Bedbug Control Rush Green

Bites Alone Do Not Prove Bedbugs

Bedbug bites have no reliable signature. They can be in a line or a cluster, but so can bites from fleas, mites and gnats, and so can a lot of skin conditions. People react very differently: two people sharing a bed can have one covered in welts and the other untouched.

That is why a treatment booked on bites alone is a gamble. If it turns out to be fleas from a pet, or a reaction to a new washing powder, you have spent money and the itching carries on. If a skin reaction is bothering you, a pharmacist or GP is the right first call, whatever is causing it. Call 999 for any signs of a severe allergic reaction.

Where to Look Before You Call

Bedbugs leave evidence even when you cannot see the insect. Take a torch and look properly, in daylight, with the bed stripped.

1. Run along every mattress seam and the piping, top and bottom, looking for small dark ink-like spots.
2. Lift the mattress and check the base, especially the corners and any stapled fabric.
3. Look into the joints of the bed frame and the screw holes, and behind the headboard.
4. Check the skirting board nearest the bed and the edge of the carpet.
5. If someone naps on a sofa or armchair, check its seams and under the cushions too.

Spotting, pale shed skins, tiny white eggs or a live bug are what confirm it. If you find something, catch it on clear tape or in a small pot so it can be identified. The bedbugs or something else guide shows what else commonly gets mistaken for them.

What an Inspection Does That You Cannot

If your own search finds nothing and the bites keep coming, an inspection is the next step. Inspections start from £120. We go through the places people miss: inside the base of a divan, behind fixed headboards, in the frame hardware, under the edge of the carpet and in furniture near the bed.

The result is one of three things. We find bedbugs and tell you how far they have spread, which gives you an accurate price for treatment. We find something else and tell you what it looks like. Or we find nothing, and you can stop worrying about bedbugs and look at other causes. The inspection guide sets out the visit step by step.

If It Is Confirmed

Then it is a choice between heat and chemical. Treatments start at £220; heat costs more and usually needs one visit, while chemical usually needs two or three about 10–14 days apart. With a problem found early, which is often the case when the only sign has been bites, a single contained room is typical. The chemical treatment page covers what that involves.

Until then, do not start spraying or throwing things out, and keep sleeping in your own bed. If it is bedbugs, moving rooms usually spreads them; if it is not, you will have disrupted the house for nothing.

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