Professor and Urban Pest Management Specialist Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, Virginia
Proactive bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.) monitoring in low-income housing facilities has been highly recommended by both researchers and professional pest managers as a way of detecting bed bug infestations early, and reducing the overall cost of bed bug management. A previous study determined that two BlackOut BedBug Detectors placed in an infested apartment, could detect bed bugs within a 4-week period. However, the cost and labor time of bed bug monitoring in facilities with large numbers of apartment units was not evaluated. To determine these costs, our laboratory located a low-income, two-story housing facility that had a history of bed bug infestations and was home to forty elderly-disabled residents. We identified 20 housing units where we could place two of the BlackOut Detectors (one each in the bed room and living room) and monitor them monthly for the following year. The purpose of this study was to determine the equipment cost and the time needed to enter the unit, and place the monitors. In addition, we determined the time it took each month to re-locate the monitors and check them for bed bug presence. The average cost and time needed for entering the units, placing the monitors and checking them, was used to project the potential costs of monitoring facilities with larger numbers of units, and at different monitoring intervals (monthly, quarterly, or annually).
