Poll Results

A few of my polls have closed so I figured I'd put up the results before deleting them.

What have you parted with in the last 12 months due to bed bugs?
Of the 48 people who responded to this poll:

Sense of security: 75%
Sanity: 72%
Mattress: 52%
Bed frame, including headboard: 33%
Other furniture: 31%
Couch: 20%
Apartment: 20%
Friends: 20%
Significant other: 4%
Job/job prospects: 4%

If you have seen bed bugs on the train or bus, where have you seen them?
Of the nine people who responded to this poll:

I don't live in New York City but have seen them on my local transit system: 44%
Queens: 22%
The Bronx: 11%
Metro North: 11%
Yellow taxi: 11%

If you can think of one thing that bed bugs most smell like, what would that thing be?
Of the 31 people who responded to this poll:

Rotten blood: 25%
Rotten eggs and testicles: 16%
Musk (like an animal in heat): 16%
Coriander: 12%
Rust: 12%
Rubbing alcohol: 12%
Other: 3% (Those who chose Other offered their comments in the Nov. 2007 "Sniff, Sniff" entry
and said they smell like nothing, rotting flesh and dirty gym socks.)

These were far more fun than they were scientific, so thanks for participating, and please join in on Bugged Out's other polls.

New Poll

Writing about government intervention in regards to bed bug infestations inspired me to launch a brand new poll on my side bar asking visitors if they've ever turned to the government for help with their bed bug problems, and if so, who in government did they turn to? Please participate in the polls. They're slightly more fun than putting on your socks and every week a randomly selected poll respondent will receive a permanent black marker with which to mark their recently discarded furniture as infested.

I personally have not contacted the government mostly because I have no faith in the government's ability to do anything well.

But for those who have slightly less pessimistic than I am in the belief that government is a necessary evil and have actually contacted government officials for help in this matter, what has the response been? If you wish to share you story on this blog entry, please indicate which government agency helped you in this matter and if you're not in the U.S., tell us which country you live in.

Thanks.

For the Record...

I will be deleting the long-defunct bed bug poll on my sidebar, "What have you parted with in the last 12 months due to bed bugs?"

But before I remove the poll from the sidebar and sending it to poll hell, I figured I'd record the results of this poll, which closed Dec 31, 2007.

What have you parted with in the last 12 months due to bed bugs?

Couch...34% (32 responses)

Bed Frame (including headboard)...37% (35 responses)

Mattress...48% (45 responses)

Other Furniture...38% (36 responses)

Apartment...17% (16 responses)

Sanity...71% (76 responses)

Significant Other...8% (8 responses)

For those of you who tuned in after 2008, don't feel left out! I will be resurrecting this survey from poll hell next week. It's not scientific, but it sure is fun!

Sniff, Sniff

Hi,

I must be really desensitized to the disgusting concept of bed bugs as I am blogging while eating a sandwich of leftover turkey. Are bed bugs a good source of protein?

Came across this article in the Knox News Sentinel in Tennessee that describes the odor that bed bugs emit as smelling like coriander. For those who don't know what coriander is, it is an herb more commonly (at least in the U.S.) as cilantro. The article claims to have gotten this and other bed bug factoids from bedbugresource.com and the University of Tennessee, but I couldn't find any mention of a coriander-scented odor coming from bed bugs on either website.

I personally think the odor that bed bugs emit are like a musk, the scent created by an animal's (deer musk is used in many fragrances) stink gland between their stomach and their genitals.

My question is, if the smell is in fact a musk, and deer musk and pig pheromones have been used in perfumes for thousands of years, could the bed bug odor be bottled as a perfume? Could those of us living with bed bugs be sitting on a gold mine?

Probably not.

My other question is, what do you think the bed bugs' distinctive odors smells like? Please participate in the new poll located in the sidebar. I've already asked six friends and family members and no one has given the same answer. Their responses as well as mine are listed as poll responses, but feel free to select "Other" on the poll if you don't agree with any of us and then write in the comment area of this post what you think the bed bug odor smells like to you.

Happy Thanksgiving by the way.

Later.

Twelve Months Later...

Okay, I know I missed it by a week or so, but January 24 was the date I launched Bugged Out back in 2006, marking this blog's one-year anniversary. Allow me to write what I had meant to write almost two weeks ago.

As I've said before, Bugged Out was created to create an online community for New Yorkers suffering from bed bugs where people could gather and exchange news, information, tips and personal experiences. Now that January has come and gone and Bugged Out is now a year old, I would like to know, from the people who visit this blog, if I've actually achieved this goal. I know this blog has a reasonable amount of visitors, and that there is a handful of people who have been reading Bugged Out from the beginnin. I'd like to know if you feel I've accomplished what Bugged Out was meant to do, and if not, where I can improve.

I look forward to reading your comments.