Bed bug treatment in Faerie Glen

If you're waking up with itchy bites in lines or small clusters, and you've found tiny dark spots on the mattress seams, you may have bed bugs. They're treatable, but not with a single spray. Clearing them takes a careful inspection, treatment of every hiding place around the bed and nearby furniture, your help preparing the room, and at least one follow-up visit. We handle bed bugs discreetly in Faerie Glen houses, townhouses and retirement villages.

How bed bugs end up in a Faerie Glen home

This is the one pest on our list that the suburb's setting doesn't explain. Bed bugs are hitchhikers. They arrive after a holiday or a business trip, hidden in a suitcase seam. They come in with a second-hand headboard, couch or bedside table. They're carried in by guests, family visiting from out of town, or a carer's bag. In complexes and villages, they can also move between neighbouring units through wall cavities and along plumbing and wiring, although that's slower than people fear.

Having bed bugs says nothing about how clean your home is. We've treated them in spotless houses and in luxury guest rooms.

Signs that it really is bed bugs

• Bites on exposed skin overnight, often in a line of three or four
• Small black or rusty spots on mattress seams, the bed base, headboard joints and the edges of carpets near the bed
• Tiny pale eggs or shed skins in crevices
• Small spots of blood on the sheets
• The bugs themselves: flat, oval, apple-seed sized and reddish brown, swelling darker after feeding

Lots of bites get blamed on bed bugs when the real cause is something else: fleas from a pet, bird mites from a nest in the roof, or mosquitoes. If you can't find any of the signs above, read about fleas in Faerie Glen homes before assuming the worst.

Our treatment

1. Inspection. We strip the bed, check every seam, joint and screw hole in the bed base and headboard, look behind skirting, picture frames and plug points, and check the couches people sleep on.
2. Preparation. We give you a clear list beforehand: wash bedding and clothes from the room on a hot cycle, dry them on high heat, bag them, and declutter around the bed.
3. Treatment. We apply registered, targeted treatments into the cracks and crevices where bed bugs hide, the bed frame, the base, the edges of carpet and nearby furniture. In severe cases, or where furniture can't be treated in place, fumigation with registered fumigants may be an option, and the sealed space must then be vacated until it's cleared.
4. Follow-up. Eggs survive the first treatment, so we come back to catch the bugs that hatch afterwards.

For a normal targeted treatment you don't need to move out. Keep children and pets out of the room until treated surfaces are dry.

What not to do

Don't start sleeping in a different room or on the couch. Bed bugs follow their host, and you'll spread them through the house. Don't throw out the mattress before we've looked at it either. Dragging an infested mattress through the passages can scatter bugs along the way, and the bed base and headboard are usually just as infested. And avoid foggers: they rarely reach the crevices bed bugs use and can push them into new rooms.

A tip for retirement village residents and their families

If a family member has moved into a village unit with furniture from a previous home, or has recently had visitors staying, check the bed and favourite armchair carefully before raising the alarm. Many cases in shared living come down to one piece of furniture. Tell management early. Treating one unit quickly is far easier than several later.

What does it cost?

The cost depends on how many rooms are affected, how much furniture needs treating, and how many follow-ups are needed. One bedroom caught early is a modest job. An infestation that has spread to couches and several rooms takes more work. Fumigation is quoted separately. There isn't really a DIY option that works for an established bed bug problem, but our article on how to get rid of bed bugs explains what you can do to prepare and to avoid bringing them home again.

For the city-wide service, see bed bug treatment in Pretoria, and residents in the next suburb can read our Garsfontein bed bug page. Our Faerie Glen pest control hub covers everything else we treat locally.

We're SAPCA registered, and our bed bug treatments carry a 3-month guarantee: if they're back within three months, so are we. Call 012 012 5526 to arrange an inspection, or WhatsApp us a clear photo of a bug or the spots on the mattress.