Bed Bugs in a Vacation Rental By Owner

posted on 12 August 2011 | posted in Home and Garden

What happens when you have a vacation rental by owner unit that all of a sudden has a very serious bed bug problem? I'd handled the flies with my fly screens, but bed bugs are something else. Since the VRBO in located in a condo, the association decided to shut down the owner's rental unit. I wondered if this was legal or illegal. One one hand I can understand the associations concern. Bed bugs if treated, will try to escape to the next condo unit. It costs a lot to try to pest control the unit and all of the units that are physically connected to the original problem unit. But, by putting the VRBO unit out of business, the bed bugs will have no one to feed on and will therefore, move to the next unit. So, if I were the association, I would leave the VRBO unit alone and let the owner treat the problem, I would also let people stay in the unit. If the bugs are still there, then the people will leave anyway, and the bugs will stay put. Part of the pest control treatment, is encasement of the bed. Which means that the bugs can not get out of the encasement and are trapped there. Quite a thought, you are sleeping on them, but they can't get out of the bed encasement. Also, the treatment is extensive chemical treatment, to try to kill the bed bugs. This chemical treatment is done several times, to get the situation under control. The bugs can also move on to the pest control person. So, these pest control employees, must be very careful to wash down completely before entering their own homes. The interesting thing is that the bed bugs don't seem to discriminate, they simply, like, hitch a ride into any bed that they can find. Overall it seems, that the world is so connected that the bugs can travel on luggage and can be found in many well established very expensive vacation rental units. One of the interesting bits of information is that bed bugs leave very minute blood spots on the sheets, besides the bites on the person sleeping in the bed. In conclusion, the pest control of bed bugs is possible, and you definately appreciate everything that they do to get the bed bugs out of your bed.