When you hire a canine inspection team to inspect your home for bed bugs in the tri-state area, it is important to give the dogs the best possible chance of locating live bugs. If you have bed bug-infested furniture or other items in your home, this can confuse the dogs. It can also limit how thorough they are during their search.
These dogs have the training to find both live bugs and viable egg casings. When together with poop stains will help tell you how active your bed bug problem is. To get the most out of the dogs, remove all potentially confusing items from your home before an inspection can take place. This may mean taking some items to storage or leaving them with a friend or family member.
Canine Bed Bug Inspections
During a canine bed bug inspection, the dogs will give you a report on how many live bugs they locate and how many viable egg casings they find. If you have an established bed bug problem, the most important information to track is how soon your dogs can locate them. This is after your initial treatment with heat or steam.
This section of the report gives you and your pest control professional a good idea of how long it took for your bed bug population to rebound after treatments. Also, gain knowledge of how large it is now compared to before treatment.
As a part of your canine inspection, the dogs will also look at how many hiding spots they can locate. You may want to make a note if the dogs can find small nooks and crannies where bugs can hide.
Professional canine bed bug inspections can help point out how large your initial infestation is and how active it is now. By cooperating with professional dog handlers, you will get firsthand results. These can assist you with deciding how best to proceed to treat bed bugs.
With these guidelines in mind, you can prepare for how much effort it takes to prepare your home or apartment properly before a canine inspection happens.
How To Prepare For a Canine Bed Bug Inspection
Have guidance on a few things that you can get ready before the bed bug dogs come to inspect your home or business. Follow them below:
Remove Odors
Remove all traces of human scent and replace them with items that do not attract bed bugs. This includes:
- Soaps and shampoos (dispose of in a sealed plastic bag)
- Deodorant (put in a sealed plastic bag)
- Body spray, air freshener, perfume, and cologne (place in a sealed plastic bag)
You should use unscented soaps and deodorants to give the dogs your home or apartment as clean an odor as possible to better find live bugs. Put these items in family members’ homes during the inspection process. When the dogs do a live bug search, they will show the most interest in how fresh your scent is.
Remove your scent and replace it with unscented soaps and deodorants. The dogs will detect live bugs and viable egg casings. This helps them show how active your bed bug problem is now.
Avoid or Remove Distractions
While you are in the process of finding how to get rid of bed bugs, do not bring in new items into your home. This includes clothing, furniture, and other consumer goods. If you have recently brought something in that you suspect may attract bed bugs, give it away or donate it. Avoid these items in confusing the dogs during an inspection.
Remove potential distractions for the dogs during the inspection. Stay vigilant when moving out any potentially distracting items. By doing so, you can help prepare how long before heat treatments should take place.
Take away hiding spots where bed bugs can hide. Examples are pet food bowls and soda cans by placing them in a plastic bag. Take out knickknacks that can confuse how much activity is in your home. By removing any potential hiding places, you can let the dogs know the duration before starting heat treatments.
Give Access
Use a uniformed member of your family or employee to meet the dogs. Instruct this person on how to cooperate with canine bed bug inspections. They can open doors, turn on lights, and point out where to find any heat registers.
Give a uniformed person access to your home. They can guide how active bed bugs are in the surrounding areas that the dogs will visit. By doing so, you can have an idea of the period before beginning heat treatments.
Things to Avoid Before Canine Inspection
You need to prevent many factors for a successful bed bug dog inspection. Familiarize with them below:
Avoid Pesticides 30 Days Prior
Do not use pesticides in how to get rid of bed bugs before an inspection. These can alter how you smell and how fresh your scent is for the dogs. This will reduce how much information they can gather from an inspection.
Also, avoid any sort of traps or insecticides that may alter how active your bed bug problem is now. Thirty days beforehand, keep away from such items to prevent this detrimental aspect leading up to a canine inspection.
Leave All Linens in Place
Leave all sheets, comforters, and blankets on your bed. Bed bug dogs need to smell how recently a human has been on a mattress. By how fresh the scent of a bed is, the dogs can determine how frequently bed bugs have been laying eggs.
In addition to this reason of freshness as crucial for how long before heat treatment starts, you must not strip beds of their linens. This causes an unnecessary amount of work for canine inspections. They have to search through drawers and wardrobes looking for items that can attract bed bugs.
Vacuum The Place Before The Arrival of Bed Bug Specialists
Vacuum your home to get rid of bed bugs before the dog inspection arrives. This removes any possible egg casings or live bugs.
Eliminating bed bugs in a single apartment unit takes about six hours. They need this amount of time to search through all rooms to get rid of them in an apartment unit. Vacuuming the day before you choose who treats your bed bug problem can lead you to the time before heat treatments begin.
Remove All Pets at Home
If you have pets, remove them from the building before treatment of bed bug bites. Set aside all objects, linens, and pet food to get rid of bed bugs. The freshness of your scent attracts them! You can help by washing yourself with unscented soap or deodorant.
Get rid of all smaller pets such as hamsters and gerbils. The bed bugs will want you to know how active they are before heat treatments begin. Prevent this by removing pets to deal with the problem at home.
Turn Off All A/C and Fans
Turn off all air conditioners, fans, and heaters. This prevents bed bugs in your apartment from how actively you cool the area. They cannot live outside since they will die from humidity levels. Thriving is at 75 degrees Fahrenheit or lower for 50 to 55 percent humidity.
Bed bugs cannot stay outside at these levels. Do not leave to get rid of bed bugs in apartment units or inside your home. Dogs can tell how often they are active. The ventilation system you use will change how frequently heat treatments occur during the period before this begins.
Preparation FAQs
Are there any precautions I need to take, like removing furniture?
Yes. Furniture can become an obstacle during heat treatments. If these can potentially interfere with the process, remove them before the start. Debris or clutter in apartments may reduce how often heat treatments occur. This includes lamps, stoves, chairs, sofas, and other pieces.
Also, remove any beds or mattresses you have inside to get rid of bed bugs at home. Dogs need to know how recent your scent is on these pieces. You can also use them as a marker for the number of bites. This is before beginning the treatment.
I am afraid some of my clothes may have bed bugs, what should I do?
Before heat treatments start, save any clothing you use to sleep in. Also, keep out of contact with these items during the processing period to get rid of them at home. You are only allowed to have washable clothes. This is getting rid of bed bugs in an apartment unit. Remove all clothes and personal effects from your body. You must wear clean clothes during heat treatment. They can help before starting the process.
If I get new or used furniture or clothes, do I need to be concerned about re-introducing bed bugs?
This is to make bed bugs go away in apartment units. If it is hard to find them, there is no need for concern. Dogs can tell how active they are from how recently your scent appears before heat treatments occur. They cannot spread them onto another person’s clothes or belongings that you took away from a package or room recently.
If you are adding new pieces, heat treatments occur depending on how many bed bugs are in the apartment. If you keep them before the start, dogs have a hard time telling how recently your scent is coming from these items.
