Over 44 Years of Industry Experience
Bed Bug Resource Center
Pronto Pest Management’s Bed Bug Resource Center
Our bed bug resource center in Michigan shows homeowners and property managers everything they need to know about spotting bed bug activity early, understanding how professional detection works, and eliminating an infestation for good.
Bed Bug Detection
Why Early Detection Matters
Early bed bug inspection is critical to keeping a home or property bed bug–free. Bed bugs are difficult to remove, and the longer an infestation spreads, the harder and more expensive the job becomes. Their small size, rapid reproduction, and ability to hide make stopping the spread early essential.
Why Bed Bugs are Hard to Spot
Bed bug detection is a challenging task for anyone unfamiliar with the signs of live activity. During their developmental stages, bed bugs can be as small as a sesame seed, and their coloring allows them to blend easily into carpets, furniture, mattresses, and box springs. These factors are why individual efforts to detect bed bugs often fail, giving the pests more time to spread before anyone notices.
The Cost of Missing an Infestation
A missed infestation can cost a homeowner or property manager thousands of dollars, along with real stress for anyone living with active bed bugs. Canine scent detection and visual inspection are the two primary methods used to detect bed bugs, and the method used matters.
Bed Bug Inspection
Canine detection is the fastest and most accurate method for identifying live bed bug activity. It relies on well-trained scent-detection canines, with accuracy rates ranging from 95% to 98%.
Properly trained dogs, like our K-9 detectives, can smell out small traces of bed bug activity within minutes. Certified detection dogs save property owners time and money by locating pests during the first inspection.
The Problem with Visual Detection
Visual inspections have several drawbacks compared to scent detection. The accuracy rate for visual detection is only about 50%, and the process is far more time-consuming. Technicians must physically search furniture, linens, curtains, wall crevices, and nightstands for signs of activity, a process that can take hours compared to the few minutes required for a canine inspection. Visual detection also has trouble telling active bed bug activity apart from leftover signs of bed bugs that are already dead. A false positive might mean unnecessary treatment costs.
Signs of Live Activity
Signs of bed bug activity often turn up when changing the sheets on a bed. Look for reddish or rusty stains, dark spots left by bed bug excrement, and eggs or eggshells. Bites on people sleeping in a possibly infested area are another common sign.
Common Hiding Places
When they aren’t feeding, bed bugs hide in a wide range of places: the mattress and box spring, the piping system, seams and tags on the mattress, and cracks and crevices in the bed frame and nearby walls. In severe infestations, bed bugs can also spread to chair and couch seams, drawer joints, electrical receptacles and appliances, ceiling-wall junctions, and under loose wallpaper or wall hangings.
Certified canine inspection remains the most reliable way to confirm bed bug activity and avoid the cost of a missed or false diagnosis.
Bed Bug Removal
Our three-phase Bed Bug Removal Plan draws on over 44 years of experience removing bed bugs from properties across Michigan. The plan reflects what our team has learned handling moderate to severe infestations, from single-family homes to apartment complexes, and it’s built to give families and tenants a pest-free property again.
Reach Out Today
Contact Pronto Pest Management or request an inspection today. Once an inspection confirms bed bug activity, we begin the Proactive Bed Bug Removal Plan to eliminate the infestation from your property.