Luton Borough Council’s Approach Please remember, it is your responsibility to ensure all preliminary requirements are met. Bedbug Treatment This national bedbug problem has not missed Luton. Information Sheet. The Pest Control Service is currently receiving an The Officers will require - alarming number of bedbug jobs on a weekly basis.  Access to all areas that need treating – This information sheet has been Whilst the bedbug is not known to be a carrier of which will be all bedrooms and beds and disease, the Council does recognise the bedbug as produced for your benefit to provide you adjacent areas. being an obnoxious pest with which to have to share with information on the pest you are a home. experiencing and for you to prepare  Beds must have been stripped and bedcovers put into sealed bin liners. We your property before the Pest Control Successful treatment can be a lengthy process. To advise they are placed in the bath for Officer arrives to treat. ensure effective and successful treatment the storage. Pay attention to the draws often Council expects complete cooperation from the built into divan beds which must also be homeowner. Please read this leaflet thoroughly and emptied. comply with the instructions. The Pest Control Officers attending your infestation  All wardrobes, draws and bookcases to have to work within the Laws regarding pesticides Pest Control and have a duty of care to you not to endanger your be emptied and contents placed in health by excessive use of pesticides in your house sealed bin liners. Environmental Services Luton Borough Council Therefore, having identified that you have a bedbug  All furniture to be pulled away from the Town Hall problem at home and arranged for a visit from walls for access to the back of the Luton LU1 2BQ furniture and skirting. council Pest Control Officers you should make your Tel: 01582 510330 home ready for the treatment.  All pictures and posters off the walls and Email: [email protected] Council Pest Control Officers are trained to available for inspection. Advanced Pest Management Diploma level and Please ensure that you leave a telephone work within the restraints of the Control of  All bagged up items of clothing and number so that Pest Control can contact bedding must be removed from the Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) you during office hours regulations and other Health and Safety guidelines. rooms that need treating. The insecticides used in your home will be used properly and safely and the Pest Control Officers will  Only bedroom furniture, beds, advise you on any further precautions you need to mattresses and curtains are to be left in take. However, you should be aware that no the bedrooms. All electrical appliances insecticides are completely safe and it is for this TV’s, computers etc. must be removed. reason that the Council expect full cooperation from you to ensure that the infestation is eradicated quickly and efficiently with the minimum use of PEST CONTROL OFFICERS WILL NOT CARRY insecticides OUT ANY TREATMENT IF YOUR PROPERTY IS NOT COMPLETELY READY UPON THEIR If you need this in large print, on ARRIVAL. tape or in

Cimex lectularius  Their harbourage sites are normally fairly close to their hosts but they are capable of hunting down a feed by detecting a host’s The Bedbug body warmth and breath. So moving to another bedroom will only give short-term respite from the pest. So, if visiting family abroad,  They emerge at night and can guzzle up to Modern insecticides developed in the late 1940s four times their body weight in quarter of an putting up casual visitors, virtually eliminated the bedbug from the domestic hour. staying in budget scene in the UK. They are however back with a  A female can lay about 350 small comma– vengeance, the ease and frequency of foreign travel shaped pale-coloured eggs in her lifetime accommodation or buying and a developed resistance to insecticides are some and so a gravid female can be responsible of the factors that are blamed for this increase, but for many thousand offspring a year. second-hand furniture is part the experts feel that there are other causes which  Bedbugs can infest even the cleanest of of your lifestyle or you are are still not clear. Some areas of the country are homes. An infestation therefore does not experiencing up to 300% increase in reported indicate a dirty home. semi mobile in that you stay infestations on 5 years ago. in short term lets, student It is important that an infestation is treated at an Bedbug infestations most commonly occur as a early stage. Infestations are more difficult to accommodation and such consequence of :- eradicate once they are established as then there like, then you should have an are often several generations of breeding bedbugs.  Bringing them home in luggage after staying The first indication of an infestation is usually the increased awareness of this in infested accommodation, itchy red bites caused by the feeding nymphs.  Visitors staying at your house who come Closer inspection might show small blood smears National and International from infested homes on the sheets or dead nymphs in the bed. problem.  Accepting infested second-hand furniture. As the infestation becomes more mature, distinct Here are some facts about the bedbug blood smears will be noticeable and some people may suffer a bad reaction to the bites. At this stage  Bedbugs are principally pests of humans faecal deposits outside cracks and joins in but can take feeds from pets, birds and woodwork, around bats. seams in wallpaper  The adults are about the size and, when etc identify definite * An Internet search using Google or some harbourage sites. well fed, the same colour as an apple pip – other search engine using “Bedbug”, dark red. “Cimex lectularius”, “Clive Boase”, will  They should not be confused with the mites Faecal spotting that most people have naturally in their beds on a mattress provide further information on this pest. – unpleasant though it may seem. Bed bugs are much larger.  They do not live on the body but hide in the Often live bedbugs can be found within the mattress, skirting boards or cracks due to bedcovers. Z:\ECS\Environmental health\Pest Control\Information Sheets September 2012 poor joinery in the bedroom. They are also There may also be an unpleasant odour associated to be found under wallpaper, the back of with heavy infestations of bedbugs. pictures and posters, in clock and radios beside the bed and electric fittings in the bedroom.