Dwellings can become infested with bed bugs in a variety of ways.  Bed bugs and their eggs can be "hitchhiked in" on pets or on clothing and luggage.  Infested items such as furniture or clothing in nearby dwellings can lead to an infestation if there are easy routes through duct work or false ceilings.  Wild animals like bats or birds can deposit bed bugs in a dwelling.  Bed bugs, like roaches, are transferred by clothing, luggage, or a person's body.

• Visually inspect the premises.
• Recomend a Bed Bug Certified mattress encasement.
• May set traps and interception devices.
• Use active monitoring devices.
• Employ professional bed bug canine scent detection dogs for searching.

It may not be necessary to simply discard mattresses and box springs indiscriminately just because of the presence of bed bugs.  Mattresses and box springs in otherwise good condition may be suitably vacuumed, steam cleaned, or treated for bed bugs and further protected by suitable encasements produced for this purpose.  Use high quality mattress encasements or covers that are Bed Bug Certified (BBC) to seal bed bugs in and take away the multiple hiding places.