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Bed Bugs

Facts about bed bugs

Bed bug
  • Bed bugs are bloodsucking parasites of man and also feed on chickens, bats and some domestic animals.
  • A bed bug bite is painless. It is their saliva that can cause irritation, swelling and redness.
  • They feed at night or at any time if the room is dark.
  • They live in bedclothes, mattresses, bedsprings and frames, soft furnishing, cracks and crevices and under wallpaper.
  • Females lay upto 200 eggs in batches of 4 or 5, on rough surfaces such as wood or paper. Eggs are white, sticky and are laid in cracks or crevices, never on people.
  • A bed bugs entire life cycle can take between 5 weeks to 4 months, depending upon the temperature and availability of food.

How can you identify a bed bug?

Bed bugs2
  • Mature bed bugs are approximately 6mm long, rusty red/brown to mahogany coloured, oval, wingless insects. Their bodies are flattened, with welldeveloped antennae and small compound eyes.
  • After feeding, they become swollen, longer and dark red to dark brown in colour.

Recognising a bed bug problem

They do leave signs that they are present, such as black or brown spots of dried blood, eggs, egg-shells and cast skins on the surfaces where the bugs rest.

Typical resting areas include; under wallpaper, behind picture frames; inside cracks and crevices near to beds; bed frames; undersides of windows, door casings and loose mouldings. When there are many bed bugs, there is often a bad smell.

What can you do?

  • If you have a lot of bed bugs you should contact either a pest control company or us straight away.
  • Clean furniture, bedding and mattresses on a regular basis. If you have a bed bug infestation, steam clean mattresses.
  • Repair cracks in walls, windows and doors.
  • Treat all hiding places with an insecticide that is designed for bed bugs. Only apply to mattresses if it says it is safe to do so on the label. Allow mattresses to dry for several hours before lying on them.

Treatment the council provides

So that we can be sure the infestation is bed bugs, we will need to identify it. To do this you need to catch a bug, seal it securely in a clear plastic container labelled with your name, address and phone number. You can contact us for a suitable container.

You should then send it us by post at the address shown below or you can take it to the following office:

Environmental Health, Challenge Building, Hatherton Road, Walsall, WS1 1YG.

Our pest officers will identify the bug and contact you to let you know whether it is a bed bug or not. If it is a bed bug, they can survey your property to see how bad the problem is and provide treatment.

What you need to do before we carry out treatment

  • Strip beds and put the bedding in a tightly secured plastic bag. All bedding should be washed on a hot wash before being returned to a treated room.
  • Our Pest Control officers must be able to get access to all areas of an affected room in order for treatment to be effective. Could you please make sure that you move any furniture away from the walls, this includes drawers and cupboards, this
  • is so that we can gain access to the areas behind the furniture. Do not take the items out of the room as you could infest other areas. Do not put items that have not been washed or treated in to a treated room as it could cause re-infestation.
  • If you will experience difficulty in preparing for a treatment please let us know and we will help wherever we can.
  • If you see a bed bug after treatment, it does not mean it has not worked. They may have hatched after the treatment and will be killed off by the pesticide once they come into contact with it.

Charges

The treatment of bed bugs is free of charge for domestic premises.

How to contact us

If you would like further advice or need to make a pest control appointment please contact us:

First Stop Shop
Civic Centre
Darwall Street
Walsall
WS1 1EU

Telephone 01922 744320
Minicom 0845 1112910
Email contactcentre@walsall.gov.uk
Website www.walsall.gov.uk

If you need help treating a bed bug infestation or have any further questions, contact us on 01922 744320.  For householders this is a free service.

For further information please view our bed bugs factsheet (PDF 69KB).