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.

For the rat lovers in the world, reports are that domestic rats make wonderful pets.  In the Indian city of Deshnoke, rats are revered at the Karni Mata temple.  There people believe that if you eat food or drink water that has been touched by these rats, you will be blessed.  Their wild cousins however are not so welcome in homes and businesses in New York City say NYC pest control experts.

In the United States non-domesticated rats are considered to be pests.  It is widely believed that wild rats originated in Asia and were inadvertently transported via ships to other parts of the world.  There are two types of wild rats:

• The Norway rat or brown rat grows to be about 10 inches long with a tail that is shorter than the rest of its body.

• The roof rat or black rat will grow to about 8 inches long with a tail that is always longer than the body.

These rats are prolific breeders.  Female rats are ready to begin breeding when they are about 3 to 4 months of age.  Once pregnant, the females will give birth in about 21 days.  During her one year life, a female rat can produce up to 7 litters per year. Each litter will have between 6 and 22 babies.  Wow!

Rats are aggressive and adaptable creatures.  They are on the constant lookout for food, water, and shelter, which makes human habitats the perfect place for rats to hang their hat.  Outdoors, rats live in burrows that are located near their food source.

Besides contaminating everything that they touch, rats are known carriers of a variety of diseases that are dangerous to humans.  Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, Leptospirosis, Rat- Bite Fever, and the Plague are common reasons that rats tend to cause panic in humans. Don’t let rats come in and threaten the health and safety of your home or business. Contact a New York City pest control expert for expert rat removal services!

They may look adorable if you happen to be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of them frocking in your backyard late at night.  Their masked faces and the furry ringed tails make them look like a delightful family pet.  Outdoors, raccoons are just fine.  The trouble begins when raccoons decide that your home should be their home.

It’s now mating season for raccoons, so they are quite active looking for a good spot to raise their kits.  Raccoons desire the same things that humans do…food, water, and shelter from the elements, so our human habitats provide the perfect nesting spot for a growing raccoon family.

Raccoons are extremely intelligent creatures.  Because of their strength, agility, and cleverness, it is very difficult to keep a raccoon out of your home once they have decided that it is a suitable place to live.  Raccoons can enter your home through tiny openings.  They have extremely strong almost human-like claws that enable them to grab onto material and tear their way through many types of material.  Raccoons are not afraid of other types of wildlife that they may encounter such as birds, squirrels, or opossums.

You don’t have to be living in out in the country or in the woods to have raccoon encounters.  They are typically nocturnal, and do indeed thrive in small and large cities just as well as they do in dense wilderness area.  There has been an ongoing raccoon problem in the New York City and surrounding areas for many years.

Raccoons living in your attic, walls, or crawl space should be considered a serious problem that warrants a call to a licensed NYC or NJ pest control professional.  Stern Environmental Group offers humane raccoon removal services, and nest and feces removal services in New York and New Jersey.