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Bedbugs wanted (no really!)
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tobyf
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Oct 15 2010 5:30:42
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At the University of Sheffield we are conducting a global study into the resurgence of bedbugs. We are trying to find out why bedbugs are returning and where they are coming from. In order to do this we need to look at the DNA of many areas as possible.
How many bugs do we need?
Ideally between 10 to 20 bedbugs per room/ cabin/ house.
If several rooms/ cabins/ adjacent houses are infested please keep the bugs separate.How to collect the bugs?
We can look at them either dead or alive.
To collect them live, just drop the bugs in a zip lock plastic bag, put a small piece of paper in there, THEN SEAL IT.
To kill them, put them in a pot and pour over them a little bit of medical alcohol. Then put them in a zip lock bag, put in a small piece of paper and mail it in an envelope.
Please always write the city or place name on it and the date of collection, if possible.
If you are a hotel manager, we would be interested in a more detailed sampling (100% confidentiality guaranteed). Please get in touch!Then send samples to
Toby Fountain
Evolutionary and Ecological Entomology
Dept of Animal and Plant Sciences
University of Sheffield
Sheffield
S10 2TN
UKMany thanks, If you have any questions about the sampling please get in contact t.fountain@sheffield.ac.uk
Website with our bedbug research: http://e3.group.shef.ac.uk/ -
jrbtnyc
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Oct 15 2010 6:57:28
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Toby,
In my estimation you are going to receive objections here on this thread to the idea of shipping bed bugs by mail or by commercial package company. Especially live ones, but even dead ones which may not actually be dead because if someone does not have expertise they may not properly kill them.
This may well be considered a hazardous material so will need special precautions for shipping and perhaps special permissions? And should not simply be sent without disclosure of what it is.
(Perhaps in your work up until now you already have a methodology worked out for such shipments?)
Also in my estimation you will find a lack of "suppliers". For the last month I've been attempting to acquire bugs to test my hypothesis that simple clear smooth single-sided 1/2-inch-wide tape, with the NON-sticky side exposed, can prevent bugs from climbing vertically (see thread http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/can-clear-non-sticky-tape-block-bbs-from-climbing-vertically ). But no one I've been able to find has been willing to volunteer bugs, at least not "gratis".
There may exist commercial suppliers, for instance to provide bugs for k9 trainers at some particular cost per bug. If so, perhaps someone on this thread will advise you about those (but would they have the variety of sources you need for your study, as opposed to all coming from one single lab). I've been meaning to inquire about that myself, so if someone does provide such information here, I may be a small-scale customer myself, needing around 20-50 bugs for my (entirely non-commercial) purposes for which I'd be willing to pay, say, one dollar per bug. If they're here in NYC so much the better, so I can go pick up the bugs in jars myself and there won't be any issues about having to ship them.
jrbtnyc
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tobyf
newbite
Joined: Oct '10
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Oct 15 2010 9:00:08
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jrbtnyc
you are quite right, I must say please make sure that all samples are legally shipped. Ask at the post office if unsure. I'm fairly sure if declared and the bugs and properly sealed it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Bedbugs are not an invasive pest, nor do they spread disease and we are talking a small number of individuals per shipment to a university lab not private residence, but please do check before shipping. We ideally want field samples not those from lab stocks to get an idea of the spread of the bugs.
thanks
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Richard56
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Oct 15 2010 9:18:52
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In my estimation you are going to receive objections here on this thread to the idea of shipping bed bugs by mail ...
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Bugs are routinely sent through the mail to entomologists (at their request) at leading centers and universities. As mentioned, the person at the receiving end is trained to handle the shipment properly. Let's not put a road block into what appears to be a very important project that can help all of us in the long run. "jrb.." you are not an entomologist or otherwise trained in this area and maybe that is why some objected to your call for live samples.Tobyf -- I recently saw an article or perhaps press release that more detailed the study you're involved in. If you have something handy, I'm sure it would be of interest here. Keep up the good work!
Richard
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oldtimer
Joined: May '07
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Oct 15 2010 11:03:07
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Toby,
I've sent a private message to you.
Check your messages next to the sign in
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Beth
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Joined: Jan '10
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Oct 15 2010 11:27:48
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what if you only have one or two that are frozen dead?
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BBgotMe
newbite
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Oct 15 2010 12:04:47
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This is not intended to be legal advice or a roadblock to helpful research, but you should check UK/US shipping laws before shipping any bugs internationally. There are many prohibited shipments. For example, you cannot ship any chili or palm oil to the UK. Similarly, plants and seeds require special certification.
Also, many commercial carriers (FEDEX, UPS) will not carry any insect or animal not on their lists of approved species. For example, see UPS's policies: http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/ship/packaging/guidelines/animals.html#Accepted+%2F+Prohibited+Live+Animals Bed bugs would fall on the prohibited list.
Notwithstanding the above, I recall reading once (but cannot locate the link) that certain recognized entities are exempt from certain shipping prohibitions. That being said, I'm not sure if that are country prohibitions or carrier prohibitions.
Good luck.
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your host
Joined: Mar '07
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 19 2010 1:11:07
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Toby,
Thanks for your research!
Since it cannot be done without field samples, I hope you will get lots of help.
I would urge anyone to make sure that it was legal to ship bed bugs (live or dead as the case may be, and however you secure and ship them) from your location to the UK.We cannot advise you as to the legality of this.
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jrbtnyc,
We do have a new rule against bed bug sample requests. (Exceptions may be made for cases like Toby's, where a university research study is being carried out, and we know who is conducting and supervising it.)
There are a lot of good reasons people should not be sending bed bugs to strangers they meet over the internet. Please understand this is nothing personal.
I know you made your request before this rule was put into effect, but I would not encourage people to send you samples.
Please don't take that personally. You may not realize this but some people may request bed bugs for nefarious purposes. Unless we can verify how the bed bugs will be used (as we can in the case of a university research study), and that this use will be supervised, caution is a very good thing.
Also, sources tell me the going rate for live bed bugs in NYC is about $3 a bug. So it's no surprise people were asking for money.
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jrbtnyc
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 19 2010 8:48:51
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Nobugs,
That's a good policy – no objections from me!
(For my informal research I'm pursuing some other options, rather than asking people for bugs here on bedbugger.com.)
jrbtnyc
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bug-tired
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 19 2010 13:18:36
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Darn, I just smashed 2 -- I could have gotten $6 to offset all my expenses!
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DeedleBeetle
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 19 2010 13:27:55
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WoW! $3.00 a bug??? I'm in the wrong business...
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oldtimer
Joined: Feb '09
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 19 2010 13:56:50
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Ouch... I boiled the greater part of my 250 BBs colony in testing dry steam machines...
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Sleepless in NYC
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 19 2010 15:10:50
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250 x 3= OUCH!!!!!! lol
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oldtimer
Joined: Feb '09
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 19 2010 16:34:12
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Mmmmh... to be quite honest, I was paid by the producer to experiment (in lab & field) the two machines, and I was paid too by customers I treated with these machines.
I was charged to do these texts just because I was the only one in Italy that has an available conspicuous stock of live BBs.
So I guess that, at the end, the 250 BBs I sacrified made me earn really more than $3,00 each.
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DeedleBeetle
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 19 2010 16:46:40
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That's Great! And i hope that your tests bore positive results in terms of effective eradication of these little monsters!
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oldtimer
Joined: Feb '09
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 19 2010 17:19:21
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Well... I'm using exclusively superheated dry steam machines to eradicate BBs since last november.
From november to march I tested this one.
In the section "clinical text" you can download a pdf "for dummies" that talks about the tests against BBs I made.
Unluckily, I was not involved in writing the pdf, so the italian version and the english one have both bad terms and little mistakes... grrr
The machine works well, but it's big, heavy and not easy to transport (quite 60 lbs). It's good for "resident" uses, but can't be used by a pro that works everyday in different situations.
Since march I've been testing this one.
It's smaller, lighter, easier to handle and cheaper....
I consigned final test results only last week, so they're still not available, and I'm still not authorized to talk freely of them.
But I feel myself free to anticipate that, in my opinion, it works even better than the first one.
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DeedleBeetle
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 19 2010 18:02:41
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looks nice...i like the shape of the steam part..so let's see...$400 euros for the little steamer thingy and 300 Euros for the vaporetto (i love that name) so that's about...what? a little more than $1000 bucks? that's pretty steep huh? but the vaporetto looks like a substantial machine and it comes with the big attachment for floors.
i like it...
i like the idea of steaming germs, viruses, bacteria, whatever...away.
but...
i wonder why the webpage does not even mention bbs? Is that the company marketing dept thinks that it would be unattractive to do so?
and...by the way...we have ways to make you talk!!
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oldtimer
Joined: Feb '09
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 19 2010 18:46:50
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i wonder why the webpage does not even mention bbs? Is that the company marketing dept thinks that it would be unattractive to do so?
Deedle... nobody in Italy (except PCOs and BB addicted) talks about BBs. Newspapers and Tv say that's just an USA problem...
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Sleepless in NYC
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 19 2010 20:54:41
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Too bad it's so expensive.
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your host
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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Oct 20 2010 1:46:03
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Even Italian steamers sound romantic.
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oldtimer
Joined: Feb '09
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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Oct 20 2010 13:23:34
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They ARE romantic !
Every BB tells me: "You're so hot..."
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DLIH
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Joined: Oct '10
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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Oct 20 2010 14:04:56
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I'm all for people sending the BB to scientists. (yes, provided the handler sends them safely) There's nothing wrong with "DOUBLE BAGGING" the Ziplocks either. That what I did when I was going thru my apartment, finding things I didnt know what they were. (none of them bb, thank the Lord)
The old easy method is out.. (DDT)...there's GOT to be a new easier way to kill these things! And since it appears we have a start of some sort of epidemic going on I'm all for people trying to find a new way to kill them. They are evil little creatures that dont let you sleep at night. I've never had them yet but watching them and seeing how they work is enough for me!
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