by hiding in the luggage of people who travel around the globe. They started to spread across Quebec with tourism and transportation.

Bed bugs do not transmit any diseases to humans. However, in addition to the itching and lesions caused by their bites, they can cause sleeping problems and anxiety and greatly reduce the quality of life for their victims.

Development and Behaviours

Bed bugs have a flattened, oval-brown body with no wings and measure from 4 mm to 7 mm in length. There are three stages in the bed bug’s life cycle: egg, nymph, and adult. The complete development, from the egg to the adult stage, takes about six weeks. Bed bugs are generally found in bedrooms where they feed on the blood of people while they sleep at night. 

It takes about 10 to 15 minutes for adult bed bugs to feed on blood. They will then digest it for a period of four to seven days. During this time, the bed bug hides around the mattress and box springs. Depending on the degree of the infestation, they can also be found hiding in cracks in walls, ground, and furniture, behind picture frames and under wallpaper. 

Adults can survive up to one year without eating any blood, under optimal conditions. This does NOT mean they will go a whole year without feeding. If there is a source of food (human or animal blood) available, bed bugs will feed on it.

Prevention

• Never recover mattresses, upholstered furniture or bedroom furniture left on the side of the road. 
• If you move into a new building, ask the owner if there’s a management policy regarding bed bugs. In certain municipalities, bed bugs are insects that are subject to mandatory reporting.
• Before signing a contract with movers or a vehicle rental agency, ask about the measures they take in regard to bed bugs.
• Once you’re moved into your new home, vacuum everywhere before moving your furniture and other belongings inside. Throw the vacuum cleaner bags outside in closed garbage cans. Check the baseboards at the bottoms of walls, electric baseboard heaters and other places where a small insect that has the shape and size of a flat apple seed could hide. In the bedrooms, inspect electrical outlets and mouldings for bed bug excrement. Call your owner immediately in case of doubt; it will prevent you from appearing to be responsible for the infestation.
• In buildings, bed bugs can travel from one dwelling to the next: be vigilant the first few weeks!

Recommendations

• If you find small spots of blood on your sheets or pillows, call an exterminator of Vextermination
• Verify the bed: the mattress, the box springs, zippers, seams, tufting of upholstery, behind and around the headboard. 
• Check the furniture and walls, furniture frames and upholstering, using an object with a hard corner such as a credit card.
• Check behind paintings, posters, pictures, mirrors and around moldings, woodwork, baseboards and window frames.
• Inspect cracks in plaster and wallpaper that is peeling off.
• Look very closely at electrical outlets, lamp switches, telephones, and clocks as well as carpets and rugs, especially around beds.
• At a hotel, do not put your luggage on the ground or the bed: store them in the bathtub or on a luggage stand.

I have bed bugs, what should I do? 

• Don’t throw anything away. Bed bugs can be removed from all objects, in one way or another.
• Don’t apply any insecticide yourself. In addition to representing a risk for your health and that of your loved ones in the case of improper use, most pesticides available on the market have a repellent effect. This means that the product emits vapors that are strong enough to repel the other bed bugs in places farther away, which complicates the pest management.
• If you find even just one bed bug, contact us. Intervention must take place immediately to contain and eradicate the infestation.

If you find bedbugs in your home, do not hesitate to contact Vextermination. Our exterminators will give you advice tailored to your situation to prepare you for the intervention. Treatment against bedbugs is a safe, targeted and environmentally responsible procedures.

What should I do after the treatment? 

• Don’t move to another room. The bed bugs who survived the treatment might follow you to the other room, causing a new infestation. 
• Wrap your mattress and box spring with zipper slipcovers recommended by companies that provide products that prevent allergies. Cover the zipper with tape. It is recommended that you keep the mattress covered for one year.
• Wash fabric items in hot water and dry them at a high temperature. Store items in sturdy plastic bags.
• Use white or pale-colored sheets. It will be easier to spot any bed bugs.
• Run the vacuum cleaner every day for a few weeks after the treatment, even if you don’t see any more bed bugs. 
• Inspect regularly to detect the presence of bed bugs

Bedbug infestation in your home? Our exterminators are trained to use safe and effective methods and products to get rid of these unwanted little insects.