Sad day for Cleveland. Cleveland has more Bed Bugs than anyone!

[James Wise]

This is a sad day for Cleveland. It is official, Cleveland we have more Bed Bugs than any other city in the USA!

The top 10 is as follows

1. Cleveland
2. Philadelphia
3. Los Angeles
4. Indianapolis
5. Cincinnati
6. Dallas-Fort Worth
7. New York
8. Columbus, Ohio
9. Houston
10. Dayton, Ohio

CLICK HERE to read the whole article put out by Cleveland 19 News then let me know your thoughts. Have you dealt with bed bugs yet?

[Account Closed]

40% of this list is in Ohio and 60% is in Ohio or an adjacent state.  We're #1!  We're #1!

[Max T.]

Damn Philly... I have not had to deal with this yet.

[Mike Reynolds]

I'd sure hate to be the one that counted all them bedbugs.

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Mike Reynolds:

I'd sure hate to be the one that counted all them bedbugs.

 Counting the money getting rid of the bugs isn't too bad of a gig ; ) 

[Jay Hinrichs]

Luckily never seen one in all my travels.. plenty of roach's and other filth in tenants homes but no bed bugs per se.

[Sean Quinlan]

James wise i was a orkin man in the Cleveland area and they are bad bad. i moved on from that and am buying my first rental soon. I follow you  and your team on you tube and get email updates from you. keep up the good work!! @jameswise

[Jim K.]

@James Wise

Maybe you should map out bedbug hotspots and get called a bedbug supremacist.

[Aaron Howell]

@James Wise can tell you that "Redlining Bed Bugs" is a big no-no !  @Sean Quinlan thanks for your service on the front lines !

[Brandon Sturgill]

How would one reach the conclusion that one city has more bedbugs than the other...I've heard the 50% of 2/3 of statistics are half-way made up....

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Aaron Howell:

@James Wise can tell you that "Redlining Bed Bugs" is a big no-no !  @Sean Quinlan thanks for your service on the front lines !

 lol. City Lab's reporters are going to writing stories about the hardships that Bed Bugs have to face when evil Landlords remove them from their apartment buildings.

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Jim K.:

@James Wise

Maybe you should map out bedbug hotspots and get called a bedbug supremacist.

 lol, truth.

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Sean Quinlan:

James wise i was a orkin man in the Cleveland area and they are bad bad. i moved on from that and am buying my first rental soon. I follow you  and your team on you tube and get email updates from you. keep up the good work!! @jameswise

 Thanks for the love, glad the videos are providing value to you. Orkin man, that's a tough job. Got any good photos or stories to share with us? I am sure you've seen your fair share of nastyness.  

[Sean Quinlan]

Originally posted by @James Wise:

Originally posted by @Sean Quinlan:

James wise i was a orkin man in the Cleveland area and they are bad bad. i moved on from that and am buying my first rental soon. I follow you  and your team on you tube and get email updates from you. keep up the good work!! @jameswise

 Thanks for the love, glad the videos are providing value to you. Orkin man, that's a tough job. Got any good photos or stories to share with us? I am sure you've seen your fair share of nastyness.  

 I have since moved on from the orkin life but the things i have seen will haunt me for life! 

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Sean Quinlan:

Originally posted by @James Wise:

Originally posted by @Sean Quinlan:

James wise i was a orkin man in the Cleveland area and they are bad bad. i moved on from that and am buying my first rental soon. I follow you  and your team on you tube and get email updates from you. keep up the good work!! @jameswise

 Thanks for the love, glad the videos are providing value to you. Orkin man, that's a tough job. Got any good photos or stories to share with us? I am sure you've seen your fair share of nastyness.  

 I have since moved on from the orkin life but the things i have seen will haunt me for life! 

 I could only imagine. That'd be a rough job to handle for the long term. I imagine the turnover was pretty frequent over there?

[Bob Collett]

@Sean Quinlan, I took note of your reference to being an Orkin man in your former life.  Can you give a quick overview on getting rid of bed bugs... specifically, Is there a reliable DIY remedy for vacant units and/or for occupied units?  We hear that bed bug mitigation can cost thousands of dollars.  

Thanks in advance.

[Nicole Heasley Beitenman]

I thought one of my tenants brought home bed bugs about 2 years ago. Fortunately, it was fleas. MUCH easier to get rid of than bed bugs!

[Jeffrey Grieshop]

My wife and I had bed bugs. For the record, we are perfectly clean people. I was just never cognizant of how they were picked up and did not prepare. I still trace it back to a new year's trip to Puerto Rico but maybe it was from a later stay at some hotel. For the record, at hotels, do not store your luggage on the floor or nearby the bed. Don't put anything near the bed. Put everything high in a closet, you do not want a bedbug attaching to your stuff. If you are in a hotel, look for them, under the mattress! Seriously look around your hotel room every time. 

The key to crushing them I believe is early detection. I mean, it was 6 months or so after the fact of that Puerto Rico trip until we found them. We prolonged it some. We had a young daughter who woke up in the middle of the night sometimes. Sometimes, the light would go on and we would find a bug. it happened twice, maybe three times until we put two and two together. We simply thought they were some weird bug our dog picked up, who often lays on our bed. He too is a clean dog, but he gets to run around outside a lot. Anyway, they were only found after we laid there for a bit, then they would come out. Basically, they pick up on your presence after a bit. It always seemed to be at night though. They are called bed bugs, likely for a reason. My research at the time said that they stay contained near a bed. I'd say it's an evolutionary thing but, that's when we are vulnerable and this is why I believe it is likely it's an evolutionary thing by them. And they can detect something we give off in our sleep, pretty sure that is what I learned. They are tricky little ************(insert your cuss word of choice here). But, finally, my wife is like "we got bed bugs." FML

So, yes extermination is expensive. I figured I would go the fun route instead. I bought a nice steamer online. It comes with different nozzles and stuff. But I started steaming every square millimeter of my bed and the surrounding area, many times. It was work. Clothes were thrown in the dryer for long periods of time and then tied and put in safe bags and stored downstairs. More things were steamed. More clothes were dried and placed in bags, it was a PITA. Suitcases were steamed, carpet, clothes, etc. I always taped my bedroom door at the bottom when I would leave after going in there and exterminating :). that was the concentrated area so it was the no-go zone for a while. I would tape it heavily, it was paranoia ha. We lived in the spare bedroom of the house. Looking back we could have probably done a little less work. But, I didn't want them back.

The young ones are small and clear too. The big ones are much more visible. But where they love to go is in small crevices. they love to hide in the lip of the mattress. That little lip around the bottom of the mattress, that was the go-to spot. Corners of the bed, just any tight spot they can sneak in, you must exterminate every part to be safe. 

Extermination is tedious. I would have called our infestation minor to maybe start getting into intermediate. It's hard to recall how often we were getting bit. I don't feel like it was common enough to where I was worried. If we noticed we chalked it up to a mosquito bite. I do recall having a bite similar to how they feed. they bite in trios basically. Where there is one bite, there is a second, and third in the area, called "breakfast, lunch, and dinner"(A****LES!!!!) :). At this time is when my wife said we had them, that was just further evidence. And then, I killed them all! :) 

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Jeffrey Grieshop:

My wife and I had bed bugs. For the record, we are perfectly clean people. I was just never cognizant of how they were picked up and did not prepare. I still trace it back to a new year's trip to Puerto Rico but maybe it was from a later stay at some hotel. For the record, at hotels, do not store your luggage on the floor or nearby the bed. Don't put anything near the bed. Put everything high in a closet, you do not want a bedbug attaching to your stuff. If you are in a hotel, look for them, under the mattress! Seriously look around your hotel room every time. 

The key to crushing them I believe is early detection. I mean, it was 6 months or so after the fact of that Puerto Rico trip until we found them. We prolonged it some. We had a young daughter who woke up in the middle of the night sometimes. Sometimes, the light would go on and we would find a bug. it happened twice, maybe three times until we put two and two together. We simply thought they were some weird bug our dog picked up, who often lays on our bed. He too is a clean dog, but he gets to run around outside a lot. Anyway, they were only found after we laid there for a bit, then they would come out. Basically, they pick up on your presence after a bit. It always seemed to be at night though. They are called bed bugs, likely for a reason. My research at the time said that they stay contained near a bed. I'd say it's an evolutionary thing but, that's when we are vulnerable and this is why I believe it is likely it's an evolutionary thing by them. And they can detect something we give off in our sleep, pretty sure that is what I learned. They are tricky little ************(insert your cuss word of choice here). But, finally, my wife is like "we got bed bugs." FML

So, yes extermination is expensive. I figured I would go the fun route instead. I bought a nice steamer online. It comes with different nozzles and stuff. But I started steaming every square millimeter of my bed and the surrounding area, many times. It was work. Clothes were thrown in the dryer for long periods of time and then tied and put in safe bags and stored downstairs. More things were steamed. More clothes were dried and placed in bags, it was a PITA. Suitcases were steamed, carpet, clothes, etc. I always taped my bedroom door at the bottom when I would leave after going in there and exterminating :). that was the concentrated area so it was the no-go zone for a while. I would tape it heavily, it was paranoia ha. We lived in the spare bedroom of the house. Looking back we could have probably done a little less work. But, I didn't want them back.

The young ones are small and clear too. The big ones are much more visible. But where they love to go is in small crevices. they love to hide in the lip of the mattress. That little lip around the bottom of the mattress, that was the go-to spot. Corners of the bed, just any tight spot they can sneak in, you must exterminate every part to be safe. 

Extermination is tedious. I would have called our infestation minor to maybe start getting into intermediate. It's hard to recall how often we were getting bit. I don't feel like it was common enough to where I was worried. If we noticed we chalked it up to a mosquito bite. I do recall having a bite similar to how they feed. they bite in trios basically. Where there is one bite, there is a second, and third in the area, called "breakfast, lunch, and dinner"(A****LES!!!!) :). At this time is when my wife said we had them, that was just further evidence. And then, I killed them all! :) 

 lol. Good job killing them lil buggers.