Interestingly,

The bed bug infestation came to light last week after the Pinellas County Health Department received an anonymous call about the problem.

So do call those health departments to report bed bugs in public spaces, or your workplace, people.

Even more interestingly,

Unlike roaches, which can be spotted easily, bed bugs hide, so “we don’t even bother looking for them,” said Charles Minor, a supervisor with the health department’s environmental division. “If we get a complaint, we assume that they’re there. We focus on getting rid of them.”

We’ve heard some pest control operators treat bed bugs the same way, even though in many places, it’s illegal to treat without evidence. Yes, bites are a form of evidence, but they can come from other sources, and so don’t definitively indicate bed bugs.

Still, I appreciate the Pinellas County Health Department’s enthusiasm for treating bed bugs.

PEMHS stopped taking new patients, moved those in the facility elsewhere and tented the building for fumigation, said Erin Gillespie, a spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families, which oversees PEMHS. The building remained closed until Monday when employees and residents began moving back in.

It sounds like the building was treated with vikane gas fumigation. The facility may wish to educate employees and clients about bed bugs, since we can assume the bed bugs may have both been brought into the center from someone’s home, and may have been taken home by others, infesting their homes.

If employees or clients have bed bugs at home and do not get proper treatment, the facility can easily become reinfested.

• bed bugs clear Port Jervis, NY Hospital’s mental health unit
• Bed bugs in hotels: how to report (and check up on) bed bug infestations
• Freehold, NJ Social Service agency asks county for money to treat bed bugs
• Rockford, IL: half of Red Roof Inn shut down due to bed bugs

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“Our inspectors are saying in recent months, even the last year, we’ve been seeing more complaints of bed bugs in our area,” said Dain Weister of the Orange County Health Department.

Even the most popular hotels are not immune.

WFTV channel 9 reports that one family was paid off to keep their bed bug story to themselves, after encountering the monsters in their Disney Resort.

One family said they were bitten by the bugs at the Disney All-Star Movie Resort. They backed out of an interview after they said Disney offered them $5,000 and a free trip to keep quiet.

The station also contacted Disney:

When asked about offering money to the family who found bed bugs in their room, Disney said they occasionally compensates guests who have a less than magical experience and the park does everything it can to makes guests comfortable [sic].

How is Disney dealing with bed bugs?

Disney said it has trained entomologists or “bug experts” on staff. Other hotels hire bug sniffing dogs. One of the animals is based in Tampa, but makes frequent trips to inspect hotels in the Orlando area.

I would indeed call bed bugs a “less than magical” experience. The spread of bed bugs can not be entirely contained and they will appear in hotels of every kind and quality. The best thing is to be proactive about doing a search for bed bugs in the room before settling in, and to take some basic precautions. (See our travel FAQs for more on how to avoid bed bugs while traveling.)

All hotels, meanwhile, need to educate employees about searching for and identifying bed bugs in the course of their normal work, and hotels need to employ professionals to help them develop a bed bug prevention and treatment protocol, and to identify and treat infestations as quickly as possible.

• Bed bug hotel claim in Isle of Wight; study/travel abroad and bed bugs
• Bed bugs in hotels: how to report (and check up on) bed bug infestations
• another bedbug lawsuit
• Rockford, IL: half of Red Roof Inn shut down due to bed bugs

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“… when bedbugs spread to her apartment, and when the Toronto Community Housing Corporation could not respond to her complaints…, she booked a fumigator on her own and paid… to take care of the problem. She has now been reimbursed by TCHC.” This public housing agency in Toronto seems to be taking bed bugs seriously.

Bed Bugs Force Orlando Family To Throw Out Furniture - Central Florida News 13

Tenants in Orlando “throw out mattresses and wash all of their clothes, but the bugs are still there.” This video reminds us that tenants, landlords, and journalists need to be better educated about bed bugs. Tossing furniture out is not the way to get rid of bed bugs.

And, finally, the first ever Bedbugger.com “Aim Higher” award goes to this shelter resident, who declares living in a shelter with bed bugs “beats sleeping outdoors:”

Billings Gazette (letter to the editor): Staying in Mission beats sleeping outdoors

“As a resident of the Montana Rescue Mission, I have experience with bedbugs. They aren’t fun, but no worse than a few mosquito bites at a barbecue. Anyone who says they prefer to sleep on the streets isn’t credible.”

Absolutely, sleeping on the streets is almost always worse than bed bugs. But I disagree that they are no worse than mosquitoes. For many of us, much worse. Bed bug bite reactions vary from not noticeable to extremely uncomfortable. Some are so allergic they end up in the hospital, while others on the “itchy” end of the spectrum lose sleep and experience discomfort.

In any case, I believe strongly that people living in shelters should be entitled to accommodation that’s a darn sight better than sleeping rough. Isn’t that the point?

• bed bugs in Toronto; Vancouver; Billings, MT,
• Toronto tenants camping in parking lot rather than sleep in bed bug-infested unit
• Bed bugs in another women’s shelter in Charlotte, North Carolina
• More on bed bugs at the Montana Rescue Mission in Billings

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It was 1015 The Point in Tampa, Florida’s Nearly Impossible Question, and we have no idea when, but suspect it was after Tampa’s News 10 mentioned us last April.

Anyway, this is old news. Eight months later, bed bugs have had a lot more press, as they’ve continued to spread. This means bed bugs are becoming so well known they may soon not be as eligible for the “Nearly Impossible Question.”

• Tampa Bay and Southwest Florida residents: do not use the DE from your pool
• Are you in the UK? Got bed bugs? Or have you had bed bugs?
• new WNYC radio piece on bed bugs
• Abbey the Bed Bug Dog: news report

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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
• How accurate are human bed bug inspectors, k9s?
• Consumers, before you hire one, find out what that bed bug dog can do!
• Bed bug dog Joni: fighting bed bugs in New Zealand and Australia

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For those of you who don’t know, webpages can tell where you’re coming from (though not very specifically). They know the location of your ISP. For most people, this comes up as somewhere near where they live, though it’s not always precise and sometimes it’s just the country. It also tells the webmaster what internet browser you use (Go Firefox!) and whether you like Macs or Windows machines. No, I do not know your name, or where you live, don’t worry!

This may all seem very “meta,” so far, but we know that our readership consists of four kinds of people:

a) People who have, or think they have, or recently had, bed bugs.
b) People whose work makes them concerned about bed bugs (pest control professionals, entomologists, politicians, landlords, hotel managers, social service agencies, government officials, are just some sectors that I have heard from).
c) People who have heard about bed bugs and are concerned, and want to know more.

I think that group (a) is in the majority, and although most people don’t comment, most commenters fit in group a. In any case, the Bedbugger.com readership is a map of bed bug concern, and you’d be pretty safe betting its a map of where bed bugs are popping up–with the caveat, of course, that our site pops up more in US search engines than those abroad, and also that our readers are overwhelmingly English-speakers, though we have dreams of breaking down those linguistic barriers!

This is where the last 89 readers were reading the blog (circa 6:30 this evening):

1. San Diego, California, United States
2. Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
3. Walden, New York, United States
4. Long Island City, New York, United States
5. New York, New York, United States
6. Plattekill, New York, United States
7. Hull, Quebec, Canada
8. Durant, Iowa, United States
9. Miamiville, Ohio, United States
10. Gibraltar
11. Calgary, Alberta, Canada
12. Boston, Massachusetts, United States
13. Humble, Texas, United States
14. Germantown, Maryland, United States
15. Rowland Heights, California, United States
16. New York, New York, United States
17. New York, New York, United States
18. Hadley, Kentucky, United States
19. Buffalo, New York, United States
20. Hveragerði, Arnessysla, Iceland
21. Pine Falls, Manitoba, Canada
22. Livonia, Michigan, United States
23. Bayside, New York, United States
24. Woodhaven, New York, United States
25. Denver, Colorado, United States
26. New York, New York, United States
27. United States
28. Waterloo, Quebec, Canada
29. Los Angeles, California, United States
30. Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
31. Santa Maria, California, United States
32. Beamsville, Ontario, Canada
33. Kansas City, Missouri, United States
34. Corona, New York, United States
35. Barker, Texas, United States
36. Readville, Massachusetts, United States
37. Palo Alto, California, United States
38. Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
39. Mill Valley, California, United States
40. Ridgewood, New York, United States
41. Mehama, Oregon, United States
42. San Francisco, California, United States
43. Feeding Hills, Massachusetts, United States
44. Swedesburg, Iowa, United States
45. Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
46. West New York, New Jersey, United States
47. Lancaster, Blackpool, United Kingdom
48. New York, New York, United States
49. Miami, Florida, United States
50. Anaheim, California, United States
51. Harrow, Harrow, United Kingdom
52. Wilsonville, Oregon, United States
53. Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
54. Forest Hill, Ontario, Canada
55. Wayne, New Jersey, United States
56. Kecskemét, Bacs-Kiskun, Hungary
57. Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
58. Short Hills, New Jersey, United States
59. Seattle, Washington, United States
60. Jackson, Mississippi, United States
61. Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
62. Secaucus, New Jersey, United States
63. Long Island City, New York, United States
64. United States
65. Tranbjerg, Arhus, Denmark
66. Naples, Florida, United States
67. San Francisco, California, United States
68. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
69. Gainesville, Florida, United States
70. Edmond, Oklahoma, United States
71. Hempstead, New York, United States
72. Everett, Massachusetts, United States
73. United States
74. United States
75. São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
76. Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
77. Bismarck, North Dakota, United States
78. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
79. Downers Grove, Illinois, United States
80. United States
81. Bend, Oregon, United States
82. Henderson, Nevada, United States
83. Montréal, Quebec, Canada
84. Sunnyvale, California, United States
85. Arlington, Texas, United States
86. United States
87. New York, New York, United States
88. Fairfax, Virginia, United States
89. Rochester, New York, United States

You might expect that most of these people came from the bed bug hot spots. We get lots of readers from Chicago, Boston, NYC, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto. So it’s surprising that 89 people came from such a wide variety of places:

68 from at least 33 states (only 12 of these from NYC, San Francisco or Boston);
11 from 5 provinces in Canada;
4 from 4 cities in the UK (none of them London);
1 person each from: Hungary, Ireland, Denmark, Brazil, Iceland, and Gilbraltar.

In New York state, 10 of the 17 visitors were from NYC. And of the 10 in NYC, 60% were in Queens, where, unlike Staten Island, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan, each neighborhood has its own name used for the purposes of the postal service: Ridgewood, Corona, Long Island City, Woodhaven, Bayside, New York, are all in Queens, and part of NYC. Remember the Queens Gazette speculating that Queens was the “ground zero for NYC’s bed bugs? Well, I am still not sure it’s true, but it seems plausible: we certainly have a lot of Bedbuggers in Queens.

I peeked at the traffic report for the site because I have a geeky side and I find it interesting to know where you’re coming from. However, looking at it can tell us something about the bed bug problem. This is not a scientific study, but just a snapshot of our site’s traffic does tell you who’s worried about bed bugs (and, we can assume, many are worried because they have bed bugs).

Most of those cities were not capitals or the biggest cities in their regions or countries. A small percentage are from those places you think are hot spots. It should serve as a warning sign that bed bugs, like Bedbuggers, are everywhere, and way more spread out than you thought.

• California fights bed bugs: good news from the golden state
• Portsmouth NH’s Health Officer proactive about bed bugs
• Comedian moves into NJ Ikea store
• Tracing the path of the epidemic

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Well, I wish I’d seen it yesterday, so I could have warned more of the folks from Tampa. The CBS article isas originally posted, was wrong: do NOT use the diatomaceous earth (DE) designed for pools in your home to fight bed bugs. It’s dangerous. Use food grade freshwater DE instead. See our FAQ on the subject. (CBS 10 has now updated its article to reflect the dangers of pool grade DE.)

We also have FAQs about what to do if you think you have bed bugs. Hint: the first step is not, as the article states, to treat yourself, the second is not to have a PCO apply one aerosol, as the article also states. Bed bugs are serious and you’d do well to have a Pest Control Operator who knows bed bugs come in and treat your home properly from step one. Don’t believe me? Ask people in the forums.

Florida’s been getting a lot of misinformation and lousy bed bug advice from its news media this month. In such a temperate climate, you have to take bed bugs seriously, or they’re going to have a field day this summer.

Heat. humidity plus bed bug bites = misery, trust me, even though I’m just a New Yorker.

Update 3pm EST: As mentioned in the comments below, several of us have attempted to leave comments mentioning the problems with pool grade DE on the Tampa CBS website, but these were subsequently removed. I think journalists who won’t correct their information, or even allow dissent in a space provided for comments, should be ashamed. Read the SF Chronicle article instead, for less biased information.

Update 10pm EST: My comment is up now (having apparently reappeared some time after I wrote the above), and the journalists have, in fact, corrected the article to say that Pool Grade DE should not be used due to health concerns. Had I known, as ALex points out in the comments, that pool grade DE is also less effective against bed bugs, because of the way its processed, I would have stressed that too. Nevertheless, the Tampa Bay article still contains poor advice about the recommended treatment, and what to do first–namely, call a PCO who knows how to kill bed bugs, since they don’t all know. We’re glad they linked to us and hope Florida readers will find more assistance here.

Update 4/11: Unfortunately, the Southwest Florida News-Press article “State Sees Bed Bug Invasion” includes the entire original Tampa Bay 10 article referred to above, including the advice to buy pool grade DE from the pool supply store. There’s no comment box. There’s no telling how many other Florida papers may carry this story, online or off. That’s a lot of misinformation. Interestingly, the side-box on the article announes “More from News-Press.com:” and the subsequent link “Learn about bed bugs” directs readers to Bedbugger.com, without mentioning us by name. (And clearly, what you’re reading right now is not “More From News-Press.com” at all.) Come to think of it, Tampa Bay 10 didn’t name us either. They just said “click here.” What’s with that?

Okay, let me start over:

Welcome, News-Press readers, and please look at our FAQs. Much of what was written in the article you just read was erroneous…

• Frederick News-Post Online: Residents not losing sleep over bed bugs
• Gaston County, N.C. health officials to hotel: bed bugs not a serious violation
• Tampa Bay mental health facility closed for bed bug treatment
• Are you in the UK? Got bed bugs? Or have you had bed bugs?

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When ceritifed PCOs publish mediocre advice about bed bugs in the newspaper, it makes me a bit worried. Anyone who writes for a newspaper probably has internet access and can do some research.

Readers of the Marcos Island (Florida) Sun Times were given some poor advice today in the Ask the Bug Guy column, by columnist and PCO Peter Masi, of West Coast Pest Control. A reader asked about the resurgence of bed bugs and how to deal with them. Masi said,

. . . for the first time in many years and I’m talking 30 or 40 years, bedbugs are back! Why?

No one seems to know.

They were the scourge of the hotel/motel industry for years and back then, DDT was the cure. Of course, you can’t use that now!
First, make sure they are, in fact, bedbugs and not lice. They do leave the same type of marks when they decide to eat someone’s blood.

This all sounds rather awful, doesn’t it? I would try using the same powdered insecticide they use for lice. We know that will be safe as long as you follow the directions to the letter.

I’m not a certified PCO, but I have a few problems with this.

First, there will be other evidence (besides bites–which I don’t agree will look the same as lice bites) if you’re infested with lice: lice and nits, for example. On your person. Whereas people can go months without seeing a bed bug. Signs like little black specks and cast shells may come before a bed bug sighting.

Also, people primarily need to treat their heads with insecticides, for lice (using something like this), or their bodies, in the case of body lice. You might also need to use powder in the home, and this is what Masi seems to be referring to. But he should know that bed bugs don’t simply infest mattresses anymore (though this was more common back in the day.) Instead, they infest baseboards, ceiling and electrical fixtures, floorboards, bed frames, and the insides and bottoms of bedroom furniture, among other things.

What’s more, they spread quickly. It would be much better advice for people to have a PCO come out and inspect, to see if it really is a light problem. If you’ve been bitten for more than one day running, you probably have multiple bed bugs, and who knows how many. Very small infestations may clear up with cursory treatments (such as Masi suggests) and thorough vacuuming and laundering. But most people who think they have a small infestation because they’ve “only seen a few bugs” have a real infestation that needs prompt and careful treatment.

But what really annoyed me was this:

I’ll bet most folks on Marco Island will opt to just buy a new mattress. They’ll deliver the new one and take away the old one. We are an affluent community and I just can’t visualize most of you taking the time and painstaking effort to exterminate bedbugs.

The problem with the Bug Guy’s advice here is that while the author clearly understands bed bugs take time and painstaking effort to get rid of, nevertheless just finished giving poor advice as to how and do that.

And on top of that, Masi encouraged people with bed bugs to buy a new mattress from a company that delivers new mattresses in the same trucks in which they cart away the old ones, and he encouraged them to send their mattress away in the truck with the delivery guy. With these words, Masi provided a solution that is not guaranteed to get rid of bed bugs (since homes, as well as mattresses, are usually infested). It is likely that people will purchase new mattresses and these will become infested too, if bed bugs are still in the home.

More importantly, Masi also just gave lots of Marcos Islanders a nice recipe for spreading bed bugs to others. Since we know that one common method by which people get bed bugs is from new mattresses delivered in trucks carrying infested used mattresses, I would not encourage anyone to purchase a mattress from a company that does this, if they can avoid it.

I absolutely would not encourage anyone who suspected or knew they had bed bugs to send their mattress away in a delivery truck. If you have bed bugs, you can protect your mattress and keep it. Or, if you decide you want to get rid of it (preferably at the end of treatment, when a new mattress is less likely to be exposed), for Pete’s sake, destroy the mattress by slashing it up and leaving it on the curb (being careful to wrap it tightly in plastic so as not to spread bugs on the way out the door). Please do not expose other people to your problem. It’s as irresponsible as exposing them to a contagious disease: and I don’t mean the flu. Think mono. Or worse.

If keeping others from suffering does not motivate you, then give a thought to the fact that if bed bugs keep spreading due in part to carelessness. If you’re not careful to keep bed bugs to yourself, then once they’re gone, bed bug karma says you will get them again in time.

Unfortunately, so will lots of other people who were more careful than you were. Most people, I should add, get bed bugs through no fault of their own. But we all should take steps to avoid causing others to suffer needlessly.

So called “bug experts” should be more careful to give good advice; PCOs who know bed bugs and have been exposed to them are very cautious.

• Bed bugs in Sweden: Ikea, used mattresses, and the spread of vägglus
• Bed bug unfriendly mattress re-sellers: recommendations?
• Making mattress companies part of the no-bedbug solution
• So many bad bedbug-fighting practices, so little time

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APilot writes:

This is from a letter I’m writing for my union publication. Any feedback?

What do wheals and papules have to do with my career in Aviation? “Nothing,” I thought until I came for from a trip with an overnight in my “home away from home” layover hotel in Orlando with three strange red spots on my body. The next day I went to the doctor. My computer savvy husband headed off to the Internet.

My doctor (in Colorado) identified them a “some kind of insect” bites. Puzzled as to why I was bitten more than once, he subscribed an antibiotic and wished me luck. My husband had a more successful afternoon. He discovered that there is a pandemic of bed bugs in hotels in NY and most Border States. My marks resembled the bites and later two of those became aggravated into very worse form- an infected papule.
A wheal is simply a term for a raised up mark on the sick, a papule is described as “a small inflamed elevation of skin that is nonsuppurative as in chicken pox.” Nonsuppurative means not filled with fluid (i.e. pus). This development occurs to those who are allergic-, allergies that can develop if a person is bitten on a regular basis.

One of the first sets of bites, which were treated with only antibiotics, grew to the size of a half dollar and was about a half an inch thick. The center turned dark black and grew to the size of a match head; finally it oozed a little clear pus before starting to heal. It was three full weeks before the swelling was gone and a large scar remains.

One month later I was back in the Orlando hotel (management had “assured” me the problem was handled and my room was clean). Unfortunately I had not really searched a hotel room thoroughly before. Unsure whither the 12 or so specks of black and brown stuff I picked out of the mattress pad and box spring were normal, I slept there again. This time I wore full pajamas, tucked in at my socks and waist. I was rewarded for my experimentation with a bite just under my armpit that showed up the very next day. (The bugs probably crawled in through the neck hole.)

For those who are squeamish- skip on ahead, because the following paragraph may contain more than you really want to read. Over the next two weeks, ten much smaller bites could be identified. The prominent bite swelled up painfully. In spite of treatment with ice and over the counter pain medicine, it grew to the point were I couldn’t sleep and needed to call off a trip to see the doctor. This time I took with me an Internet recommended treatment- the steroid cream Mizaondoec, which purportedly helps by constricting capillaries and reducing the spreading of the toxins. The cream on the papule caused it to flow about teaspoons of yellow puss, beginning its recovery. However its effect on the lesser bites was to seal off the bites from the surface of the skin. A week later, two of these had swollen to a very painful half dollar size. Ultimately they had to be treated with both antibiotics and lancing. Surgical scissors were needed to break up the congealed areas for drainage. Then they were packed with sterile tape to keep them from closing off before the infection could be healed.

But my nightmare didn’t end there. A ten-day stretch of time off confirmed my worse fears. I was now getting bitten on a regular basis in my own bed. These bites were small and not very numerous but consistent, leading me to suspect may a lone hitch hiking egg had hatched. The eggs of a bed bug are the size of a dust mote, white and sticky, and the female lays about three a night. Although it would be possible to inadvertently trap a beg in some early show predawn packing, it is more likely end up carrying an egg

To get rid of our new houseguest we laundered all the bedding in hot water. We sealed the box spring and mattress in covers. And purchased a new comforter and pillows. We put bed bug powder poison on the frame and around the foot of the bed. This took two tries but finally the nibbling stopped.

During this time my husband never noticed any bites. Although the Internet said that bed bugs are equal opportunity bitters, our personal experience didn’t reflex this. Even if you believe you are not allergic or at risk there are few simple things you can do to protect your family. I now shut my suitcase at night never put any of my things between the hotel walls and the beds. Also I wash my layover clothing separately, and store my flight bag in the laundry when not in use.

On the road I check the bed by lifting up the bottom sheet and any box spring cover. I collect any black specks found on white paper. Thanks to another bed bug experience in the Tampa, if there are more than four specks, a new room is requested. The majority of the beds will not have a single speck. Lately, if there are more than two specks I use Off insecticide on my clothes and exposed skin, which seems to be working.

• Bed bugs in Patagonia, can’t use dryer, with backpack: what to do?
• Barona Resort and Casino bed bug lawsuit
• World exclusive: Bedbuggers experiment with being bitten, on purpose! (Part 4)
• FAQ: What are bed bugs? Do I have them? What else could be causing this?

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Abbey is an adorable beagle and it looks like she’s doing good work. Check it out on YouTube!

I haven’t used their dogs, but I like what they’ve said on the blog about their training process.

An important thing to remember about bed bug dogs is that this is a new industry and the quality of bed bug dogs and the companies that use them may vary widely.  Ask questions, when you are thinking of hiring one, about where and how they were trained, whether they detect only live bed bugs and eggs, or if they detect everything including dead bugs and debris (because avoiding this has to be part of training, or you’ll get “false positives”–bed bugs detecting bugs when all you have are cast skins).   Effectiveness studies would be good to see.

As with all bed bug-related services (the new gold rush), ask questions, get references.  Caveat emptor!

• Consumers, before you hire one, find out what that bed bug dog can do!
• University of Florida tests bed bug dogs
• Bed bug dog Joni: fighting bed bugs in New Zealand and Australia
• Bed bug dogs in the news

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