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Bedbug invasion hits New York City subways
We don't really have a bedbug fetish here at Gadling, but we've had something to say about these blood sucking critters on occasion. Here's just one more that will make you think twice about sitting down on those fairly harmless looking wooden benches while you're waiting for a subway in New York City. Wooden benches, like motel mattresses, can be a real bedbug hangout, according to this article in the New York Post.
These bedbugs are not happy just sitting on a bench minding their own business. Instead, they can jump on you for a ride on your business. A city authority on bedbugs admitted there have been sightings of these blood lovers down where the commuters wait for a ride. Exclamations like "That's gross!" have been heard.
All subway stations aren't involved in the invasion. To my dismay, the Union Square station, the one that is closest to where my brother lives, is mentioned twice. It's one of those sprawling stations that goes every which way, so I have no idea which benches you should avoid.
Bedbugs have also been sighted at the Fordham Road stations and the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in Brooklyn. Maybe they've become tired of their hotel digs.
Other Gadling bedbug stories:
- Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite
- Hotels Let the Bed Bugs Bite
- Dogs cracking down on bed bugs in New York hotel
- Bed bugs still biting a year later
Gallery: Dirty Hotel Things
Filed under: Transportation, News, Travel Health
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
bed bugs May 10th 2008 2:50PM
great article find more just like it at www.bed-bug-bites.net
cannotbelievethis May 9th 2008 8:26PM
Actually, what we call bed bugs are wood lice, that have the food sourse of birds and other warm blooded creatures, kind of like ticks. We bought a bed at second hand store and suddenly we had beg bugs. We used Ortho broad spectrum then vacuumed like crazy, but they'r still gross.
Kathy May 9th 2008 8:42PM
Seemingly; Bedbugs can live virtually anywhere & everywhere. Are the blood suckers or are they more in the termite family? Knowing your home is immaculate, yet, time and again there are complaints of an investation of bed bugs. Either they come in from employment facilities whom have employees bringing them in and jumping from warm cloth or body to another and you bring them into your home, or your neighbors if you're in a condo, coop, tenement, semi-attached or fully attached dwelling, and the neighbor should exterminate, the bed bugs and other bugs will surely travel, up, up, and away, from one end of a building to another, and all you can do is exterminate and pass them back temporarily!
lj May 9th 2008 9:17PM
Unclean people sleep and hang around on these benches for hours each day. They smell and look filthy because they are vagrants. They don't work, they don't bathe. They carry filthy bags with them.
It has been raining in the NY area a great deal this year. You have a lot of moisture. Thus, you have areas of infestation of wood lice on around areas these people spend their time.
The answer is to spray and to keep vagrants from spending hours hanging around there. But we all know that this won't happen so the lice will multiply!
John Casy May 9th 2008 9:19PM
I wonder if Rossi was there....
Paula May 9th 2008 10:28PM
I am the owner of a pest control company and if i were you or anyone else in the area i would have my home sprayed for bed bugs just in case they came home with me. the station will never get rid of bed bugs unless they shut it down and fumigate. this is a really big problem and it will run the town if you don't do something about it soon.
rob May 9th 2008 10:39PM
is that a new type of beaners
Deepfire32 May 9th 2008 11:14PM
This is funny because just last weekend my girlfriend and I rode the sub into Manhattan from Long Island and she told me about some of her friends at work who told her the same exact thing that this article is discussing. For anyone who has ever rode the sub in New York, sometimes the wait can be a little long(when you have patience like my own) & sometimes I'll have the tendancy to sit down. But not since my girlfriend told me about the bug invasion, and now this article confirms it.
helen May 10th 2008 12:10AM
Boy that is the least of the worries imagine what you are encountering on the subway rails going down flights of stairs .....opening the restroom door the restroom stall then you wash your hands and when you go to turn off the water you now have came into contact with every germ in the world.WE all are responsible for caring for ourselfs and others i suggest lots of germkiller and papertowls,for getting out of restrooms without touching the doorknob
helen May 10th 2008 12:09AM
in the 1800s they put turpentine in jar tops put bed post in them so the bugs could not get on beds .but there were lots of fires lol
Therealmcgunnar May 10th 2008 1:01AM
not wood lice, a Bed bug is a type of louse however, it does not go after pets or animals it prefers humans, and it doesn't " jump". My wife and I are currently in the living hell of bed bug infestation and it is horrible, to make matters worse my wife is allergic to the bites. we now have to throw away all of our furniture with fabric (1500 dollar bed matress) and everything else has to be sterilized and sealed for a year in addition to fumigating our condo it's hell.
Elaine May 10th 2008 1:51AM
Isn't the word 'lice' just the plural form of 'louse'?
Chaz May 10th 2008 1:34AM
New York? Why that's the best place for the bugs.heh,heh.
Chaz May 10th 2008 1:36AM
New York has a lot of creepy crawly things,what's one more?
NYCnative May 10th 2008 4:25AM
Wow. I'm amazed by the ignorance in the posts. I can tell none of you are from NYC. The bed bug infestation may be new and temporary but your prejudices and stupidity will probably be lifelong.
stnsmok May 10th 2008 5:27AM
Mexico and other third world countries where we are getting the invaders from, have bed bugs. Now our bed bug problem is getting worse. So is smallpox.
MindyMe May 10th 2008 6:16AM
Yeah, this country has a lot of issues to attend to and we need to start taking care of our own (and stop invading other countries!!!) so we can get this and other societal problems taken care of...I don't support Obama, but "Gerald's" comment is ridiculous! Grow up!
Fleurie May 10th 2008 6:19AM
Yeah, this country has a lot of issues to attend to and we need to start taking care of our own (and stop invading other countries!!!) so we can get this and other societal problems taken care of...I don't support Obama, but "Gerald's" comment is ridiculous! Grow up!
doc May 10th 2008 5:21PM
3May 9th 2008 @ 9:17PM
lj said...
Unclean people sleep and hang around on these benches for hours each day. They smell and look filthy because they are democrats They don't work, they don't bathe. They carry filthy bags with them.
It has been raining in the NY area a great deal this year. You have a lot of moisture. Thus, you have areas of infestation of wood lice on around areas these people spend their time.
The answer is to spray and to keep democrats from spending hours hanging around there. But we all know that this won't happen so the lice will multiply!