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Bug Out Pest Solutions guide

Bed Bugs in Brisbane: Signs, Hiding Spots and Treatment

Bed bugs turn up in clean homes as often as messy ones. They ride in on luggage, second-hand furniture and visitors' bags, and once they settle into a bedroom they are hard to shift with a can from the supermarket. Here is how to tell if you have them and what we do about it.

What a bed bug looks like

An adult is flat, oval and reddish brown, about the size of an apple seed. After a feed it swells and goes darker. Young ones are smaller and paler, close to see-through, so most people find the adults first.

They come out at night to feed and spend the day packed into seams and cracks within a couple of metres of where someone sleeps.

The signs we look for

Bites are often the first clue. They tend to show up as itchy red marks in a line or a small cluster on the arms, neck or legs. Bites alone don't prove bed bugs, because mosquitoes and fleas bite too.

Check the sheets and mattress for tiny rust-coloured spots. These are droppings and small smears of blood. Pale, papery shed skins and a faint musty smell in the room point the same way.

Pull the fitted sheet off and run a torch along the piping of the mattress, the corners of the base and the joints of the bed frame. Then check behind the bedhead. That is where most infestations we see in Brisbane are hiding.

How they get in

Travel is the big one. A suitcase sits on a hotel bed or a backpack goes under a bunk, and a few bugs come home. Second-hand mattresses, bed bases and couches are the other common route.

Units and townhouses can share them through wall cavities and gaps around power points, so a neighbour's problem can become yours.

Why sprays from the shop don't fix it

A household spray kills the bugs it hits and misses the eggs and the ones deep in the bed frame or skirting. Worse, it can push them into the next room. By the time people call us, many have already sprayed twice and the problem has spread to the lounge.

Leave the room as it is, take a few photos of anything you find and call us before you move furniture around.

What our treatment involves

We start with an inspection of the bedroom, and any rooms next to it, to confirm it is bed bugs and map where they are. From there we treat the mattress, bed frame, skirting boards and furniture where they are hiding.

We will tell you how to prepare before the visit, such as washing linen on a hot cycle. Some homes clear with one treatment. An established infestation usually needs a follow-up two to three weeks later, and we will tell you which one you are looking at after the inspection.

Most mattresses can be treated and kept. If yours is a case where replacing it makes more sense, we will say so. Every job is handled discreetly.

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