According to the article, it’s hard to keep up with demand for the doggy detectives.

But here’s what caught my eye in the article:

Experts say the surge of international visitors to New York City is partly to blame for the epidemic as travelers unwittingly bring bedbugs in their luggage from Europe and Asia.

“Yes, yes,” you say, “we know.”

So how much would you pay, readers, to stop at the bed bug dog kiosk in JFK or Newark airports, for a sniff down of you, your luggage, and junior’s stuffed teddy bear? You could then avoid bringing bed bugs home. (Be wary of the infested taxis, my friends.)

$10 per person or bag?   Even at such a low price, the profit margin would be big, compared with k9 teams going to homes for inspections.

(On-site decon could even be offered for person, stuffed animal, and luggage. But that, my friends, would be much trickier and expensive.)

If any bed bug dog handlers steal this idea, I want a kick-back.

No, seriously? Just do it, someone. It’s a great idea.

• dealing with post-bedbug paranoia: how to travel after bed bugs
• FAQ: I stayed somewhere that had bed bugs. What do I do to keep from taking them home?
• Hundreds participate in massive pillow fight, New York City, March 22, 2008
• Margaret Cho on bed bugs: “so New York”

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And can anyone tell us which outfit trained Mr. K?

The news story is imperfect otherwise, but wanted to share this because people are always looking for ways of detecting bed bugs.

(Thanks, insomnia, for the tip!) 

• Consumers, before you hire one, find out what that bed bug dog can do!
• Abbey the Bed Bug Dog: news report
• Results of University of Florida tests on bed bug dog effectiveness are out
• The Daily News on bed bug dogs; a Bedbugger idea for avoiding bed bugs while traveling

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One of the biggest frustrations with bed bugs is that it is hard to know if you have them. You can be bitten quite badly for a long time before ever finding a bed bug. Bed bugs, bed bug cast skins, fecal spots and fecal specks can all be hard to find.

The best thing to do if you suspect bed bugs is to have a qualified pest control operator (PCO) search your home for them, carefully. You may have a PCO who searches and finds nothing. I assume you have already had a doctor rule out scabies, folliculitis, and other medical causes) and that your PCO has ruled out fleas and other biting pests.

While I do not recommend self-treatment for bed bugs, I do recommend trying to locate a sample yourself, especially if a pest control operator has looked but has not yet found evidence, or if the PCO wants to treat without evidence (this may seem great to you at the time, but you really should find out if bed bugs are the cause of your troubles before sinking in your money and time into getting rid of them).

We now have some ideas for bed bug traps to detect a problem. A few caveats:

• These methods are not foolproof. They could take time and having more traps out more frequently increases your odds of catching a culprit.
• This does not significantly reduce your problem, not by a long shot, and is not in itself a treatment option. But detection is the first step in solving your bed bug problem.
• This is not about capturing a live bed bug, but one for identification purposes. Live bed bug sampling can be done with what the British call a pooter, but you have to find a bed bug first. To read about these methods, see this forum thread.

The following are some do-it-yourself methods for getting a bed bug sample.

First, many Pest Control Operators will suggest or use glue traps, designed for mice, to catch bed bugs. Yes, bed bugs will be caught if they walk across them. But getting them to walk across such a trap is tricky. They could walk around it. And you may have no idea what routes they travel.

In a forum thread, PCO/Entomologist Sean, of the Bed Bug Resource, suggested adding an activated hand warmer to the center of the trap:

Take a mouse glue board (sold by pest professionals) and place an activated hot shot (hand warmer) in the centre. There are several brands of hot shots out there and to my knowledge they all should work. These give off both heat and carbon dioxide.

These are NOT 100% effective in every case.

I have never had it not work in a badly infested area, but surely there is the possibility that it may not work in a light infestation.

Keep in mind that bed bugs feed about once per week. Hot shots last about 12 hours. This means that you may have to put one out every night for a week before catching anything. Obviously multiple locations increases your odds.

Putting these traps in the room you think you’re being bitten in, at night, when you’re not (yet) there sleeping, might be good. Doing it when you are away for some reason might be even better (though we don’t recommend you sleep elsewhere in another room or building, as a general rule, since it can spread bed bugs). Remember to put them where pets can’t go, or to keep pets out of the room–they really are very, very sticky.

Hand warmers are sold under many brand names and used by outdoorspeople and people with medical problems (which should give you some idea where to find them). Glue traps are in the pest control section of a home store or available online. These are examples of glue traps and air activated hand warmers:

air-activated hand warmers:

Fourt, in another forum thread, described a rigged-up trap that worked:

I am setting up a crazy little trap up tonight. It’s really not a trap but rather a thing to lure them from returning to their hiding spaces. I have 2 pieces of old wood, not very large, I have drilled several shallow holes on one. Then Im going to cover the holes with the other piece of wood. Placing it close to the head of the bed. My theroy is they will check it out on their way back to where ever they are living. And decide this looks like a nice place to hang out and lay eggs. Then when they least expect it, I will lift off the top peice of wood and get them with my handy dandy garment steamer. My husband thinks I’m crazy, but I tell him to catch a bed bug you need to think like one. I will let you guys know how this works. I know I will not get rid of a infestation this way. But it may work as a monitoring tool.

And here’s the follow-up:

Well, my little wood trap worked. Found an almost mature bug bed in one of the holes. I steamed it with my garment steamer. It died in a instant. I steamed all of the wood incase there were eggs on it. I have set it up again and will wait and see what else happens.

And some tips:

The bed bug trap worked very well to catch them if they were around. If I was to do the trap all over again I would have used a slightly larger drill bit. One last thing regarding the trap. You must use real wood not plywood or MDF. Place the wood near the bed and see what happens. Make sure you have a way to catch them when checking the wood for BB. They can trot at a good clip.

Fourt’s trap reminded me of this trap idea hopelessnomo found. I was impressed by Fourt’s ingenuity, and happy it worked, though I have to stress that I think that luck plays more of a role in this method than Sean’s. There’s nothing to attract the bed bug in this case, except that it’s a form of wooden clutter with holes for hiding out, and it’s in the bed (no doubt to some degree appealing to bed bugs).

The bottom line is that Sean also has experience with his trap working again and again, and if I had to rig up a trap, I would try his glue trap/hand warmer method (and try it a number of times).

Another method of detecting (but not trapping per se) gets around the fact that bed bugs may be less likely to come towards you in bed with the lights on, and involves using red LED light to see bed bugs at night. NotSoSnug, resident “Cimex Hunter,” had great results with this. You can read about his methods here. They are effective, though their effectiveness depends on your ability to stay up (possibly most of the night) as well as your level of infestation. If you are not being bitten by lots of bed bugs, or being bitten elsewhere than the bed, or you simply would like to sleep, this is not such a great method. Since NotSoSnug was not able to sleep during this period, and did appear to have lots of bed bugs, it was very effective for him.

A red LED light was part of NotSoSnug’s toolkit for detecting bed bugs at night in bed.  They can be quite useful. Here’s a thread about this (including advice about obtaining useful red LED lights).

I welcome reports in the comments below from those who use one of these methods and find it successful.

Future prospects for bed bug traps?

My understanding is that a glue trap involving bed bug aggregate pheromones is in the works, but has been for years, and we should not hold our breath.

Simple glue traps are beginning to be marketed as bed bug traps. Don’t get excited at the simple mention of a bed bug trap for sale.

John F. Anderson at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven is working with a rigged-together bed bug trap that is not commercially available. You can see glimpses of it near the end of this WTNH News 8 video Paula shared in the forums. We can hope something like it–or the plans for how to make one– is soon available to all of us.

Remember, too, that bed bug dogs are an option as an aid to finding a bed bug or detecting their presence. Dogs and their handlers cannot always help you find an actual sample, so if you do go this route, discuss with your landlord/PCO the necessity of a visible bed bug sample (and whether they will take the word of the bed bug dog handler), and discuss with your bed bug dog handler before hiring him/her the possibility of locating one if needed.

• Good news: bed bug aggregate pheromones
• Another bed bug trap in the works
• University of Florida tests bed bug dogs
• NotSoSnug: killing bed bugs one by one

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It describes how the National Entomologiy Scent Detection Canine Association in North Carolina has begun certifying bed bug dogs that can detect live bed bugs or viable eggs. This is important, since dogs that can do this can detect when infestations are gone. Bed bug dogs who just sniff out bed bugs may be detecting remains of dead bugs of an eliminated infestation.

For now, if you hire a bed bug dog, be sure and talk with the technician about what the dog can do–does it detect live and dead bugs? Or does it differentiate? What about eggs?

This article focuses on Mike Masterson, owner of Isotech Pest Management in Pomona, California. His two bed bug dogs, Matt and Matti, work as a pair; if one detects bed bugs, the second comes in to validate that.

Check it out.

• Abbey the Bed Bug Dog: news report
• Results of University of Florida tests on bed bug dog effectiveness are out
• MSNBC: bed bugs go back to school
• Bed bug dog Joni: fighting bed bugs in New Zealand and Australia

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FAIRFAX, VA.  The National Pest Management Association’s Pest Management Foundation recently awarded grants to the University of Florida’s Dr. Faith Oi to determine the effectiveness of canines as bed bug detectors and Clemson University’s Dr. Patricia Zungoli to study the giant needle ant, an invasive species that is emerging as a major pest problem in the Southeastern United States.

“The Foundation is very pleased to fund these very worthwhile research projects and proud that the results will benefit pest management professionals,” said Foundation Executive Director Gene Harrington.

Dr. Oi and Dr. Zungoli will highlight the preliminary results of their research at an educational session at the PestWorld 2007 Conference in Kissimmee, Fla., in October. Both projects should be completed next year, the Pest Management Foundation reports.

This is great news, and especially good news for consumers. I hope that Dr. Oi will be able to study dogs trained by more than one trainer, since it’s my hunch that effectiveness will depend largely on the skills of the dog and the techniques and skills of the trainer.

I am really looking forward to the results of this one!

Oh, and the giant needle ant does sound like a pest I don’t want to meet. I hope it’s “giant” and right in the open, and not good at hiding like a pest we’re more familiar with here at Bedbugger. Apparently the giant needle ant (aka the Chinese needle ant) is considered a public health threat.

Perhaps it’s time for a new motto:
“Bedbugger: giving you new things to worry about since 2006.”

• Gentrol may make bed bugs worse
• How accurate are human bed bug inspectors, k9s?
• Results of University of Florida tests on bed bug dog effectiveness are out
• More bed bug research: Stephen Kells at the University of Minnesota

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Nine-pound Nudie’s feet skitter across the concrete floor as she speeds by, keeping her tiny nose to the ground. She scurries around the perimeter of a bed, then hops on top.

“Find your B’s, find your B’s,” handler Jose “Pepe” Peruyero commands. Within seconds, she’s pawing furiously at a spot on the bed as if trying to dig through it.

She’s found her “B’s” — meaning bedbugs. She gets a handful of kibble, a hearty “Good girl!” from Peruyero and a kiss on her scruffy head.

Nudie is a bedbug-detecting Chinese crested terrier mix trained by Peruyero’s J&K Canine Academy in High Springs, part of a 3½-year collaboration with University of Florida entomologists.

They’ve worked together to gauge the accuracy of more than 17 termite-detecting dogs since 1998, but early next month will be the first time they’ve added bedbug-sniffing dogs like Nudie to the mix.

About 20 dogs will be tested for their termite- and bedbug-detecting accuracy during the Southeast Pest Management Conference May 6-9 on the UF campus. UF entomology graduate students run the tests.

Though the bed bug dogs are not a “silver bullet” for finding bed bugs, they can often find them where humans can’t easily do so:

“We’ve been working to try to make sure that there are quality dogs out there to detect termites, and now bedbugs,” said Phil Koehler, an entomology professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “Both those pests are very difficult to detect in structures.”For instance, he said, researchers have found as many as 15 bedbug nymphs in the slot of a drywall screw.

That’s the sort of stealth that makes bed bugs so hard to find. Humans need all the help we can get, so bring on the trained bed bug dogs, and bring on the tests of their efficacy.

Thanks to lmk for the tip!

• Abbey the Bed Bug Dog: news report
• Results of University of Florida tests on bed bug dog effectiveness are out
• How accurate are human bed bug inspectors, k9s?
• Consumers, before you hire one, find out what that bed bug dog can do!

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