Continuing from Wednesday…

It should be noted that I was quite thorough in my inspection of my first hotel room.  I removed and inspected each of the dresser and nightstand drawers, inspected the curtains, floorboards, clock, telephone, picture frames, headboard and of course the bed and bedding.  The bed bug infestation that I found was localized at the foot of the bed, in the seam of the mattress, and yet the bed bug sniffing dog found several hot spots in the room that I completely missed.  It is estimated that humans are about 30% accurate on their visual inspections for bed bugs, and bed bug sniffing dogs are about 98% accurate.

Clearly, this particular hotel considers a bed bug infestation to be a serious matter when it is discovered at their establishment.  Once there was confirmation from pest control that there was indeed a bed bug infestation in my first room, they jumped into action to remedy the situation.  Mind you, I did bring management ACTUAL bed bugs, in various stages of their development; but I do appreciate their attention to detail in this matter regardless.

Their first step in treating their bed bug problem was to immediately move the guests that were staying in the hotel room on either side of the infested room.  Once those rooms were in quarantined off, pest control and the bed bug sniffing dog were called in.  My initial room was chemically treated as well as the adjoining rooms.  The real surprise came when I was informed that it was hotel policy to completely strip the room of its contents when there is a bed bug infestation.  Under the cover of night, every single removable item (including the carpet) in that room was wrapped in plastic and removed.  I was assured by the hotel staff that everything in the room would NOT be sent out for fumigation, but instead would be incinerated!  WOW!

If you have a bed bug infestation, contact Stern Environmental Group for the most up-to-date bed bug products and services, including the always reliable bed bug sniffing dog services.

Stay tuned for more vacation follies.  Blood sucking bed bugs are alive and feasting on folks in Philadelphia.  I was lucky; many of my friends were not!

In previous entries of my vacation follies, I’ve been sharing of my bed bug filled adventures in Philadelphia, PA.  I have purposely chosen to not reveal the 5 star hotel in question because I do believe that the actions that they took regarding the bed bug infestation that I encountered were exemplary!  If all hotels handled their bed bug infestations the same way, there would definitely be a decline in bed bug reports and lawsuits against hotels.

Continuing on with my adventure…

Upon leaving the hotel to head over to the convention center, I was assured by the hotels general manager that their pest control company was called and that they were on their way to investigate and treat my previous bed bug infested hotel room.  I reminded her that I wanted my new room sprayed for bed bugs just in case the buggers decided to make a run for it to my new local.

Several hours later I returned back to my lovely suite that overlooked the river, with fabulous views of the city, to find something interesting in my room.  Pest control was there, which made we quite happy.  In addition, he brought along a friend…a bed bug sniffing dog!  Knowing that bed bug sniffing dogs are one of the best tools that can be used when fighting bed bugs, I was quite pleased to see this amazing dog in action up close and personal!  The dog was able to inspect the entire suite in about five minutes.   I breathed a sigh of relief when they told me that the bed bug sniffing dog did not have a positive hit at any location in my new room.  I inquired about my previous room and found that the dog had indeed found several positive hits in that room.

Please check back on Friday for the part 2.

Groundhogs are known by several different names.  They are also called woodchucks or whistle pigs, and are considered endangered and are a protected species in Wisconsin.  Oddly enough, they seem to be multiplying in New York, New Jersey and just about every other area across the United States.

Groundhogs are one of the greatest challenges for homeowners this time of year, especially if you are trying to grow a vegetable garden.  Gardeners become quite annoyed because groundhogs can easily eat up to two pounds of vegetation each day.  They too enjoy the bountiful treats of nature as they feast on gardens and landscaping.  It only takes one night for one groundhog to mow down an average size backyard garden.  People  often try using electric fences, regular fences, bricks, hair, urine, and rotten egg juice to keep groundhog away; but these pesky creatures still seem to find their way into gardens.  Once a groundhog has moved on to your property, it is nearly impossible to get rid of them without the help from a pest control specialist.

Because of their constant burrowing and excavating skills, groundhogs have been known to cause considerable damage to foundations and they can even undermine the structure of swimming pools or other structures.  Although not always the case, groundhogs can be the carrier of the rabies virus as well as the hepatitis virus.

If you have groundhogs making a mess of your landscaping in New York or New Jersey, contact Stern Environmental Group today.  We provide humane expert groundhog removal service to our customers in Secaucus, New Jersey, the Greater New York City Metro and Connecticut Regions.  Don’t let groundhogs damage your expensive landscaping.  Take advantage of our 24 hour emergency groundhog removal services today.

With all of the bed bug infestations blanketing newspapers and the internet this past month, it’s a pretty hot topic among folks.  I was just having a conversation with my neighbor about bed bugs and I told her that bed bugs could wreak havoc if they landed in the wrong hands and were purposely set loose in a public establishment.  She thought I was a bit off my rocker.  It’s bad enough that we all need to look for them in hotels and motels, and wonder if they are in the airline seat, rental car, train, bus, taxi, or movie theaters that we are sitting in.  We are not even safe from these blood suckers if we become ill and require a trip to the hospital or are visiting someone there, because bed bugs can be ready to pounce.

Then I read an article last night about the plastic baggie of live bed bugs there were found a few weeks ago at a Des Moines city building. The open baggie was found by custodians but not before the prickly pests had time to escape and run for cover in the Des Moines Armory which houses many public offices.  It is only now that they are finding out how bad the infestation is.

Officials believe that the bed bugs were left by someone who was seeking revenge against the city for some unknown reason.  Really, why else would a bag filled with live bed bugs be left in a building?

Forget chemical warfare, this is bed bug warfare!  The building has undergone fumigation services three times, but according to the bed bug sniffing dog and the employees itchy bites, the bed bugs refuse to die.  So far, the City of Des Moines has forked out $1,200 for fumigation costs.  Heat treatment for the building will cost the city an additional $5,000.  Without a doubt, employees have taken the blood suckers home with them as well.  Who assumes the cost for those bed bug infestations?  What a nightmare!

For protection, maybe I will just train my own dog to be a bed bug sniffing dog!

Insight Pharmaceuticals recently released a list of what they believe to be the top 10 cities that are infested with bed bugs in North America.  Starting from the top infested city: Columbus, Ohio; New York (yay, NYC, at the number 2 spot!); Toronto, Canada; Bloomington, Indiana; Manchester, New Hampshire; San Francisco, California; Durham, North Carolina; Vancouver, Canada; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado.

With the recent news reports of major retailers and an advertisement agency in New York City being plagued by bed bugs, it was only a matter of time before the finger pointing game began.  As I suspected, customers are now being blamed for bringing the infestations into the retail establishments.

The simple fact is that it may never be known where the bed bugs originated from.  Did an employee inadvertently transport them to work?  Perhaps a customer who had a bed bug infested home returned items to a store and spread their infestation problem.  Because bed bugs are hitchhikers, bed bugs could have entered any or all of the stores in question, on a shopper or shoppers at any point in time.  Many clothing items are transported from third world countries that are notorious for having bed bugs.  Since bed bugs can go for up to a year without a blood meal, and are excellent hitchhikers, bed bugs can easily enter the retail supply chain via other countries.

New York City customers are being advised to carefully inspect any clothing they buy for bed bugs and their translucent looking eggs.  Customers are also advised to dry all of the clothing they purchase on high heat as soon as they arrive home.  That’s good advice for anyone in the United States really.

At the moment, bed bugs are just considered a nuisance pest.  But with evolution being what it is, perhaps they will evolve into something more in the future.  The general public must be diligent and educate themselves in order to try to avoid a bed bug infestation.  Bed bugs are not a do-it-yourself type of pest as they are hard to eradicate.  If you think you have encountered bed bugs or have an infestation, it is wise to contact a licensed pest control specialist who can provide expert bed bug eradication services.