B*db*gs Ability to Migrate?
Does anyone know if bedbugs can sweep through an apartment building from one infested apartment? Can they somehow get through a brick party wall between brownstones? I’m getting the itchies just thinking about it! We’re pondering a couple of apartments in new buildings and some that are older. We have a brownstone right now and…
Does anyone know if bedbugs can sweep through an apartment building from one infested apartment?
Can they somehow get through a brick party wall between brownstones?
I’m getting the itchies just thinking about it!
We’re pondering a couple of apartments in new buildings and some that are older. We have a brownstone right now and I’ve wondered the last couple of year since the bedbug wave apparently has been sweeping through New York City if they can get through a brick party wall. I shudder to think. I know that mice seem to find a way from house to house once in a gerat while so I’m wondering about bugs.
Are woodframe houses more likely to have this happen than are brick and brownstone houses?
And what happens if you move into a nice new apartment building and the ground floor business is vintage clothes, furniture or other ites coming out of homes that have bedbugs? Are these bugs able to get through tiny openings in concrete floors from the ground floor and infest the whole building?
I’m sorry to creep people out!
Thanks so much everyone! (Except Dave for being his usual cheeky self!)
I guess you’ve confirmed my notion that these creatures can migrate just about through any kind of wall. Goodness knows brick party walls must have lots of fissures and tiny fractures they might crawl through! Yikes!
I’ll get a box of diatomaceous earth unless the husband unit is hoarding some in the shed in the country. I do know he has used it against slugs (which pained me…I guess it worked). I had no idea you could use it indoors. Thank goodness we have never had roaches or ants in Brooklyn. A girlfriend kept having ant problems every year despite getting in an exterminator. I have, though, seen the occasional silverfish, centipede (yikes!), spider, pantry moth, and carpet beetle, but never roaches.
Oh, and we’ve had a mouse or two over the many years. And the terrible experience (years ago when the mosquito problem wasn’t so bad, when a tomcat strolled in from the garden and sprayed in the kitchen! Not fun…
And David, I’ve heard that bedbugs are getting DDT resistant because it continues to be used around the world…so this new wave of bedbugs coming from abroad are much more pesticide-resistant. You really ought to read a bit more before shooting off your mouth–this said in a friendly, cordial, sisterly way.
We’ll just all have to be vigilant about this bedbug business. So far, so good. I’m very careful with my tote bag and we’re lucky that everything that comes in from outdoors and people’s coats and bags can stay in the entryway way, way away from bedrooms in the house.
Yes! thanks slopegirl, that’s the same powder I was referring to but couldn’t think of the name for it.
One of the most effective controls for bedbugs happens to be green and totally cheap. Diatomaceous earth costs just a few bucks for a large box, and you sprinkle it around in cracks and crevices to kill bugs, all bugs, that come in contact with the powder.
It is a talcum powder like substance that’s made from tiny fossilized skeletons and apparently works by cutting into exoskeletons of any and all bugs. Since it’s not a poison, they can never become resistant, however, like talcum powder, not a good idea to breathe it in. Wear a mask: sprinkle and sweep it into place, then dust mop up the excess. If you get it wet, it stops working, so keep that in mind if you’re thinking of using it outside.
We put it down throughout our building and basement as a preventative after I came home with dozens of bites that I think were bedbug bites I got on a plane. Totally killed all the silverfish which were numerous in our building which a was nice bonus. Don’t know if I brought bed bugs into our place but we treated with the diatomaceous earth and saw no sign of them in weeks that followed. Now we re-treat every couple of months since we have tenants and of course you never know with next door neighbors either. Frankly you can pick them up anywhere these days.
And yes, bedbugs move through building walls. Totally gross but true. This American Life had a story about a woman who got infested from a next door neighbor. She watched him throwing out mattresses and other furniture and then got infested herself.
And yes, absolutely bedbugs can get through all kinds of cracks and gaps. Mice need a gap the width of a ballpoint pen, bedbugs maybe the width of a poppyseed or smaller. I guess living above a place that you mentioned would make me nervous as well and I would definitely get a quality bedbug mattress cover. They have the annoying plastic type ones but better quality ones, I think they might be made of nylon? Do some research online but these covers make it impossible for the bedbugs to get into your mattress which is their favorite place to hide. And if you already have them in your mattress, it makes it impossible for them to get out. They can still hide out on the bedframe, moldings on the wall etc. If I were concerned, I would get the mattress cover, and shake some of that eco-friendly bug powder around the edges of the bedframe and along the edges of my bedroom. One of my tenants is paranoid of bedbugs and she sleeps on an air mattress on top of a bedframe that she shook the powder on. You can get a huge bag of it at Lowe’s for about $8. I’m afraid i can’t say the name of it, it might be Ortho. But it’s not specifically for bedbugs, but for various insects. And it is not harmful to the environment. Anyone else know what it’s called?
Yes bedbugs are scary and the worst thing is they can survive up to 18 months without eating anything! But they can only lay eggs once fully mature and only have about 5 babies per day maximum so at least their population doesn’t explode on the level of roaches.
There are other ways to help prevent bedbugs than poisoning! Please let’s not blame trying to be eco-responsible!
Yes, yes & yes. Brooklyngreene, you have a reputation on here for everything being “green” energy efficient and healthy for the environment. It’s your people who got DDT banned and because of that we now have bedbugs.