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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish

Bedbugs hit the tourist trade

How a tiny insect has brought the mighty metropolis to its knees:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101025/ap_on_re_us/us_bedbug_anxiety
Question asked via StreetAdvisor The opinions expressed here are those of the individual and not those of Douglas Elliman.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@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?
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
@Uraniumfish: You mean there is actually something besides terrorist that can bring this city to its knees. :)
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@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?
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@hhusted Indeed.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
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!
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@BroadwayBK You may be on to something there!
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@BroadwayBK Hah! Good thinking....!
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NeverSleeps
NeverSleeps 2yrs+
@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.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@Everyone just chanced upon the bedbugregistry.com that tracks infestations across the nation.

http://bedbugregistry.com/metro/
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@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.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
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).
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
There are NO cases in Greenpoint. I want to live there.
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JenMac
JenMac 2yrs+
Ahhhhh! There's two on my street but several blocks away. What's the repellant mixture again? I have nightmares about this.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
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 : /
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@Uraniumfish you need to come in on this one..
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
How terrifying! My little corner of Manhattan is surrounded by those frightening red dots!
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@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.
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NeverSleeps
NeverSleeps 2yrs+
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...
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@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.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
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.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
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
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@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?
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
Oh, and it looks like you forgot to mention how many teaspoons of peppermint oil to use in your recipe?
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
@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.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
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.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@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.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
Just changed it to include the number of teaspoons.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
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
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
Is it true that the tourists were bringing bugs with them?
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@uptowngirl If that were true I'd be somewhat on the side of the bedbugs. Boo, Hollister!
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@hhusted now where did you hear that story?
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
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.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@hhusted How could anyone know for sure?
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
@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.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@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.
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
@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?
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