Bed Bug Detection

Common signs of Bed Bugs

• Blood stains on sheets and pillows
• Black faecal matter around the piping of the mattress, edges of carpets around the skirting board area and even bedside cabinet drawers.
• Another sign of bed bugs present are the shed exoskeletons of bed bugs as they go through the moulting and development process.
• Eggs will be hard to see with the naked eye but the bed bugs themselves will be a dark mahogany colour and approximately 5mm long, flat and oval in shape like an apple seed.
• Bed bugs like to hide in box springs and divan type beds which are ideal.
• Bed bug bites can become severely inflamed with itchy red sores and welts developing and even localised swelling from a reaction. Bed bugs often bite the exposed parts of your body such as the upper torso, face, arms or ankles but can also appear just about anywhere on your body if it is exposed while sleeping.
• Typical bed bug bites can show themselves as a series of bites in a straight line but not always. Depending upon a person’s sensitivity to the bites as much as 24 to 48 hours may elapse before the formation of a welt.
• Bed bug bites can even be mistaken for the bites of other insects and vice versa such as fleas or mosquitoes. It is therefore important to also look for other signs before establishing whether an infestation is present. Our technicians are able to undertake this on your behalf by a thorough inspection and the placement of monitors.

Thorough Inspection

It is important to also look for other signs before establishing whether an infestation is present. Our technicians are able to undertake this on your behalf by a thorough inspection and the placement of monitors.

Bed Bug Detecting Dogs

Chase is our rescued Bed Bug Detection Beagle.

Chase is a four year old rescued beagle who has been given a new purpose in life, to find your hidden bed bugs! Chase was trained by both Donna Coberly and Marilynn Salonko of the Excelsis Detections training facility in Florida, USA. This involved many hundreds of hours of training over many months trained to detect and locate live bed bugs and being able to discriminate against dead bed bugs and shed skins. Chase has been imported here to the UK and together and with his handler Turan, who had to attend the training facility.

Our ongoing daily training ensures that we are fully qualified to provide you with a bed bug dog detection service. Chase is well groomed, very mild mannered and very efficient in his work.

Why use a Bed Bug Dog?

Employing a bed bug detection canine will lead to quicker and more accurate results leading to lower remediation and treatment costs. It takes no more than 5 minutes to inspect a typical hotel room where a pest control technician could take anywhere up to an hour with no result.

Bed bug dogs enable us to search for hidden bed bugs that may not necessarily be easy to locate. Research by the University of Florida has shown that canine bed bug detection can be 98% accurate compared with that of a 30% success rate of a pest control technician. Due to the behaviour and size of bed bugs they often hide in inaccessible areas, such as behind skirting boards and within furniture.

The dog’s nose is cutting edge technology and a properly trained and certified detection dog is recognised in the US courts as a scientific instrument. Scent hounds as a group, which includes beagles can smell between one to ten million times more acutely than a human being.

Canine detection is proven and trusted, being employed for many years by both the military and law enforcement agencies throughout the world to seek and detect bombs, drugs and contraband, amongst other things.