Forum
« Need a Piece of Bluestone ASAP! Brownstone staircase repair »
July 24, 2009
Bed Bugs and Rats
Long story short: I'm in the middle of moving into a new apartment after fleeing my bed bug ridden old one. But the new apartment seems to have a small rat/large mouse. Since it's on the first floor of a large building near an unkept courtyard, i'm thinking this will be an ongoing proccess. does anyone know someone who specializes in sealing up apartments (baseboards, behind kitchen cabinet etc).
Also, it looks like there's a chance i might have brought the bedbugs with me. my building uses an exterminator who I don't have much faith in. Also, since my wife is pregnant and we already have a young daughter, I don't want to soley relay on poisons.
Does anyone know a good bedbug exterminator in the prospect heights/park slope area? And if they did rats too, wouldn't hurt...
thanks
Comments
Can't help you with exterminators- I have cats. They work fast, cheap and are a deterrent :-). But check out the line of natureguard products- they do have a bug spray that is safe to use around pets and food (so probably children). they have a website.
Bedbugs are a horrible problem- you may need to buy all new mattresses and boxsprings and do something with all your upholstered furniture. Good luck.
Posted by: bxgrl at July 24, 2009 12:35 PM
UGH! - am so sorry for you - how annoying to flee one place infestes with Bedbugs to then find a new place with rats/mice
can you get a cat?
agreed with Bxgrl - you need to buy a whole new mattress set up for everyone in the apt and new towels too
good luck!
Posted by: gemini10 at July 24, 2009 12:52 PM
Look at a very strong recommendation for an exterminator a few posts down from this one.
Posted by: Arkady at July 24, 2009 1:25 PM
you are not going to get rid of bedbugs with any natural and non harsh chemical treatment. you will just need to find a place to live elsewhere while your apartment gets exterminated with HARSH chemicals multiple times. and try not to "bring the bedbugs with you" to wherever youre staying.
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at July 24, 2009 1:51 PM
please take a second to log your old apartment into the bed bug registry. thanks.
Posted by: bowl of dicks at July 24, 2009 1:52 PM
I dread the possibility that a new tenant will someday bring bedbugs into the house. Regardless of how or why they originated at your last place, your post seems a reluctant admission that you’ve carried them to your new home. They are a scourge, and once introduced are incredibly difficult to be rid of, requiring meticulous care by both LL and tenants. I have yet to hear of a method for thoroughly eradicating vermin through gentle coaxing and existing “ecosmart” solutions. If you don’t want to solely rely on poisons, then scrupulous care should have been applied before/during your move concerning the bedbugs. At this point, you’ll need to implement extraordinary and rigorous amounts of elbow grease, and even then will need to fall back on toxins for rodents and bedbugs.
Posted by: vinca at July 24, 2009 1:52 PM
did you post a few weeks ago about moving to a new place to avoid bedbugs in the old building?
Posted by: dogface at July 24, 2009 1:58 PM
Vinca--
Not sure what you're talking about. Reluctance? We don't know if we've brought them to the new place or not. It's that simple. Not hiding anything. And we're moving within the same apartment building, so we've been working with management every step of the way to move in a manner that won't increase the infestation (which started when our downstairs neighboor got and didn't tell anyone for a while). and please believe countless hours of scrupulous care and elbow grease have already been thrown at this problem. i've had every article of clothing washed and then bagged. we've thrown out our matress and bedframe and rug and are probably going to throw out both of our sofas rather than bring to the new place.
having said all that, in case we have ended up bringing them, what I'm looking for is a recomendation for a thorough exterminator who someone else has had success with. I don't trust the exterminators who my management company has hired. i'll pay out of my own pocket at this point to end this saga....
Posted by: oneasternparkway at July 24, 2009 2:05 PM
Call eric at precision pest control. 917-854-7090
Posted by: landlord at July 24, 2009 2:05 PM
You just need to wash and bleach all your bedding. Whatever you can't wash or bleach, throw out. Wash or dry clean every bit of clothing before packing it. Throw out old suitcases and items like that. throw out all matresses, boxspings, pillows, and sofas and sofa pillows.
throw out or throughly clean your shoes. After your stuff is in place in the new apartment bomb the new place prior to you and your family moving in and prior to the delivery of the new beds.
Posted by: sam at July 24, 2009 2:08 PM
Meow! But it might eat your baby.
***Bid half off peak comps***
Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at July 24, 2009 2:17 PM
oneasternparkway: I have sympathy for anyone in this situation. It points to why bedbugs are such a scourge, so costly to both tenant and LL, and so difficult for a LL to eliminate once introduced. I see exterminator recommendations were provided in response to your June post. Were their services ineffective? You might also want to review these links, if you haven't previously:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/vector/vector-faq1.shtml
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/vector/bed-bug-exterminator-tips.pdf
Posted by: vinca at July 24, 2009 3:03 PM
Sorry you have to deal with this!
There are plenty of links to exterminators in the forum, but I just want to add my concern about harsh chemicals and bleach... they are horrible. They will build up immunity in the bugs and harm humans and pets in the mean time.
Even if you did not bring the bugs to this new apartment, they might appear from another source. There is no telling really... good luck with it all! Hope they stay away!
Posted by: coopfornow at July 24, 2009 3:10 PM
quote:
. They will build up immunity in the bugs and harm humans and pets in the mean time
there are certain issues and things that people can't be green about. bedbugs is one of them. stop spreading misinformation.
yes the chemicals are harmful to humans and pets, just dont be around to breathe it when the treatment is done. and bedbugs building up immunity to the chemicals? um no, i bet you dont believe in vaccination either.
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at July 24, 2009 3:39 PM
Careful, deliberate, and selective targeting with DDT. Yes, DDT has been proven to work. We just can't indiscriminately spray everything and everywhere like they used to back in the '50's and '60's.
DDT, killed the bedbugs and malaria and host of other infectious pests before and they can again without causing the massive environmental damage, but only with controlled, selective, targeting of areas infested by bedbugs.
Posted by: CookieCutterBrownstone at July 24, 2009 4:49 PM
thanks for all the recomendations. I've decided to bring in Roscoe the bed bug sniffing dog in tomorrow to check all the furniture before I bring it down to the new place. hopefully he won't find anything...
anyone have any experience with the dogs?
Posted by: oneasternparkway at July 24, 2009 5:42 PM
Good luck!!!!!
Posted by: Minmin at July 24, 2009 6:13 PM
registered my building on bed bug registry. interesting, if depressing, reads...
Posted by: oneasternparkway at July 24, 2009 6:39 PM
I feel SO badly for you and anybody currently battling this invasive and personally for me, psychologically damaging pest. I lived in total fear that those bugs would come out and bite me everytime I went to sleep. Be careful with the pesticides. I had a lizard and sent it to a friend's apt for the extermination and it stayed there for an entire week afterword. At the weeks end I brought the lizard home and it died within an hour. Those chemicals were still so strong in the air after an entire week that my otherwise healthy lizard immediately died when it came home.
Posted by: cmar7785 at July 24, 2009 7:54 PM
I feel SO badly for you and anybody currently battling this invasive and personally for me, psychologically damaging pest. I lived in total fear that those bugs would come out and bite me everytime I went to sleep. Be careful with the pesticides. I had a lizard and sent it to a friend's apt for the extermination and it stayed there for an entire week afterword. At the weeks end I brought the lizard home and it died within an hour. Those chemicals were still so strong in the air after an entire week that my otherwise healthy lizard immediately died when it came home.
Just because those chemicals are legal does NOT mean they should be legal. But, the homeopathic and organic methods do not kill the bed bugs. Best advice is throw everything out that is infected (it's easy enough to tell by the corners of furniture, look it up on google, the eggs and feces will show their presence), wash all clothing and bedding, and then move somewhere with your new mattress, etc. In your new apt., make sure to seal all cracks in wall, take off light switch plates and seal them with caulking, put screens over all your sink drains and holes to prevent bugs from coming into your apartment, and seal off the front door.
Posted by: cmar7785 at July 24, 2009 7:58 PM
The scent of the cat will keep the mice away but if you don't want a cat get yourself a rat zapper....get's 'em every time!
www.ratzapper.com
Best money i've ever spent next to my college education....no joke.
Good luck.
Posted by: bkfashionista at July 25, 2009 4:49 PM
oneasternparkway -- I think I remember the address of your building from a previous post you wrote (won't mention it here). I just did some googling because I heard this is a global situation and the bugs are traveling with people in hotels and luggage. You have much information now from above posts. Here is another of many sites:
World Travel:
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=5865148&page=1
Posted by: BklynSoFar at July 25, 2009 9:08 PM
I think it's fascinating that almost all the comments till now were about bedbugs, and very little about having a rat in the house - as if we are settling into acceptance. Two days ago, during a Friday pm rush hour, a large black rat ran across the platform right through the crowd leaving the IRT at Grand Army Plaza. (It was a rainy day which probably helps drive them up from the tracks.) No one even broke stride - one woman commented, "I thought it was a cat!"
I tried to take a cellphone picture of it but it was too fast for me. My recommendation (totally off the subject of this thread) - fight the madness, snap a picture wherever you see one in a public place, in the park the subway the street, and send it to the City or the owner. They have resources for this, you just have to draw their attention
Posted by: tlongo at July 26, 2009 7:34 PM
We live in a newly-renovated one-family. No sign of any bedbugs. We live near a deli and did have a problem with a rat in our yard when we first moved in. My wife, amazing genius that she is, simply called an exterminator. He placed a poison bait box against a wall (a path for rats) and plugged any holes with concrete. Classic NYC bodega next door to us: they're not going to take any responsibility for the rat, although we saw the rat crawl out from their foundation. It cost me $300, but we are vermin-free. Nothing beats a good exterminator. Nothing.
Posted by: r1b2 at July 27, 2009 10:10 AM
We live in a newly-renovated one-family. No sign of any bedbugs. We live near a deli and did have a problem with a rat in our yard when we first moved in. My wife, amazing genius that she is, simply called an exterminator. He placed a poison bait box against a wall (a path for rats) and plugged any holes with concrete. Classic NYC bodega next door to us: they're not going to take any responsibility for the rat, although we saw the rat crawl out from their foundation. It cost me $300, but we are vermin-free. Nothing beats a good exterminator. Nothing.
Posted by: r1b2 at July 27, 2009 10:10 AM
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.