Bedbug Control Camden Town

Why a Tour Is a Good Ride for Them

Bedbugs are carried, not caught. They tuck into seams, zips and folds and wait there until they are somewhere with a sleeping person again. A tour gives them plenty of chances: hotel and guest-house beds, bunks on a sleeper bus, a sofa at a promoter's flat, a sleeping bag rolled up in the back of the van.

Hard flight cases are a poor hiding place. Soft gig bags, padded covers, cable bags, merch holdalls and the rucksack you slept next to every night are much better ones, because they have stitched seams and dark folds and they sat on the floor beside a bed.

Unpacking When You Get Back

1. Keep the bags out of the bedroom. Unpack in a hallway, a kitchen or anywhere with a hard floor and no bed. Do not put a holdall on the duvet to empty it.
2. Clothes go straight into the machine. Everything from the tour, worn or not, gets a hot wash and a full hot tumble dry. Tie it in a bin bag first if the washer is shared or down the road.
3. Look along the seams of soft cases. Use a torch on the piping, the zip tape and the corners of gig bags and cable bags. You are looking for small dark spots, pale shed skins and the insects themselves.
4. Leave the kit where it is. Amps, pedalboards and cases can sit in a hall or a rehearsal space rather than beside the bed until you are happy with them.
5. Sleeping bags and pillows from the road get washed and dried hot before they come anywhere near your own bed.

Whether bedbugs can shelter inside electronics, and what that means for pedals, laptops and chargers, is covered in can bedbugs live in laptops and electronics. For rucksacks and dorm beds, see bedbugs in hostels and backpacker travel.

If Bites Start a Week or Two Later

Bites that start after you have been back in Camden Town for a while are worth taking seriously, because a few bugs brought back in a bag take a little time to settle in and feed. Check the mattress seams, the corners of the bed frame and the floor where the bags were first dropped. Bites alone do not prove anything: people react differently and some do not react at all. A pharmacist or GP can help with the skin; call 999 for signs of a severe allergic reaction.

If you are unsure what you have found, an inspection starts from £120 and settles it before any treatment is paid for. Bring any specimen you have caught in a sealed bag or on clear tape.

Treating a Flat Between Tours

Time is usually the problem. Chemical treatment is normally two, sometimes three visits about 10–14 days apart, so someone needs to be around for the follow-ups or leave access with a flatmate. Heat treatment is usually a single visit taking most of a day and deals with eggs as well, which suits people who are away again soon. It costs more than chemical. Treatments start from £220 and the figure for your rooms is given on the phone.

Instruments and electronics need a conversation before a heat day, because some equipment is on the heat-sensitive list and has to come out of the room. Tell us what is stored in the bedroom when you ring about a flat in Camden Town. For how bedbugs travel with people across the borough more generally, see the Camden page.

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