Rafiki Pest Control LTD
Though not known to transmit diseases, bed bugs are a significant public health pest. These tiny blood-suckers are known for causing severe negative impacts on the psychological and mental health of their victims. Some people may also develop allergic reactions to bed bug bites, and in rare cases, the bites can be severe.
A business owner's biggest fear is that a guest will get bitten on their premises and post something about it on online sites- that'd be a natural killer! Hence, working closely with a professional bed bug control company in Nairobi becomes vital.
Rafiki Pest Control will do a thorough and free inspection of your home or business to identify the bed bug species causing you trouble and the level of the infestation. Based on the findings, our experts will design an integrated pest management plan (IPM) customized to meet the specific needs of your premises. We will kill all live bed bugs and their eggs and treat the entire facility to ensure they do not return in the future.
What Do Bed Bugs Look Like?
Bed bugs are pretty small, oval in shape, and brownish in color. These wingless insects snack exclusively on the blood of warm-blooded animals. Unfortunately, humans are their most preferred hosts.
Bed bugs typically have flat bodies measuring the size of an apple seed. But after feeding, they can double in size and have a reddish color. These nocturnal pests do not fly. Instead, they are good crawlers, crawling at least four feet in one minute. They often move fast on walls, floors, and ceilings.
Although bed bugs reproduce rather slowly than other insects, a single female adult can lay hundreds of eggs in her lifetime. The eggs are as small as a speck of dust and will hatch within ten days! After about 5-6 weeks, the newly hatched offspring develops into an egg-laying adult.
Under favorable conditions, a minor bed bug attack will develop into a full-blown infestation that wreaks severe havoc in as little as a month. In light of this, you must contact a bed bug control expert near me as soon as you suspect an infestation!
Where Do Bed Bugs Hide?
Bed bugs are perfect hitchhikers. Bedbugs can enter your home undetected by hiding in your luggage, furniture, clothing, or other items.
The constant streaming of guests in and out of your business puts it at a high risk of bed bug infestations. In this case, you need to take proactive measures to keep bed bugs away, for instance, by having a pest control expert regularly inspect your property for bed bug threats.
These nuisance pests are called bed bugs for a reason. They like to harbor in human homes and especially prefer hiding where you rest and catch some ZZZZs like beds, sofas, mattresses, clothing, and other soft furnishings.
Thanks to their flattened bodies, bed bugs can wedge into incredibly tight spaces and crevices about the width of a credit card. Initially, bed bugs will hide in your bed frame, headboard, box springs, and mattress folds, where they have easy access to bite you while you sleep.
However, as the infestation grows, the pests will spread to other rooms via the small cracks in the wall. This method makes DIY bed bug control extremely hard and often unsuccessful.
When Do Bed Bugs Bite?
A hungry bed bug will try to feed on you at any time. Naturally, bed bugs do not like sunlight and prefer to come out at night to steal your blood while you sleep. They suck blood for 5 to 10 minutes before becoming engorged and crawling back to the hiding spot.
Bed bugs are impressively intelligent. Besides knowing the best time to feed safely on their host, they also ensure that they painlessly draw blood. They inject an anesthetic substance into the host's skin while feeding. However, should they feed on one specific host for multiple weeks, the host will become highly sensitive to their saliva and may develop an allergic reaction.
The Symptoms of Bed Bug Bites
It's easy to tell bed bug bites from other insect bites. Bed bug bites are painless at first but will develop into very itchy welts later. They appear within a few days but can take up to 2 weeks to appear in some people.
Bed bug bites are more significant than flea bites and tend to be raised and red. Additionally, bed bugs usually bite the areas of skin exposed during sleep, such as the ankles, legs, arms, neck, shoulders, and face.
Although not always the case, bed bug bites are typically grouped in a small area, and sometimes, they can appear in a line or zigzag pattern.
Some people become ill and nauseous; others may develop anaphylactic reactions to bed bug bites but in rare cases. Symptoms of bed bug bites may not appear in some people, making it challenging to identify potential bed bug infestations without the help of a bed bug control expert in Nairobi.
Signs Of A Bed Bug Infestation
Waking up with itchy, red, and swollen bites grouped on your neck, hands, face, or feet may be an obvious sign of a bed bug problem. Other signs of a bed bug infestation in your home include:
- Unexplained blood stains on your pillowcase and bed clothing
- An unpleasant, musty odor that's exuded from bed bug scent glands.
- Tiny dark/rusty spots of bed bug poop on your bed clothing, walls, and sheets.
- Bed bug shells or shed skin in mattress foldings and other bed bug hiding spots.
DIY Bed Bug Control
Getting rid of bed bugs is a complex process that requires an IPM approach to get rid of completely. Your likelihood of success depends on multiple factors, like the level of the infestation, if your neighbors have an active infestation, and the available bed bug hiding spots in your home.
Below is a quick guide on DIY bed bug control:
- Clean bed clothing, curtains, and other fabric in hot water and set the dryer at the highest temperature.
- Put all stuffed animals, shoes, and other items that can't be washed into the dryer at the highest setting for 30 minutes.
- Using a stiff brush, thoroughly scrub the bed and mattress seams to expose bed bugs and their eggs before vacuuming
- Keenly vacuum every part of your bed and mattress to eliminate bed bugs. Remove the vacuum cleaner bag immediately and dispose of it in the garbage can outdoors.
- Encase your mattress in a tight, zippered cover to ensure zero chances of bed bugs entering or leaving. All the trapped bed bugs will eventually die. However, bed bugs can survive for one year without feeding, so you must keep the mattress covered for a year or more to ensure all bugs are dead!
- Eliminate all clutter from your house, seal all cracks, and glue down peeling wallpapers to limit bed bug hiding spots.
Professional Bed Bug Control In Nairobi
We have helped homes and businesses in Nairobi eradicate bed bug infestations for more than ten years! Our IPM bed bug control program begins with thoroughly inspecting your property to identify the exact bed bug species causing you trouble.
The qualified technician will then customize a treatment plan that meets your property's pest control needs. We combine chemical and non-chemical treatments to kill bed bugs in all stages. At the same time, the residual effect provides continued protection even after we step out of your house.
