Kissing Bug Control

The control and removal of kissing bugs is a fairly complex process and one that usually requires the assistance from a professional pest control company that specializes in the control of kissing bugs from your home or office buildling.

Kissing Bugs: Description and Threatment

The kissing or assassin bug is found in Hawaii and the lower two-thirds of the continental US outside Alaska.
Adults are a little less than an inch long. They have dark brown to black flattened bodies; elongated, cone-shaped heads with a pair of segmented antennae and a prominent "beak" (proboscis). They sport equally-spaced reddish-orange spots along the outside edge of their bodies, visible past their wing margins.
The threat that kissing bugs pose is that they can carry Chagas disease, and can potentially transmit it to humans when they feed. (Chagas disease, in its chronic phase, can cause severe cardiac and disgestive problems.) Kissing bugs are similar to mosquitos in that they feed on blood. Usually, they prefer to get their meals from other animals, e.g. wood rats, but humans will do too. Like many other pests, they can enter homes through small cracks in the foundation, gaps or rips in screens, gaps under doors, or through open doors or unscreened open windows. Once inside, they hide in or under furniture, or in dark, infrequently-disturbed areas such as closets.
Kissing bugs are nocturnal, feeding at night. When they bite, they inject a numbing agent so they don’t wake up their sleeping victims.
If you live near wooded or grassy fields, in an area where wood rats or packrats are known to occur, there is a possibility that kissing bugs are around as well. Take the steps described below to seal up your house, and make modifications to the area around your house to reduce the presence of the rodents.

Keeping Kissing Bugs Out, and Rodents Away

Fix tears in screens; install or repair weatherstripping around doors; fill any gaps around water pipes under sinks; and be zealous about sealing up cracks and openings in the foundation, such as where utility lines enter the house. If done thoroughly, these measures will help to minimize the presence of all sorts of pests in your house.
Inside, if you’ve got areas of stored boxes, magazine piles, or where belongings are sitting undisturbed for long periods of time, you’ve got potential insect hideouts. Clean these areas up. Vacuum behind and under bookshelves and furniture, along baseboards and in corners.
Tight-fitting trim and caulking of all cracks or gaps in interior walls will prevent the bugs from entering a room.
Insecticidal powders, including boric acid, are where the gold is. The powder lasts a while; spiders ingest it when grooming, offering long-term control. If you’re building a house or adding a room, consider having the wall voids treated with boric acid.
If getting the powder in the walls and behind the baseboards of your home seems overwhelming, save yourself the headaches and call in the pros. Professional pest control operators or exterminators will tackle the job for you, saving you a lot of work and worry. Look for ones with experience with spider problems in your area.