Why would BBs move into the BBAlert Passive Monitor?

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Why would BBs move into the BBAlert Passive Monitor?

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AmbushBug

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Posted 1 year ago
Mon Sep 26 2011 19:21:07
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I've had my Passive alert monitor for a couple of weeks now, and I'd like to feel more confident in it as an early warning/all clear device (I have either a light infestation or nothing at all). My understanding is that it works by providing such an attractive harborage location that most or all of the bedbugs can't resist moving there, and subsequently leaving evidence in the form of fecal traces. But from what I've been reading on here, it seems like bed bugs are fairly conservative in moving harborage and don't explore all that much. And there are plenty of dark cracks in this Ikea bedframe that would work for them I'm sure; why would they move?
AmbushBug

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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Sep 27 2011 22:10:39
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Ok, today's the first day where I have big, red, undeniable bites, three of them. And the monitor (attached to the headboard as in the illustration) shows nothing. Unless I see some spots in the next few days, or hear a reason otherwise, I'm going to assume I just paid $28 for a small, useless piece of corrugated cardboard.
Canuck

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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Sep 27 2011 23:47:59
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Hi AmbushBug and welcome,

Sorry to hear you suspect bedbugs are the cause of your bites - remember, though you can not diagnose bed bugs by bites alone and your BB Alert is a definite move in the right direction. A search on BBAlert will give your some posts by David Cain, the BB Alert authority, and this link is one example:
BBAlert Passive Monitor. If they are present, it takes a few days to see evidence, relative to the numbers of bed bugs present. David, I understand,is at the Chicago conference, otherwise I am sure he would have responded to your post. as he checks in regularly.
bedbugman

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Posted 1 year ago
Wed Sep 28 2011 1:41:33
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AmbushBug - 2 hours ago »
Ok, today's the first day where I have big, red, undeniable bites, three of them. And the monitor (attached to the headboard as in the illustration) shows nothing. Unless I see some spots in the next few days, or hear a reason otherwise, I'm going to assume I just paid $28 for a small, useless piece of corrugated cardboard.

It seems that way ;). I have never had any luck with any type of monitor, even in really bad cases. I just don't understand why they would leave a perfectly good harborage to move to a monitor. I suppose the theory is that you have them in place before the bugs arrive and they choose it to harbour from day one. I deal with bed bugs on a daily basis and see the same harbourage sites over and over again so I can see the logic behind them. However I have not yet seen a bed bug use one. I occationally put them down after negative inspection .... as it keeps the client happy knowing that something is in place and I have not simply walked away.

I have loads of respect for David but won't endorse something before seeing the evidence for myself. It's a great idea and should I get a result I will let you and the rest of the forum know.
scaredpea

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Posted 1 year ago
Wed Sep 28 2011 7:11:57
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yah, this is a tough one since people here really want to believe they work, but there is very little anecdotal evidence (if any) on this forum of anyone discovering their infestation on the monitor. I suspect this is why people who have them haven't expressed much confidence in their effectiveness.
BugsMustDie

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Posted 1 year ago
Wed Sep 28 2011 8:03:32
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I think the idea is that if you get rid of all other places for them to hide (including all the dark cracks you described in your bed frame) leaving just the mattress and box spring (I would say encased, but I'm pretty sure David doesn't support that) then it greatly increases the chances they will hide there since there's nowhere else for them to go.
bed-bugscouk

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Posted 1 year ago
Wed Sep 28 2011 9:40:19
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Hi,

Sorry I have not been around much to reply to this.

Those who were in Chicago will have had the benefit of Richard presentation which indicated that bedbugs like to live in idea harbourages close to the host and will only travel out to more remote areas once the initial harbourages become too full or exhausted.

This is the basic principle of my passives, its like a bird box, if you make it an ideal habitat they will use it, the neat aspect is that they design induces them to defecate on the detection plate ont he way in and out of the refugia.

I appreciate for some this is a difficult concept to grasp but it was designed following a lot of field observations which s how good insect biology is done.

As for the success rate we have been collecting field data for a few years from those clients who return the passives to us for inspection and verification. Some of these have been photographed and can be seen in the following reports online:

http://www.bed-bugs.co.uk/passivemonitorresults.html

http://www.bed-bugs.co.uk/monitordata2010.html

I even have videos showing cases where faecal traces have been left on the monitor but due to previous inefficient treatments the bedbugs had been driven to live on the other side of the room. I have been told by many world leaders that this should not occur and yet it does, I guess sometimes people are too busy traveling to speaking engagements and writing papers to do field work.

Although the product does look simple it is actually a very complex design that has been optimised over many years with both the selection of materials and ratios of shape being critical, this explains why other products in the same style do not work and thankfully we are about to be granted the method patent which will enable us to have them removed from sale to save further damage to the reputation of the concept, especially the ones which were copied from our first displayed prototypes which were cunningly made of materials which repel bedbugs to catch these people out.

One of the reasons why there is not greater feedback on the forum is that they are often used by the more vocal people who cant find any signs of bedbugs and in many cases this is simply because they don't actually have bedbugs and are being affected by something else. In such cas3es they can be used as a way to illustrate that you have another issue rather than bedbugs but only if people are willing to move on from a bedbug obsession and look at alternative possibilities.

They actually had good feedback in 3 presentations in Chicago mainly from well respected people who understand what we have created.

I am sorry I was not able to respond sooner but my travel plans meant that when you posted this originally I was traveling and I don't have the same mobile internet access in the USA as I do in the UK.

I hope that clarifies.

David Cain
Bed Bugs Limited

In accordance with the AUP and Federal Trade Commission I openly acknowledge my vested interest in the passive monitoring technology as the inventor.
AmbushBug

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Posted 1 year ago
Thu Sep 29 2011 0:26:22
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Thanks for the information David, this is impressive and what I was hoping to see. The first link is to a collection of at least 20 pictures of monitors with fecal stains, and the other is more examples, with some encouraging empirical data: for example, in one test almost all the bedbugs gave up their original harborage and moved to the monitor. They also detected the introduction of a bug into a roomin an average of 12 days. The experiments are only sketched, and the name of the independent experimenter is not mentioned, but together these make me think that the mechanism is plausible (it's not a difficult concept to grasp, I just didn't believe it) There is something that is attractive to bedbugs about it as a harborage, enough so that they will move. I gather that it's not just the narrow dark carboard grooves but something about the materials as well. Also you've figured out how to guarantee they take a dump before entry. (how would this work for nymphs, if as you say elsewhere the reason for vacating is to shrink down so they can fit inside?)

And that is necessary to believe, because a number of statements in the document imply that it should be useful as an all-clear indicator: "confirmation that the infestation had not spread through to other bedrooms in the property" "infestations can be confirmed as resolved with 15 days"

Much as I would love to be wrong, I'm quite certain that there are some in my room - the shape, size, and stabbing, persistent itch of the bites are all identical to when I was in an infested room (confirmed by live bugs), and they follow constellations of bites over the last couple of weeks which steadily increased in size. So the monitor is not yet successful at attracting my population. It could just be a matter of more time - I'm guessing there will only be a chance of the bugs moving house when they go out for a feeding? And that might be more like two or three days in between? Also, the documents specifically say that wooden beds are one case where it performs poorly, so maybe I have a problem of having harborage locations that are already quite attractive competing with it (i.e. cracks in an unfinished wood ikea frame). Do you have any thoughts about that? I don't mind if this is a limitation of the product, presumably all these variables are still being investigated and you can't yet report definitively on who shouldn't bother buying it or special procedures to get it to work under certain conditions.

I want this to work very badly - it would be wonderful if it attracted them all and I could just bag them up and get them out of there. Even if it doesn't get them all it should be able to help with physical evidence for my landlord. We'll see, but I'm glad there is evidence for effectiveness and not just a sales pitch.
bed-bugscouk

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Posted 1 year ago
Thu Sep 29 2011 8:38:36
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Hi,

I will ask the person who conducted the testing to see if they will confirm the report was theirs. At the time and since I know they have been pressurized not to disclose by others but they may be willing now to do so.

I would also like to offer up the thought that itching sensations often do persist and stabbing or pin pricking may also be signs of the understandably stress and pressure rather than an ongoing issue. This is why it is essential to focus on the facts and record:
- Live samples
- Cast skins
- Faecal traces
I am counseling a lady in the UK at present who although exposed to bedbugs once in a hotel room managed to avoid bringing them home. Since then however she has developed a hyper sensitive reaction and is set off by all manner of things. Quite often it is the itching and needling she is focusing on rather than actual bite reactions.

I am working on something about optimisation of furniture at present but suffice to say I am working as hard and as fast as a human being can but there are still not enough hours in the week and typing documents on international flights is not easy for a person of my physical size unless someone wants to sponsor my flight upgrades to business class (serious request - sponsor can even specify some of the subject but will have no content control - next sponsorship opportunities Oct, London to New Orleans and Return NY to London).

Finally don't want it to work badly, want it to work well as I do and as I find it does. I have clients who have been using this system for over 3 years and getting great detection and some level of control through integrating it into their approach.

Hope that helps.

David
Bedbug_Undertaker

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Posted 1 year ago
Thu Sep 29 2011 9:55:24
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I deal with the post treatment side on a daily basis as well as hosting at nights(more regularly of late) and in a lot of the hospitality sector who use the passive monitor system I do see a positive result.
I screen a lot of these buildings for signs of infestations and have genuinely seen the passive monitors show evidence of infestations in some of the rooms I check.
I frequently bring infected monitors out of these rooms with the evidence inside them.

As for the itching and the feeling of something crawling over my skin, I am into my 7th week of hosting now and am sat in an office on the other side of London to the infested room I am sleeping in. Whilst I know I was bitten throughout the night, I also know I have not brought anything out of that room with me. Yet I can still feel itchiness and a skin crawling sensation at present.

The bites at present are mere red pin prick marks however once I jump on the tube ( which is hot and stuffy) they will inevitably look more red and fierce. I know this because it happened on the way to the office, yet they have since gone down due to the office air conditioning taking the temperature down.

Same thing happened last night when I had a hot bath, all the previous nights bites came up rather red and swollen yet two hours later when my body temperature had gone down they appeared a lot less severe.
beruska

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Posted 1 year ago
Thu Sep 29 2011 12:34:59
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Hey guys,
I enjoyed reading this thread. It's always good to hear reassurance of its effectivness from its inventor, who did more then enough field work and tests to be able to cofirm that it works with confidence. However, I think that people like me, for example, who had bbs and are still trying to figure out, if we still have them or if they are at other places we spend time or of the skin reactions we experience are something different, it is normal that we observe ourselves more obsessively and once something appears on our skin, we freak out and start questioning everything, even BBPassive, which could be clear for a while.In my case, it is my younger daughter, who was and is still being bitten. I started to have some skin reactions and could not figure out, if they are bbs bites. They would appear at random times of the day, even sitting at work. So I got scared that I brought them to work. This was back in March and after a while they stopped Beginning of July I placed Bb Passive on the front underside of my office chair. It is still clear and David concluded that based on that I could relax about my work place . Now, 2 days ago I am sitting at work and feel itching on the back of my lower leg, I scratch it and within couple hours there is a red mark that looks like bite.It puts me in a foul mood I still have now and I start thinking if I should trust the BB Passive monitor or if bbs are indeed there. It drives me crazy . But I do trust David and his invention and judgment. But it is an inner battle. Was I bitten in the office, or was I bitten before and this was a dealyed reaction or is it something different? I cought once some kind of a beetle there, so could I be reacting to its larval hair? I would like to have a piece of mind, which would mean clearing the office with a PCO or K9, but I am dreading talking to people at work about it. My immediate boss knows of my bb issues, but we are subleasing office from a bigger firm. How would I put it? Tell them that I got bitten at work? Dislose my bb history, but they would question why we did not notify them back then in January? They could blame me for bringing them there and evict my boss.
Anyway, I started ranting as I tend to do, but as to the BB Passives, I was just trying to say that some of us tend to panic quickly and mistrust it as soon as we have a skin reaction we cant explain.
BTW, how would you guys handle my work situation? I also am beating myself up for not investigating my younger daughter's daycare. She is the one getting bitten the most after all. I just always assumed that since we live in an apt.building with multiple infested units, that it always was the source of everything. It is strarting to feel like a magic circle full of bbs, and I cant find a way out of there.
AmbushBug

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Posted 1 year ago
Thu Nov 3 2011 0:28:56
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I have to add to this thread that it's now been a month and I haven't had any more bedbug-like bites after that burst of them. I now think that either there never were bedbugs in this new place, or else I got lucky and laundered the one or two that were there into oblivion shortly after they reached their later stages. Either way my experience doesn't say anything for or against the bbalert passive monitor. But I am encouraged by David Cain's willingness to answer questions about it, and by other people's positive testimonies on this thread. So at this point I would recommend it to people worried about whether they have an infestation, because a) it's fairly cheap and b) there seems to be almost no possibility of a false positive. That's a tremendous asset.