Common situations

Why it matters how the insects got in

The origin determines two practically important things: whether the problem will recur and how wide the treatment needs to be.

If bedbugs came in with luggage after a trip, they are localised in the bedroom, and after treatment the problem is solved — unless the same thing happens next time.

If they come from a neighbouring apartment, the opposite is true: treatment destroys what is in your property, but the source remains, and without a barrier or coordinated action the insects return.

So it is worth telling us in the form not only what is in the property, but when and after what it appeared.

The most common scenarios in Latvia

• After travel — the main route bedbugs spread worldwide. See bedbugs after travel.
• With used furniture — the second most common route here, given the active second-hand market. See bedbugs from used furniture.
• From neighbours — the most common scenario in apartment blocks, especially after a treatment next door. See pests from neighbours.
• In a rented flat — where the question of who pays also arises. See pests in a rented flat.
• After moving in — when the problem was there before you. See pests after moving in.

What applies to every scenario

Whatever the origin, two actions almost always make things worse: moving furniture or belongings to other rooms, which spreads the infestation, and spraying shop aerosols, which scatters the colony and makes later professional treatment less effective.

And one action almost always helps: washing textiles at 60 °C, which reliably kills bedbugs, fleas and moths at every life stage.

What to do in the first 24 hours

What you do before we arrive genuinely affects the result — and two of the commonest instincts make things worse.

• Do not spray a shop aerosol. It is the usual first reaction and it backfires: the colony scatters into other rooms and neighbouring flats, so the area needing treatment grows.
• Photograph what you found — the insect, a bite, droppings, damage. It helps identify the species and lets us plan the method before arriving.
• Do not move to another room, particularly with bedbugs. They follow the person and colonise the new sleeping place while the old population survives.
• Isolate the likely source — a suspect suitcase after a trip, a bag of food, second-hand furniture. Sealed in a bag it stops the problem spreading.
• Get in touch. Describe what you found and where; we reply within 5 minutes and tell you whether it needs urgent action or can wait a few days.

How the origin affects the price and the scope

How the insects arrived changes what has to be treated, and that is what sets the price — not the species on its own.

• Brought in with an object — a suitcase, second-hand furniture, food. Usually the most contained case: one room, caught early, one treatment.
• Arrived from a neighbouring flat — treatment covers your property plus barrier work at the crossing points. It costs the same, but the honest position is that while the source next door is untreated, re-entry stays possible.
• Already there when you moved in — often the widest case, because the population has had months to establish. More rooms, and a second treatment more often.

In every case the price follows the property and its floor area: apartment from €55, house from €120. See prices.

The origin also predicts whether the problem is likely to return: