Folks, let's get really real: BED BUGS

jarvis

Subject: Folks, let's get really real: BED BUGS

About bedbugs.

I was in Pintchik the other day and there were at least two people there stocking up on stuff that made it clear they were battling bedbugs (plastic bins, garbage bags in excess, etc..).. when I got up to the counter a woman was in the middle of telling her story about negligent management and how at least 20 units in her building are infested. The cashier was commiserating saying that they're really everywhere right now and scores of people are being affected.

I had a friend a few years ago who got them on Franklin ave. and narrated the whole experience for me over the phone over the months that she was dealing (before she had to move out of her apartment). Having learned from her experience I became super paranoid about every little dot I saw in my apt., only have white linens, clear surfaces, no carpeting etc.. I've lived in NYC my entire life and Pro. Heights for 10 years with no problems.

Nevertheless, last Friday my roommate found a bite and the next day we saw a bug. We knew *exactly* what it was because I have spent so much time checking them out on the web. We immediately contacted a specialist and have finished our first treatment.. even though he only got one bite and we saw one bug, we wanted to be super careful.

You *do not* want to go through bedbug treatment if you can avoid it, it will take over your life! We will be living out of bags for the next month in an apartment that looks and feels like it was bombed. The preparation for the treatment alone took four full 20 hour days of work.

There's no way to tell where it came from, but the likelihood is pretty high that it's in other apartments as well or came in from a neighbor. Adult BBs can live for 18 months in hiding, so who knows when we got this.

Please, for the love of all that is holy and because most of us live in buildings with others:

-Do not take any furniture, clothing, upholstered items off the street. (I'm talking to you if you are the person who took our dresser even though we kicked out the drawers, destroyed the back and carved X's into the wood)

-Be aware of what they look like, and if you see a bug that's new or suspect, look it up or call someone to come check it out, or take a picture and show it to a pro. I saw what looked like a tiny white dot on a photograph on my windowsill.. I dismissed it as a dustmite or whatever but bagged it anyway and when I showed it to our Pest Control guy he said it was a nymph bedbug.. who knew? A lot of the companies that deal with bugs will now send a dog to sniff out your apartment..proactive, and cute!

-If you have bedbugs, or think you might, deal with it immediately. Your landlord/manager may not pay for treatment right away, or ever, but do what you have to do.. you really don't want to put it off. Our guy said that we seemed to have caught ours at a good stage and we should be ok. This is the last thing in the world we can afford right now, but it could have gotten a lot worse if we had waited to deal.

Basically, I'm really just writing because I don't want other people to go through this and because selfishly, I don't want to get them back from our building when this is all done. From what I hear anecdotally it really is epidemic right now especially in Brooklyn. I'm not going to say where I live because, hey, it's the internet.. but if you think you're my neighbor PM me and we can chat.

mod note: edited the subject line to reflect the topic.

landlord

Good advice. I also recommend that you notify your landlord asap so he can act on it right away.

lo kee

"That's right, we can't have anyone freak out out there ok! We've gotta keep our composure. We've come too far. There's too much to lose. We gotta just keep our composure everybody just keep your composure"

saskia

If you think they are coming through from other apartments, you can try caulking every crack at the bottom of your baseboards and I would also add caulking around your electrical outlets.

I am paranoid too and if you read the NY Times triple bedbug feature in the RE section from a few weeks ago you will see an exterminator who says he believes every building in NY has at least one case of them.

My other advice, which I have yet to follow, is to buy the climb-up interceptors for your bed legs. I wish everyone in my building would do this. Number one, it would indicate that they are aware of the bedbug epidemic, and Number 2, if they are not allergic to the bites they will be able to notice a bedbug in their apartment at the very beginning of an infestation and call the landlord or exterminator about it right away.

The interceptors are just that- they capture a bedbug in a kind of talcum powder in a dish on their way up to bite you in bed. They also capture bedbugs who have just eaten and are on their way down.

One thing I recently learned is that bedbugs emit some kind of chemical or pheramone when they are trapped on sticky traps. They use it to communicate danger to other bedbugs, who then I suppose go hide in your walls and make more babies, which you don't want. But the bugs do not emit the same chemical when they are stuck in talcum powder

I have no idea how well the interceptors actually work but I have read about them a number of times on bedbugger.com.

izisharp

i like your attitude, Jarvis. Definitely an important factor when taking up this battle. I've been there. It's kinda like the unemployment rate nowadays -- all of us know at least one person who's had these mu-fu**ers. If not more.

Another key -- enlist the support of your landlord and neighbors. Persuade the neighbors to inspect or allow the exterminators in to examine. Can't eliminate 'em one unit at a time.

good luck, son.

jarvis

sigh, now if I could only get my landlord to call me back...

Thanks for the support izisharp!
Oh, and I'm a lady btw ... it's a little more obvious in person ; )

catwalkertexasranger

Also spend 10 or 15 bucks for diatemecious earth and boric acid and make a big ring around your life. DE helps and is a natural substance, good luck and don't wait.

catwalkertexasranger

Also spend 10 or 15 bucks for diatemecious earth and boric acid and make a big ring around your life. DE helps and is a natural substance, good luck and don't wait.

marla_singer

Hi all,

I am a neighbor; I read this board often and post sometimes. I have a bedbug site that is really helpful if you either think you have bedbugs or are going through it. It would be great if you could recommend it to friends in need. Thanks.

http://carynsolly.com/bedbugs/

orangenow

Subject: Re: Folks, let's get really real: BED BUGS

I want to thank you for your post.

Gee , I thought that bedbugs were of the past but the way you write, it
seems they are all over around.

Wow.
And now I am rethinking some furniture posts that I saw on
craigs list.

jarvis wrote: About bedbugs.

I was in Pintchik the other day and there were at least two people there stocking up on stuff that made it clear they were battling bedbugs (plastic bins, garbage bags in excess, etc..).. when I got up to the counter a woman was in the middle of telling her story about negligent management and how at least 20 units in her building are infested. The cashier was commiserating saying that they're really everywhere right now and scores of people are being affected.

I had a friend a few years ago who got them on Franklin ave. and narrated the whole experience for me over the phone over the months that she was dealing (before she had to move out of her apartment). Having learned from her experience I became super paranoid about every little dot I saw in my apt., only have white linens, clear surfaces, no carpeting etc.. I've lived in NYC my entire life and Pro. Heights for 10 years with no problems.

Nevertheless, last Friday my roommate found a bite and the next day we saw a bug. We knew *exactly* what it was because I have spent so much time checking them out on the web. We immediately contacted a specialist and have finished our first treatment.. even though he only got one bite and we saw one bug, we wanted to be super careful.

You *do not* want to go through bedbug treatment if you can avoid it, it will take over your life! We will be living out of bags for the next month in an apartment that looks and feels like it was bombed. The preparation for the treatment alone took four full 20 hour days of work.

There's no way to tell where it came from, but the likelihood is pretty high that it's in other apartments as well or came in from a neighbor. Adult BBs can live for 18 months in hiding, so who knows when we got this.

Please, for the love of all that is holy and because most of us live in buildings with others:

-Do not take any furniture, clothing, upholstered items off the street. (I'm talking to you if you are the person who took our dresser even though we kicked out the drawers, destroyed the back and carved X's into the wood)

-Be aware of what they look like, and if you see a bug that's new or suspect, look it up or call someone to come check it out, or take a picture and show it to a pro. I saw what looked like a tiny white dot on a photograph on my windowsill.. I dismissed it as a dustmite or whatever but bagged it anyway and when I showed it to our Pest Control guy he said it was a nymph bedbug.. who knew? A lot of the companies that deal with bugs will now send a dog to sniff out your apartment..proactive, and cute!

-If you have bedbugs, or think you might, deal with it immediately. Your landlord/manager may not pay for treatment right away, or ever, but do what you have to do.. you really don't want to put it off. Our guy said that we seemed to have caught ours at a good stage and we should be ok. This is the last thing in the world we can afford right now, but it could have gotten a lot worse if we had waited to deal.

Basically, I'm really just writing because I don't want other people to go through this and because selfishly, I don't want to get them back from our building when this is all done. From what I hear anecdotally it really is epidemic right now especially in Brooklyn. I'm not going to say where I live because, hey, it's the internet.. but if you think you're my neighbor PM me and we can chat.

mod note: edited the subject line to reflect the topic.

prospectplacegirl

yep :-( they have officially arrived. SUCKS!!!

ams

How can I tell if the bugbites I have are mosquitos or bedbugs?

god

ams wrote: How can I tell if the bug bites I have are mosquitos or bedbugs?

Bed Bug bites usually are in tracks. They move and feed, move and feed as they go. Plus, they get under your clothes and can be anywhere on your body.

ellenpittman

I got the BBs and live on Franklin Ave. Everyone should be aware! I have had the first treatment and am waiting to see if it takes. The exterminator said we caught it early.

Will get the things for the legs of my bed. Thanks for the tip.

independent mind

Subject: quick question

Do those of you who have BBs think its possible you picked it up from a cafe or restaurant and carried it home? I wonder about all the couches at some of the tea lounges and cafes in the area....And, if you think this might be a possibility, what places do you frequent?

vanilla

a blast from the past::: http://www.brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44730

also::: http://www.brooklynian.com/search.php?cx=partner-pub-1040068503971974%3A8ex7g1-8brc&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=bedbugs&sa=Search

god

Subject: Re: quick question

independent mind wrote: Do those of you who have BBs think its possible you picked it up from a cafe or restaurant and carried it home? I wonder about all the couches at some of the tea lounges and cafes in the area....And, if you think this might be a possibility, what places do you frequent?

Very possible. Hotels are the big spreaders. Check the drawers and the mattress.

jarvis

I do think this may be what happened to us but there's no way to be sure. My roomate had bites (in tracks) and found a full-grown adult bedbug in his bedding. We got the whole treatment done (been living with everything in bags for over a month) but never found proof of any infestation. Could also be that it came from another apt. - exterminator said they are more likely to travel up and down than side to side. It very well may have come from a public spot - if that's the case it pretty much definitely came from a movie theater.

scarlett

The Pavillion in park slope has bed bugs. Where else?

brownie

I live in a large bldg in PH. There has been no discussion of BBs here, but we do have an exterminator come often. I don't have them visit me as we have no critters that I know of. Should I bother as a preventive against BBs or is it a different chemical?

scarlett

Totally different.

raw

scarlett wrote: The Pavillion in park slope has bed bugs. Where else?

the movie theater :shock:

saskia

brownie wrote: Should I bother as a preventive against BBs or is it a different chemical?

This is what you can do preventatively:

1. Use light colored, solid bed linens and check at least once per month thorougly for any signs. This means learning to inspect and learning what to look for (blood spots and little spots that look like ball point pen markings).

2. caulking. You could try to seal up cracks between your apt. and your neighbors'.

3. educate yourself and your neighbors. Not too hard to self-educate (read FAQs bedbugger) but it's a whole other story to try to get your neighbors on board. Basically you want them to cut down on or stop behavior like trash picking

saskia

A few other things other people are doing that may or may not be worthwhile:

1. get the climbup interceptors for the bed legs. This would serve as early warning. I already mentioned I don't know how well they work. I bought some but I am not sure I'm going to use them until I have a real scare. They are large (saucer-sized) and plasticy looking, so it's kind of an eyesore if you don't need them.

2. another new product hit the market called Bug Domes, same type of thing as above, but I think they haven't been reliably tested and I would go for the interceptors over domes until more testing is done.

3. Some people dust Diatomaceous earth in their homes, but you have to wear a mask while applying it and make sure it's not disturbed later. I dusted once and then decided not to do so again until there is a real threat at hand

yes, I am totally paranoid and spend too much time on bedbugger.com

saskia

3 things NOT to do

Do not set off bug bombs (makes them hide in the walls and they can live for a year without food)

Do not start sleeping in another room if you think they are in your bed. They will follow you and spread the infestation.

Do not be complacent just because you don't get any bites. Many (50%?) of people don't react. This means you have to check for the signs on your bed. Mark your calendar and check once a month.

christina

I've had them, and not just at the early stage, yet I slept in another room and after the treatment (which primarily existed of throwing away my entire bedroom furniture - they were in the wooden bed frame) I never got them again. So far.

Don't panic. But do worry. It's a mindf@ck for years once you have that scenario behind you.

rbg

Order the New York Bedbug extermination kit....Not kidding...

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/new-york-bed-bug-kit-p-271.html?osCsid=21529916487c0bec92efdc80460367a6

homeowner

For those of you that are searching on the boards for ways to determine whether or not you have an infestation, Time Magazine has this easy to build bedbug detector.

Time Magazine wrote: Itching for a good after-school science experiment? Researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey have created a homemade bedbug trap using a plastic cat-food dish, an insulated jug and some dry-ice pellets. According to Wan-Tien Tsai, who reported her findings in December at the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America, the dry-ice-and-thermos combo captured the bloodsucking critters in an infested apartment just as effectively as, if not more so than, equipment used by professional exterminators.

The most important part of this MacGyverized contraption is an insulated one-third-gallon jug--like the kind sold in camping-supply stores--filled with 2½ lb. of frozen carbon dioxide, which costs about $1 per lb. (and should be handled only with gloves). As the dry-ice pellets slowly evaporate, the open thermos spout lets the CO[subscript 2]--which falsely signals bedbugs that a breathing, blood-filled meal is nearby--seep out overnight. That's usually enough time to entice the nocturnal insects into the other key component of the trap: the overturned food-and-water dish on which the thermos sits. The bugs climb the outer surface of the dish, which can be scuffed with sandpaper for better traction, and get stuck in its moat, made slippery-smooth with a dusting of talcum powder.

This trap was designed to give consumers a cheap way to determine if they have--or, in many cases, still have--a bedbug problem that requires a proper extermination. Bedbugs have made a serious comeback in North America over the past few years, especially in big cities like Toronto and San Francisco. And they are notoriously hard to get rid of. As evidence, amid the enthusiastic talk on Bedbugger.com about the Rutgers invention, one commenter noted, "Dude, I am so going to try this once a month or so."