This week is National Bed Bug Awareness Week and it gives us a chance to talk about one of our favorite topics—bed bug prevention and elimination! These tiny, bloodsucking pests have become a huge problem in the United States since the 1990s, particularly in Oklahoma City and the surrounding areas. They are hard to avoid and even harder to get rid of. Fortunately, Arrow Exterminators is the Oklahoma bed bug prevention and elimination expert and we have all the information and resources you need to keep these annoying pests far away from you and your family. Here are some tips for bed bug prevention:
- Whenever you travel—whether you’re staying at a hotel or with family—inspect the bed, couches, chairs and all other furniture for bed bugs. Make sure to check the corners of the mattress and the underside of couch and chair cushions as they are favored places for bed bugs to hide.
- As you perform your inspection, look for rust colored stains and small black spots that look like someone sprinkled pepper around the mattress. They also leave behind shed skins, which are about half the size of your fingernail and brown in color.
- New research has shown that bed bugs are drawn to red and black, but avoid green and yellow. So consider investing in a green or yellow suitcase to minimize the risk of carrying them home with you when you travel.
- You can also pack your clothes in Ziploc bags inside your suitcase to keep bed bugs from getting into them and place your suitcase inside a plastic trash bag when not in use to keep bed bugs from getting to it.
- When you return home, immediately vacuum out your suitcase (before you even bring it inside) to avoid brining in any bed bugs. Also, wash all your clothes in hot water, even the ones you did not wear, to kill any bed bugs or bed bug eggs hiding inside your clothing.
- In your own home, wash your sheets often in hot water to kill any bed bugs or bed bug eggs and check for any signs of bed bugs before you put on newly laundered sheets.
- It’s not just homes, hotels and motels that can have bed bug problems anymore. Movie theaters, libraries, taxis, trains, airports, schools and popular tourist attractions can all play host to bed bugs. So make sure to be on the lookout for signs of bed bugs wherever you are.
Thermal Remediation®
If you do notice the signs of bed bugs in your home or business, deciding what to do next is easy: call Arrow Exterminators for your free evaluation right away. You can try some DIY bed bug treatments that you find online, but they won’t be successful. And you can try calling other pest control companies, but you’ll likely end up paying a lot of money for a treatment that only gets rid of a few of your bed bugs, not eliminating the entire problem.
The only thing that has been proven to completely eliminate bed bugs at all stages of life, from egg to juvenile to adult, is high heat. Specifically, they can’t survive heat over 122°F. That’s why we use the cutting-edge Thermal Remediation® technology. We are proud to be the only pest control company in Oklahoma using this innovative technology and we believe it enables us to treat your bed bug problems more effectively and efficiently than any other company. This system applies concentrated heat between 122 and 135°F to all affected areas to kill every single bed bug on your property without damaging your home.
Arrow Exterminators is the only company in Oklahoma using this state-of-the-art Thermal Remediation® technology. So if you’re ready to get serious about eliminating bed bugs once and for all, call the bed bug eradication experts at Arrow Exterminators. We offer pest control services in communities across the state, including in Bartlesville, Broken Arrow, Edmond, Moore, Muskogee, Oklahoma City, Owasso, Stillwater, Tulsa, Yukon and the surrounding areas. You can schedule a free, no obligation evaluation on our website or give us a call. You can also reach out to us on social media for information. We are on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
