Bed Bugs

[Guest Sundancefisher]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11379319

 

Bed bugs. Has anyone had them or known anyone in Calgary to have them? I almost rented an apartment years ago that upon closer inspection was infested with silverfish...but I am curious if they are becoming a problem up here?

 

Sun

[Gaffer]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11379319

 

Bed bugs. Has anyone had them or known anyone in Calgary to have them? I almost rented an apartment years ago that upon closer inspection was infested with silverfish...but I am curious if they are becoming a problem up here?

 

Sun

 

We have them in Calgary. Primarily in hotels & boarding houses. Globally bed bugs are making a resurgence due to a couple of things, namely more people travelling, resistance to insecticides, prohibition of certain pesticides with long residual effects previously used, and used furniture.

 

I have worked with the CHR on a few cases of bed bugs.

 

Andrew

 

[birchy]

I seem to recall my wife mentioning to me that some friends of ours here in Calgary recently had a problem with bed bugs. I guess the kids beds both had them and they ended up throwing out the beds completely and replacing everything.

[Guest Sundancefisher]

I watch one of them exterminator shows on TV. That bed bug sniffing dog is awesome...cute little pup. Still the current technology this guy used was putting massive heaters in the home... Warming everything up to super hot yet not melting plastic, rather then chemicals.

 

Sound like pesticide resistance is a problem. I wonder how big a problem it is in hotels.

[Gaffer]

I watch one of them exterminator shows on TV. That bed bug sniffing dog is awesome...cute little pup. Still the current technology this guy used was putting massive heaters in the home... Warming everything up to super hot yet not melting plastic, rather then chemicals.

 

Sound like pesticide resistance is a problem. I wonder how big a problem it is in hotels.

 

Resistance is one part. The other is that in the past they were using organphospahte based incestisides which have a long residual effect and would kill succesive generations of bed bugs. Strangely people dont want to share their beds with toxic chemicals.

 

I am sure that we will be hearing more about bed bugs in the coming years partially due to lazy journalists repeating stories and more people knowing about them.

 

Bed bugs are pretty major problem in the hotel industry. The Nike Town in Manahttan was shut down due to bed bugs as was a Victoria's Secret in NYC.

 

You should see them mate, it is call traumatic insemination where the male punctures the females body with his external genitalia.

 

As for the dogs, they are not too bad at detecting low levels of infestation, but the level of success depends on the experience of the dog and the handler.

 

Andrew

 

[mvdaog]

I had bed bugs at one point here in Calgary renting a basement suite. At least I think I did. I actually never got a chance to see them but sure did seem like thats what it was. I took my bed out on one of those -20 days and left it outside for a while - no more bug bites after that.

[PaleMorningDunce]

I wonder how big a problem it is in hotels.

 

I never book a hotel in NY without checking the registry first: BedBugRegistry.Com

 

Cheers,

PMD

 

[Guest Sundancefisher]

I had bed bugs at one point here in Calgary renting a basement suite. At least I think I did. I actually never got a chance to see them but sure did seem like thats what it was. I took my bed out on one of those -20 days and left it outside for a while - no more bug bites after that.

 

Is cold proven to kill bedbugs?

[Gaffer]

Is cold proven to kill bedbugs?

 

Yes. If I were coming back from a place where I suspected I may pick up bed bugs I would try to leave my luggage out either on a cold winter day or put it in the freezer.

 

There are also some companies that are using compressed CO2 gas, much like a giant fire extinguisher to kill them. It may not be effective though as they will hide in every nook and cranny. They will even hide in electric plugs.

 

Thanks for the link to the bed bug registry. I will use it when I am not booking my hotels with Hotwire.

 

Andrew