Pests We Treat Photo Album: Bed Bugs in Brielle
The first stop of the day had me meeting a new customer in Brielle, New Jersey. She was absolutely convinced that she was being bitten by bedbugs in the middle of the night, but could not locate them no matter how hard she looked. She described where she was getting the bites on her body and how often it was happening. It was time to grab my flashlight and get to work!
The customer had what I consider to be the hardest piece of furniture that there is to inspect in treat for bedbugs. Wicker! Wicker is every bed bugs dream come true, and every pest-control technician's horrific nightmare. There are thousands of cracks and crevices where bedbugs can get in and lay eggs as well as hide deep inside all of the wrapping and weaves. I slowly searched from right to left on the front of the headboard and didn't see anything with the naked eye. When I pulled the frame away from the wall and moved to the back end of the wick, I searched once again from left to right. When I made my way to the center I saw one adult bedbug who recently had a blood meal. Any time that I find a bedbug on wicker it's like winning the lottery!. It was time to come up with a treatment plan.
I advised the customer that I would be vacuuming, steaming and lightly applying a chemical treatment to the wicker headboard, bed frame, mattress, box springs and all other crack and crevice areas of the bedroom. She felt very comfortable with that plan and was eager to move forward.
Now that the treatment is done, I'll be back for the two week follow up. At that point I will advise the customer if it is worth keeping or removing the wicker headboard from the house. As a warning to all future customers, please do not buy wicker for your bedrooms! It's more hassle than it's worth.