BED BUGS ARE BACK!

Our last pest control conference had a very interesting guest speaker. He is a world renowned entemologist and very good at what he does. He spoke briefly about urban pests, ones that are hard to control such as roaches, but in addition cause many health problems especially in low income urban housing.

He then shifted gears to bed bugs. In not so many words, he basically told us (the pest control technicians) that if we did not learn how to properly treat for bed bugs, we would be missing out on revenue. In his words, "bed bugs are becoming a national epidemic".

The main influx has resurfaced in New York, primarily from business travelers from overseas. Unfortunately, because New York is such a hub, signs of bed bugs are now starting to show up all over the nation. Mainly this stems from people staying in hotels in the north east states, and bringing back the "hitch hikers" to their own homes or apartments. This gentleman in our conference told us that companys charge upwards of $250.00 PER ROOM!

I was somewhat floored by this pricing, and couldn't even think of asking someone for that kind of money per room. The speaker went on to talk about how involved a treatment is and that every square inch must be treated. All furniture in the room must be taken apart. In addition, every inch you treat on the initial application must be done a second time at a minimum, two weeks later. Sometimes 3 and 4 treatments are necessary. At that point the $250 per room was justified in my mind.

I am praying that Atlanta does not become another New York when it comes to bed bugs. The money sounds great, but i hope my technicians can treat the rooms as thoroughly as they should be. Hopefully people would want to do the job themselves and pay less money. Here is an article about the new bed bug epidemic:
The Bed Bugs Are Back - New York Times