Category Archives: Bed Bugs California

NESDCA stands for the (National Entomology Scent Detection Canine Association) and is a third party certifying organization assuring the highest quality standards for Scent Detection Canines. NESDCA was formed by Pest Control Professionals to ensure the highest standards for only Entomology Scent Detection Canines.

NESDCA is Committed, to improving the image of Entomology Scent Detecting Canine teams.

NESDCA is also committed to Educating, the consumers about the benefits of using properly trained Entomology Scent Detection Dog Teams, in the process of locating and eradicating pest problems.

NESDCA evaluation process sets the highest standards by which Bed Bug Detection Canines Teams are held.

Round the Clock Pest Control has been anticipating the highly increased outbreak of bed bugs for a few years now, and we have been able to develop an effective and aggressive bed bug treatment to eradicate bed bugs where they hide.

For that reason, Round The Clock Pest Control utilizes highly trained, Bed Bug detection Canines. These specially Trained Canines can detect Bed Bugs when humans cannot, and with greater efficiency.

Did you know that Bed bug dogs are over 90% accurate, and that the accuracy of a human technician finding a bed bug infestation is approximately 30%, that leaves a 70% chance that a clean room is actually invested. With the use of our NESDCA Certified Bed Bug Sniffing Dogs and our aggressive treatment methods. Our Seek and Treat programs are much more effective, as opposed to a spray and Pray Methodology, affected areas can therefore be treated before infestations spread from room-to-room.

At Round the Clock Pest Control, we understand the frustration involved in finding a reliable company to perform quality pest control services. Over the years, weve proven our expertise by always keeping our clients informed of the issues affecting their structures, applying the best methods for treatment, providing quality service at affordable rates and ensuring their complete satisfaction.

Our dedication to service excellence coupled with our high ethical standards has helped us build a great reputation in our area.

Our mission is to provide the highest degree of quality and professionalism while protecting the health and property of your environment. Through intelligent and state of the art service, we will develop a plan that will eliminate pests from your environment.

Our philosophy towards pest control, is total elimination by finding the source of the problem and treating the problem at its root source. Whether you have a commercial, industrial, or a residential property Round The Clock Pest Control, considerable experience will help you find a cost effective solution, custom tailored to fit your specific needs.

Round the Clock Pest Control Using Modern Pest Control Methods With Old Fashioned Service

Excerpt from:
Bed Bug Dogs Los Angeles - Bed Bugs Exterminator & Bed ...

CHAPTER 2.5.Bed Bug Infestations 1954.1. The Legislature finds and declares:

(a)Controlling bed bugs is uniquely challenging, as bed bug resistance to existing insecticidal control measures is significant. Cooperation among landlords, tenants, and pest control operators is required for successful control.

(b)Tenants, property owners, and pest control operators have distinct rights and responsibilities regarding bed bug infestations.

(c)Effective control is more likely to occur when landlords and tenants are informed of the best practices for bed bug control.

(d)Early detection and reporting of bed bugs is an important component required for preventing bed bug infestations. Tenants should not face retaliation for reporting a problem.

(e)Lack of cooperation by landlords and tenants can undermine pest control operator efforts to identify the presence of bed bugs and control an infestation. Depending on the treatment strategy, it is often critical that tenants cooperate with pest control operators by reducing clutter, washing clothes, or performing other activities. Likewise, inadequate or untimely response or planning by landlords may exacerbate an infestation.

(f)Specific, enforceable duties of tenants and landlords are necessary so that the failure of a tenant or landlord to cooperate fully does not prevent effective investigation, treatment, and monitoring of all infested and surrounding units.

(a)Bed bug management plan means a written plan prepared by a pest control operator for a property. The plan will outline the responsibilities of the landlord and tenants and shall be consistent with NPMA best practices and tailored to the conditions at the property. The plan shall include, but is not limited to, the following:

(1)Education of tenants to reduce the risk of introduction of bed bugs to the property and to encourage reporting. Education methods and frequency shall be based on resources of the landlord.

(2)Housekeeping and building maintenance procedures to help prevent bed bug harborage, including recommendations from a pest control operator about correcting bed bug hiding places and entry points, for example by sealing cracks and crevices in walls, ceilings, and floors, and fixing loose moldings and peeling wallpaper.

(3)The landlords process for responding to complaints and a brief statement of the requirements of this chapter.

(4)Written documentation of any bed bug treatment program.

(5)Use of monitoring devices on a proactive basis, routine monitoring inspections by trained employees or licensed pest control operators, if appropriate, as determined by the pest control operator and based upon the resources of the landlord.

(6)A complaint log that documents compliance with this chapter.

(b)Bed bug treatment program means a program, based on NPMA best practices, for treating an infestation to remove or kill visible and accessible bed bugs and their eggs, either immediately or through residual effects. The program shall be structured to continue until the infestation is controlled.

(c)Complaint log means part of a bed bug management plan that tracks a landlords ongoing responses to each bed bug report over the preceding two years. The complaint log shall include, but is not limited to, records pertaining to verification inspection and inspection inspections and inspections of adjacent units, results of inspections, records of notices provided to tenants, unit preparation inspections, treatment type, locations and dates, and followup inspections.

(d)Inspection means an investigation of the premises, using NPMA best practices to confirm or rule out a bed bug infestation, to identify all infested areas to determine treatment tactics, or to verify that an infestation has been eliminated.

(e)NPMA best practices means best management practices for bed bugs issued by the National Pest Management Association in effect on January 1, 2015. 2016. NPMA best practices does not include practices or actions that conflict with federal or state law.

(f)Pest control operator means an individual with a Branch 2 license from the Structural Pest Control Board.

(g)Pretreatment checklist means unit preparation requirements tailored to the treatment method, consistent with NPMA best practices, including, but not limited to, easy-to-understand instructions, pictures, and diagrams, prepared by the pest control operator and provided to tenants by the landlord or pest control operator. The checklist shall include instructions for how to treat tenant clothing, personal furnishings, and other belongings, if treatment is required, and shall provide contact information for the pest control operator to answer questions prior to treatment.

(a)General information about bed bug identification, behavior and biology, the importance of cooperation for prevention and treatment, and the importance of and for prompt written reporting of suspected infestations to the landlord. The information shall be in substantially the following form:

Information about Bed Bugs

Bed bug Appearance: Adult bed bugs have flat bodies about 1/4 of an inch in length. They are copper colored and have six legs. Young bed bugs are nearly colorless and are very small, about 1/16 of an inch in length. Bed bugs do not fly. They either crawl or are carried from place to place. When a bed bug feeds, its body swells and becomes bright red, making it appear to be a different insect. Bed bugs can be hard to find and identify because they are tiny and try to stay hidden.

Life Cycle and Reproduction: The typical lifespan of a bed bug is 10 months. They can survive for months without feeding. Female bed bugs lay one to five eggs per day. Bed bugs grow to full adulthood in about 21 days.

Bed bug Bites: Because bed bugs usually feed at night when people are sleeping, most people do not realize they were bitten. Bed bugs do not transmit disease but are a nuisance. A persons reaction to insect bites is an immune response and so varies from person to person. Sometimes the red welts caused by the bites will not be apparent until many days after a person was bitten.

Common signs of bed bugs and symptoms of a possible infestation:

Small red to reddish brown fecal spots on mattresses, upholstery, or walls.

Molted bed bug skins, white, sticky eggs, or empty eggshells.

Very heavily infested areas may have a characteristically sweet odor.

Red, itchy bite marks, especially on the legs, arms, and other body parts exposed while sleeping.

More information: See the websites web sites of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, California Department of Public Health, California State Structural Pest Control Board, and the National Pest Management Association.

(b)The procedure to report suspected infestations to the landlord.

(c)Whether If applicable, a statement that the property has a bed bug management plan.

(d)A copy of this chapter.

(b)Within five business days after a tenant or a public agency notifies a landlord of an infestation or a suspected infestation, the landlord shall retain the services of a pest control operator to verify the tenants complaint suspected infestation and to conduct an inspection, if determined to be necessary by the pest control operator.

(c)Entry to inspect a tenants dwelling unit shall comply with Section 1954. Entry to inspect any unit selected by the pest control operator and to conduct followup inspections of surrounding units until bed bugs have been eliminated is a necessary service for the purpose of Section 1954. Tenants shall cooperate with the inspection to facilitate the detection and treatment of bed bugs, including providing requested information that is necessary to facilitate the detection and treatment of bed bugs to the pest control operator.

(d)If a pest control operators inspection confirms that a bed bug infestation exists:

(1)The landlord shall notify all tenants of units identified for treatment by the pest control operator of the findings of infestation. The notification shall be in writing and made within 48 hours two business days of receipt of the pest control operators findings. For confirmed infestations in common areas, all tenants shall be provided notice of the pest control operators findings.

(2)If further inspections of the affected units or surrounding units are necessary as determined by the pest control operator, based on the NPMA best practices, subsequent notices shall include information about future inspections, unless that information was disclosed in a prior notice. Each subsequent entry shall require a separate notice conforming to Section 1954.

(b)At least seven calendar days prior to treatment, the landlord shall provide to the affected tenants with the following:

(1)A cover sheet from the landlord, in at least 10-point type, disclosing:

(A)The date or dates of treatment, the deadline for tenant preparation of the unit, and the date, approximate hour, and length of time, if any, the tenant shall be required to be absent from the unit.

(B)A statement that the tenant may request assistance or an extension of time to prepare the unit, to the extent required by law, to reasonably accommodate a disability.

(C)A statement that a tenant not entitled to a reasonable accommodation under law may also request an extension of time to prepare the unit.

(2)A pretreatment checklist with information provided by the pest control operator, which shall be in accordance with NPMA best practices.

(c)The tenant shall fulfill his or her responsibilities for unit preparation before the scheduled treatment, as described in the pest control operators pretreatment checklist. Tenants shall be responsible for the management of their belongings, including, but not limited to, clothing and personal furnishings.

(d)Tenants who are not able to fulfill their unit preparation responsibilities shall promptly notify the landlord. For a tenant not entitled to a reasonable accommodation under law who requests an extension of time to prepare the unit, the landlord shall extend the preparation time by three business days.

(e)If an extension of time is provided in order to reasonably accommodate a tenant required under law to receive a reasonable accommodation, or for other tenants as provided in subdivision (d), the landlord shall provide all affected tenants with a notice of the revised dates and times specified in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) (b), as necessary.

(f)A tenant shall cooperate in vacating his or her unit as notified for treatment purposes and shall not reenter the unit until directed by the pest control operator to do so.

(g)Inspection of unit preparation and bed bug treatment and posttreatment inspection and monitoring of all affected and surrounding units as recommended by the pest control operator are a necessary service for the purpose of Section 1954. In addition to the cover sheet and any revisions under subdivision (e), the landlord shall provide separate written notice of entry pursuant to Section 1954 to affected tenants for all treatments and inspections.

(a)Of a size as to readily contain the disposed material.

(b)Labeled as being infested with bed bugs.

(c)Furnished as needed to the tenant by the property owner landowner or pest control operator.

(b)The comprehensive ordinances and regulations of the City and County of San Francisco regarding the treatment and control of bed bug infestations are deemed to satisfy this chapter and are not preempted.

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Bill Text - AB-551 Rental property: bed bugs. - California

Home Topics Bed Bugs Photo courtesy of Dr. Stephen Doggett

Bed bugs are back after being hard to find for more than 50 years. Bed bugs are a community problem and controlling them is very challenging. Without cooperation among landlords, tenants, and pest control professionals, control will not be successful.

We all need to be aware of what bed bugs look like, where they hide, how to get rid of them, and how not to move them around.

If you are a tenant and you suspect that you have bed bugs, alert your landlord immediately. Prompt action will benefit all parties.

If you are a landlord, work with a pest control company with good references and experience in bed bug treatments. For more information, check the resources below.

For recorded information on bed bugs, call 1-888-959-9911 or 211.

Information for: Tenants

Information for: Landlords

Information for: Homeowners

Information for: Health Professionals, In-home Visitors, and Emergency Responders

Information for: Pest Control Professionals

Information for: Hospitality Industry

Information for: Retail

Information for: Schools

Information for: Travelers

Video Information about: Bedbugs

See the rest here:
Bed Bugs :: Health Topics :: Contra Costa Health Services

Resource library : Evo in the news :

Bed bugs bite back thanks to evolution September 2010

Where's the evolution? What's to be done if you wind up the unhappy bunkmate to a nest of these pests? In the past, the answer was simply to spray with a pesticide. Unfortunately, that response is less effective than it used to be not because the pesticides used today are weak but because bed bugs have evolved resistance to the most commonly used chemicals. The top choice for bed bug infestations are two related groups of chemicals that are both toxic and repellent to the bugs: pyrethrins, which are extracted from chrysanthemum plants, and pyrethroids, the synthetic versions of those chemicals. The evolution of pyrethrin in plants in the first place probably resulted from natural selection for plants better able to avoid being eaten by insects. We humans have simply co-opted the plants' chemicals defenses to deal with our own insect problems. Pyrethrins and pyrethroids are especially useful to us because they generally have a stronger effect on bugs than on mammals, making them relatively safe for use in homes.

These compounds work by attacking the nervous system. Insects (and humans) have tiny pores in the membranes of their nerve cells that can be opened to allow sodium into the cells, triggering a nerve impulse. Pyrethrins and pyrethroids muck up the nervous system by binding to the sodium pores, locking them in the open position. This allows sodium to pour into the cell continuously, causing the nerve to fire repeatedly and eventually leading to paralysis. Mammals and insects inherited similar nerve cells from our common ancestor meaning that the human nervous system is also vulnerable to these pesticides. However, the compounds are relatively safe for us because, in comparison to insects, our bodies have more effective ways to break the compounds down before they can do major damage.

So, how do resistant bed bugs survive pyrethroid spraying? Biologists have actually figured out exactly which mutations are responsible for many cases of resistance. For example, changing just two of the 2000 amino acids that make up part of the sodium pore is enough to make an insect 250 times more resistant to a commonly used pyrethroid. These mutations may change the pore so that the insecticide can no longer bind to it effectively and/or may change the way the pore responds when the insecticide binds.

Such mutations arise randomly and are favored when a population of organisms winds up in an environment in which the mutations happen to be useful in this case a bed sprayed with a pyrethroid. In that situation, if some (or even just one) of the insects carry the resistance mutations, those insects will be better able to survive and reproduce and will wind up passing the mutation on to their offspring. As this process continues through several generations, the population may evolve such that every individual carries the resistance mutations an outcome which is great for the bugs but immensely frustrating for the human occupants of the bed!

The key to this process of natural selection is having the right genetic variation in the insect population. If the population doesn't happen to carry any of the advantageous resistance mutations, the pyrethroid treatment will wipe out the bed bug population. It might seem then, that resistant populations should be rare after all, how many bed bug populations are likely to be lucky enough to carry just the right mutations to survive pyrethroid spraying? A lot, it turns out. Here's why. Bed bug populations have been primed with the right sort of genetic variation by their evolutionary history a history which includes extensive exposure to a different insecticide, DDT. Like pyrethroids, DDT kills insects by acting on the sodium pores in their nerve cells and it just so happens that many of the same mutations that protect an insect against DDT also happen to protect it from pyrethroids. When DDT was first introduced, such mutations were probably extremely rare. However, with the widespread use of DDT in the 1950s and 60s, such mutations became much more common among bed bugs through the process of natural selection. Though DDT is rarely used today because of its environmental effects, these mutations have stuck around and are still present in modern bed bug populations. Because of the action of natural selection in the past (favoring resistance to DDT), many bed bug populations today are primed with the right sort of genetic variation to evolve resistance to pyrethroids rapidly.

And evolve rapidly they have! In the last decade, resistance to pyrethroids among bed bugs has become a major problem in the U.S. and may help explain why the pests are crawling into bed next to more and more of us. The map below shows how prevalent just two of the mutations conferring resistance have become. The pace at which widespread resistance has evolved suggests that relying on chemicals alone to control bed bug infestations is not enough and may even encourage the evolution of more resistant populations. Instead, the CDC and the EPA recommend a more integrated approach, one that incorporates pesticides, along with other techniques to which resistance is unlikely to evolve: heat treatment (temperatures between 113 and 120F can kill the bugs), vacuuming, removing clutter, and sealing cracks and crevices. The rapid evolution of insecticide resistance in these pests has made it harder but not impossible to kick them out of bed for good!

Primary literature:

News articles:

Understanding Evolution resources:

Discussion and extension questions

Related lessons and teaching resources

References

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Bed bugs bite back thanks to evolution

Overview. Human bed bugs were virtually eradicated from the developed world in the middle of the 20th century. However, as of the first decade of the 21st century, bed bugs are back and winning. Bed bug infestations have been reported from all over the US and Europe, and California is no exception. Together with bat bugs, swallow bugs, and poultry bugs, they belong to the family Cimicidae in the suborder Heteroptera or true bugs (order Hemiptera). Cimicidae comprise less than 100 described species worldwide, but their notorious habits as temporary ectoparasites of birds and mammals, including humans, and the unusual mode of reproduction known as traumatic insemination, have made this small group of true bugs infamous. Recent interest in biology and ecology of bed bugs is now being reinforced by increasing numbers of household infestations on a global scale.

Morphology and Relationships to other Bugs.Bed bugs are small to medium-sized (4-12 mm), ovate, dorsoventrally flattened (i.e., squashed-looking from top to bottom) and of brownish coloration. Their wings are represented by short, non-functional wing pads and they cannot fly. Like other Heteroptera, Cimicidae have sucking mouth parts, and metathoracic and abdominal scent glands that produce a characteristic smell. The mouthparts comprise the labium (externally visible part of the beak) and pairs of maxillary and mandibular stylets that form the salivary and food canals. Bed bugs have several specialized features in common with some closely related groups, such as loss of simple eyes known as ocelli.

Bed bugs are closely related to the blood-feeding, bat bugs and predatory minute pirate bugs (family Anthocoridae) that are used as natural enemies in integrated pest management. The Cimicidae are divided into 22 genera, with 12 being exclusively associated with bats, 9 with birds, and only the genus Cimex containing a mixture of bird and mammal ectoparasites. Only three species may be associated with humans, Leptocimex boueti in certain areas of West Africa, Cimex hemipterus in the tropics of the Old and New Worlds, and, most importantly, Cimex lectularius in temperate and subtropical regions worldwide.

Natural History.Bed bugs belong to one of only three lineages within Heteroptera that are obligate blood feeders or hematophages. Similar to other obligate blood-feeding insects, cimicids have microbial symbionts in specialized organs that are presumably important for supplementing the blood diet. Most cimicids exhibit relatively narrow host preferences with either birds or bats as the dominant hosts. The host range extension from bat to humans in Cimex lectularius is likely to have taken place in Europe, the Middle East, or India, as humans moved from a cave-dwelling existence to living in villages and cities. The human bed bug subsequently spread with its new host around the world as people migrated with their belongings.

Because no life stages can fly, bed bugs rely on passive transportation by their host to spread. Consequently, they may hitchhike in suitcases, used furniture, and clothing. Moreover, an adult bed bug can survive for more than a year without a blood meal. Upon arriving at a new location, the prodigious fecundity of an undetected bug, 200-500 eggs per adult female, ensures a rapid increase in their numbers.Bed bugs are nocturnally active with peak feeding activity occurring after midnight. Bed bugs feed on blood about once every 1-2 weeks, while the host is inactive or sleeping. Feeding requires about 5-10 minutes to complete and generally occurs on areas of the body that are exposed while sleeping, such as the face, neck, arms, and hands. Bites may itch and a rash may develop around the bite. Bed bugs locate a host by orienting toward cues including heat, CO2,and host odors. When not feeding, bed bugs are generally concealed in cracks and crevices in their environment, including bed frames, head boards and mattresses. Their negative phototaxis (i.e. move away from light) and positive thigmotaxis (i.e. respond positively to tight spaces) makes them very difficult to locate during daytime hours when they are hiding.

In their resting places, bed bugs usually form aggregations of adults and immature stages that are maintained by aggregation pheromones and mechanical cues. When bugs are disturbed, substances emitted from scent glands function as alarm pheromones that drive dispersal and aggregations break up as bed bugs flee danger.

Apart from obligate blood feeding and host interactions, their unusual reproductive behavior has stimulated considerable research on bed bugs. Reproductive biology of Cimicidae is characterized by traumatic insemination, where sperm is not injected into the genital tract, but rather introduced into the female bed bug after the male pierces the females body wall with his reproductive organ. Traumatic insemination systems show tremendous species specific differences ranging from absent or simple to very complex and the study of reproductive structures used in this type of mating may provide insights into the evolution of this unusual mating strategy in the Cimicidae. Immature bed bugs (nymphs) release a chemical signal or pheromone to communicate their non-reproductive status to males, thereby protecting them from male mating attempts which might otherwise be very damaging.

While some viruses have been shown to persist within bed bugs for several weeks, their role in the transmission of human pathogens appears to be negligible. Nevertheless, bed bugs are serious nuisance pests. Infestation rates of human dwellings with bed bugs may reach 100% in some temperate regions and as many a 5,000 bugs may infest a single bed!

Bed Bugs, Humans and Infestation Management.The long and disturbing shared history of humans and bed bugs is reflected in language and legend. All Indo-European, African, and Oriental languages have names for bed bugs and these unpopular companions are mentioned in ancient Greek literature as well as the Talmud and the New Testament. Human sensitivity to the bite of a bed bug ranges from insensitive to severe immune reactions, and depends in part on the level of past exposure. Many people will develop hypersensitivity to bed bug bites following repeated feeding by bed bugs.

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