I currently have an infestation of bed bugs in my entire building…Doesn’t the landlord have to help?

in Bedbug Questions



Question by anonymous:
I currently have an infestation of bed bugs in my entire building…Doesn’t the landlord have to help?

I told my landlord and he still hasn’t done anything….My 5 month old baby’s bed is infested….Who can i go to for help so that my landlord does something about this…??

Best answer:

Answer by sn46
He has to do something about it. This is a great concern for your health.

Post your answer to this question below.


More posts like this one in Bedbug Questions.

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

JONI H March 23, 2011 at 5:45 pm

The landlord does not have to help unless you rented a furnished unit because bed bugs reside in bedding and furniture. If your home was not furnished it would be impossible to prove liability of the landlord unless you want to spend a lot of money testing through pest control. DO NOT wait for your landlord to do something, especially since you have a baby. I would throw out the baby mattress! Spraying the mattress and encasing it in plastic to suffocate the bugs should do it but you still need to treat your entire home, clothing laying around, pillows, throw pillows, blankets, comforters. And you do not want you or your baby to inhale poisonous fumes so you need to contact a professional exterminator who should give a discount to you and your neighbors so you don’t cross contaminate again.
There are several means by which dwellings can become infested with bedbugs. People can often acquire bedbugs at hotels, motels, or bed-and-breakfasts, and bring them back to their homes in their luggage. They also can pick them up by inadvertently bringing infested furniture or used clothing to their household. If someone is in a place that is severely infested, bedbugs may actually crawl onto and be carried by people’s clothing, although this is atypical behavior — except in the case of severe infestations, bedbugs are not usually carried from place to place by people on clothing they are currently wearing. Bedbugs may travel between units in multi-unit dwellings, such as condominiums and apartment buildings, after being originally brought into the building by one of the above routes. Bedbugs can also be transmitted via animal vectors including wild birds and household pets.
This spread between sites is dependent in part on the degree of infestation, on the material used to partition units and whether infested items are dragged through common areas while being disposed of, resulting in the shedding of bedbugs and bedbug eggs while being dragged.
Even a single female bedbug brought into a home has a potential for reproduction, with its resulting offspring then breeding, resulting in a geometric progression of population expansion if control is not undertaken. Sometimes people are not aware of the insects and do not notice the bites. The visible bedbug infestation does not represent the infestation as a whole, as there may be infestations elsewhere in a home. However, the insects do have a tendency to stay close to their hosts, hence the name “bed” bugs. Bedbugs travel easily and quickly along pipes and boards, and their bodies are very flat, which allows them to hide in tiny crevices. In the daytime, they tend to stay out of the light, preferring to remain hidden in such places as mattress seams, mattress interiors, bed frames, nearby furniture, carpeting, baseboards, inner walls, tiny wood holes, or bedroom clutter. Bedbugs can be found on their own, but more often congregate in groups. Bedbugs are capable of traveling as far as 100 feet to feed, but usually remain close to the host in bedrooms or on sofas where people may sleep.

Reply

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: