H E R E ’ S W H A T Y O U S H O U L D D O .

SUSPECT BED BUGS ARE INYOUR APARTMENT?

BY RAVINDER BHATTI

Bed bug problems are common in apar tmentcommuni t ies as wel l as in publ ic gather ing

spots l i ke mov ie theaters and hote ls .

I t ’ s important for tenants to understandwhere these insects come f rom, how to

ident i fy them, and what i t takes to e l iminatethem f rom apar tments .

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Bed bugs are t iny insects that l i ve byfeeding on human b lood .

They are secret ive , h id ing in cracks andcrev ices dur ing the day , and coming out a t

n ight to feed .

The b i te of the bed bug is pa in less and mayor may not leave a red mark or i tch iness .

W H A T A R E T H E Y ?

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Because of the i r smal l s i ze and pa in less b i te ,bed bugs may in i t ia l ly go unnot iced . I f you

not ice that you are wak ing up wi th i tchywel ts , see t iny red spots on bedding , or th ink

you have seen the bugs , you may have aproblem.

Bed bugs do not have nests , but w i l lcongregate in cho ice h id ing p laces . These

areas may be marked by t iny dark spots andsta ins , and may have a sweet ish odor .

H O W W O U L D I K N O W I F T H E YA R E I N M Y A P A R T M E N T ?

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Bed bugs enter an apar tment v ia luggage thathas become infested f rom a hote l or hoste l . In

apar tment complexes , i t i s probably morecommon for bed bugs to enter a home f rom anearby in fested apar tment , dur ing mov ing , orthrough p ick ing up used or recycled furn i ture

or mat t resses .

Once in t roduced in to an apar tment bu i ld ing ,bed bugs can read i ly spread f rom one un i t to

another .

H O W T H E Y G E T I N T OA N A P A R T M E N T ?

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Take a p ic ture of ev idence of the i rex is tence and in form your apar tment

manager immediate ly so they can assessthe s i tuat ion and get work ing on

erad icat ing them.

W H A T S H O U L D Y O U D O I F Y O US U S P E C T A N I N F E S T A T I O N I N

Y O U R A P A R T M E N T ?

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Your bu i ld ing manager wi l l get the apar tmentinspected f rom the pest cont ro l team. The

t reatment cons is ts of a thorough inspect ionfo l lowed by vacuuming and chemica l

t reatments of a l l detected spots .

Treatment i s labor in tens ive and may takesevera l hours per apar tment . I t w i l l a lso

probably requ i re severa l v is i ts and t reatmentsto permanent ly erad icate a bed bug problem.

H O W T O G E T R I D O F T H E M ?

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As a tenant , your f i rs t respons ib i l i ty i s torepor t any suspected bed bug problem

immediate ly .

Once an appointment i s made for yourt reatment prepare your apar tment accord ingto ins t ruct ions g iven to you by your res ident

manager . Get your apar tment ready bybagging your c loth ing and personal i tems

before pest cont ro l a r r ives .

W H A T A R E Y O U RR E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S ?

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1 ) Don ’ t move any of your th ings to anotherapar tment dur ing or before the t reatment .

You might end up spread ing bed bugs to theother apar tments .

2 ) Pick up and double bag a l l loose i tems inyou apar tment .

T h e F o l l o w i n g T i p s W i l l H e l p T h e P e s tC o n t r o l T e a m G e t R i d O f B e d B u g s Q u i c k l y :

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3 ) Cloth ing that may be in fested should bedouble-bagged pr ior to t reat ing the room, and

dis- in fested before return ing them to the room.

4 ) Put away a l l food in the k i tchen and d in ingareas , and cover tab les , counters , e tc . to

protect f rom contaminat ion .

5 ) Always buy a good qual i ty , bug-proofmatt ress encasement . Encasements are spec ia l

sacks that f i t over a mat t ress or boxspr ing–usual ly to reduce a l lergens .

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6 ) Vacuum couches , cha i rs and rec l inersthoroughly before pest cont ro l serv ice .

7 ) Don’ t forget to empty drawers in n ights tandsand dressers next to beds pr ior to t reatment .

Th is w i l l make i t eas ier for the pest cont ro lteam to inspect and t reat these furn i ture i tems .

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O n c e e s t a b l i s h e d , b e d b u g s c a n b e d i f f i c u l tt o e l i m i n a t e , e s p e c i a l l y w i t h o u t y o u r

a s s i s t a n c e .

C o o p e r a t e w i t h m a n a g e m e n t a n d p e s tc o n t r o l p r o f e s s i o n a l s s o t h e y c a n g e t t h e

j o b d o n e .

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S O U R C E :

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