Bed bugs and rooming houses
Rooming houses, at least in Winnipeg, are large old houses divided into small rooms/suites with a common kitchen and bathroom. The rents are very cheap and the quality is typically very low. These buildings are dismal places to live – no one lives there by choice (I know of two exceptions to the above but […]
What type of floors are best for getting rid of bed bugs?
My clients are often concerned about bed bugs hiding in the carpet fibers. To date I have yet to find a harbourage in a carpet and, as such, find myself reassuring the clients that carpets do not typically harbour bed bugs. But which types of floors are best and worst for bed bugs? The following […]
Bed bugs and curtains
Bed bugs are typically found in the folds of the mattress and box spring at the head of the bed and in areas where the bed touches the wall. When I inspect a bed for bugs those are the first places I look. Sometimes the bed is located under the window and the pillow actually […]
Rental agreements and bed bugs
As an exterminator and a landlord I have noted many occasions where tenant panic caused bed bugs to spread to other areas in multi family complexes. Notably people immediately treated their bed bugs with non residual pyrethroids (RAID, KONK, etc) which caused the bugs to move to other suites, dragged their mattress down the hallway […]
An attempt at chemical free bed bug control
Over the last number of years I have been working with a reputable award winning landlord with his bed bug problems. We started off with my standard treatment plan which was: heat sterilize couches and beds in my trailer apply Tempo PCP # 25673 @ 1% concentration to furniture, baseboards, and door/window frames […]
Bed bugs and shoes
I was involved in treating a home with bed bugs and as I was speaking with the client I noticed something moving on her shoe. The shoe was an ordinary running shoe with velcro closures. I looked more closely and noticed a bed bug peaking out from behind the velcro. I informed the client and […]
Bed bug heating and cockroaches
I was asked to heat sterilize a load of televisions, computers, and computer desks. To minimize damage to these sensitive items I ensured the maximum temperature coming into the chamber was limited to 143f. The return temperature after 13 hours was 141f. These temperatures will easily kill bed bugs in these items because there is […]
How long does it take to get rid of bed bugs?
There are a number of factors that influence how long it takes to get rid of bed bugs. The factors include how long the bugs have been present, the cooperation level of the host, the client’s self treatment attempts, the amount of clutter present, the type and placement of the sleeping furniture, the pesticide resistance […]
Bed bugs and non sleeping areas.
While it is generally true that bed bugs are on or near the bed there are notable exceptions. I recently was involved in a severe infestation where the client spent a lot of time sitting in a stuffed chair. Though the bed was thoroughly infested the chair was equally infested with a very large colony […]
bed bug behaviour on clothing
I have been doing in situ experiments with different types of bed bug traps in a local severely infested rooming house. My experimentation results in increased knowledge for me while the residents receive fewer bites – a good trade. I met one of the residents of this rooming house by happenstance in the back […]