Bedbug epidemic attacks New York City

NY DAILY NEWS ^ | December 30th 2007 | DOUGLAS FEIDEN

[blam]

"So much for sleeping tight!"

Sleeping tight wasn't about bedbugs.

[SunkenCiv]

The blood-sucking nocturnal creatures have infested a Park Ave. penthouse

Wait a sec'... is this about lawyers?

[yorkie]

I do not believe it either. 20 cashmere sweaters and an Armani suit that could have all been dry cleaned?

[SWAMPSNIPER]

[aruanan]

Bedbug epidemic attacks New York City

Bedbugs suck! Unfed bugs are rarely longer than 1/4 inch. That's a really, really big one. I have never seen one longer than that. However, baby bedbugs smaller than the dot of an 'i" can merrily suck your blood. And an unfed bedbug can stay alive for years.

What we need is a handy, home use shaker of DDT. Soldiers in WWII liberally applied DDT to everything and got relief from bedbugs and all sorts of other blood sucking insects. And this is one of the longest lived generations in history. BRING BACK DDT NOW!!!!

[aruanan]

Bedbugs come out of the woodwork at night to feed on human blood, biting people in their sleep and leaving large, itchy skin welts that can be painful. They are not believed to carry or transmit diseases

They like to live where there is rough texture, like in the edges of cardboard boxes, in the crease of the ticking around the edge of a mattress, on the ends of books, especially if the paper edges are not smooth. If they are like fleas, vacuuming them will destroy them. Some people are lucky and don't have any sort of reaction to the bite. Of course, it's still gross to awaken at a tickle and find a swollen red bead with legs trundling across one's arm or face. It's even more gross to find you've rolled over and squished it on the sheet.

[djf]

One night about three AM I toss back the covers on my bed and see a bug walking across the sheets.

I completely panic! So I capture it.
Next day in full sunlight, I look at it under a couple different magnifying glasses I have.

It was just a regular, hard backed beetle, one of the 75,396,554 species of beetles we have here in the PNW.

[sweetiepiezer]

They have bed bugs at alot of Vegas hotels, but it is kept under the covers, shhhh.

[muggs]

The last time I stayed at a hotel, the first thing I did was pull all the bedding off the bed to check for bedbugs.

[Peace Is Coming]

My dad used to say the whole “good night sleep tight” routine about bed bugs each night. I used to think it was funny. But real bedbugs are not too funny.

[Peace Is Coming]

I have a friend who won’t sleep in a motel because of bedbugs. He sleeps in his van. I’m not sure how he washes up.

[JSteff]

“They have bed bugs at alot of Vegas hotels, but it is kept under the covers, shhhh.”

What happens there stays there? We can only hope!

[samtheman]

A surge in global travel and mobility in all socioeconomic classes, combined with less toxic urban pesticides and the banning of DDT created a perfect storm for reviving the critters, which had been virtually dormant since World War II, experts say.

From Bring Back DDT, and Science With It!:

The 1972 U.S. ban on DDT is responsible for a genocide 10 times larger than that for which we sent Nazis to the gallows at Nuremberg. It is also responsible for a menticide which has already condemned one entire generation to a dark age of anti-science ignorance, and is now infecting a new one.

[samtheman]

The last time I stayed at a hotel, the first thing I did was pull all the bedding off the bed to check for bedbugs.

I saw a NOVA (I think) show about these critters once and they showed what they claimed was the most effective way to inspect a hotel/motel room for bedbugs:

Pull the bed out from the wall just far enough to be able to inspect the wall behind the headboard. Look for little dots of blood, or dried blood.

Part of the lifecycle of these disgusting critters involves them going behind the headboard (can't remember why) and leaving a disgusting splotch of blood on the wall (can't remember why). A bedbug infested room will have a lot of blood-dots on the wall behind the headboard (can't remember why).

Although I can't remember any of the details, this simple test stuck in my mind. I don't travel much, but the last time I did, I used this method and found no blood-spots and had a good night's sleep.

[Ditter]

Yikes! I have seen small bugs that looked kinda like that but I think they were some kind of small roach type bug. We don’t have bites on us so I guess they were not bed bugs.

[modest proposal]

when i read this article about NYC the intro to ‘sweet home alabama’ starts playing in my head (it is where the skys are so blue)

wish they would only let louse free people into the country.