THE ALL STAR ADVANTAGE

All Star Services serve greater Los Angeles, and our founder, Robert Messersmith, is an animal trapper who has 18 years of experience. He also has a background in construction, so he knows the best ways of removing pests and then repairing any resultant damage. All Star Animal Trapping makes a point of hiring similarly experienced professionals.

How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs

Bed bug removal should never be undertaken as a DIY project. Bed bugs are resilient and difficult to eradicate. Trying to get rid of them without expert knowledge will waste your time, effort, and money. 

That’s why it’s always a good idea to work with a professional pest control company. All Star Services - Wildlife and Pest Control is arguably the best you can find when it comes to bed bug removal. Our bed bug removal process is backed by science. Our professionals are highly trained with decades of experience. And with the state-of-the-art tools we use for bed bug control, we are guaranteed to get rid of nasty bed bugs from your property. 

In general, this is how the bed bug removal process works:

Step 1: Identify all infested areas

Although bed bug infestation usually starts in the bedroom, it can quickly spread to the entire house. Your first goal is to find out the extent of the infestation problem. Some of the places to look out for include:

1. Near the tags of the mattress and box spring.
2. Between couch cushions and furniture joints.
3. In cracks of bed frame and baseboards.
4. Under loose wallpaper and inside electrical outlets. 

During this inspection, some of the signs that may suggest the presence of bed bugs include:

1. Live bed bugs, which are 1/4 inches long and reddish-brown.
2. Bed bugs droppings, which are dark spots about the size of a dot.
3. Reddish stains on the mattress from crushed bed bugs.
4. Tiny yellow eggs and yellow skins shed by young bed bugs. 

Step 2 - Develop and implement a removal strategy. 

After you have a pretty good idea of the infestation, it’s time to eliminate these nuisance pests. There are several methods for getting rid of bed bugs - some of which are more effective than others. They include:

• Pre-Treatment

After identifying areas of high bed bug activities, you can use a vacuum cleaner to suction them. The captured bed bugs should then be sealed in a plastic bag and thrown away. If there are bed bugs in your clothes and other washable items, wash them with the highest possible temperature setting in the washer and dryer. High temperature kills bed bugs. For items that cannot be washed, you can either seal them up and leave them for up to a year to allow for bed bugs to die. For lower value items, it might be better to dispose of infected items. 

• Bed bug Treatments

Traditional chemical-based treatment

This is an insecticide-based treatment used for killing bed bugs - of which pyrethrins and pyrethroids are the most common chemical used. 

During this chemical treatment, bed bugs that are accessed directly are killed. However, quite a lot of them will survive because they will be hidden. But when they come out to feast (which is every three to seven days), they walk through the chemical which kills them. 

What’s more, most insecticides do not kill bed bug eggs. That’s why a follow-up pesticide is generally required after about two weeks. Why? Because by this time, all the eggs would have hatched into nymphs, making them easy to kill with chemicals. 

Note that some bed bugs have developed resistance to certain chemicals. But by working with professionals like All Star Services - Wildlife and Pest Control, we can choose the best approach to achieve the desired results. 

Heat treatment

Although this method is more expensive than insecticides, it is way faster and more effective for killing bed bugs. Also, note that this procedure can only be performed by a licensed pest control company like All Star Services - Wildlife and Pest Control.

Here’s how it works. The temperature of the infected room is raised to anywhere between 135°F (57.2°C) and 145°F (62.7 °C). As the temperature rises, bed bugs are lured from their hiding spots. And when the temperature hits 122°F (50°C), they immediately die. 

The major challenge with heat treatment is that items where bed bugs hide - like mattresses and furniture - are excellent insulators. If these spots do not reach the bed bug-killing temperature, the bed bugs survive. But if the heat is too much, it may damage household items. So maintaining this balance is very important for attaining success. That’s why professionals are recommended. 

One strategy we use at All Star Services - Wildlife and Pest Control is to apply chemical treatment after heat treatment. That way, residual bed bugs can be killed. 

Step 3 - Monitor

After treatment is complete, monitoring is required so you can quickly pick up on signs of reinfestation. With the level of our expertise at All Star Services - Wildlife and Pest Control, this rarely happens. But even if it does, we come to get rid of them at no additional cost.