Bedbugs mean big money — whether you’re a victim or an exterminator. The result: an exploding bedbug business that is not likely to die down anytime soon.
Why? Bedbugs are expert hitchhikers, catching rides inside purses, shoes, luggage, clothes and shopping bags, and they can secretly set up camp in new locations, going for up to a year without feeding. They’re showing up in college dorms, nursing homes, day care centers, libraries, funeral homes and even movie theaters.
And they are tough to get rid of.
“We are on the threshold of a bedbug pandemic, not just in the United States, but around the world,” said Missy Henriksen, spokeswoman for the National Pest Management Association, an industry trade group. “They can go into clean and dirty properties alike. They are equal opportunity pests.”
That’s good if you’re an exterminator or make stuff that kills bedbugs. Revenues from bedbug extermination hit $258 million last year, up from $98 million 2006, according to the trade group, which represents 7,000 pest control companies. Industry officials expect 2010 revenues to be even bigger.
“It is absolutely out of control right now,” says Andy Carace, owner of Pest End Exterminators, based in Derry, N.H. So far this year, the 28-employee company has had 800 bedbug jobs. Five years ago, it had 50 cases.
“Bedbugs have been identified as the single most difficult pest to treat in our industry,” Henriksen says.
Extermination is a tough job. Pesticides such as DDT once nearly wiped out the bedbug problem 50 years ago, but there is no one single effective way to tackle them today. One method used successfully in Ohio, for instance, might not work on a different bedbug strain in New York, says Henriksen.
Bedbug victims may have to pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars for extermination, since most cases require repeated treatments.
To meet demand, Pest End created a new bedbug division, hired three new employees and spent $15,000 to buy and train a 2-year-old beagle named Rascal who can sniff out bedbugs and their eggs. Carace says a trained dog can find bugs faster and with better accuracy than a technician can.
Pest End now gets 15 to 30 calls a day from hysterical homeowners wanting to book Rascal at $200 an hour. Nationwide, dogs are used in about 15 percent of bedbug cases.
“A lot of people call and they think they have bedbugs and they don’t,” says Courtney Nicholson, Pest End’s bedbug dog handler. “Some people start scratching themselves, driving themselves crazy. There’s a bit of paranoia.”
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5 Responses
Media hype would make one believe that these pests are in every home and hotel room. Whereas these pests have, indeed, spread far and wide, the label ‘pandemic’ exaggerates the extent of the problem. Misinformation and incorrect identifications add to the burden and level of hysteria. It would be wise to learn how to reduce risks of encountering or bringing home these and other pests, and to know the various strategies to abate a bona fide infestation. A key consideration, whether in a hotel or at home, is being able to recognize a bed bug, and to distinguish from other kinds of creatures. Help is just a click away now. You can readily learn about the biology and management of these pests online and obtain rapid and expert evaluation of specimens and digital images (even from you camera phone). These resources are independent of manufacturers or providers of pest control. Just go to: http://identify.us.com.
A tip…
When staying in a hotel or motel, as soon as you arrive, take 10 minutes to check the mattresses! Pull off the sheets and look carefully around the perimeter of the mattresses at the edges (and under the mattress label!)
Sure it’s a pain in the neck, but spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars to rid your home of them if you bring them home (not to mention the major aggravation) makes it well worth those few minutes of your time!
for anyone interested in a great parnossa, get a bedbug dog. you buy them pretrained, they are about $12,000 but you can make that back in less than a month. if you like dogs it’s a great parnossa.
Find someone who will sell you the old fashioned pesticide. That will take care of the bugs. It is available on the black market.
As an exterminator I must say that even with the most effective chemical or method of treatment the most important factor is thoroughness. A lot of technicians don’t follow through till the end because its a very tedious job.