Comments on: Indiana, call a pest control operator

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 01:54:19 +0000

Good point James.

I did not mean to imply that vacuuming was not hugely helpful, by the way, but just that PCOs need to see the full extent of the bed bug horror. Indeed, many Bedbuggers do not have much evidence at all.

Willow’s experience reminded me of this.

Also, even after the PCO, people need to ask the PCO where and if to vacuum. Sometimes dusts are put down which need to stay down, and the PCO may tell you to vacuum often, or not at all, or may tell you to reapply something afterwards. They need to be in on everything you’re doing.

By: James Buggles

James Buggles — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 22:05:43 +0000

This is a common notion among older people from the days when bedbugs were mostly found in tenements and the like. Cleaning was once the only way to combat bedbugs — it may not have eliminated them completely, but was better than nothing I guess.

By: willow-the-wisp

willow-the-wisp — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:29:43 +0000

true–I had no evidence–true I did vacuum and I had to use force to ger the eggs off by using a crevis tool. the eggs came uo with force the “glue” remained as it was dry–call a pco or phd first!

By: parakeets

parakeets — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:19:37 +0000

I agree. I found bedbug eggs laid on the underside of a navy pillow on my couch and the glue the bedbug eggs are laid with was very, very strong. I didn’t test it, but I doubt I could have vacuumed those eggs off the pillow with any vacuum I have.

There was a discussion about vacuuming and bedbugs at the bedbug convention in Hernon VA. The professionals did not seem to favor vacuuming as a way to treat bedbugs.

If someone has a very heavy infestation, I suppose that vacuuming might be a way to remove some bedbugs. If you vacuum before the PCO comes, they won’t necessarily then see where the infestation is, though, and the treatment might not be as effective.