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Bed bug calls in Whistler up slightly

Media attention has resulted in lots of false alerts

You can't pick up a paper or turn on the television these days without coming across a story about bed bugs, a blood-sucking pest that was practically eliminated in North America through the use of pesticides but is making resurgence in places like New York and Toronto. The bugs themselves can be found anywhere, and are spread by travellers visiting places where bed bugs are still common.

The media attention has prompted some fear locally about the infestation in Whistler, said Jason Page, manager of Solutions Pest Control. He has seen a slight increase in the number of infestations over the past five years, but the media attention has resulted in a lot of false calls as well.

"It's definitely increased from five years ago, but it's been a slow and steady increase for sure," he said.

The number of calls has died down recently, but during the months of August and September when the bed bug phenomena was in the news almost daily, he noticed a spike in the number of calls.

"I think that 50 per cent were falls calls, mostly from hotels where guests had woken up with welts or went home and then reacted later," he said. "Because it's in the media, the first thing in their mind is that it was bed bugs."

In many of the cases, Page said the guests had left their windows open and were likely bitten by mosquitoes or other insects, or had been bitten during the day. Hotels are extremely aggressive when it comes to bed bugs, said Page, and take every complaint seriously - so seriously that some people are falsely claiming bed bug bites to try and get free rooms or refunds.

Still, he says bed bugs infestations do happen in Whistler - and are typically reported in the fall and spring when more people are moving in and out of their homes. Some places sit empty for months and the resident bed bugs - which can go up to 18 months between meals - make up for lost time on the new tenants, which calls attention to an infestation. Usually, bed bugs will try to feed every five to 10 days.

"It's not a weather phenomenon, it seems that it's just occupancy that makes the difference (in bed bug calls)," said Page.

If people have questions about bed bugs, he says he usually refers them to a website managed in Vancouver at www.thebedbugresource.com. Information on his own site at www.pestsolutions.ca is from that source.

"You have to educate yourself," said Page. "Pest control is 50 per cent application of products and materials and 50 per cent is investigation. I like to quote G.I. Joe and tell people that 'knowing is half the battle.'"

Whistler Pest Control, which is part of the Pest Detective company servicing the Lower Mainland and Sea to Sky, has noticed a slight increase in bed bug calls for Whistler, but a 100 per cent increase in calls for their entire region since last year. According to Warren Grant, about half the calls turn out to be genuine.

"We do quite a few inspections and sometimes the ones we go out to there's some evidence, and other times we collect samples and there doesn't appear to be any bed bugs... so there is quite a bit of scare out there as well."

Grant says there's no pattern to the calls.

"It could be a hotel one day, and the next it's a multi-million dollar home in the British Properties," he said. "Places that are popular with backpackers also turn up, because they go away and bring (bed bugs) back with them. That's how an infestation starts a lot of the time."

Grant says that finding even one bed bug is grounds for an inspection, as that's all it takes for a residence to become affected.

The Bug Bed Resource website includes information on how to inspect your home for bed bugs, as well as the things that you can use to combat them. For example, if they're living in your bed or box spring, you can purchase covers that will keep them trapped inside where they will eventually die off - much cheaper than replacing your mattress.

Page says people have a lot of options when it comes to detecting bed bugs, including traps that fit on your bed legs. There are also videos on YouTube.com that also show you how to detect the parasites.

There is no health risk associated with bed bugs, which do not spread diseases like mosquitoes, although some people can have allergic reactions to the bites.

"Catching (an infestation) early is certainly key, and if you do find an infestation then you really should contact a pest professional as they are virtually impossible to eliminate yourself," said Page. "Failing to control it will contribute to the infestation of your home, and your neighbours up and down and on both sides.

Page uses pesticides approved by the Canadian government to treat homes that have been infested. Rates that start around $300 to $400 - it depends on the number of beds and rooms that need to be treated. He will need to visit your home at least twice, and on rare occasions a third time.

That creates some inconvenience for home owners, but Page says the good news is that the old wisdom of throwing out your mattress is no longer the best practice. He estimates maybe half of bed bugs actually live in a mattress. They can be found behind wall boards and baseboards, in electrical boxes, behind paintings and in other furniture.

There are non-pesticide treatments that use heat but Page says only one company in the Lower Mainland is currently offering this service and the costs are significantly higher than using pesticides, starting at around $1,200.

Putting your mattress outside in the cold also won't work in most cases because the bed bugs will adjust their metabolism accordingly. However, he said a new treatment is coming out that uses pressurized carbon dioxide to freeze bed bugs, although it's not widely available.

While bed bugs are getting all the media attention, Page has been busy with other types of calls recently.

"Up here it's seasonal," he said. "Come April, it's Carpenter Ants who are doing their mating flights... and then we get the pavement ants when it starts heating up during the summer. It was a bad year for wasps in Whistler and Pemberton, strictly because of the fantastic summer we had that produced an environment where flowers bloomed early and wasps had a good food source.

"And this is one of the worst mouse seasons we've had in 15 to 20 years. People who have been here 30 years who have never seen a mouse were seeing them, and Home Hardware was selling out of traps regularly. We regularly get about one mouse call per day, but we were doing three times that from late June... to end of September."

By the way, according to some websites, mice will feed off bed bugs. And vice versa.