I was asked to assess a bed bug problem in a triplex with two suites upstairs and one suite downstairs. I entered the front common door and was immediately confronted with several thousand dead bed bugs on the all the stair treads leading to the second floor. As I walked up the stairs I noted […]

As discussed in the video “climb up interceptors versus modified glue boards” it is possible to get rid of bed bugs with heat sterilizing the couch and sleeping furniture and placing glue board traps under the bed legs. While this is true it is not as simple as it sounds. The following are suggestions to […]

  Sometimes when I am addressing bed bugs I marvel at their abilities to survive and adapt. For example bed bugs tend to abandon areas that have been treated with pyrethroid chemicals and harbour in untreated areas. Also bed bugs seem to be able to find the best place to hide as exemplified by a […]

Over the years I have noted that aerosol pyrethrins cause tremendous damage by scattering bed bugs over a wide area. Scattered bugs are more prone to be transported to cars, work places, friend’s house, neighboring suites, etc. A few weeks ago I started a new multi family account and one of the first jobs I […]

Programs that house the “hard to house” have been having problems with bed bugs for a very long time. In response to the constant infestations many housing coordinators have been soliciting donations to replace the beds and furniture with all steel units. The thinking is that if the dressers and box springs are constantly being […]

I collected more than 100 bed bugs from a mattress in the alley and decided it was time to test some non-glueboard bed bug traps. I had four ordinary traps and two were modified slightly to see if they would perform better. The traps were set in a diagonal pattern to elicit fairness. The top […]

A google search for dryer temperatures typically brings up temperatures of 180f on hot, 160f on medium, and 140f on low. All of these temperatures are adequate as all stages of bed bugs die at 122f in one minute. But I have noted that in field use dryers often have very different temperatures. For example […]

We learned earlier with Richard Naylor’s observations that bed bugs move further away from the host when harbourage near the bed is restricted. We have seen this in practice in the field many many times. For example, if a tenant is sleeping on a mattress directly on the floor the mattress ribbing is covered with […]

In 2006 I noted an apartment block beside my building had numerous suites with bed bugs which were successfully treated with a single course of Permethrin. Each suite required about 10 minutes of work. Impressive!!   In 2007 when i began my own bed bug work I noted similar patterns. Some cases of bed bugs […]