We don’t know if this mattress has bed bugs or not. (It has some dirty edges: dirt, or bed bug fecal stains?)

New York’s iPhone Interloper caught this photo recently:

I actually hope the mattress is not infested with bed bugs, because it obviously was not carefully sealed in plastic before being dragged around someone’s apartment, through the halls, into the elevator or down the stairs, through the lobby . . . you get the idea.

That said, there’s an appeal to having anything that must be removed from your home, removed right away, rather than leaving bed bug-infested items on the curb for someone else to use and become infested by.*

This might be a smart idea for landlords who are treating bed bugs: if tenants are discarding items, the last thing the landlord wants is for other tenants to rescue them.

And we do get reports from buildings where everyone knows about the bed bug problem, that some tenants will, unbelieveably, still drag other peoples’ stuff back inside.

Thanks to iPhone Interloper, our favorite NYC photojourno-snoop!

*Remember, bed bug experts tell us most items do not need to be discarded and can be treated and saved. Similar Posts:

• Manhattan Mattress Mystery
• Bed bug notice: East Village, NYC, January 2008
• 48th Street between 3rd and Lex, last night
• Sending reinforcements? Mattresses at 5th and Broadway, NYC
• Untitled, 2007