Bedbug Inspections Hillingdon

Home From a Trip, and Something Bit You

What an inspection covers in general, and how we search a room, is on the London bedbug inspections page for the full explanation. This page is for one situation: you have been away, you are back, and you suspect the trip.

There are three possibilities, and each leads somewhere different. The bites came from somewhere you stayed and nothing came home. Something came home in the luggage but has not yet reached a bed. Or bedbugs have already settled in the house. Only the last one needs a treatment, and telling them apart is what the inspection is for.

What to Leave Alone Until We Have Looked

The natural reaction is to clean, spray and throw things away. All three make the inspection harder and can make the problem bigger. Until we arrive:

• Do not spray shop-bought products on the bed or the luggage.
• Do not throw out the mattress, the bed or the suitcase.
• Keep the case closed and on a hard floor, away from beds and sofas.
• Leave the bed you have slept in since you got back as it is, bedding included.
• If you catch a bug, keep it on clear tape or in a small sealed pot for us to see.
• Keep sleeping in your own bed; moving to another room tends to spread them.

What to do with the clothes you travelled in, and where the risk on a journey really sits, is in our guide to getting bedbugs from a plane.

What We Check After a Journey

An inspection after travel follows the luggage as well as the bed. We ask you to walk us through what happened when you got in: where the cases were opened, where clothes went, and who slept where. Then we look at:

1. The case or bag itself, inside and out, including seams, pockets and wheel housings.
2. The place it was opened and the floor, furniture and skirting around that spot.
3. The bed you have slept in since coming home, from the mattress seams to the frame joints.
4. Any other bed, sofa or chair used by someone who was on the trip.
5. The spare room or cupboard where the luggage is now stored.

Bedbugs are small but not invisible, and knowing what the young ones and the eggs look like helps you keep watch afterwards. Our guide on whether bedbugs are visible to the naked eye shows what you can and cannot expect to see.

Reading the Bites and the Timing

Bites that were already there on the flight home point to the place you stayed. Bites that start a week or two after you get back, in a bed at home, are more worrying. Neither is proof, because people react differently and some do not react at all, and insect bites from a holiday can look much the same.

If a child was bitten on the trip, our guide to bedbug bites on children covers what to look for. For any skin reaction, a pharmacist or GP can advise, and signs of a severe allergic reaction need 999.

What the Answer Means for You

If we find nothing, you have that in writing, and we tell you what to watch for over the next few weeks and when to ring again. If we find bedbugs only in the luggage, the advice is about dealing with the case and its contents without treating the whole house. If they have reached a bed, we tell you which rooms need treating and which route suits you.

For a house where people are often away, the heat treatment page for Hillingdon explains fitting one visit between trips. If you are at home for the next few weeks, the chemical treatment page sets out the lower-priced course.

Price and Booking

Inspections start from £120, and treatments, if they are needed, start from £220. Ring 0800 955 1018, tell us when you got back and what you have noticed, and we will say honestly whether an inspection is worth it or whether the signs are clear enough to go straight to treatment. The Hillingdon borough page has more on bedbugs coming home with travellers and visitors.

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