Comments on: Second Greater Boston Bed Bug Conference

By: Vectorguard

Vectorguard — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:52:20 +0000

Thank you for the articles on the lawsuits and the conferences, I am very interested in how this turns out. I own a bed bug dog business, there is a study going on at Florida State University about the detection rate of a bed bug dog. The results are coming out in May at the conference there in Florida . There has been a past study on termite sniffing dogs thier detection rate is 95% with a 3% false alert rate. I am not here to advertise my business but to say that bed bug dogs can be a great tool in finding these intrusive pests. I have seen young kids bitten and sores all over thier body. I have been in pest control for 12 years and this problem is growing very quickly. It cannot be ignored any longer and the only way to keep this under control is with constant inspections becasue you don't know you have them until you have been bitten. Constant inspection is the answer for this problem.

By: parakeets

parakeets — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:46:46 +0000

Here’s another link about the bedbug conference with coverage of things I did not include in my writeup, and some great quotes.

http://www.townonline.com/homepage/x1564168703

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 03:20:06 +0000

Special for all my “Anonymous” kids–u2dan, Jammin, and the other one (don’t know who you are but I know you’re on the forums):

Listen, your login from the forums will work here. I don’t know why it does not recognize you. Here’s what to do: go to the top right corner of this page: Do you see the word “Login”? If so, click it, and login with your forum login.

If you instead see the word “Logout,” click that! Logout! Then you will see Login, and you can click it and login.

Sorry the blog is not recognizing you, maybe it’s because you do not allow cookies.

As I said to Jammin, anonymous comments are always allowed, but it’s fun when we can all greet you by name. And give u2dan a kick up the you-know-what for not reading the blog enough (I know, you were busy in Long Island City!)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 20:34:46 +0000

oh argh! i ahvent been around much lately. Oh well next time.

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:50:32 +0000

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=1006371

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:03:15 +0000

Hopelessnomo took the words out of my mouth. Parakeets, I think if you’ve had your landlord’s PCO treating you for 18 months, and you still have bed bugs, then there are other options. More than one option comes to my mind.

Sometimes I think hanging around the battle-weary on Bedbugger discourages folks from thinking bed bugs can be gotten rid of. But they can. At least long enough to escape.

Other routes involve forcing the landlord to take better measures.

But getting them at bay and getting out discretely might appeal to you more. Why should you have to live with them indefinitely when others don’t?

I hope you’ll forgive the intrusion, but you have a lot of fans here and I am sure, as Nomo says, we’d all like to help.

By: hopelessnomo

hopelessnomo — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:07:32 +0000

Hi Parakeets,
So what is your current thinking on your building’s situation, after this conference? Have you reviewed your options? It seems to me that you have options. They’re not perfect but they exist. I think we would all like to help. There is always something that can be done. Did the landlord hire a better PCO firm? I wonder sometimes about your neighbors, I mean your immediate neighbors on your floor. Have you spoken to them? Could you possibly hire a PCO on your own and have the landlord pay? Can we have a conversation about this? I mean, I want to help and I’m sure everyone else here will have good ideas that have not occurred to you. Please say yes.

By: parakeets

parakeets — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 13:25:23 +0000

lieutentdan — my infestation cycles up and down. My landlord is treating but original ineffective treatments drove the bedbugs into the wall voids and they haven’t been able to completely eradicate them. Sadly, my birds died. After the building was fogged, all the parakeets in the building died, even though we brought them back after the recommended number of hours had passed. Parakeets can die if you cook with old Teflon cookware. They are sensitive to fumes.

u2dan — It was in Bunker Hill Community College. You would have especially liked the legal panel’s discussion. However, all the lawyers agreed that witholding rent or moving out and breaking the lease were not the first steps a tenant should take, and these were lawyers representing very differing sides–the tenant, legal aid, and landlord sides of the issue.

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 04:28:46 +0000

Parakeets,

Thanks for the wonderful report on the bed bug conference. I am so glad that you could attend and share what you learned!

Hi u2dan,

The conference was mentioned as part of a news round up on this blog last Thursday. Sorry you did not catch that–the more of us that can go to these things, the better!

By: u2dan

u2dan — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 03:13:00 +0000

Yay!! where in MA was this? If i knew about it i totally would have represented. I want my stupid ex-landlord to pay for the shit that i went throuh the past winter, and the assholes had the f-ing nerve to charge me $1700 becuasse i had to break a lease. THey agreed that it wouldnt be a good idea to rent out the extra room in my apt having just been infested yet i couldnt afford it on my own so i was screwed either way. I hate them!! Sorry fo rmy vulgarity..i love my apartment so much and where i lived and i am so pissed that all of this had to happen. Just lke all of us are here.

Its really really scary that 95% of people really don’t know what bedbugs are, they still think they are a fairytale thing. Its sickening. Allston and Brighton are really bad areas on the bedbug map due to the volume of students traveling and moving about.