When bed bugs find there way into your home, many are left wondering how and why they have bed bugs.  lets start of with understanding bed behavior to dial in on where your bed bugs might have come from. 

Bed bugs are small true insects with 6 legs and a piercing mouth. These insects are believed to originate all the way back in when humans lived in caves and evolved from bat bugs.   Under normal circumstances bed bugs will not live outside the structure and will not be found wondering around out.  These insects live with us, humans, as our blood is thier primary food source.   

Cimex Lectularius (bed bugs) have both male and female sexes and require mating in order to reproduce.  A single mating can result in a fertile female who can then go on to lay may eggs over time.  Bed bugs tend to hide in cracks and crevices within about 20 feet of the sleeping area and can travel up to 100 feet per night for a blood meal.  While they can, and do, feed during the day, studies show that with a normal nighttime sleeper in the home, they are most active between 2am-5am. 

Bed bugs are active hitch hikers
Much like there other blood feeding counterpart, the tick, bed bugs will position themself to slip into a warm backpack, purse, coat, pant pocket or cuff and collar. They are very adept at being able to sense the presence of a human in a room and are drawn by the CO2, body heat and human scent. Bed bugs can be picked up almost anywhere including from a friend’s house, public common areas like lobbies or waiting areas, as well through hotels vacation rentals. 

What to look for if you suspect bed bugs
Since bed bugs feed exclusively on blood, they also excrete the remaining blood material after digestion.  This excretion is called fecal spots and are a tell tail sign of bed bug presences.  Often a bed bug will fully engorge itself with blood, which means it needs to make room.  Just after feeding, the bed bug will defecate and leave small dots of blood stains in the area as it travels back to its hiding spot deep in cracks and crevices.  Finding these small spots on sheets and pillowcases can be a clear sign of a bed bug infestation. 

Full grown adult insects are about half the size of an apple seed, which means they can be seen by the naked eye.  If you can see one and catch it using clear tape, send a picture to use to identify if it. 

Bite marks on the skin are not necessary from bed bugs.  It is best to combine all evidence to determine whether or not bed bugs are present.  Certainly, finding a live bed bug in the home would not require any further investigation once the insect is confirmed as a bed bug by a trained expert. 

What to do if bed bugs are found in your home 
Call an expert in bed bug control.  These pests are not one that you want to try and treat yourself.  While proper treatment can be an expensive proposition, purchasing and applying chemicals in, on and around your bedding area needs to be done by a trained professional to ensure it is done safely and protects your long-term health.  Unfortunately, we are often called in after a homeowner has attempted to self-treat unsuccessfully.  Often the homeowner has unknowingly made the problem worse and exposed themselves and their families to pesticides they do not fully understand. 

Creed Pest Control uses experience and technology to control on of the world best surviving pests. We use a multi-pronged pest control approach. 

Inspection and Identification
Implement a Treatment Plan
Modify the Habitat 
Monitor Activity 
Perform Follow-ups 

Each of these steps are critical to effectively eliminating these pre-historic pests.  Control can be challenging but certainly not impossible. Lets dig in a bit more to understand each step and why its important in cockroach extermination. 

Inspection and Identification   

• ​Proper identification is critical to determining the correct treatment. German cockroaches live very different life's then other cockroach species and as such require specialized training and treatment to control. 
• Inspection is critical in identifying pockets of German roaches and determining proper products to treat there diverse micro-habitats. If you dont know the right places to look, control can be almost impossible. 
• Identification of conditions that all roaches to survive is also part of the inspection process and later discussed in Modifying the habitat.
  

Implementation of a Treatment Plan  

• Once inspection is complete a treatment can be devised.  Typically treatments include the use baits, dusts and insect growth regulators (IGR)
  
• Application placements are carefully made to ensure maximum effectiveness while minimizing any impact on the function of the home or business. 
  
• German roach control is a process.  the roaches didn't get there over night, it will take time to get ride of them. Typical treatments can very from 2-3 visits for low level infestations and up to 10 or more for high levels of infestation.  

Habitat Modification 

• Habitat modification relies heavily on home owners and tenants to reduce environments where roaches thrive.  This includes general cleaning and removal of spilled foods on counter tops, under stoves and on tables and chairs. 
• Reduce water when ever possible. Water is required for roaches to survive so by eliminating water sources roaches will have no choice but feed on baits applied and control them.  Make sure all dishes in the sink are cleaned up and not left out. Wet wash rags should be removed, clean up all spilled water around the sink after doing dishes. 
• Reduce clutter in the home.  This decrease the amount of areas the roaches can hide and improves our ability to treat and control roaches. 

Monitor Activity

• Placement of glue monitors helps in identifying the size and disposition of the roaches in the home. Monitors will be placed and inspected on each return visit.
• Reporting sighting of roaches and general sizes of the roaches seen to your technician at each return visit as helps us narrow in on the last remain roaches and eliminate them once and for all. 

Perform Follow Up Visits 

• Follow visits are important as they allow for inspection of monitors and refine the treatment to the areas where roaches are hiding. Product applied during the first treatment may be "refreshed" or changed out to ensure maximum effectiveness. 
• Product rotation may occur during your follow up visit.  Roaches can develop aversions to certain products so changing out products between visits may help speed up the process of elimination. 

​Cost of Treatment 
Of course everyone wants to know how much it will cost to get ride of roaches, and for good reason. As you can see a proper German roach treatment requires a special skill set. While the average DIY home owner may be able to watch some videos and eventually take care of the problem, they are also applying chemical in sensitive areas of their home likes kitchens and bathrooms without proper training.  The last thing you want on your salad is some hardware store roach bait.   

Our Treatment plan consists of an initial treatment and additional follow up services. The level of infestation will dictate how many follow ups are required and your technician will cover that during their initial visit.  Typical treatments can range from $279 to more then $500 so its best to call a professional right away if you see roaches to reduce the cost of control. 







 

3As spring time blossom often times so do ant populations around your home.  Here are a few tips to reduce ants in and around your home. 

1. Clean kitchens and floors often
2. Removed leaf litter and plant debris in landscaping 
3. Check downspouts and ensure proper water drainage
4.  Trim trees and bushes that touch the home 
5. Reduce mulch usage especially directly contacting home 

STEP 1.
Cleaning kitchens and floors often reduces the food partials ants so desperately need to survive.  Once an ant has found food deposits in a home they will tell the other foraging ants in the area right where to go through the use of pheromones.  If crumbs and food are cleaned often, the occasion ant might stubble in but wont find anything and will eventually move on to the more abundant outdoors. 

STEP 2
Removal of leaf litter and plant debris in landscaping near your home reduces the ant harborages that allow infestations to occur.  Ants love to build colonies under leaf piles as they offer protection from rain and predictors like birds.  Cleaning out window wells and under decks reduces the hiding places for ants and other pests.  

STEP 3 
Checking for proper drainage not only allows for helps to reduce pest problems but also helps protect your home and yard.  Pests love moisture as they need water to survive.  Make sure that your downspouts point away from your home and allow moisture to drain properly.  

STEP 4
Trimming trees and shrubs that touch your home prevents pests easy asses into your home.  Often ants will feed on plants honeydew produced by aphids.  once this food source become runs out, they will start looking for new food sources in your home.  simply trimming any bush or overhang that touches your house can be the difference between an ant infestation or a natural happy outdoors.  

STEP 5
While mulch is great for landscaping as it offers beauty and function it is bad for pests.  Mulch is designed to retain moisture to help keep plants cool and growing during hot summer days.  Unfortunately ants and pests take advantage of this and will thrive in mulch beds.  if possible consider stone or rubber alternatives to wood chips and mulch 

According to the US EPA: 

"The Office of Pesticide Program's Conventional Reduced Risk Pesticide Program expedites the review and regulatory decision-making process of conventional pesticides that pose less risk to human health and the environment than existing conventional alternatives. The goal of this program is to quickly register commercially viable alternatives to riskier conventional pesticides such as neurotoxins, carcinogens, reproductive and developmental toxicants, and groundwater contaminants. Participants in the program include the chemical companies and state or federal agencies that submit to the Agency initial registration and amended registration applications for pesticide products. 
This program does not apply to biological or antimicrobial pesticides, which are handled through separate expediting processes.
An Important Distinction to Note: While most reduced risk discussions refer to conventional reduced risk pesticides, a reduced risk decision is actually made at the use level, for a pesticide/use combination.
The reduced risk decision is based on comparison between the proposed use of the pesticide and existing alternatives currently registered on that use site. Registered pesticide alternatives may differ depending on the use in question, thus risk comparisons across uses may also differ."
More found at www.epa.gov

25b Reduced risk products offer homeowners and pest control operators a new alternative to traditional pest control products.  these products often offer much more favorable labels that allow trained professionals the ability to increase effectiveness while reducing risks such as chronic exposer and runoff into rivers and streams. 

Many pest control companies say they offer "Green" services to their pest control customers, but what does that really mean?  Often these service still utilize synthetic pyrethroids or neonicotinoid products as their primary pesticide.  The "green" part may simply be that these products are used outside the home around the perimeter while other products may be used indoors.  Some companies may use mixture of natural products and synthetic products to achieve quick results but they do not take the time to "solve" the problem.    ​

Our natural and organic products are not just a gimmick but they are proven effective for nearly a decade in some of the harshest climates.  we use a combination of repellant and insecticidal products including rosemary, cedar Geraniol and peppermint oils all proven effective in controlling pests while reducing our impact on the environment.  

Our through walk arounds target pest entry points and seal them up to prevent pest entry into the home so that less product is needed to control pests.  

Our indoor monitors trap pests and prevent them from breeding inside.  While not a complete solution, used in combination with our exterior natural treatments we are able to reduce pests in and around the home. 

We use a combination of liquid repellants as well as baits targeted to control over 25 different types of pest naturally.  As you can imagine these all natural products are not able to offer months long residuals due to their natural properties, thats why we provide monthly summer time service to keep your home pest free.