Thunder Bay Bed Bug Control & Removal

Toodaloo Pest Control treats bed bugs in houses, apartments, rooming houses and rental buildings across Thunder Bay. A technician goes through the whole home to find every place the bed bugs are hiding, treats them there, and returns for a follow-up visit to confirm they are gone. Same-day service is available. Call 1-844-866-3256 or our local line 807-788-0978, answered 24 hours a day.

What are the signs of bed bugs?

Bites are usually the first clue: itchy red welts that show up overnight, often two or three in a row. Other insects and skin conditions leave similar marks, so check for physical signs too:

• Black or rust-coloured specks on mattress seams, sheets or the bed frame: their droppings
• Little spots of blood on pillowcases or sheets
• Light, empty skins left behind as the young grow
• The bugs themselves: oval, flat and reddish-brown, about as big as an apple seed when grown

Where to look

Go over the bed with a flashlight first: the seams and tufts of the mattress and box spring, then the joints of the frame and headboard. After that, check baseboard edges, outlet covers, the seams of sofas and chairs, and your luggage after travel. If you find bed bugs in a ceiling light, Health Canada notes they may be coming from the unit above.

Not sure it is a bed bug? The Thunder Bay District Health Unit identifies insects for free: bring the insect in a clean, sealed container with your contact details to 999 Balmoral Street, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Where bed bugs show up in Thunder Bay

Bed bugs travel on people and their belongings. The Thunder Bay District Health Unit says the risk is higher in buildings where many different people are living or staying, such as apartments, hostels, rooming houses, hotels and motels, and warns that carrying bed bugs home after travelling can cause problems in even the cleanest home.

• Student rentals. Lakehead University notes that housing close to campus is in high demand and hard to find after the first week of September, so beds, couches and boxes change homes at the same time each year.
• Apartment and rooming houses. Bed bugs can move between units through wall gaps and along pipes and wiring, so neighbouring units may need to be checked too.
• Used furniture. Health Canada advises checking every second-hand item before it comes inside and never taking a mattress or sofa from the curb.
• Travel. After a trip, keep your suitcase off the bed and put clothes you do not need to wash in a hot dryer for at least 30 minutes.

How does our bed bug treatment work in Thunder Bay?

1. Inspection. We look through every room of the home, not only the bedroom where the bites happened, so no hiding spot is missed.
2. Getting ready. Our bed bug prep sheet lists what to do before we arrive: bag the bedding and the clothes from your dressers, put the bags through a hot dryer cycle of at least 30 minutes, clear off side tables, vacuum and discard the vacuum bag, and unplug computers and fish tanks.
3. Treatment day. Depending on the home, we use heat and residual treatments, with chemical or non-chemical options, on the bed, the furniture and the hiding spots in every affected room. People and pets need to stay away for roughly 6 hours. For anyone who is pregnant, under 2 years old or has breathing problems, the time away is 24 hours.
4. Second service. A second treatment follows 10 to 14 days later to deal with any bed bugs that hatched from eggs after the first one. Leave the cleaned clothes in their bags until that second visit is done.

Heat treatment or residual products?

• Heat. Bed bugs die at 50°C, according to Health Canada. Heating a room or infested items to that level for long enough kills both the bugs and their eggs, even deep in mattresses and furniture, but it gives no protection once the room has cooled.
• Residual products. Residual pesticides stay active on cracks, bed frames and baseboards and keep killing bed bugs that cross them afterwards. Every product used needs a Pest Control Products (PCP) number and may only be applied as its label allows.

Renting and have bed bugs?

Tell your landlord in writing as soon as you find bed bugs: the Thunder Bay District Health Unit notes the risk is higher in apartments and rooming houses, where bed bugs can reach neighbouring units, so an early report keeps the treatment smaller. Do not move mattresses or furniture through shared hallways before the treatment. See renting in Thunder Bay with a pest problem for the steps and where to turn if it is not fixed.

Licensed, insured and guaranteed

Toodaloo holds a pest control licence and carries $5 million in liability insurance. Our satisfaction guarantee applies to each visit. We have served Thunder Bay from 1095 Roland St and work with homeowners, tenants, landlords and property managers across the city.