Bed Bug Treatment in Georgia
By Mark Sargent, President of High Priority Pest Services · Updated October 13, 2026
If you are waking up with itchy bites, finding tiny dark spots on the mattress seams, or you just found a small, flat, reddish-brown bug in the bed, you may be dealing with bed bugs. They are not a sign of a dirty house. Bed bugs are hitchhikers. They ride in on luggage, used furniture, overnight guests and moving boxes, and they do just as well in a lake house as in a hotel room.
The first job is to confirm what you have. Plenty of bites get blamed on bed bugs that turn out to be something else, and a few bugs that look exactly like bed bugs are not. We inspect, identify and only then treat.
What Bed Bugs Look Like
An adult bed bug is about the size of an apple seed, roughly 3/16 of an inch long. It is flat, oval, wingless and reddish-brown. After feeding it swells, turns darker and gets longer, which is why the same bug can look very different from one day to the next.
Young bed bugs, called nymphs, go through five stages before adulthood. They start out pale and nearly translucent, about the size of a poppy seed, and darken as they grow and feed. Eggs are white, about 1 millimeter long, and usually tucked into seams and cracks where you will not see them without looking hard.
Signs You Have Bed Bugs
Bites alone do not confirm bed bugs. People react differently, and some do not react at all. These are the signs that do:
- Dark spotting — small black or rust-colored dots on mattress seams, the box spring, the headboard or nearby walls. That is digested blood.
- Shed skins — pale, empty casings left behind as nymphs grow.
- Eggs and eggshells — tiny white ovals packed into seams, cracks and crevices.
- Live bugs — most often along mattress piping, behind the headboard, in box spring corners, and in furniture and baseboards close to the bed.
- Rusty smears on sheets — from bugs crushed after feeding.
This is what an established infestation looks like on a wall, from our own inspection footage:
Bed Bug or Bat Bug?
Around Lake Oconee and in older homes, this matters. Bat bugs are close relatives of bed bugs and look nearly identical without magnification. They live with bats in attics, eaves and walls, and when the bats leave or are shut out, the bat bugs go looking for the next warm body.
If it is bat bugs, treating the bedroom alone will not solve it. The bat problem has to be dealt with too, or the bugs keep coming. That is why we confirm the species under magnification before we treat.
How We Treat Bed Bugs
We use a chemical treatment program built around a thorough inspection and follow-up visits.
- Inspection. We confirm the pest, find where they are living, and check the rooms around the bedroom so nothing gets missed.
- Targeted treatment. We treat the bed, furniture, baseboards, cracks, crevices and other hiding spots with products labeled for bed bugs.
- Follow-up. Eggs can survive the first treatment, so we come back to catch nymphs that hatch afterward, and keep coming back until the inspection shows no activity.
- Clear prep instructions. We tell you exactly what to wash, bag and move before we arrive, so the treatment reaches every hiding spot.
What Not to Do
- Do not use foggers or bug bombs. They do not reach bed bugs where they hide, and they scatter them deeper into walls and nearby rooms.
- Do not start sleeping on the couch. The bugs follow you and spread the problem to a second room.
- Do not move furniture or belongings to other rooms before treatment.
- Do not throw out the mattress unless we tell you to. Dragging it through the house can drop bugs along the way, and it is usually treatable.
Rentals, Hotels and Businesses
Short-term rentals, lake houses with a rotation of guests, and businesses that house people overnight get reintroductions more often. For ongoing programs on those properties, see commercial and industrial pest management and lake house pest control.
Get Ahead of It
Bed bugs do not go away on their own, and every week of waiting means more eggs. If you think you have them, call us. We will confirm what you are dealing with and lay out the treatment plan.
Price is quoted after a visit. Call or text (470) 474-2847.
Schedule Pest Service
Tell us what you’re seeing and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours. Office hours are Mon–Sun, 8AM–6PM — and we’re available 24/7 for urgent problems, so call (470) 474-2847 if it can’t wait.
Where we treat this
High Priority treats bed bugs across the Lake Country, including Eatonton, Lake Oconee, Greensboro, Madison and Milledgeville. See all areas we serve and other common Georgia pests.