Category Archives: Bed Bugs Ohio

Bed Bugs Information

Like mosquitoes, bed bugsbite people and drink a blood meal.Unlike mosquitoes, they are not known to transmit any human diseases.They can, however, causeitching, skin rashes, anddistress.

Bed bugs spread as people carry them into their homes, often in infested luggage, clothing, used furniture, or bedding.

Bedbugs can show up in anyones home, school or business. But in general, multi-unit housing is a more common place for a bed bug infestation, such as hotels, dorms, shelters and apartments. Infestations usually are not because ofbad housekeeping.

While any resident can be affected by bed bugs, the greatest impact is often felt by people with the least resources to deal with the problem, which can take a lot of time and money.

The City of Columbus is part of the Central Ohio Bed Bug Task. It includes local governments, health departments, social service agencies, pest control applicators, landlord and tenants rights groups, fire departments, the Ohio Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health, and the Ohio State University Extension. Our goal is to prevent bed bug infestations through education and serve as a resource to those struggling with an infestation. More information atwww.centralohiobedbugs.org

For enforcement of housing code issues, including pest control: City of Columbus: 614-645-3111 Franklin County: 614-462-3160

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Bed Bugs Information - Columbus, Ohio

Though the media frenzy around bed bugs is conveying lots of good information, the bed bug B.S. is not any less prevalent than it used to be.

First, lets consider this NBC 4i report that explores the issue of bed bugs and secondhand merchandise in Ohio.

(If embedded video does not play, click here to view.)

NBC 4i notes:

The owner of Trader Tots in Grandview told NBC 4 that she had to get a special license from the state to sell items like upholstered furniture, bedding and stuffed toys.

That license allows owner Michelle Salisbury and her employees to use a special chemical to fight bed bugs and other problems.

Really? Secondhand store employees are licensed to use magic bed bug juice? Something the rest of us cant get?

Ooooh! What is it? Tell us more!

Dont get too excited.

The license doesnt allow Ohio secondhand store owners and employees to use a special chemical to kill bed bugs. (Well, except that all chemicals are special in their own way. Like snowflakes!)

In fact, the Ohio laws require people who sell upholstered furniture, bedding, and stuffed items like toys to sanitize them, label them, and keep them separate from non-sanitized items.

Unfortunately, as is true in other states, these laws do not take into account how difficult it is to sanitize items to make them free of bed bugs.

According to the Ohio Dept. of Commerce Second Hand Procedures (PDF), the most popular method is using a spray. (The fact sheet does not outline what the less popular methods are, implying by omission that merchants have no other or better options.) The two sprays approved for this purpose: Steri-Fab and MicroBan X-580 Plus.

MicroBan X-580 Plus (label PDF) is a pyrethrin-based product. Steri-Fabs active ingredients (label PDF) include synthetic pyrethrins, and alcohol.

These products have a place in the arsenal, but theyre not magic juice, and you dont need a special license to apply them.

(Of course, please use caution when applying any pest control products; were glad to see that Ohios Second Hand Procedures says the law requires use in accordance with labeling instructions and the use of an approved type mask.)

These products do kill bed bugs. But a spray with them is not going to kill all bed bugs present unless they are sprayed directly, or eventually cross a residual which kills them.

Any spray used on these items is not going to 100% guarantee that all bed bugs and eggs inside are dead. Not by a long shot. That pyrethroid-resistance is widespread is another reason to be concerned about relying on it as a residual.

Which means that these products dont really prevent bed bugs from being inside secondhand merchandise, or guarantee they dont go home with shoppers.

Shopkeeper Michelle Salisbury seems to really care about preventing the spread of bed bugs to her customers, and yet the information the state is providing her and the sanitizing laws its requiring this and other merchants to follow are likely giving a false sense of security.

And shoppers are not being sufficiently warned of the potential condition of used stuffed items by the required label: SECONDHAND MATERIAL, CONTENTS UNKNOWN. THIS ITEM HAS BEEN SANITIZED. Most people would probably assume sanitized means 100% sanitized, rather than an attempt was made at sanitizing.

And if that creeps you out, remember that this is not an Ohio-specific problem. New York still allows secondhand mattresses to be resold after being spritzed with Steri-Fab.

I am glad the Ohio shopkeeper profiled here also does visual inspections, since this is very important, but these are not reliable, especially with items like mattresses, upholstered furniture, and stuffed animals, where bed bugs may be hiding inside.

Done properly, heat treatment or gas fumigation would be one-shot reliable methods for eliminating bed bugs in these items. Small items could be treated in a Packtite, but it would be costly to treat larger items and most secondhand shops probably could not afford something like this.

Merchants not only need laws which mandate procedures which really do render items 100% bed-bug-free, but if those laws are enacted, they also may need help in setting up the infrastructure to comply with them.

And thats the big problem when it comes to eliminating bed bugs: money.

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Bed bugs B.S. in the media: Ohios secondhand stores

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Here are some answers to the questions commonly asked about bed bugs.

Bed bugs feed on the blood of humans and other warm blooded animals. These insects feed mostly at night when hosts are asleep, causing small, hard, swollen, white welts on the skin. The welts soon become inflamed and itch. Some people are bothered more by the bites than others.

Bed bugs and their relatives are not known to transmit human disease. The welts they cause can itch severely.

Adult bedbugs are reddish-brown to mahogany in color, oval shaped, and flattened. They vary from 1/4 up to 5/8 inch long. After a blood meal their body is swollen, more elongate, and appears to be more of a dull red color. They cannot fly but they do move quickly.

Three for four eggs are laid per day over two months. That means with favorable conditions (temperatures of 70 F and with regular feeding on blood) each female bed bug can lay about 200 eggs. Eggs hatch in as few as 6 days or as long as 28 days, depending upon conditions. When bed bugs bite they inject a fluid into the skin that assists in obtaining blood. This saliva also causes the skin to become irritated and inflamed. It takes about three to five minutes for the bed bug to become engorged and then it crawls away to a hiding place in a crack or crevice to digest the meal. Bed bugs will seek more blood when they are hungry but they are easily capable of going two to eight weeks and in extreme cases up to a year without a blood meal. In situations where they are allowed to thrive there may be three or more generations a year.

Bed bugs hide in cracks, crevices, and seams of bedding and furniture during the day. They prefer narrow crevices with a rough surface where their legs and backs touch both sides of the surface. Some common hiding spots include the crevices of upholstered furniture and mattresses created by folds, buttons, and cording; bed frames; dresser frames; cracks along and behind baseboards; behind pictures and in picture frames; loose wallpaper; drapery pleats; electrical outlets; window frames; door moldings; luggage; and just about any other narrow crack and crevice you can find in a room.

Prior to treating a room the bed linens should be removed and laundered. The floor and especially the perimeter along the baseboards should be thoroughly vacuumed. The closets need to be emptied and all the dresser drawers need to be emptied. The contents of the drawers and closets should be placed in large plastic bags (trash bags work well) and put in another room. Please consult our bed bug preparation notice for detailed instructions.

The treatment needs to be extremely thorough. The sides, cording, and folds of the mattress and box springs are treated but the surface on which people sleep is not. Bed bugs do not hide on the surface of the mattress but in the crevices and folds. The bed framing and headboard need to be treated. Once that is done then the entire perimeter of the room and ALL the possible cracks, crevices, and hiding places need to be inspected and treated. Remember, bed bugs feed at night and then crawl away to nearby cracks and crevices to digest their blood meal. Often times other rooms where there is upholstered furniture, futons, hide-a-beds, etc. need to be treated. The treatment is extensive, time consuming, and expensive. After the treatment is completed allow the area to dry completely and ventilate the room before using the bed or other treated furniture. This may take four hours or longer. A follow up visit should be scheduled within seven to ten days.

The difficulty in control has to do with finding all the hiding places. The more clutter in a room, the more pictures and wall decorations, and the more furniture are factors that increase the number of places that need to be treated. Remember bed bugs have the ability to hide in the smallest crack or crevice and go unnoticed for several weeks.

Bed bugs are hitchhikers. They grab a ride on luggage, baggage, furniture, bedding, boxes, and even clothing worn by people coming from infested sites.

If you are working in an infested room doing things like inspecting, painting, cleaning, vacuuming, etc, you are not going to take them with you. Recall that bed bugs hide in cracks and crevices during the day and search for a blood meal at night. Remember though that bed bugs are hitchhikers. They grab a ride on luggage, baggage, furniture, and bedding so be sure to inspect these items before they are removed from an infested home or apartment.

Bed bugs are capable of moving about in search of hiding places and a blood meal. Certainly, there may be some movement along common utility, plumbing, and cable lines in hotels, motels, apartments, and other multiple type dwelling places. More commonly bed bugs are spread between rooms by people sharing bedding, furniture, clothes, luggage, and other possessions. A good precaution to take once an infestation is identified is to treat the pipe holes, common plumbing and utility lines, and electrical outlets leading in and out of the room.

We have found that it is best to inspect and retreat the area seven to ten days after the initial control procedure. This allows time to evaluate the effectiveness of the process and reapply materials to the hard to reach areas. The need for additional treatments is determined by the amount of clutter, the number of hiding places, and the cooperation of the occupants. After the first treatment it is strongly recommended that the mattress and box spring be encased with zippered plastic covers. These covers are available from Target, Wal-Mart, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and the internet and cost anywhere from $10.00 to $40.00.

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The General Pest Control Company - Bed Bugs

Published: Tue, March 10, 2015 @ 12:05 a.m.

By Peter H. Milliken

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Community Corrections Association has been taking remedial measures after bedbugs were found in recent months in two of its Market Street residential facilities.

We are working diligently with Grace exterminators and taking preventive measures to ensure the health and well-being of our residents, said David Stillwagon, chief executive officer of the association, which serves as a halfway house for criminal offenders.

Preventive measures include discarding the wood-frame beds the bugs are attracted to and replacing them with metal-frame beds in affected areas, he said.

Initially, bedbugs were reported in late December in a four-bed intake room at 1608 Market St., and the bugs spread to two other four-bed rooms there.

After that incident, two residents were given an anti-itch skin cream, Stillwagon said.

After the exterminator sprayed insecticide and beds were replaced in the three affected rooms and three nearby rooms, the bugs were eradicated there, Stillwagon said.

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CCA battles bedbugs

Serving the Dayton and Columbus Ohio Areas

Dayton Bed Bug Control is a locally-owned pest control company with a special focus on environmentally-friendly bed bug control. Our family is now in its second generation of providing high-quality pest management services to the people of Dayton, Columbus, and their surrounding areas.

The dramatic rise of bed bugs that we've witnessed in the past decade convinced us that the people of Dayton and Columbus needed a company that would take the time to become experts in all aspects of bed bug elimination.

Bed bugs are unlike any other pest problem, and effective bed bug extermination requires a detailed understanding of their life cycle, biology, and habits. When the "bed bug renaissance" took the pest control industry by surprise, even seasoned exterminators found that they had to "go back to school" and invest in new products and equipment in order to provide high-quality, reliable bed bug elimination.

At Dayton Bed Bug Control, we've made that investment, and now we're ready to serve you with the highest-quality, most effective bedbug-control services available, using environmentally-friendly technology that minimizes or eliminates the need for insecticides.

One of the most exciting services we offer is bed bug control using heat treatment. After years of testing, we've become convinced that for most folks, heat treatment is the preferred method of bed bug control, and we've invested in state-of-the-art, purpose-built, computer-controlled equipment to make sure that it's done right. You can read more about it here, but here's the abridged version of why we like using heat to control bed bugs.

Our family has always been committed to an environmentally-sound approach to pest control commonly known as IPM, or Integrated Pest Management. IPM is a scientific method of pest control that, among other things, seeks to minimize or eliminate the use of pesticides in favor of non-chemical control methods. It actually had its origins in agricultural pest control, but we were early adopters of IPM for structural pest control.

When the "Bed Bug Renaissance" began about a decade ago, it took us all by surprise. Most exterminators in the United States had never even seen a bed bug in real life. We all had to literally go back to school to learn how to kill them. And what we learned was that it took an awful lot of chemicals to effectively eliminate a bed bug infestation.

We didn't like that; and so we started looking for a better way.

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Dayton Bed Bug and Pest Control | Dayton and Columbus Ohio