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I'm paranoid about traveling because I'm afraid I'll bring them home from a hotel. I also have a parrot, and I can't use any of those pesticides with her in the house, so we'd have to move out (?to another hotel) for the weeks/months the treatment would require. The consequences of bedbugs are more dire to me than the flood my town just had.
I'm paranoid about traveling because I'm afraid I'll bring them home from a hotel. I also have a parrot, and I can't use any of those pesticides with her in the house, so we'd have to move out (?to another hotel) for the weeks/months the treatment would require. The consequences of bedbugs are more dire to me than the flood my town just had.
^^^this^^^
I am always worried when I stay at a hotel about bedbugs. And I like to thrift shop but I've gotten away from so much of that due to the bedbug problem.
I'm paranoid about traveling because I'm afraid I'll bring them home from a hotel. I also have a parrot, and I can't use any of those pesticides with her in the house, so we'd have to move out (?to another hotel) for the weeks/months the treatment would require. The consequences of bedbugs are more dire to me than the flood my town just had.
I also have birds so I can sympathize. Check out that hotel bedbug report link someone already posted. I use it before travelling especially if to a place I don't know. The website also has tips for detecting bedbugs at hotels. One tip I use is to put my unpacked suitcases in the shower/tub and do a room check. Not too difficult. I don't bring a lot of extra clothing and stick to non-delicate items. When I get home all my clothing gets unpacked straight to the laundry (which happens to be in my garage).
One of the best places on earth to get bedbugs is a college dorm. In fact, some college auditoriums are just as bad.
Next two best and possibly unexpected places are the try-on rooms in big stores and the stores themselves due to returned clothing. And library books. The little creeps can hide in the bindings and people tend to read in bed and put books on their nightstands, so lucky you if you're the next person who checks that out.
Any place you are around any people, like a school or a hospital or a dr's waiting room or a bus or train or plane, if someone there has bedbugs, you can get one of your own and as everyone knows, they multiply like a plague. They can move in from next door or downstairs, they're a horror.
Go to the laundromat much? Don't, and beware the dry cleaner's, though the chemicals will kill them.
Someone mentioned diatomaceous earth, but it's not legal to use in some places because if you have pets or asthma, you need to know what you're doing.
Our grandparents grew up before DDT when bedbugs were a normal thing. Hopefully this generation will be able to come up with a remedy that won't destroy everything on earth along with them.
FYI, using a persistent toxin like DDT affects more than birds. One reason DDT finally "made the news" in the US was because it built up in the fatty tissue of bald eagles, the national bird. DDT affects hundreds of other species because it gets absorbed permanently in the tissues of most animals exposed to it in air, water, plants, or soil. It isn't released or excreted. It wasn't filtered out or neutralized by anything. It is a suspected carcinogen. When a predator eats contaminated prey IT gets all the accumulation present in the prey and builds up in THEIR tissues (so consider that if you happen to eat eggs, fish, meat, milk, anything that comes from another animal). The effect is multiplied to the point it damages the predator the most. In the case of the eagle (and hawks and falcons BTW), DDT caused thinning of the birds' egg shells. The eggs were so damaged that they broke under the weight of the female incubating them. So, no baby eagles, falcons, hawks. Populations crashed. Once DDT was banned and the adult birds with body accumulations died, the cycle was broken at least in the US.
DDT is still used in some places, still persists in water, soil, and plants in some places, and still has effects decades after most use was banned. So if you think using something like this indoors won't cause harm, think again. All the water the treated house uses will carry it someplace else. The materials used to build the house probably absorbed it and will release it to the environment eventually. The humans living in the house will also absorb it and the effect can be magnified as we are also at the top of our food chains. So, a decision to use it has very long term consequences. If you want to read more about its persistence and harm, here's a link:
It is my understanding that several studies indicate that DDT is not responsible for the thinning/cracking eggs. That said, I still wouldn't use it.
I've never had an issue with bedbugs but after talking to a few pest inspectors about the issue they informed my one of the biggest areas of concern are movie theaters.
It is my understanding that several studies indicate that DDT is not responsible for the thinning/cracking eggs. That said, I still wouldn't use it.
I've never had an issue with bedbugs but after talking to a few pest inspectors about the issue they informed my one of the biggest areas of concern are movie theaters.
I'd use it. In a heartbeat. And eventually, everyone will be using it, although my guess is they'll call it something else. Bedbugs have reached epidemic proportions. They're bad for business. Look at how many things they affect.
Didn't realise that it's become so prevalent in many parts of civilised societies.
Were it to happen in my environment, I'd be terribly paranoid as to where I sat, who I allowed in my home & would totally avoid places like theaters & motels (I'd prefer to sleep in my car than risk picking up any 'hitch-hikers')
Here's a radical thought ...... some pest control agencies have dogs that are trained to detect termites.
Imagine if business's such as hotels, clothes stores, picture theaters for e.g., had trained dogs that can detect the presence of bed bugs & their eggs on customers?
The obvious dilemma would be how then would they treat the 'infected' once detected? Segregated bed bug free zones? Set up eradication booths?
No-doubt the snowflakes would scream 'Discrimination!' at the mere suggestion, lol.
Off-course I'm being facetious but it's not beyond the realms of possibility for a bed bug infestation to seriously affect many businesses.
It makes me wonder what contingency plans they'd consider to keep their establishments free from bed-bugs were they to become endemic? (Or what motels are doing now for that matter)
It makes me shudder to think that they'd ever become so widespread that they're accepted as a normal part of life.
Didn't realise that it's become so prevalent in many parts of civilised societies.
Were it to happen in my environment, I'd be terribly paranoid as to where I sat, who I allowed in my home & would totally avoid places like theaters & motels (I'd prefer to sleep in my car than risk picking up any 'hitch-hikers')
Here's a radical thought ...... some pest control agencies have dogs that are trained to detect termites.
Imagine if business's such as hotels, clothes stores, picture theaters for e.g., had trained dogs that can detect the presence of bed bugs & their eggs on customers?
The obvious dilemma would be how then would they treat the 'infected' once detected? Segregated bed bug free zones? Set up eradication booths?
No-doubt the snowflakes would scream 'Discrimination!' at the mere suggestion, lol.
Off-course I'm being facetious but it's not beyond the realms of possibility for a bed bug infestation to seriously affect many businesses.
It makes me wonder what contingency plans they'd consider to keep their establishments free from bed-bugs were they to become endemic? (Or what motels are doing now for that matter)
It makes me shudder to think that they'd ever become so widespread that they're accepted as a normal part of life.
They do have dogs that are trained to detect bed bugs. Here's one:
Think about it, though. Let's say you move to an apartment, or into a home that has been previously occupied. How do you know it doesn't have bed bugs? (They hide in carpet, baseboards, even electrical outlets.)
Here's how you can find out if you have bed bugs where you live.
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