It always amazes me when someone that I know says to me “What? Bed bugs are real!”  The funny thing is that this is usually said by one of my friends or family members who lives in California or other parts of the western United States.  Statistics show that bed bugs are a huge problem in all 50 states.  Statistics also show that bed bug reports are up by 71 percent since 2002 in all regions of the country.

I find it odd how there is still inaccurate or incomplete information being filtered to the general public.  Is it just because the subject is considered “taboo”?  Are we as American’s afraid to admit that this is a real problem that crosses all ethnic and income boundaries in the US?  I often wonder if the eastern US has better bed bug information than the western US does.

Just this past week I read an article on the internet where a “pest expert” on the west coast said that people are not likely to ever encounter an actual bed bug.  Reading that made me laugh out loud!  Tell that to the thousands of people who have been fighting the battle with these blood sucking creatures!

Please check back Tuesday for the conclusion.

In Clinton Mississippi a man filed a complaint against a motel. He stated he had bed bugs and their cohorts the obnoxious ticks in his bed. That doesn’t sound good. The housekeeper claimed she could not find any bed bugs in the room. The housekeeper was probably not a bed bug sniffing Beagle. Health inspectors confirmed there were no bed bugs in the room. However a pest control company has been asked to check into the situation.

How qualified are people that look for bed bugs in hotels that are not professional bed bug pest control exterminators? In Clinton Mississippi, New Jersey, New York City and in other parts of the nation are hotels that have received complaints about bed bugs being cleared of the matter by people who don’t have the expertise to find bed bugs? How many clearances have been given without a bed bug detection dog sniffing the accused hotel room? Perhaps travelers would prefer to be accompanied to their hotel room by a bed bug detection dog and get his approval before entering the room.

Continuing from last Thursday…

Another neighbor reports using a sticky trap in his laundry room to catch a field mouse home invader.  The trap worked great as a mouse was caught within hours.  Unfortunately his wife found the attached mouse…and she does not like mice.  She begrudgingly carried the attached mouse to the garage to have her husband dispose of it when he got home.  Hours later, she returned to the garage to find another mouse stuck to the trap as well.  Killing two with one trap, sounds pretty good!  A short time later she returned to the trap to find that only one mouse was on the trap and three extra feet and part of a tail from the missing mouse were stuck to the trap!  YUCK!  The second mouse chewed off its own feet and tail just to escape the trap.  One more trip to the garage before her husband returned home revealed no mice on the trap and instead a snake was attached to the sticky trap with a bulge in its belly!  Despite their best efforts, they were not able to remove the snake off of the trap so it encountered an untimely death.

The new guidelines from the CDC are to only use a baited snap trap when catching mice or rats.  Setting the traps can be tricky as it is easy to trap your own hand instead, which is quite painful.

Save yourself the pain and potential health hazards, and call a licensed pest control expert who is trained in rat and mice removal services.  Stern Environmental Group uses not only traditional resources for removal of rats and mice, but also the innovative Track and Trap System in their arsenal of services.  This incredible device allows the Stern experts to track the paths of mice using UV light so that the nest and entry points can be discovered and mice can be sealed out once and for all.

In New York City a buyer backed out of a deal to purchase a co-op located in the Upper East Side. Was the deal tossed due to the place being infested with a gang of vicious rats? No it was not. The deal was tossed due to tiny little insects known as bed bugs.

The prospective buyer got out of the deal after discovering in the co-op minutes that the building had several bed bug extermination treatments. Apparently, New York City has bed bug rules for rental buildings but not for co-ops. The board of the co-op can decide if they want to take action against bed bugs and what type of action.

There is no guarantee that all the information about bed bugs will be in the co-op minutes but buyers should take the time and read them. They should also bluntly ask the board members if the building has ever had bed bugs or bed bug complaints by co-op owners. Getting a bed bug detection dog to check out the residence might also be a good idea.

Most New Jersey and New York City residents probably know that Beagles were bred to be hunting dogs. I doubt if the original breeders were hoping one day Beagles would be popular insect hunters. However, numerous Beagles are trained as bed bug  detection dogs including  Ellie.

An organization in Stamford actually hired a three year old to scour their headquarters for bed bugs. Well, hiring a three year old dog probably doesn’t violate any laws, social customs or common sense.

After staff members at St. Luke’s LifeWorks discovered bed bugs in their health clinic they stopped giving out donated clothing just incase the horrible insects were hiding in donated apparel. Some people might actually prefer to walk around naked than wear bed bug infested clothing. However walking around naked might violate laws, social customs and common sense. Intentionally wearing bed bug laced clothing is just dumb.

According to her owner, Ellie the Beagle has a 98 percent bed bug detection rate. Ellie found four bed bug detection areas in the building. She did not praise herself and brag like those two legged professional athletes.