Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Bed Bug Treatment
Suggestions for Rooming House Trash on Front Lawn
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BugsInTO
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Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 212
Posted 7 months ago
Mon Aug 17 2009 19:23:46
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The owner of the rooming house next door couldn't get rid of their bedbug infestation with his "do it yourself" spraying and he had some uncooperative tenants, so he cleared out all the tenants and left the house vacant for approx. 6 months.
What do you think are the chances the bugs are gone?
He's decided to rent it again and he's outside right now piling old furniture and mattresses on the front lawn. It's less 10 feet from our house and he's not taking any precautions.
We were sure we had gotten our last infestation from them across the alley and we have just begun to get things back together.
How would you handle this? Any ideas?
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MyWorstFear
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Joined: Sep '08
Posts: 323
Posted 7 months ago
Mon Aug 17 2009 19:53:03
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Supposedly they can go 18 months without a meal, so if it's only been 6 months, they are probably alive and kicking. The one consolation is that if he was hauling all that infested stuff himself without taking precautions, he's probably been bitten really bad as those bugs were hungry! But once they feed, they can reproduce, so hopefully this landlord will not come into your building. I don't know what to tell you as I'd be freaking out myself, but I'm sure one of the experts will be along with advice. Maybe DE perimeters and thresholds?
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BugsInTO
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Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 212
Posted 7 months ago
Mon Aug 17 2009 20:25:56
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Thanks for your feedback - my husband is heading out now to dust a line with DE/Permethrin along the driveway and on the doorjam & sills. [We have very old house and it would be impossible to truly seal it up.]
A scrapper just dismantled a metal bedframe and drove off with it in a station wagon. My husband was putting on his shoes to go out and tried to warn him about the bugs, but too late.
I remember that bedbugs can go dormant for 18 months - but that is optimum conditions for a fed adult - right?. (The bugs could have been living on mice over there, though.) But I am hoping the conditions over there have not been great - I hope he left the heat off in Feb/Mar and then I am hoping it got really hot in the house over the summer. Basically, I am trying to find hope.
I will keep an eye out for the landlord, and if I see him around, I will see if I notice any bites - he was wearing shorts.
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cilecto
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Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 891
Posted 7 months ago
Mon Aug 17 2009 21:12:58
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He might not react. This is the kind of situation I believe will bring people to blows. Someone will eventually get killed over BBs.
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buggyinsocal
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Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,259
Posted 7 months ago
Mon Aug 17 2009 21:39:24
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I don't know if this would help, but have you considered calling either your local health department (or equivalent thereof) or your local municipal government?
It seems to me that refuse on a lawn of any sort would be something those folks would frown on, before you factor in the bed bug thing.
(Apologies in advance if you went that route before and found that your health dept. and/or local government were grossly undereducated about bed bugs. I tend to forget the details of peoples' stories a lot.)
My local government got on one neighbor's case for the paint on his house (And no, I don't live in a planned community with an HOA). I would hope they'd get more upset about possible bed bugs.
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BugsInTO
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Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 212
Posted 7 months ago
Tue Aug 18 2009 15:59:41
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Prophetic words Cilecto.
We've tried to be socially responsible about managing our bedbugs, and sometimes I know people do things out of ignorance. The owner next door may really think that 5 months is enough time...but I also believe if he wants to be a landlord, he has a responsibility to do his research.
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BugsInTO,
I believe we were infested around the same time as you last year, and I remember having a bit in common with your situation. We were also in a single family home in an urban setting with a bedbug problem going untreated next door (not attached). We could never confirm they came from that building, but it made way too much sense for it to be anything else.The landlord next to us did something quite similar to what you are describing. He left the units empty for quite some time. We never observed any treatments going on. Then one day he started putting furniture outside on the sidewalk to be picked up by garbage collection. This occurred 4 days before our scheduled trash pickup. I first called the landlord (saved his cell phone number from a rental sign he once has posted outside the building). He refused to do anything about the furniture. Then I did some calling around to different city departments and finally called the police because it was a weekend. They contacted the appropriate person on my behalf and had an emergency crew out to pick up the infested furniture that day (you could see bugs crawling). They then billed the landlord for the cost.
This happened about a year before we discovered our infestation. We don't believe this was the incident that led to our problems. The landlord began rehabbing two of the four apartment units after this occurred, and they were placing various types of woodwork and materials outside between our houses for a large period of time. They are now inhabited by tenants at a significantly higher price point. No signs of troubles yet, but I find it hard to believe the problem is gone there.
If I were you I would be calling city agencies that can help enforce whatever code violations he has going in and outside that building. It must be against city ordinances to pile these things up in a yard. Where I live, if you complain enough they respond. I'm sorry you are going through this. I'm constantly worried about reinfestation, and hate feeling like I can't prevent the situation.
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