Bedbugs hit the tourist trade

@Uraniumfish I can't believe there is no cure for these critters. There must be something that repels them and stops them from multiplying. I guess the hottest summer on record in NYC has not helped either.

A friend of mine has just flown into NYC from England this evening with her family for a holiday and they are staying at the Waldorf, I do hope she doesn't have any encounters with these awful creatures for I know how much she has been looking forward to this her first NYC holiday in years.

The interesting point was made in the other thread on bedbugs: I don't actually know of anyone who has them. You would think, if they're such a pestilence in the city, that you would have heard of at least one person you know personally who was affected. No?

@Uraniumfish you have a point there! do you think its been totally blown out of proportion? or do you think people who have been affected don't want to let on because of the stigma attached?

@Uraniumfish: You mean there is actually something besides terrorist that can bring this city to its knees. :)

@uptowngirl Hard to say, right? If you're going through a bedbug problem, maybe you'd try to hide it from friends. But still, wouldn't you have heard about somebody down the block, etc?

@hhusted Indeed.

All of the bedbug instances that have been in the news involve retail stores and tourist landmarks. Perhaps the tourists are bringing them to us!

@BroadwayBK You may be on to something there!

@BroadwayBK Hah! Good thinking....!

@BroadwayBK Of course, it's so obvious! Maybe we need need to exercise caution - have all the tourists carefully inspected at Ellis Island before they are allowed to descend on Midtown.

@Everyone just chanced upon the bedbugregistry.com that tracks infestations across the nation.

http://bedbugregistry.com/metro/

@uptowngirl I would say that site was awesome if it didn't prove how infested with bedbugs this city has become! Ewww. They are all up in my neighborhood! There are three cases on my block!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Excuse me while I head to my 24-hour organic store to pick up some peppermint extract.

Surprisingly few cases on my street! In fact none within a 1 to 2 block radius. I also checked my old street in Boerum Hill which was also surprisingly clean (of bedbugs, though I have mention a myriad of other filth).

There are NO cases in Greenpoint. I want to live there.

Ahhhhh! There's two on my street but several blocks away. What's the repellant mixture again? I have nightmares about this.

I was wondering about that peppermint mix, too. I can't find anything online that really backs up peppermint as being helpful in this battle either : /

@Uraniumfish you need to come in on this one..

How terrifying! My little corner of Manhattan is surrounded by those frightening red dots!

@ajadedidealist my street has been spared but the surrounding area has so many infestations that I am quite worried now. Yes the bedbugs have not spared the Upper East Side either. My husband is going on a business trip back home around Thanksgiving I am going to get him to check in on the apartment.

OMG THERE IS A CASE IN THE BUILDING I JUST MOVED INTO THAT THE LANDLORD DID NOT NOTIFY ME ABOUT!!!! What do I do!!! Someone sighted a bedbug infested mattress on the fourth floor after a tenant moved out this September, apparently. When we signed the lease they told about about two cases - one that happened last year and one that happened the year before - but they failed to mention this. I guess I have to do some investigating...

@NeverSleeps Go to legal aid, or whatever the free legal advice clinic is for landlord tennant issues. You definitely have rights, but you do need to do the investigating yourself. If they lied to you, you may be able to sue for such things as relocating expenses...

By the way, that really sucks.

This is the recipe I use:

4 teaspoons peppermint oil
1-2 teaspoons dr. bronners peppermint soap
about 16 oz water

You can put it in a spray bottle, and spray it onto the bed/sheets each morning. But this is PREVENTIVE, and obviously won't work if you already have an infestation. It also happens to smell nice. I also add a little Rosemary Oil, to mix it up a bit.

Also, here are some articles that link peppermint oil and bedbugs. I just want to emphasize that it's main function is preventive, though, not as a pesticide for when you already have them. And it's obviously good policy to be preventive in a ton of other ways, in conjunction with the peppermint -

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Will_peppermint_oil_kill_bed_bugs
http://www.getipm.com/thebestcontrol/bugstop/control_bed_bugs.htm

@NeverSleeps Aw, man, that really does suck! I think I would be one the phone with my landlord making all kinds of demands... Then again, my landlord didn't do much when I cried mouse, so it would be futile anyway.

@Uraniumfish And I assume that you can spray that on fabrics without them getting soapy or fading at all?

Oh, and it looks like you forgot to mention how many teaspoons of peppermint oil to use in your recipe?

@Everybody: It is interesting that peppermint is being talked about for bedbugs. I read some place that peppermint is good for a lot of different things. Good stuff.

hmmm wonder if I can get the husband to go and spray it at our apartment when he is NYC later this month ! please lord may there be no bed bugs..I am having the place cleaned every month and I am praying that the cleaners would have told me if me if something was amiss.

@Everyone here's a funny report about the sighting of bedbugs at the J Crew office at 2 Penn Plaza

http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2010/11/breaking_lone_bedbug_discovere.html

Gulp I just ordered two cute shirts from J. Crew to be sent to me here in HK.

Just changed it to include the number of teaspoons.

And now a new point of view w.r.t bed bugs- bed bugs are agents of anti-gentrification i.e. Old New York fighting back
against social change.
http://ny.racked.com/archives/2011/01/05/retail_bed_bugs_might_be_nycs_only_recourse_against_gentrification.php

Is it true that the tourists were bringing bugs with them?

@uptowngirl If that were true I'd be somewhat on the side of the bedbugs. Boo, Hollister!

@hhusted now where did you hear that story?

From you guys in this forum.

Here is what BroadwayBK said:

"All of the bedbug instances that have been in the news involve retail stores and tourist landmarks. Perhaps the tourists are bringing them to us!"

So that is why I am asking the question. I wanted to know for sure.

@hhusted How could anyone know for sure?

@BroadwayBK: No one can know for sure. Perhaps they are or perhaps they aren't. The only way to tell is to monitor them. And that takes time and money to do.

@hhusted you forget to take inclination too.. more than finding out where the bed bugs come from I would be happy to find a permanent cure for these critters.

@Uptowngirl: The bottom line is that beg bugs are a problem and need to be dealt with, right? The question is how can they be killed? Have an exterminator come in and take care of it?