Little Critters

I visited a lady today who had a problem with a rug that she was slightly embarrassed about. After reassuring her that I have seen quite a lot of gross things that are related to rug cleaning, she explained her story to me.

Whilst on a weekend break to London with her husband and daughter, she had bought a very nice hand knotted Persian rug 2 months ago from a market stall in North London.
She returned with the rug to her home in Newton Ferrers, with the intention of laying it down in her daughter’s bedroom next to her bed.
After a few weeks their daughter was complaining of itching during the night. After further inspection by my client she found bite marks on her daughter’s skin which were painful.
After a few weeks of using body lotion products she had in the bathroom cupboard the problem was not going away. She visited the doctors and they discovered that her daughter was being bitten by either fleas or bed bugs. My client was horrified as she has always regarded herself as a clean and tidy person and her home is always tidy and kept neat and clean.
I received the phone call from my client and after hearing her story I arranged a time for me to come out and visit her. Armed with my microscope, gloves and inspection pad I arrived at her home and went straight to her daughter’s bedroom. I inspected the bed, carpet, skirting boards, all cracks and crevasse and finally the rug. I noticed bed bug evidence on the bed and mattress and I saw a few Bed Bugs on the mattress. I’ve seen many Fleas and obviously dustmites but this was one of the few times I have come across such a large volume of bed bugs.
As I turned by attention to the rug I noticed that a lot of the bed bugs were hiding in the rug.

Bed bugs only appear in the bed at night time when they can sense a warm body in it, so they can feed upon that body. During the day when the bed is cold and empty they like to stay hidden in cracks around the skirting board.

I showed my client the specimen jar I had used to collect the evidence and she was horrified to now that she had a bed bug problem. I advised her on the course of action I would take and she was more than happy for me to go ahead and do the work.

I went to my van and got the appropriate equipment out to clean the carpets, bed frame, mattress, curtains. I rolled the rug up and sealed it in a polyphene bag so none of the bed bugs could be transported to another room. When I returned to our rug cleaning facilities I gave the rug a full spa treatment clean and a course of action for the bed bugs. I returned the rug to my client and she was amazed at how well I had dealt with the problem. And also how well her rug had cleaned up.

She asked me how the bed bugs would have got in her house and my professional opinion would have been, seeing the rug was the only new (second-Hand) item they had bought into the house environment in the last couple months. I said to her they were probably from the rug and transported down from the previous house to her house.

My client was overjoyed at how well we treated her bed bug infestation. So if you have concerns about bed bugs, fleas, dustmites or any other creepy crawlies please do not hesitate in getting in contact with a member of our team.