Bed Bugs in Monmouth Beach, NJ

Challenge

I arrived at a customer’s Monmouth Beach home to perform a bed bug inspection. She was certain that she only had one pesky bed bug because she only saw one bedbug every 5 months or so. I did not immediately say anything about her lone bedbug theory. However, with bed bugs in a home, unless the hitchhiking bed bug is caught immediately, the general rule is that where there’s one, there’s many. It may look like there is only one bed bug because these insects do a great job of hiding, only coming out when they are ready to feed (and you are usually sleeping). 

We spoke for a few minutes, I asked my preliminary questions before beginning my inspection:

(1) where have you seen the activity?
(2) how often do you see the activity?
(3) are you getting bites on your body?
(4) how long have you been getting bites or seeing activity?

In response to the first question, she saw activity mainly in the living room, but she has yet to see where they're hiding. Bedbugs like to hide in the cracks and crevices of soft furniture. So, I walked over to the couch and carefully removed the cushions. I found a live bedbug under the crease of the cheese cloth and several eggs on the staples. I removed the cloth and, sure enough, I found an active bedbug infestation in all its glory! 

Solution

While the homeowner was horrified that she was living with an infestation for so many months, she was also happy that the source was finally found. Of course, bedbugs could have relocated elsewhere in the home, and I came up with a proper treatment protocol to take care of her situation. A critical part of any bedbug service is the initial inspection to determine the location of the bedbugs and the level of infestation. Needless to say, bedbug infestations are stressful to homeowners, but with the right treatment protocol the problem can be quickly resolved.