Bed Bugs

E

Elliotte

So...anyone run into these? I'm quite surprised that it has taken three years of more with one of my guesthouses before we've caught a case but now they are here. And the silly guests didn't think to report strange bites until after a few months in their room so now we think they are on the move and probably in a few parts of the house.

So much conflicting advice on the Internet and even from the pest guys. Trying to figure out what to believe...
 
I live in a resort unit ...our management occasionally has bed bug problems...(usually from overseas visitors)

Here in qld the procedure is to immediately wrap the mattress in plastic (our management has a store of mattress bags from a local manufacturer) and seal tightly.

The mattress is then disposed of and a new mattress placed in the room.

Sucks for the owner who gets a bill for a new mattress :(. But that is the downside of holiday rentals.

One way around infestation is to have your mattresses wrapped in plastic and have a mattress topper over it, Then the bed linen. Apparently this makes the bed a bit hotter as the mattress doesn't breathe, but the bed bugs are confined to a cheap topper (whaich can be washed HOT ) rather than a $500 mattress.
 
Oh I forgot to mention the insect bug spraying while the room is unoccupied.

Bed bugs generally mean 2-3 day room down time.
 
I'm sending you the phone number of our pest chap. He is very knowledgeable and will tell you what needs to be done. Then you can hire someone local to you knowing what you need to know and what will work and what will not.
 
Good news! Turns out they were just roaches. I had these paniced guests and a few reports of bites. I told everyone to check online to make sure they weren't a few cockroaches we could treat easily. Then I think they all just got into some sort of group hysteria. I even had a new manager walk off the job saying my house was infested. Get a few opinions from pest guys - nah, an upswing of German cockroaches that can be fixed easily and they both only said a mild-moderate issue. Mostly from guests leaving food around. FFS. In hindsight the carry on is mostly from people from a cold climate who've probably never seen a cockroach in their lives. :D
 
As horrible as that sounds (and I hope it's true) biting cockies is almost preferable to bed bugs. We suffered thru them in London in 2 places and it was murder. This is the missus with her reaction after a couple of nights. I'm not exaggerating to say that the bed sheets were dotted with hundreds of blood spots.
Not fun and a big effort to get rid of them as they can lay dormant for up to 2 years without feasting (So I've read).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voea8cvqofA
 
hobo said:
Cockroaches bite?? During the night?

.....
Click to expand...
Although I hesitate to say that is impossible, I highly doubt that they bite. I have had to clean up a couple of SEVERLY infested homes. One which had a baby & a couple of toddlers. If you put something on the floor, it would be instantly covered in nasty German Roaches. :eek:

Surely the tenants would complain if they were getting bitten? Wouldn't they???
 
They can - especially German ones if they are hungry. If you start to google the whole roach vs bug thing it is all very scary and interesting. Mostly though the bites are from roaches seeking food crumbs and not really going for blood or anything - but if beds have crumbs in them, floors have crumbs it can happen! This is according to the two pest companies I spoke to. And that set me off on a google search. I'm still doing all beds with bed bug wraps just in case. And using the powder dust for bugs in rooms people have reported bites just in case.
 
Elliotte said:
They can - especially German ones if they are hungry. If you start to google the whole roach vs bug thing it is all very scary and interesting. Mostly though the bites are from roaches seeking food crumbs and not really going for blood or anything...
Click to expand...

Cockroaches do bite.....
As with other posters I have experienced being covered in roaches at night to the point of running outside...bloody horrible!
Once was at sea in a small cabin on an old ship...large roaches with big appetites!

But easily killed with a bug bomb - or three......:)
 
Someone complained about bedbugs in an apartment of ours so we investigated and under duty of care took action to stop anything. Nothing there I'm pleased to say. Searched the net, had a chat with this guy just before Xmas re bedbugs - very helpful - also has a great video on the website. Spoke to Tony somebody from www.bedbugbarrier.com.au and bought some mattress covers which zip up. If there are any, the bugs starve and die within. Steam kills them on site around skirting boards, bedheads, valances and under mattress piping and under bed base cover stapled edges.

Yuk factor of 10, makes u itchy just talking about it.

Good luck
Cheers
crest133
 
Bed bugs = throw mattress out. Check all holes to see where nest is.

Get professionals in ASAP. Around $1k a pop, but usually solves the problem for most domestic bed bug issue.
 
The only experience I've got was 2 yrs ago. I and a friend shared a twin room in Alice Spring for 2 nights. No incident, then a few days later we developed 3 red dots on arm, and my friiends had more, I forgot where. Since we dont leave in the same place and those 2 nights were the only time we stayed at one room, we believe we got these bites in there. My friend was staying more in the room, thats probably why she got more bites. After googling on internet, we are sure it was bed bugs as red dots from the bites formed a straight line.
 
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