Report bed bugs! To view the latest bed bug report by fellow tenants, please visit the bedbug registry for 100 Wellesley East. Scroll to the bottom of the page to submit report for the building. August 23, 2011: At our last meeting with management in June we were told that for some time the building had received no reports of bed bug problems at all, which is excellent news. Peter T.A.E. October 27, 2010: A tenant on the 2nd floor reported that there is a problem. Cap Reit are speedily dealing with it. Peter - T.A.E. The Threat In the past few years Bed Bugs have found their way back into North America en masse. Bed Bugs were previously thought by many to be a thing of urban legend, "don't let the bed bugs bite" we were told as children before bed. A now banned chemical called "DDT" virtually eliminated bed bugs in North America in the 1950's. Today, bed bugs are being found in the best hotels, cruise ships, condominiums, restaurants, places of work, gyms, hospitals and of course apartment complexes. In January of 2008 we experienced our first encounter with bed bugs here at 100 Wellesley. Bed bugs are insidious creatures. They are rarely seen by day unless the infestation is really bad, they can travel considerable distances from their source and they feed by night. In multi-unit dwellings bed bugs can travel along water pipes and electrical passages drawn by carbon dioxide; essentially the breath we exhale. By the light of day they hide in the smallest of crevices which is also where they often lay their small, hard to spot eggs. If your home becomes host to bedbugs it is of the utmost importance that it is reported to management immediately to address the problem as early in the stage as possible. If allowed to advance, a badly infested home can present a much greater challenge to yourself, your neighbours and pest control professionals. Stigma It might be thought that if you have bedbugs you live in a messy or dirty home. This is absolutely untrue. Bed bugs can find a home in the most luxurious 5-star hotel, million-dollar home or apartment suite. There is no shame in discovering you have bed bugs. Identification They are small, brownish insects with flat, oval-shaped bodies. Young bed bugs can be no bigger than a pinhead, or even undetectable by the naked eye. Blood, typically human blood, is their only food source. Their name comes from their tendency to live between mattresses or in nearby cracks and feed on bed occupants at night. Bed bugs do not fly and cannot "jump", but move quickly over floors, walls, and ceilings. Prior to feeding, they are about 1/4 inch long and as flat as a sheet of paper. After feeding, they turn dark red and become bloated. Eggs are whitish, pear-shaped and about the size of a pinhead. Clusters of 10-50 eggs can be found in cracks and crevices. Bed bugs have a one-year life span during which time a female can lay 200-400 eggs depending on food supply and temperature. Eggs hatch in about 10 days. Be Alert If you live near a suite which has bedbugs there are precautions that you can take to help prevent from getting them. If you live next door, below or above an apartment with bed bugs, 100 Wellesley Property Management will notify you and offer to treat your suite, seal floorboards and common access points. You will have to prepare for the treatment which is a lot of work (more on that later) but you will be glad you did once you understand the severity of getting rid of these pests. For extra protection you can also pull your bed and dresser drawers away from the wall by a few inches and wrap two-sided sticky tape (available at hardware stores) around the legs of your furniture. Sticky tape acts as a barrier for bedbugs climbing up the legs of furniture as they cannot fly or jump, they can only climb. You should also be mindful with bags/suitcases that you bring into your home when you return from travel, from the gym and it is recommended that you make sure that your purse/knapsack etc. is properly zipped up when you ride public transit, go to the movies, out for dinner etc. Bed bugs are known to "hitch-hike" into your home. These are unlikely sources however if someone carrying bed bugs was sitting in an area before you, it is possible that they can drop or come out from the previous person's clothing or carry objects. Back home, wash your bed linen's regularly and do brief checks under your mattress and in the seams of your mattress for any small brown stains which could be blood or fecal matter from bedbugs. Don't! Never collect items off the curb or street. If the item is attractive enough, there's a good chance it has bed bugs or eggs in it. Remember that bed bugs can survive extreme temperatures and can live for over 1 year without feeding. Think twice about buying used items such as furniture, books, clothing, art, electronics and other miscellaneous items from second hand shops, apartment and yard sales. If you buy second hand clothing immediately transport it to the laundry room and wash everything in hot water and then dry them thoroughly in the hot cycle of the dryer. Immediately dispose of the item you used to carry the clothing. Bites Some people have allergic reactions when bitten by bed bugs; others have no reaction at all and may not even know that they have them at first. If you are in an area where bed bugs have been reported, regularly check for small slightly raised red marks on your lower legs/ankles and upper arms/chest for signs of bites. Infested If bed bugs are found, notify the management office immediately. Property Management will book the pest control appointment and advise you of what steps that need to be undertaken prior to treatment day. Prepare yourself; it is a lot of work. In order for treatment to be effective, you will, in part need to undertake a great deal of preparation prior to treatment. This includes, but is not limited to disposing of all clutter in your home, moving all furniture away from walls, laundering or dry cleaning all clothing and fabrics in hot water and hot dryer, removing face-plates from all light switches/electrical outlets & phone/cable jacks, disposing of or buying mattress encasement covers for your mattresses and after treatment, daily vacuuming along all floorboards and corners to collect bed bug eggs. A first treatment may not always be successful, second treatments may be necessary if all bed bug eggs are not collected. If this is the case, the above must be completed again approximately 10 days after the initial treatment. This is a battle - a big battle, make no mistake about it. You can stay at a hotel or with family & friends but the problem will not go away, in fact it might travel with you. You could move, but you will inevitably take the bugs with you and the cycle will begin again. Be alert, fight the battle as per the precise instructions of the pest control officer and property management. You will win the war. Alternative Treatments Other than IPM ("Integrated Pest Management" under the care of a professional pest control officer) sprays, ointments and other related treatments done on your own are most certain to result in failure. For example, spraying a leading bug spray along your floorboards will prove ineffective. This may kill some bugs on contact but eggs that you cannot see will survive in cracks and crevices around your home as store bought bug sprays do not have lasting potency. Worse still, common household bug sprays will only make the problem worse because the bed bugs will burrow deeper into hiding spots to get away from the poison making the problem increasingly difficult to treat. Knowledge is Power If you would like to learn more, below is a list of websites with excellent information. If you have a good website that you can recommend, please email us with the URL and we'll be happy to post it here. The City of Toronto Public Health Department offers extremely comprehensive information on bed bugs Toronto Public Health Inspector (Bed Bugs): (416) 338-7600 or email Toronto Bed Bug Study (2003) Health Canada - Bed Bugs The Bed Bug Resource (moderated discussion group) |