Photo Album: Bed Bug Problem in Spotswood, NJ

Today, I was dispatched to one of our long-term commercial accounts, an apartment complex, located in Spotswood, New Jersey. One of the tenants in the complex had a bed bug infestation. Whenever there is a bed bug infestation in a multi-family dwelling, our job is to contain and eliminate the infestation, so it does not spread to other units. Today, the follow-up visit was scheduled. During our follow-ups, we thoroughly reinspect to determine the level of bedbug activity after the initial treatment and conduct any appropriate treatments. Because bedbugs are such resilient insects, we always conduct follow-up visits to reassess the infestation, and continue to do so, until we care confident that the infestation is resolved. For a tenant or homeowner, the only thing worse than a bedbug infestation is a re-infestation!  It had been two weeks since our initial treatment to this unit. With this particular job, I was especially concerned about the effectiveness of the initial treatment because the tenant, despite our directions, did not reduce the extensive clutter in his apartment. Whenever we attempt to treat a bed bug infestation in a residence where there is excessive clutter, the effectiveness of the treatment is substantially reduced. Excess clutter creates more potential harborage areas for bed bugs to hide, and the more places there are for them to hide, the greater the likelihood that some will escape treatment. Bed bugs will find the smallest cracks and crevices to hide between their blood meals, and it doesn’t help when they are given an almost unlimited choice of hiding spots.