Leading Innovator of Bed Bug Eradication Techniques

With rising awareness of our impact on the environment comes a new challenge: How do we maintain our quality of life without the use of harmful chemicals when it comes to pest control?

Pyrethrins and pyrethroids have been a popular choice to replace DDT, a powerful insecticide now banned in Canada because of its harmful effects. Pyrethrins are botanical compounds lethal to bed bugs. Pyrethroids are synthetics that function the same way as pyrethrins. Both give rise to resistant bed bug strains, which limits their effectiveness over time.

Desiccants work by destroying the protective outer coating of a bed bug, which causes it to gradually dehydrate and die. Because this is a targeted, physical mode of eradication, bed bugs can’t become resistant to it. But like chemical treatments, it only works with direct contact.

A LONG-LASTING, NATURALLY-OCCURRING SOLUTION

As the first and only canine bed bug detection team in Atlantic Canada, Bed Bug Detectives is widely know for its eco-minded innovations in pest control.

We asked ourselves:

  1. How can we reach the effectiveness of DDT without its dangerous consequences?
  2. How can we overcome bed bug strains resistant to pyrethrins and pyrethroids?
  3. How can we take the physicality of desiccants from targeted to widespread impact?

Mushrooms. Specifically, fungal spores.

How does it work?

Aprehend® is a patented formula composed of Beauveria bassiana fungal spores applied lightly and strategically to where bed bugs travel. The spores germinate within 20 hours of coming into contact with a beg bug, penetrates its outer waxy cuticle, and colonises its body in the same way other fungi attack plants. Death occurs anywhere from four to ten days after short-term contact.

Those 20 hours after first contact are key to this bio-pesticide’s efficacy. When a bed bug carrying fungal spores returns to the harbourage, or nesting area, the spores are then transferred to other bed bugs in all stages of life–egg, nymph, and adult–and spread throughout the colony. Each night when bed bugs come out to feed, the process repeats until the entire colony is eradicated.

One proper application of Aprehend® will last up to three months. Not only does it eradicate existing bed bug infestations, it prevents the formation of new colonies–where bed bugs go, the spores go with them.

Benefits of a professionally-applied Aprehend® treatment

  • Zero environmental impact
  • Safe for people and pets
  • Long-term protection
  • Widespread treatment without direct contact
  • Eliminates entire colonies

Aprehend® is only one component of our Integrated Pest Management approach. To learn more about our methods, please visit our eco-treatment and thermal remediation pages.

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