Bedbug/Pest Infrared Scans
Using Thermal Imaging to Detect Bedbugs, Termites, and More

Signs of a Bed Bug Infestation

There are many possible signs of bed bug activity. The first would be seeing the bugs. Adult bed bugs are about the shape and size of an apple seed. A second sign would be case skins. As the juvenile bugs get older, they shed their skins, which if discovered can indicate their presence.

After feeding, bed bugs return to their harborage to hide. They eventually defecate in these areas, which appears as black to brown stains on porous surfaces or black to brown mounds on nonporous surfaces.

Bites also may indicate bed bug activity, but further signs will need to be found, since other sources can cause red welts on the skin.


How To Get Rid of Bed Bugs

It’s possible to pick up bed bugs almost any place—they’ve infested offices, stores, hotels, gyms and countless other places. They can hide in your luggage, personal belongings, or even on you, and hitchhike a ride back to your home, condo, townhouse or apartment. Once indoors, they can be extremely difficult to control without the help of an experienced pest specialist.

A bed bug infestation has nothing to do with cleanliness — you can pick them up in the finest hotels, and they can hitchhike into the cleanest homes at any time. But, you can help reduce your chances of a costly bed bug infestation by catching them early.

Here are some tips to help prevent and/get rid of bed bugs:

• Survey surfaces for signs of an infestation, such as tiny rust-colored spots on bed sheets, mattress tags and seams, and bed skirts.
• Remove all clutter from your home, which makes finding bed bugs easier.
• Lift and look for all bed bug hiding spots, including underneath the mattress, bed frame, headboard and furniture. Typically, they come out at night to feed, but during the day they are most likely found within a 1.5 meter radius of the bed.
• Elevate your luggage while traveling on a luggage rack away from the bed and wall, since bed bugs can often hide behind headboards, artwork, picture frames and electrical outlet panels.
• Examine your luggage carefully during and after traveling while repacking and when you return home. Always keep luggage off the bed and store it in a closet or other area, far away from your bedroom.
• Wash and dry your bed linens often using the hottest temperature allowed for the fabric
• Place all your clothing from your luggage immediately in the dryer for at least 15 minutes at the highest setting upon returning home from travel.
• Closely inspect any second-hand furniture for bed bugs before you bring it into your residence.
• Inspect your residence regularly—after a move-in, a trip, when a service worker comes in or guests stay overnight.

Heat Patterns of Termites in Houses

Thermal imaging technology detects heat patterns. When termites invade buildings, the normal heat patterns of the walls, floors and roof are changed due to the presence of termites. The thermal camera records this change in heat patterns and indicates the exact location of any termite infestation. A color image shows hot spots as red or yellow and cold spots as blue or purple and these heat patterns indicate termite infestations.

Termites are a type of insect that is considered cold-blooded; how can they generate heat? Termites are hosts to bacteria, which live in their gut, and these bacteria help break down and digest cellulose, the main component of wood. It is this digestion and chemical reaction that generates heat.

Termites get their food by eating wood, which is made up of mainly cellulose. A special bug called protozoa, lives in the stomach of termites and these protozoa helps to break down the cellulose. The digestion of cellulose generates heat and when large numbers of termites in nests get together, there is a lot of heat concentrated in one place. This heat moves through the walls or floor of a house and it is this thermal pattern that can be detected with the thermal imaging equipment.

If termites invade a house, in as little as six weeks, a small colony can form and considerable damage can be done as the termites eat through the timber parts of the house and start colonizing. They must stay out of the light and keep to the darker and damper areas inside the walls, floor and roof spaces. They need to control their temperature and may do this generating heat as they stay in large groups, or building moist mud structures to keep cool in hot conditions. They are attracted to warm areas around power points. An inspection with a thermal camera will detect these changes in heat patterns, whereas conventional methods will keep these colonies hidden.