North East Bed Bug Forum

Diatomaceous earth also known as diatomite, DE, or kieselgur, is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock that is easily crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. Diatomaceous earth is a very effective way to kill bed bugs, although it will not kill the bed bug infestation in it’s entirety, it can alleviate the problem until you can get a bed bug inspection company and pest control agent to the origin of bed bug infestation.  Diatomaceous earth has a particle size ranging from less than 1 micrometre to more than 1 millimetre, but typically 10 to 200 micrometres. This powder has an abrasive feel, similar to pumice powder, and is very light, due to its high porosity. The typical chemical composition of oven dried diatomaceous earth is 80 to 90% silica, with 2 to 4% alumina (attributed mostly to clay minerals) and 0.5 to 2% iron oxide.

Diatomaceous earth consists of fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae. It is used as a filtration aid, mild abrasive, mechanical insecticide,[2] absorbent for liquids, cat litter, activator in blood clotting studies, and a stabilizing component of dynamite. As it is also heat-resistant, it can be used as a thermal insulator.

It is not reasonable to take a bag of diatomaceous earth and spread it through out the house like you were spreading carpet freshener.  The main advantage in using diatomaceous earth to alleviate a bed bug problem is to spread it around your bed as a barrier.  This may not work though if the bed bugs are already in your bed.

Your best bet if you think you have bed bugs is to call a bed bug inspection company to find out for sure and then proceed with a pest control agent that specializes in bed bug infestations.

There’s no doubt about it: bed bugs are back! In fact, the recent Bugs Without Borders survey conducted by the National Pest Management Association and the University of Kentucky found that 95 percent of U.S. based professional pest management companies have encountered a bed bug infestation in the past year. Prior to 2000, only 25 percent of respondents had encountered a bed bug infestation. In addition, the NPMA’s Bed Bugs in America survey found that one out of five Americans has had a bed bug infestation in their home or knows someone who has encountered bed bugs at home or in a hotel.

The bedbugs go wherever people do – and not just to places with lax housekeeping. Niketown in Manhattan, for instance, was closed for four days in September because of a bedbug infestation.

“They’ve been on trains, buses. Just before Christmas, we had a guy who had them in the cab of his pickup truck,” Mulloy said. “We’re getting more and more office buildings.

Though insecticides may be the treatment of choice for killing bed bugs, other options do exist.

“There are several different methods that are effective in killing bed bugs. Heat is one of them. Others include steaming, freezing, vacuuming, and use of properly applied pesticides. You are getting a lot of information on the temperature at which bed bugs can be effectively killed because a lot of research is still being done in that area. The most current data that we have shows that all stages of bed bugs…will be killed at 122 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Factors considered when evaluating treatment methods include the extent of the infestation, the type of location that will be treated, and any budget parameters.

Treatment costs can fluctuate dramatically by protocol and region, says White.

Dr. Stephen Kells, associate professor and Extension and Research Entomologist at the University of Minnesota, who is conducting research on bed bugs, says humans have lived with bed bugs since the days of cave-dwelling.

Through research, he has found that freezing works well for smaller household items, like books. In order for the treatment to work the temperature has to be near or at freezing for approximately 6 to 10 days.

Steaming is another option, though not by utilizing a carpet steam cleaner. Instead, a steam generator must be used and the temperature must be between 160-180 degrees Fahrenheit in order to control bedbugs.

When treating with pesticides, Dr. Kells recommends multiple product types including dust, short action, and residual. “The reason is each has a specific area of use. Residual is used outside of rooms, dust to fill voids in the wall, and short action for beds and mattresses,” the professor says.

Question: If you put on “Off” or some other insect repellant before retiring in a hotel will this prevent them from biting? -Dolores Hill, Bessemer, Ala.

Answer: Although we have not specifically tested mosquito repellants on bed bugs, we have tested repellant insecticides. Bed bugs do not seem to respond in the slightest to repellent insecticides. In fact, they will sit on top of them until they die. These results have been confirmed by the older bed bug literature (Usinger 1966) who stated that many repellant materials were applied to bed frames in an attempt to keep bed bugs from crawling up, but none had any effect. Because we have not tested repellants on skin, we can’t say for sure whether bed bugs would be willing to stick their mouth parts though repellant treated skin or not. But we have found bed bugs to be very determined little creatures and I think it would be hard to stop a hungry bed bug. In addition, the repellants that you buy for mosquitoes last only a couple of hours before the effects begin to wear off. If you apply a repellant before getting into bed, a lot of the material could rub off on the sheets etc. Also, bed bugs are most active between 3 and 5 am, which is several hours after the time you would have put the on the repellant to go to bed. Bottom line, a repellant may prevent you from getting a bite or two but I do not believe that they will significantly hinder a hungry bed bug.

The CDC reports that bedbugs were nearly eradicated in industrialized countries such as the United States up until a few years ago. The first U.S. reports of the resurgence came from the East Coast. Bedbugs infested more than a dozen New York City schools and part of the Empire State Building.

Until a couple days ago, bedbugs weren’t known to spread diseases, unlike other bloodsuckers.

“They are a nuisance,” Wears said. “They itch like the dickens but aren’t a health concern.”

‘It’s not time to push the panic button’

However, Canadian scientists detected drug-resistant staph bacteria in bedbugs from three hospital patients in a downtrodden Vancouver, British Columbia, neighborhood, according to a CDC report released last week.

“It’s not time to push the panic button,” said Marc Romney, one of the study’s authors, adding that it’s unclear whether the bacteria originated with the bedbugs or were merely picked up from the people. The bacteria often are seen in hospitals.

“This is an eye opener,” said Romney, adding that it might be cause for the CDC to initiate a bedbug tracking system, depending on findings of follow-up research. “We’re in wait-and-see mode right now.”

New mobile heat truck is the new weapon against bed bugs and other pest.

Stratford, CT.   Northeast Heat Treatment LLC (www.northeastheatreatment.com and www.ecopestimination.com) announces this week the launch of a new business serving Connecticut and Massachusetts and upper Middle Atlantic areas businesses, apartment buildings and homes.
As background, the growing incidence of bed bug problems reported through the country which by some measures has reached epidemic proportions in the metro New York City area has highly migrated into other areas north and south of New York.
Many pest control operatives, entomologist and scientists all agree that high heat treatment is a highly effective strategy to kill bed bugs and any other insects without use of chemicals, the eco green approach.  Northeast Heat Treatments mobile box truck was specially designed to not only create high temperatures lethal to bed bugs and other insects but to also have temperature monitoring systems in place to measure the effectiveness of the treatment and protect assets.  There is no need to throw out sofas, beds, furniture, books anymore.   Once the assets are placed in the truck, the entire eradication process take no more than 2 hours bring effective solutions, saving money and giving customers a piece of mind.  Landlords who are faced with uncooperative tenants in dealing with bed bug infestations in their buildings can realize speed and effectiveness with the heat truck.
Co Founders of Northeast Heat Treatment LLC, Mike Morin and Don Frey say that his mobile heat treatment is a relief too many customers who fear elimination of bed bugs is not possible.  They also say their company has been getting calls from people who are seeking heat treatment on damp and watered damaged items.

Bed bugs are very sensitive to heat and are rapidly killed when exposed to temperatures over 113 degrees Fahrenheit. If your are using heat to kill the bed bugs, it needs to happen as fast as possible or the gradual temperature increase will cause the bugs to scatter and possibly lead to further infestation, such as to the room next door or the floor above, etc.  This is why it is optimal to kill any bed bug infestation in your furniture and or belongings in a secured area, such as a mobile heat treatment unit.  These bug killing heat treatment units are designed for your furniture and belongings to be brought into, enclosed, and heated until the bugs are killed.  After this is done your things may be brought back into your home bed bug free.

Heat is a pretty good tool to use against bed bugs. It’s nice and safe, and natural.  It is a very good method of exterminating bed bugs and other insects that is Eco-Friendly.  It reduces the amount of chemicals needed to treat a bed bug infestation.  In this day and age any strategy that is effective in killing bed bugs and cuts down on the amount of chemicals being put into our environment is a good thing.  Mobile heat treatment units for combating bed bugs is the new green method of pest extermination.  These innovative mobile heat treatment units for killing bed bugs work by circulating heated air that is computer monitored to reach a high enough core temperature for the correct amount of time in order to thoroughly kill all bed bugs in your furniture and belongings.

The Department of Environmental Protection has put some heavy money behind combating bed bugs in the United States. Recently they have doled out $550,000.00 in grants to Rutgers University and four other recipients.

The University of Missouri-St. Louis has gotten one of five grants awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to work on new ways to tackle bed bugs.

The grants, totaling $550,000, will be used in areas of the country where problems with bed bugs are present but resources to eliminate them are limited, according to an EPA press release. With parts of the nation dealing with increases of bed bug outbreaks, the release says the agency is aiming to use the grants to help continue education on the problem.

UMSL will work in minority, immigrant and high-poverty communities and the work will translate current information about bed bug control, prevention and identification to a ‘smartphone-friendly” website, the release states.

Other grants went to the Texas Agri-Life Extension Service at Texas A&M University; the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; Rutgers University; and the Michigan Department of Community Health.

These grants will help in developing environmental friendly ways to prevent and treat bed bugs. In our estimation it is money well spent.

The New York Health Department and Housing Officials are planing on cracking down on NYC landlords that don’t take care of bed bug problems in their buildings. The city is and has invested a large amount of money to combat bed bugs and now we will see how they enforce the New York bed bug laws and if the pay-off will be less bed bug problems in New York City.

NEW YORK (AP) — Despite the itchy rise to prominence of bedbugs around New York City, officials have long been limited in what they could do to get negligent landlords to address the spread of the minuscule critters. Recently, city officials announced a policy change that could leave landlords facing harsher penalties.

While the apple-seed-size bugs are not considered a medical threat, city officials will begin issuing Health Department abatement orders that carry stiffer possible penalties than the violations handed out by housing officials, the City Council and housing and health officials announced.

The change means that officials can lay out guidelines for the kind of pest control strategies landlords should adopt and can require landlords to treat the apartments surrounding the one with the infestation.

Landlords that don’t comply could be fined by the city’s Environmental Control Board and, if they don’t pay up, the city could ultimately take liens out on the properties that can be sold to collectors.

“We are going to be very explicit with landlords about what we expect them to do to eradicate bedbugs from their apartments,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. “This is going to help us identify which landlords are delinquent, neglectful, don’t really care if their tenants are getting bit up.”

The policy shift still won’t necessarily lead to immediate relief for residents facing a too-close encounter with the unwanted bedfellows. Officials hope it will increase pressure on landlords, but the inspection and enforcement process can be lengthy, and every day that an infestation continues increases the risk that the blood-sucking bugs will spread to another city location.

That’s a concern to city officials who have seen rising reports of the critters in movie theaters, hotels and clothing stores, worrying residents and even scaring off some of the visitors who make up the city’s $30 billion tourism industry. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he’s concerned about the effect of the hysteria on the city’s reputation.

Despite those worries, city health officials say the bugs cause nothing more than anxiety, stress and itching. Since the city steps in to make emergency repairs only for housing problems they believe pose an immediate health threat, the only option for suffering residents with unresponsive landlords has been to take them to housing court.

Housing court allows tenants to confront their landlords directly, and moving enforcement outside of the court could make it more difficult for tenants to present their case, warned Legal Aid housing lawyer Ellen Davidson.

This rule change was announced along with the launch of a City Council-sponsored informational website meant to help city residents and visitors protect themselves from the bugs and identify and eradicate them if they do become a problem.

The city council is spending $500,000 on the website and other bedbug initiatives, including buying two bedbug-sniffing dogs and retraining the city’s housing inspectors in how to spot the tiny creatures. Recently, Quinn and other council members asked the federal government for more money to eradicate the bugs from public housing.

The bugs have become one of the most common reasons for calls to the city’s 311 information and complaint line, and the city’s housing agency found 4,808 bedbug violations in city apartments last fiscal year, up from 82 violations six years earlier.

Officials say the rise may be due in part to increased public awareness, but sightings of the bugs have increased nationwide in recent years. Experts have theorized that an increase in global travel and the banning of certain pesticides may be partly responsible for their spread.