About BugsInMyBed

First About Hearts Pest Management

Hearts Pest Management, Inc. purchased a pest control route in 2002 and has led the company to become a well-known entity servicing most of Southern California. Hearts Pest Management began advertising a green approach service in Southern California before green industry certification existed. Hearts Pest Management became the first pest control company in southern California to be EcoWise Certified. Recently, Hearts Pest Management, Inc. was given the California EPA Dept. of Pesticide Regulation Integrated Pest Management Innovator Award. Still, the company would not have prospered without the out-of-the-box approach to pest control, and the people behind the service. Gerry Weitz, the founder and visionary, entered the industry with a wealth of prior education and experience in social work, leading corporations providing information technology, management and consulting solutions, and last but not least, cooperative cultures. Gerry Weitz greatly admired Starbucks for the way it altered the perception of working class counter help, raising their sense of well-being, purpose and respect. Mr. Weitz has brought that model to the pest control industry.

Why BugsInMyBed? – Bedbugs, Mites and Mysterious Bites

Now, BugsInMyBed comes to you from Gerry Weitz’s experience in the world of bites. My first year in pest control, I came across a couple that called about mysterious bites being received in their bedroom. By far, it was the pregnant woman who was being bit. In our inspection, we found that the couple had an aviary with 15 parakeets, located approximately 100 feet from the home. The birds were alive and totally infested with mites. Industry conventional wisdom has been that bird mites cannot live off humans and certainly prefer birds. It is very common for bird mites to start biting humans after a bird has died and the infesting mites start looking for the closest host for their next meal. But in this case, the birds were still alive! So why did they like biting this woman so much? During our investigation, we found that the mites were traveling, just like ants, along a long trail. In this case, the trail led right up to the house, up the wall and into the second story bedroom! And so began my quest to find out the truth about mites. At the same time, the western world has had an enormous resurgence of bed bugs. Bed bug infestations are traumatizing and expensive to treat. There are social and legal implications as well. Then, one fine day, I decided to create a website: bugsinmybed, the content of which has now been incorporated into the Hearts Pest Management website, www.heartspm.com. Enjoy the inform here and call us if you are in trouble and live in the Southern California region. Thanks, Gerry