[dt_toronto_geek]

Will renters have to declare their crotch crickets in return?

Now I'm scratching!

 

[mgl]

Reading this thread almost makes me wish DDT was still legal. If I had bedbugs, I'd want the full artillery deployed. Some countries were upset when it was banned due to the expected rise in malaria.

I wouldn't be surprised if limited use of a DDT-like substance was eventually allowed again.

---

Vote to name a new Toronto condo "Stephen Colbert Tower". No registration or email address necessary, just click Vote. Vote for Stephen Colbert Tower

 

[SP!RE]

Let's put things in perspective-- they look gross and they give you itchy bites. But it's not the end of the world.

My condo at Yonge and Carlton was infested, something we didn't realize upon moving in earlier this summer. Already the exterminators have been in, and since we followed their instructions on vacuuming, laundering and bagging clothes, etc., the problem is gone.

250 dollars is nothing. And if the bed bugs return, they will do a follow-up treatment. I think I will do it just for caution's sake, but so far it seems to have worked.

 

[Polkaroo]

My condo at Yonge and Carlton was infested, something we didn't realize upon moving in earlier this summer. Already the exterminators have been in, and since we followed their instructions on vacuuming, laundering and bagging clothes, etc., the problem is gone.

That's a newer building is it not?

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

That's a newer building is it not?

St. Jamestown vs. Forest Hill, old apartments blocks vs. new condos, bed bugs do not discriminate. Until safe, effective treatments are developed these critters will continue to spread like fire in all public and private areas throughout the city. It's gonna' get ugly.

 

[Promagstyle]

My house was built in the 1950's and I have been living in the same house for about 28 Years. I have seen my fair share of bugs in my home, because they just come and go.

The most common bugs you see in house / room / bed:

House Centipeds
Termites
Spiders
Ants
Pill Bugs
Ear Wigs
Bee's
Praying Mantis (RARE)

 

[Tuscani01]

That's a newer building is it not?

Yea, its Encore at the Met. They caused some sleeping problems for me, as I was paranoid. (The thought of bugs biting you while you are asleep is enough to keep you up all night) It wasn't fun, but its easy to fix.

Its too bad there isn't a better way of keeping track of infestations. Exterminators should be required to update a database of all the properties they treat.

 

[Polkaroo]

And here I was thinking that bedbugs are only a problem in rundown old buildings. This is news to me.

 

[afransen]

I get firebrats sometimes. Unsettling little buggers, but completely harmless.

The ones I get are bristlier and smaller, I think, so probably not the same species. They can really move, though.

 

[afransen]

And here I was thinking that bedbugs are only a problem in rundown old buildings. This is news to me.

Nope. It's an enormous problem in the hotel industry, as well. No matter how nice the hotel, always leave your luggage on a table away from a wall, and quarantine your luggage when you come home. Make sure you and your companions didn't get any bites, and if you do, run all your clothes through the drier before bringing them into the house and steam your luggage. I once traveled with someone who got bed bugs from their room (next door to mine) and brought them home with them. I'm now paranoid about quarantining anything that comes from a hotel.

 

[KA1]

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/bedbugs/article/844968--bedbugs-a-growing-crisis-for-the-city?bn=1

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Today's National Post

http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/0...have-led-to-a-resurgence-of-the-dreaded-pest/

 

[W. K. Lis]

The article in The Star on Bedbug remedy not just hot air got me thinking.

The decreasing effectiveness of pesticides has meant that, while Toronto is experiencing a surge in bedbug infestations, the apple seed-sized pest is harder than ever to kill. But as a California company called ThermaPureHeat discovered, heat kills bugs and their eggs, often in one go.

“At about 110 degrees (Fahrenheit, 43C), they start coming out of the woodwork,” said Mark Joseph, owner of Magical Pest Control, a Toronto business recently certified to use the technique. “Then they start doing the death dance, just going crazy.”

Now I know why there are more bedbugs around: air conditioning. Air conditioning is keeping rooms and apartments below 43°. Without air conditioning, those rooms would have reached at or above 43°, especially if direct sunlight streams in through closed windows.

As a kid, my bedroom was on the 3rd floor of a house. No air-conditioning. When there was a forecast for rain or thunderstorms, we would close the windows before leaving home. That meant the rooms in the house would increase, over 43° in some cases. After the rain, in the evenings, we would open the windows to cool down. Guess what? No bedbugs, or if they were any, they did not live long.

It may be a little late in the summer season, but the next time you leave home for an extended time, turn off your air-conditioning. Let the rooms heat up, and hope that it reaches above 43° while you are away.

 

[Peepers]

If high temperature actually works what owners of infested buildings should do while we are still in the warm summer months is arrange a day for residents to evacuate their building for about 10 hours and then fire up the boilers and turn on the heating. They should be able get an entire building over 43 degrees without have to use special space heaters and the cost per unit would be minimal - probably less then using chemicals.

 

[W. K. Lis]

If high temperature actually works what owners of infested buildings should do while we are still in the warm summer months is arrange a day for residents to evacuate their building for about 10 hours and then fire up the boilers and turn on the heating. They should be able get an entire building over 43 degrees without have to use special space heaters and the cost per unit would be minimal - probably less then using chemicals.

My thermostat does not reach that high, so it may not work.