Bed Bug Alert

You’ve just enjoyed a weekend with your son or daughter home from college. A couple of good meals and a round or two of laundry, and they’re off again. But your student may bring home something in their laundry that hangs around after returning to campus.

Boston area colleges, like universities in other areas of the country, report bedbug infestations in dorms and student housing. Community officials around colleges in Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, and Brighton took note of the moving vans and piles of upholstered furniture arriving on campuses during move-in week. They warned students to keep their eyes open for the potential of bedbugs. Several hotels in Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, and Brighton have been listed on bedbugreport.com, which reports bedbug incidents.

Bedbugs often go undetected for quite a while, making it easy for them to hide in the laundry your son or daughter brings home. Even if your student starts out with fresh sheets and towels, clothes dumped out on beds, furniture or carpet can quickly become a new home for bedbugs that have gone undetected. And bedbugs and the eggs they lay can commute home on the weekend in the laundry bag.

There are a lot of skin-crawling reports about the bedbug epidemic. But there is little information about how to get rid of bedbugs. Before you can get rid of bedbugs, you first have to know you have them. Despite all the hoopla, bedbugs are tiny and come out for short periods of time in the dark. Play detective and look for signs that include dark spots on bedding and mattresses, which can be blood, eggs, or dead bugs. A dead bedbug looks like a tiny cockroach. Bedbug bites are small and often go unfelt for quite a while. Most doctors don’t easily identify them either.

Heritage Pest Control has seen a surge of bedbug problems in college towns like Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, and Brighton. We’ve gotten calls asking how to get rid of bedbugs once students return to school and bring home their laundry. There are a lot of home remedies out there. But chances are, if your bedbug problem is big enough to see, it’s time to call in professionals. We typically use a two-step process to get rid of bedbugs and ensure they don’t return. But we don’t jump to any conclusions and recommend treatments you don’t need. It’s usually best for us to come survey the situation in person to give you the most effective solution for the best price.

For a free estimate, give us a call at 781-986-0701 and mention that you found us from this article.