A good bed bug exterminator with experience in bed bug eradication utilizes a multitude of different control tactics when called to the scene of a bed bug infested home, hotel, motel, apartment, or business.  The particular level of infestation, location of the bed bugs, or other factors, will prompt the use of heat treatment, Cryonite (freezing), monitoring, trapping, pesticide use, bed bug sniffing dogs, etc.  At times, a combination of tactics will be used to rid a location of the blood thirsty pests.

Bed bugs are masters at hitchhiking from place to place on any person that they encounter.  Because of their tiny size and elusive behavior, they can and will hide anyplace that they have hitchhiked to.  It would not be uncommon to find bed bugs lurking within the confines of the sheets, blankets, or pillows on a bed.  It would also not be uncommon to find these bloodsuckers hiding among clothing in drawers, closets, and laundry baskets.

One of the dilemmas that bed bug exterminators and consumers face when bed bugs are present is what should be done with fabric items (ie…clothing and bedding etc.) that are crawling with bed bugs.  Dr. Mike Merchant, author of “Insects in the City” at Texas A & M AgriLIFE Extension shared important information about research that was conducted by two scientists at the University of Sheffield in England.  Their research about how to kill bed bugs and their eggs via laundering will help both consumers and bed bug exterminators stop bed bugs from spreading so that they won’t be moved from place to place via fabric items at the onset of the eradication procedure.

Please check back on Wednesday for Part 2.

Continuing from Monday…

• If a unit is suspected to have bed bugs, but no bugs are found, O/As should continue to re-inspect the unit/s for several months.

• When bed bugs are found in a unit, that unit, as well as the units surrounding it, must receive treatment for the pests.  Treatment can be in the form of heat, freezing, using mattress encasements, vacuuming, steaming, and interception devices.

• O/As may ask for financial help from HUD to treat bed bug infestations in a dwelling.  O/A’s should submit a request via the “Reserve for Replacement” or “Residual Receipts” accounts at HUD.

• O/A’s can help keep the incidents of bed bug infestations low by offering tenants bed bug mattress covers, monitoring devices, or other detection tools.  The O/As may not charge a tenant for the use of any of these products.

• To protect the building, O/As may voluntarily offer to inspect a tenant’s furniture before they move in and inspections of luggage when a tenant returns from a trip out-of- town, and inspection of any used furniture before it is brought into a building. The O/As may not charge a tenant nor can they require a tenant to be subjected to any of these services.

• Tenants that have had a bed bug problem at a previous residence cannot be denied residency based upon that history.

• The cost of bed bug eradication cannot be passed along to the tenant.  The O/As must incur the costs associated with the bed bug infestation or ask for financial assistance from the “Reserve for Replacement” or “Residual Receipts” accounts at HUD if necessary.

• Tenants should immediately report any bed bug sightings to the O/As so that treatment can commence before the infestation spreads throughout the building.

• Tenants should expect the O/As to perform treatment within 5 days of calling to report the bloodsuckers.  If not possible, tenants should be kept aware of when the pest control professional will provide treatment.

• Tenants must cooperate with all bed bug treatment efforts and OA’s can offer assistance free of charge if needed.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) performs many functions.  They are the gatekeeper of policy information, clarification, announcements, and procedure decisions. They also provide useful information for residents, property management personnel, and pest management professionals on managing bed bug infestations.  Recently developed policy changes give stricter rules as to how bed bug infestations must be handled in HUD Insured and Assisted Multifamily Housing building/units/homes throughout the United States.

Despite the fact that bed bugs are not known to spread disease, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) consider bed bugs to be a “pest of significant public health importance.”

Three new notices that must now be followed have been released by HUD.  Here are some of the interesting highlights from Notice H 2011-20.

• Owners and Management Agents (O/As) are encouraged to develop and follow an Integrated Pest Management Program (IPM).  The goal is to prevent bed bug infestations as well as have a program in place when there is a bed bug infestation occurrence.

• O/As should consider a tenants complaint of bed bugs to be an urgent matter.  Tenants should be contacted within 24 hours by the O/As and an inspection of the property should occur within a reasonable time period.

• O/As should inspect a dwelling to determine if bed bugs are present using a variety of detection tools such as bed bug sniffing dogs and visual inspections.

• The O/As should have the affected unit inspected within three calendar days by a licensed pest control operator, or keep documentation as to why those services could not be completed within the recommended time frame.

• At the minimum, any unit above, below, and on both sides of the suspected bed bug infested unit must also be inspected for bed bugs.

Please check back on Wednesday for the conclusion.

Being told by a New Jersey pest control professional that your suspicions are correct…you do indeed have bed bugs sucking your blood while you sleep is unnerving!  For people who are new to the bed bug battlefield, learning what must be done to a home in preparation for an exterminator to arrive for treatment can be a very overwhelming.

When bed bugs are present every piece of bedding must be washed in hot water and then dried on the hottest temperature setting.  All bedding must then be placed into super-sized Ziploc storage bags or sealed in plastic trash bags.  Bed bugs can be lurking anywhere, so each piece of clothing and linen item must be laundered, or at the minimum, run through the dryer on high heat for at least 20 minutes to kill any bed bugs and their eggs.  Each mattress much be carefully vacuumed to ensure that all bed bugs and their eggs are completely gone.  All clutter must be discarded, or vacuumed, checked for bed bugs, and bagged or placed in plastic totes to receive the optimum results.

People who find themselves with a bed bug infestation problem often become frustrated when they are told by a NJ pest control professional that they must live out of plastic bags.

Stern Environmental Group understands the stress and time that it takes to prepare for bed bug eradication.  As such we offer the Bed Bug Concierge Service. This specialized service allows for a crew to enter your home in preparation for the exterminator.  The Bed Bug Concierge team will remove all clothing, clean items with alcohol and seal in plastic, empty all drawers and wrap in plastic, shrink wrap all upholstered furniture and bedding, and vacuum carpets.  Personal items are then removed for off-site fumigation and storage until your home is bed bug free.  You may also choose to have our Mobile Bed Bug Heating Trailer bake your personal belongings so that your items are returned to you the same day.

You can trust the Bed Bug Concierge Service team at Stern Environmental Group to take the utmost care of your personal belongings at all times.  Call us today to find out more information about this incredible service.

City leaders across the United States always wait with eager anticipation the various reports that are released each year that rank their city in a variety of different categories.  Popular topics are:  housing prices, cost of living, safest city, and job projections.  These rankings help keep people interested in living in a particular area, encourage potential new businesses to come into an area, as well as keep local businesses thriving.  One ranking that government officials are not always happy to hear news about is how their city is ranking when it comes to how their often their residents and businesses are dealing with bed bug infestations.  For the past few years, two major nationwide exterminations companies, Orkin and Terminix, have been tracking the cities that have had the most bed bug complaints and treatments.

It’s that time of year once again when we learn how our country and the bed bugs are faring in the United States.  Orkin has just released their final numbers for the “Top 50 Most Bed Bug Infested Cities in the United States”.   Some city leader are happy to see that they have dropped down the list slightly from last year’s ranking and some have dropped significantly which is an indication that the programs, laws, and educational campaigns that they have implemented are beginning to work in their communities.  Some cities are disappointed to learn that the bloodsuckers have taken a stronghold on their city.

WLS reported Orkin’s Top 50 Most Bed Bug Infested Cities on March 17, 2012.  Here is the top 10.  You may read the article here.

1. Cincinnati, Ohio (same ranking as last year)

2. Chicago, Illinois (same ranking as last year)

3. Detroit, Michigan (up from 4th place last year)

4. Denver, Colorado (up from 6th place last year)

5. Los Angeles, California (up from 25th place last year)

6. Columbus, Ohio (down from 3rd place last year)

7. Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas (up from 50th place last year)

8. Washington, DC (down from 5th place last year)

9. New York, New York (down from 7th place last year)

10. Richmond/Petersburg, Virginia (up from 16th place last year)

Clearly, more work needs to be done in 2012 to combat the critters.