I know everybody is talking about bed bugs in the pest control industry, but the number of calls are dramatically increasing all across Berkshire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire.

The common cause we are seeing is from people who are travelling or have been travelling recently. America is rife with bed bugs, as is Asia. We are expecting a significant rise in calls over the coming weeks as people who have managed to get away to the sun over Christmas have brought back more than they bargained for.

Recently, we have been involved in several quite challenging jobs – two jobs that spring to mind are a block of prestigious, luxury flats in Reading and the other one of note was a stately home in Oxfordshire.

Both occupants have been travelling recently, both to the USA.

Dealing with bed bugs is tough. It really should not be tackled by “off the shelf” products as it makes the whole job so much harder to deal with. One of these clients decided to have a go with some stuff bought from a local hardware store…big mistake! Whilst the product did contain some active ingredients, Deltamethrin, it was at such a low concentration you might as well have used water. The problem is that bed bugs will develop chemical resistance, so using Detamethrin on this job was really out of the question.

When we tackle a problem, we use a two pronged attack on the insects. Firstly, we use a chemical which attacks the insects sodium channel, and in combination, we use an insect growth regulator (IRG) to attack all stages of growth and development as well as the insects chlorine channels. If the problem still persists, we use another chemical to attack the insects nervous system and another type of IRG. This means we attack them from all angles, gaining control and elimination of all stages of life.

The other thing is we expect the client to follow our instructions to the letter – this is a partnership and we merely provide the expertise and experience plus the knowledge to deploy the right treatments. The client must play their part in this and work with us to remove this problem. If this fails, then the treatment will almost certainly fail as well.

When we engage on a bed bug problem, we have to explain the rules and procedures very clearly, if the client will not follow the instructions we agree, then we have to dis-engage from the job to save everybody time effort and frustration – luckily the clients we engage with are brilliant and really want the problem solved – I guess they are the ones getting bitten and not us, so it makes sense!

The eventual “all clear” is a major relief to all parties concerned – the stress of bed bugs is almost worse than the bites.

This is what I love about my job – making clients happy when its all over and the problem is solved – its a great feeling!

So, if you think you have a bed bug problem, do not attempt to treat it yourself, call in the experts from Rapid Pest Control now.