Why Going Away Does Not Starve Them Out
Bedbugs can go a long while without feeding, far longer than a fortnight abroad. An empty house does not kill them. It just means that when you come back, the ones that were waiting are hungry and any eggs laid before you left have hatched. Our guide on how long bedbugs live explains why waiting it out does not work.
Treating Before You Go
If there is time, treating first is usually the better plan. Heat treatment is normally one visit and kills eggs as well, so a house treated a few days before you leave is one you can pack from with more confidence. It costs more than chemical.
Chemical treatment needs two, sometimes three visits about 10-14 days apart. A holiday can fall between visits, but you need to be home for each one, so fix the dates around the trip before the first visit is booked rather than after.
Treating before the trip also means you come home to a house that has been dealt with, rather than carrying a pile of holiday washing into rooms that still have a problem, and packing is a lot less stressful. Tell us your departure date on the first call so the timing is built into the plan.
If You Have to Treat After You Come Back
Sometimes the dates simply do not work. In that case, the job before you go is to avoid taking them with you and avoid making it worse at home:
- Pack from clean laundry, washed hot and dried, straight from the machine into the case.
- Pack in a room that has no signs, not on the affected bed.
- Keep the cases zipped and off the bedroom floor.
- Leave the affected room as it is. Do not strip it bare or move the furniture out.
- Book the treatment now for the week you return, so the house is not lived in for long before it is done.
Coming Home
Unpack on a hard floor away from the bedrooms, and put clothes straight into the wash. If you are staying with family on the way, be honest with them; you may be carrying them there too. When you ring about a house in Brook Green, tell us your dates first and we will tell you what can be done before them. If you are unsure it is bedbugs at all, an inspection starts at £120. The Hammersmith and Fulham page covers planning treatment around a busy calendar.
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Bedbug Control Brook Green — Questions
We leave in a week. Is that enough time?
It can be, particularly for heat. Ring with your dates and we will tell you what we actually have available.
Can we cancel the holiday and sleep elsewhere instead?
Sleeping elsewhere usually spreads them. If you are going to be away anyway, treat first or treat on your return.
Will the hotel catch them from our luggage?
It is possible if the cases are packed from an affected room. Packing clean washed clothes in a clean room is what reduces that.
How is a Brook Green house priced?
Treatments start at £220, priced on the number of rooms and on heat or chemical. You get the figure on the phone before booking.
What about the cat while we are away and during treatment?
Pets go out of the house for heat treatment anyway. If a neighbour or cattery is looking after them for the holiday, check their bedding and carrier before they go, and wash what can be washed.
Should the children's rooms be treated if only ours has bites?
Only if they show signs when checked. We will ask about every bedroom when you ring.
Elsewhere in Hammersmith and Fulham
The other areas in the borough, each written around a different situation.
Bedbug Advice for Brook Green
Picked for this page: the guides that go further on what matters for Brook Green.
How Long Do Bedbugs Live?
Adult lifespan, what changes it, and why leaving the flat empty is not a plan.
Read more →
Does Hot Weather Kill Bedbugs?
Summer heat, a sealed car or a sunny sill: why none of them do what a heat treatment does.
Read more →
How Long Does a Heat Treatment Take?
Why one London flat takes four hours and another takes ten, and what decides it.
Read more →
The Early Signs, and the Timeline
Week one to month six. What is detectable when, and why 'early' is mostly invisible.
Read more →Bedbug Treatments in Hammersmith and Fulham
Every service has its own page for Hammersmith and Fulham: heat, chemical, hotels, commercial premises and inspections.
Covering Brook Green
Tell Us About the Property
Tell us when you leave and when you are back, and which rooms have signs, and we will say whether it can be done before the trip.