Purity Pest Control

Residential and Hospitality Applications

A dog’s keen sense of smell can detect bed bugs in all crevices quickly, while it can take an exterminator hours to perform the same inspection. A trained pest management professional can only detect visual signs of bed bugs, live bugs, exoskeletons, eggs and droppings. In order to confirm activity behind walls, baseboards or under carpets, the room would have to be stripped down and baseboards pulled away from the walls. By using our K-9 detection team the room can remain intact and offer close to 100% effective rate, as opposed to the approximately 30% accuracy rate of a trained human inspector.

Bed bugs are persistent creatures. Getting rid of them is not an easy task and one that should be left to a professional. Lack of professional treatment comes with great risk to a business such as a hotel. Hotel owners can find themselves dealing with litigation from angry, bitten guests.

"Don’t let the Bed Bugs Bite!" [pdf]
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A Purity Pest Control professional will inspect and treat your home or business for bed bugs and other pests. Call 1-905-761-9388 to schedule an appointment or submit an Inspection Request Form today!

• What is a bed bug?
• What does a bed bug look like?
• Where do bed bugs hide?
• What does a bed bug bite look like?

What is a bed bug?

Most householders of this generation have never seen a bed bug. Until recently, they were also a rarity among pest control professionals. Bed bug infestations were common in Canada before World War II, but with improvements in hygiene, and the widespread use of DDT during the 1940s and '50s, the bugs all but vanished. The pests remained prevalent, though in other regions of the world including Asia, Africa, Central/South America and Europe and in recent years due to world travel, bed bugs have made a comeback in Canada and the U.S. They are increasingly being encountered in homes, apartments, hotels, motels, dormitories, shelters and modes of transport such as buses and trains.

What does a bed bug look like?

Adult bed bugs are about 1/4 inch long and are reddish-brown with oval, flattened bodies. The immature (nymphs) resemble the adults, but are smaller and somewhat lighter in colour. Bed bugs do not fly, but can move quickly over floors, walls, ceilings and other surfaces.

Female bed bugs lay their eggs in secluded areas, depositing up to five a day and 500 during a lifetime. The eggs are tiny, whitish, and hard to see without magnification (individual eggs are about the size of a dust spec). When first laid, the eggs are sticky, causing them to adhere to substrates such as your mattress. Newly hatched nymphs are no bigger than a pinhead. As they grow, they shed their skin (molting) five times before reaching maturity. A blood meal is needed between each successive molt and that’s where humans come in.

Where do bed bugs hide?

Bed bugs are active mainly at night. During the daytime, they prefer to hide close to where people sleep (their next meal). Their flattened bodies enable them to fit into tiny crevices, especially those associated with mattresses, box springs, bed frames, and headboards. Bed bugs do not have nests like ants or bees, but do tend to congregate in habitual hiding places.

What does a bed bug bite look like?

The reaction to a bed bug bite depends on the person – some are mild and others are severe. Usually a small, hard, swollen white welt develops at the site of the bite accompanied by severe itching sometimes lasting hours. Bed bugs feed by piercing the skin with an elongated beak. Their saliva contains an anaesthetic, which is injected at the time of the bite to reduce pain in the victim. Bed bugs need blood to moult (shed their skin) as they grow. A typical bed bug molts at least five times before reaching maturity when they start the breeding process all over again. Yikes!