Bed Bug Treatment & Extermination Services

Name: Gregory's Pest Control
Telephone: 954-326-8287

Bed bugs are not only a nuisance, they’re dangerous. If you suspect an infestation, schedule your bed bug inspection today!

Contact us for a bed bug treatment quote.

Some pest infestations are seasonal, with their presence fluctuating throughout the year. Bed bugs, though, are a problem year-round and they exist in large numbers in South Florida. This is true, in part, because these savvy pests can ride along on pieces of luggage carried by guests and tourists coming to enjoy The Sunshine State. It’s also true because these bugs can reproduce more quickly in warmer temperatures.

According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, treatment for bed bugs currently clocks in at $3 million nationwide. In other words, it’s a big problem. So, if you’ve got an infestation and are looking for a “bed bug exterminator near me,” then we invite you to contact the professionals at Gregory’s Pest Control online or by calling 954-326-8287.

Their Growing Presence

These creatures have been harassing humans for a long time. A really long time. Back in the mists of time, according to National Geographic, they lived in dark caves and fed off the blood of bats—and of our ancestors. As humankind abandoned caves as their dwellings, bed bugs naturally followed their source of food.

BBC notes how they were discussed (read: complained about!) in literature from as far back as ancient Egypt, and archaeologists have found what appear to be fossilized bed bugs from 3,500 years ago. These unwanted critters traveled to what’s now the United States in the colonial days and they settled right in.

In the 1950s, it appeared as though human ingenuity had taken care of bed bug infestations, once and for all—but, over the past couple decades, they’ve come back with a vengeance. This is true in part because of an increase in international travel. Other reasons include the ban of certain pesticides; the bug evolving to survive the use of other treatments; and a lack of enough information being shared with people to help them to proactively address their problem.

Detecting a Bed Bug Infestation

These wingless critters are flat and round, about the size of an apple seed—or, as the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) points out, that’s about the size of Lincoln’s head on a penny. Bed bugs are reddish-brown in hue.

These bugs are tiny and can be crafty creatures so, even if you have a bed bug infestation in your Florida home, you may not spot this elusive bug (and, at the nymph stage, they’re even harder to spot). Instead, you might see their shed exoskeletons and/or feces; have bites or welts that itch; or notice small spots of blood on your bedsheets. You might also smell an odor that is both sweet and musty at the same time. If so, you may very well have a bed bug problem.

Health Concerns

Although these bugs don’t transmit diseases, they bite people and feed on their blood. Initially, there may be no signs of these bites or they could be mistaken for flea or mosquito bites, with the bites manifesting several days later. Areas of skin that become red and slightly swollen can itch and become irritated; these bites sometimes appear in a straight line; other times, they’re randomly scattered.

In some cases, these bites can become infected, which can become a medical issue. Plus, as the CDC notes, some people can have an allergic reaction, up to and including anaphylaxis. People who have more severe reactions may therefore need rapid medical attention.

Bed bugs often come out at night while people are sleeping, capable of targeting our presence by the carbon dioxide being exhaled. People often don’t wake up while being bitten, either, because the pest’s saliva contains substances that act as an anesthetic. It also contains an anticoagulant, which can make it difficult to know you’ve been bitten. Then, once these bugs have feasted, they hide out, spending the next week or so digesting the blood, mating, and laying eggs.

Where They Live

As their name implies, bed bugs can make their homes in beds, including in mattresses and bed joints and slates. But, they can also settle in wall outlets, in baseboards, under wallpaper, in clothing, linens, and more. They also travel well from one location to the next on suitcases, briefcases, clothing, and second-hand furniture and bedding. While in the home, though, they don’t typically move quickly or far.

Once they settle in, their presence can be quite persistent. Adults can last for several months without a source of food. When fed, a female will lay one to seven eggs per day; over her lifetime, one single female can lay 200 to 300 eggs, which makes it easy to see how a relatively small population could quickly turn into a big problem.

After an egg is laid, it takes six to 17 days to hatch. At this lifecycle stage, the bug is called a “nymph,” unable to reproduce yet. How quickly a nymph reaches maturity depends on the temperature, which means that this process can take place more quickly in warmer climates such as in southern Florida. In these conditions, nymphs can mature in as few as 21 days; in cooler weather, this process can take four months.

Prevention Strategies

If you decide to purchase second-hand items from thrift stores, rummage sales, and so forth, carefully look them over as a bed bug control measure before bringing them into your home. Regularly vacuum, including furniture and around your bed, using appropriate attachments. You can use a stiff scrub brush to clean your mattress and also use sweeper attachments to vacuum it. Change vacuum bags often and encase old ones in plastic before putting them outside in a garbage can.

When traveling, keep your luggage in the bathtub when not in use (these bugs can’t climb on smooth surfaces) and inspect the bedding for any bed bug infestations. When returning from a trip, leave luggage in a hot car for 24 hours and then inspect the suitcases for any bed bug presence. Wash clothing, bedding, curtains, and linens in hot water and then run through a hot dryer. If there is something you can’t put in your washer—anything from shoes to stuffed animals—put them in the dryer for 30 minutes at the highest setting.

Bed Bug Removal Services

Once a bed bug infestation exists, it can be hard to address using DIY methods. So, it typically makes sense to reach out to a pest control company for effective bed bug treatments. To quote the medical expert site, WebMD.com, “Generally it is safest and most effective to hire an experienced pest control professional for bedbug extermination.”

The good news is that, when you contain a professional bed bug company, there are safe and effective bed bug removal solutions. For example, although these pests can seem invincible (after all, they can survive in sub-zero temperatures for days, even weeks), they can’t survive once temperatures reach 117–122° degrees Fahrenheit, which makes bed bug heat treatments effective across the critters’ lifecycle, from eggs to adult.

Our Bed Bug Treatment Process

When you contact us with a bed bug infestation, we’ll thoroughly inspect your home, including the places where the insects love to hide: mattress seams, box springs, bed frames, baseboards, picture frames, ceiling edges, and furniture. Our expert team will determine where the bed bugs are most active so that we can focus the majority of our treatment there.

After the inspection, we’ll provide you with a customized treatment plan that includes information about any pretreatment prep needed to allow us to maximize treatment effectiveness. Our bed bug treatment plan includes two steps so you can benefit from both short-term and long-term pest control:

In step one, we use a specialized steamer and vacuum to gain immediate control over the infestation. The steamers create pressure that penetrates any crack or crevice that could serve as a hiding spot for these critters, which eliminates 95% of the home’s population.
In step two, we establish long-term control over any residual issues. In this stage, our trained technicians use professional products to treat areas where any remaining bed bugs will hide in search of food (blood). Our products are both natural and synthetic, all safe and highly effective.

Within 21 days, we’ll return for a follow-up inspection to ensure success with the bed bug removal. If any remain, our team will perform spot treatments until you are fully satisfied.

Looking For a Bed Bug Exterminator Near You?

Our trained technicians know where they hide and, during an inspection of your south Florida home, they can locate their hiding spots and create a bed bug control plan that’s tailored just for you. We’ll get rid of your current infestation and create a strategy to keep them out.

Gregory’s Pest Control serves these southern Florida communities:

Weston, Southwest Ranches, and Davie
Coral Springs, Sunrise, and Plantation
Parkland and Coconut Creek
Boca Raton and Delray Beach

Don’t see your community listed? Contact us, anyhow! We are always expanding our service area.

Our Pest Control Philosophy

If we were limited to three words, we’d know what we’d say:

Evaluate.

Eliminate.

Protect.

We start with a complete 20 point inspection of your south Florida home and follow up with our 12-point personalized treatment plan that includes interior and exterior strategies. Because we recognize that no two pest problems are the same, we’ll customize a solution to your unique needs. And, because we value our customer relationships, we’ll be transparent about bed bug treatment costs, procedures, and more so you’ll know just what to expect. Our trained technicians are also happy to answer your questions.

Contact Gregory’s Pest Control

Our expert team has already served our local communities for more than 30 years, founded in 1985 and quickly becoming a trusted provider of a wide range of quality pest control services. Trained technicians deliver professional services with a personal touch, and we look forward to helping you keep your home bed bug-free.

Still family-owned and operated, our bed bug company/pest control company benefits from the knowledge that founder Bob Gregory gained while working at a national pest management company. Bob recognized where this large company fell short and created his company to provide the best service possible to meet or exceed customer expectations. We focus on building personal relationships while providing the safest, most effective bed bug treatments possible. For your free inspection, contact us online or call 954-326-8287 today. We offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee, with your satisfaction our highest priority.

Bed Bug Control FAQs

What is the main cause of bed bugs?

Bed bugs have evolved over millions of years with this biting insect finding its way into homes all across Florida and the United States. It’s a myth that they’re attracted to homes that aren’t well kept up; they’re actually quite comfortable in clean homes. They can get into your house by traveling in suitcases and briefcases that were located in hotels, motels, and among other places where bed bugs exist. They can ride in on thrift store and rummage sale purchases—even on the shoes and clothing of people entering your home. So, the main cause of a bed bug presence is that they jumped onto objects that were then taken inside your house.

How do I permanently get rid of bed bugs?

There’s a two-step process. First, you need effective bed bug removal services and then you need to use prevention strategies to keep them out. When you contact our bed bug exterminators, we’ll first use a specialized steamer-vacuum; this bed bug heat treatment will allow us to create control over the infestation, eliminating 95 percent of them. Then, we’ll use professional products to establish long-term control, getting rid of remaining bugs. Our products are safe and highly effective. Then you can use the prevention tips listed on this page to help keep them away. Our tips focus on using strategies to keep the insects from riding in on the belongings of guests as well as when you return home.

What kills bed bugs quickly?

Bed bugs became resistant to treatments that used to get rid of them in the past; plus an older, effective pesticide has been banned for safety reasons. Fortunately, professional bed bug heat treatments are highly effective while safely ridding your home of these pests. In the first of two steps, where we use a steamer-vacuum treatment, we’ll get into tiny cracks and crevices where bed bugs hide, eliminating 95 percent of them. Then we’ll follow up with professional bed bug treatments that exterminate the rest for long-lasting relief.

What is the most effective bed bug treatment?

Professional bed bug removal services that provide a long-lasting impact, such as what we offer at Gregory’s, are highly effective. Then, if you add in prevention techniques to keep them away, you’ve truly got a powerful solution. At Gregory’s, we use bed bug heat treatments where steamer-vacuum technology gets into hard to find cracks and crevices to destroy 95 percent of the infestation—followed up with professional products applied by our bed bug exterminators that get the job done right.

Can I treat bed bugs myself?

These insects can be quite hardy. Over the counter bed bug treatments may help with small presences, but they’re highly unlikely to work with an infestation. If you suspect that bed bugs lurk in your luggage after a trip, you can wrap the still-packed suitcases in trash bags and leave them in the garage. After a day or so, wash all clothes and linens in hot water and dry them at high temperatures. Scrub every crack and crevice of your suitcases with a stiff brush before bringing them inside. In general, though, professional bed bug removal services are required outside of a small presence that can be controlled.

Do bed bugs stay in my house forever?

Some bed bugs may live for four to six months while others can live for years without feeding. But then you need to factor in their rates of reproduction. Just one female will lay ten to fifty eggs that hatch within about ten days; they reproduce often, too, with a female typically laying five hundred eggs in her lifetime—and that’s just one single female. Fortunately, Gregory’s bed bug removal services exterminate the critters across their life cycle.

Does killing bed bugs attract more?

If you can find the insects, they’re fairly easy to squish, one by one—and doing so isn’t going to attract new bed bugs. Unlike ants, bed bugs won’t bury others or eat expired ones. That’s the good news. There are a few problems with that approach, though. First, these are tiny insects, about the size of an apple seed, so there are plenty of them you’re unlikely to find, much less kill.

Next, if bed bugs themselves are tiny, just imagine how minuscule their eggs are—and just one single female can lay five hundred in her lifetime. Just one female! As a third problem, although bed bugs aren’t attracted to dead ones, other insects in the area may be. Types of insects that feast on bed bugs include ants, centipedes, roaches, and spiders with some of them using their keen senses of smell to find food. So, even if you kill bed bugs in your home to lessen their population, other unwanted pests can use them as nourishment. Contact our bed bug exterminators!

What attracts bed bugs to your bed?

Bed bugs are attracted to the ideal environment for their species. This includes dark, hidden places such as the joists of your bed. They also appreciate the warmth, which they can find in humans’ beds, along with carbon dioxide—which we breathe out. Although beds aren’t the only places these critters lurk, they fulfill all the requirements and so are often chosen.

Where do bed bugs hide on your body?

These insects will go to any part of the body because their goal is to feed off a person’s or pet’s blood for nourishment. That said, they’re most likely to choose places that are exposed while someone sleeps: face, neck, arms, hands, legs and feet. The bites are often (although not always) in a straight line or zigzag pattern. They will be small areas that could be flat or raised and often become itchy and red—even inflamed or blistered. Reactions to the bites don’t always occur immediately after the bite; it may take a few days.