Local firm fights unwelcome bed companion

New Berlin - What's the old saying? Sleep tight; don't let the bed bugs bite.

But try getting a good night sleep when your working days are filled with calls for help from those infested with the little bloodsuckers.

"Wherever I go, when I go to the doctor, when I go to church, I check my seat," said Christine Venuti, marketing manager at Batzner Pest Management in New Berlin.

The company started a special bed bug division last November in response to the apparent resurgence of the blood thirsty insects.

Stress-inducing pest

Ever since, Venuti has been on guard. She's even started putting her luggage in the bathtub when she visits hotels.

Even the thought of a bed bug -and they hardly ever travel without a few hundred of their closest friends - has Venuti creeped out.

And she's not the only one.

"I can tell you first hand the psychological impact of this bug," said Jason Freels, manager of Bed Bug Services for Batzner. "Not only does it freak people out, but they have legitimate post-traumatic stress. I've seen it affect people for months."

And, Freels said, it's totally understandable.

"The one place - your little sanctuary, your home - where you're supposed to feel the safest and you have these little mini-vampires attacking you. You can't get away from it," Freels said.

Or, at least, it might feel that way. But you can, eventually, get rid of bed bugs.

Finding the bug

Freels uses everything from chemicals to heat treatments to Hunter, a rescue beagle trained, like a drug dog, expect he find finds live bed bugs.

Why a beagle?

"They're cute," Freels said.

And effective.

"It's really tough to see bed bugs," Freels explained. "A lot of people will say, 'I have bites. I must have bed bugs.' Bites are not a good sign of bed bugs; bed bugs are a sign of bed bugs."

That's because while some people might feel an immediate pinch or even go into anaphylactic shock after being bitten by a bed beg, others won't have a reaction for up to two weeks.

In that time, one pregnant female can spawn hundreds of eggs - not that you'd necessarily know it, since they can be hard to see.

"When you first have these, you won't find anything. You can look for hours and hours - and I have - and you won't find anything," Freels said. "That's why we use a dog. That's our first line in most inspections."

In most cases, that means sending Hunter into a person's bedroom. If Hunter finds bed bugs in a bed, his human cohorts wrap up the bed and remove it. Then, Hunter checks the room again. That continues until Hunter stops finding bugs.

Sometimes, they're confined to the bedroom. Other times, they've migrated to the living room. Mostly, beg bugs are found in beds, cars and luggage, Freels said.

Bye, bye bedbug

Once Freels knows you've got bed bugs, he can usually figure out a way to get rid of them.

Chemicals work pretty well, although how long that process takes can vary.

"I've seen them go away with one treatment, and I've seen them take four, five, six, seven treatments," Freels said.

Thermo-remediation can work in one shot, but it's expensive. That's because it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy the systems needed to heat an entire home to 122 degrees - the temperature known to instantly kill bed bugs and their eggs.

"It's cost prohibitive for a lot of people," Freels said.

But, even with chemicals, Freels said people can live bug free, even save their furniture.

Whatever treatment you choose, the important thing to get all the bed bugs - and Freels means all of them - or you'll just end up repeating the process.

"It can be complicated," Freels said, especially since the infestation in your home likely came from somewhere else.

"I call it CSI: Bed Bug," Freels said. "You have to walk people through it and investigate."

Freels works backward from the primary infestation, say, your home. Then, he looks at the places you visit most after that like your girlfriend's house, your grandma's condo, your office, your car - anywhere you've been that could lead you to bring bugs back home.

"If you don't get rid of the rest of the infestations in your life, the risk for re-infestation is really high," Freels said. "You see that happen in hospital settings or clinic settings, like with dialysis, where people come on a weekly schedule or with transportation, someone who takes the same bus everyday."

The problem is particularly vexing for social service agencies, which deal with so many people who visit so many venues for picking up bed begs.

"It's a vicious circle. It can be anybody in society," Freels said.

Spreading the word, not the bug

Which is why, Freels admitted, it's so easy to get freaked out.

But try not to worry.

"They can be found anywhere, but that's not the case for most people," said Freels, who has been a pest control service provider for seven years

"The key point of this whole thing is educating the public, people spreading the word to each other. Whenever I do a presentation, I say, 'Now go, tell somebody else.' "

Bed Bug Facts

Bed bugs go through seven growing phases before reaching adulthood.

They molt between phases, and they need to take a blood meal before they can grow to the next phase or reproduce.

Bed bug eggs are almost impossible to see.

An adult bed bug can appear reddish, blackish, brownish, but mostly it looks like a tiny, black marker-like dot on a white T-shirt.

In three months, one pregnant female can produce 35,000 bed bugs

Chemicals and heat are effective in getting rid of bed bugs.

Dogs can be trained to detect bed bugs.

Traveling tips

Keep unused items in sealed bags.

Don't put your purse, briefcase or luggage on the floor, bed or sofa. Consider putting luggage and other items in the bathtub to avoid contact with the carpet, which could carry bed bugs.

If you're traveling by car, consider putting your suitcases in sealed garbage bags.

Inspect your room. Pull back the bed sheets and inspect the mattress seams and boxspring for blood stains, bug feces or skin casings. Also check the night stand and other furniture.

Check your luggage when you get home.