Here’s a real travel nightmare: a Greyhound bus on its way to New York City pulled off the road and evacuated in mid-March after a roach infestation was discovered during the ride, NBC News reports.

According to NBC, roaches began falling from the ceiling of the bus, then skittered across the floor, terrorizing passengers. “All of a sudden the roaches came out of nowhere, they were on the floor, they were falling from the ceiling,” passenger Andy Rodriguez

The roaches began their brief reign of terror only about 15 minutes after the bus left Atlantic City, NBC said.

Read the full story at NBC News.

There is a debate as to whether or not rats are taking over New York City.  Four months after Superstorm Sandy and the debate continues about how much of an impact the storm has had on New York City’s rodent population, Yahoo News reports.

Experts aren’t so sure about stories of hordes of displaced rodents fleeing the flood zone and taking up residence in buildings that were previously rat-free.  But others disagree.

“For some city officials, the last straw came a week ago when a rodent problem forced a two-day closure of Magnolia Bakery, a Manhattan landmark often credited with starting a national cupcake craze. Within days, a city councilwoman floated a proposal to create a $500,000 emergency rat mitigation program for storm-impacted neighborhoods.”

But the city’s health department, which collects reams of data about the rat population and maps infestations looking for trends, said rodent complaints actually had declined since the late October storm, which was spawned when Hurricane Sandy merged with two other weather systems.

But one rat hunger, Richard Reynolds, who leads a group of dog owners who conduct urban rat hunts, debates the issue that the rats aren’t there!

“What happened to the rats? Nothing! We’re finding rats right where we’ve always found them,” he said. “I think this whole idea that there has been some kind of major relocation of rats is just good news media fodder.”  He noted, as did other experts, that Norwegian rats, the species found in New York, are known for being especially strong swimmers.  “I have seen them dive over 70 feet, swim 500 yards, give me the finger and head for the hills,” he said. “Hurricane Sandy is not going to affect these critters.”

Hard scientific data, though, is still largely lacking, and there is plenty of room for debate.

The New York Pest Management Association (NYPMA) was recently formed by the mergers of the PPMANYC, LIPCA and NYSPMA.

Rat infestations are a common problem in the city, but things seem to have gotten out of hand in some neighborhoods – the aftermath of hurricane Sandy.  One resident is taking matters into his own hands and even installed Rat Crossing Signs!

When Sandy flooded Lower Manhattan, many New Yorkers left their homes. So did the rats. “They were relocated during the time of the flood,” said Timothy Wong, whose pest control company, M&M Environmental, has seen an increase in rat-related calls since the storm. “There’s a lot of areas for rats to really roam.”

Some exterminators believe the rats moved from soggy spaces underground into apartments and drier neighborhoods where they’re more likely to find food.  “I’ve seen rats carrying apples,” said Jeff Woods, who has been a rat control technician for three years. “That’s all they care about, is food.”  Woods uses snap-traps, glue boards and poison cubes to help homeowners and restaurant managers try and eliminate the relentless rodents.

But New York City’s Health Department counters that the rat surge argument doesn’t hold water.  “The Health Department conducted extensive inspections in flood zones after Hurricane Sandy, provided guidance to home owners and baited the area,” said Veronica Lewin, a department spokeswoman. “But we did not see an increase in the rat population, and rat complaints to 311 were lower after the storm than in the previous year.”  “Large storms can flush out rats, but they also drown many rats, and the net effect of large storms is often a decrease in the rat population,” said Lewin.

Regardless of whether you believe the rodent population went up or down, few experts dispute that there are millions of rats in New York City. Eliminating them is almost impossible unless people learn immaculate eating habits and landlords start treating their properties like Fort Knox.

“I tell anybody who wants to open a restaurant or buy a house or move into a new apartment to fill every single hole that’s there,” said Woods, the rat control expert. “Secure any entryway. Once they know you’re in there and you’re cooking, they’re going to come in.”

He added, “They’ll come in because they’re curious, looking for things.”

NPMA has compiled state specific bed bug laws and rules into one document. Click here to review the information. In a nutshell, fifteen states have passed or enacted bed bug specific legislation or rule-making, including Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia.

Many of the bed bug laws or rules are “legacy” statutes or regulations, ranging from 30 to 90 plus years old.  The laws and rules focus on bed bug infestations in a variety of specific settings such as multifamily housing (Arizona, Florida, Maine, New York) vacation homes (South Dakota), trains (Illinois), hotels (Kansas, Nevada, Minnesota, Ohio, West Virginia), schools (New York) and migrant labor camps (Iowa).  Laws in Arizona and Texas deem bed bugs a public health nuisance.

Arizona, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, and New York bed bug laws (particularly vital to NYC) were passed or enacted since bed bug populations rebounded 10 plus years ago. Legislation on bed bugs is pending by state, with Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Pennsylvania considering regulations.

Pest control and bug extermination in

Proudly serving the following areas in Putnam County:

With concerns about Lyme disease, the management of tick populations is of utmost concern to many of our customers.  J.P. McHale Pest Management offers a variety of ways to manage ticks including on-going programs and customized comprehensive programs.  Did you know that the pile of leaves you raked for your kids to jump in in your yard could be a great place for ticks to harbor?   Along with our environmentally sensitive methods to effectively reduce the tick population on your property, you may also consider one of our lawn care programs.

For ticks we treat areas most conducive to tick activity, and consistently provide you with important recommendations based on observations during our routine visits. Removing leaf litter, reducing overgrown shrubbery, cutting the grass frequently, are just some of the cultural practices you can do to combine our efforts and reduce your family and pets exposure to ticks.

The life cycle of the deer tick comprises three growth stages: the larva, nymph and adult. It takes about two years for the tick to hatch from the egg, go through all three stages, reproduce, and then die. Humans are at the greatest risk of Lyme Disease and other co-infections in late spring and summer.

With Sandy flooding the New York City subway system, a natural question to ask is “Where will the rats go?”  The New York City subway system is notorious for its growing rat population, and the severe flooding produced by Hurricane Sandy likely will displace rodents.

All seven subway tunnels running under the East River from Manhattan to Queens and Brooklyn took in water, and any resulting saltwater damage to the system’s electrical components will have to be cleaned — in some cases off-site — before the system can be restored, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Transit Authority said on Tuesday. The rising water will force rats out of their underground lairs and into contact with humans, according to Rick Ostfeld of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Milbrook, New York, speaking to The Huffington Post.

He says rats are expert survivors and will escape the floods and head for safer ground, such as apartments and other buildings inhabited by humans.

He said: ‘Rats are incredibly good swimmers and they can climb.’

According to Ostfeld, this could result a rise in infectious diseases carried by urban rats, including leptospirosis, hantavirus, typhus, salmonella, and even the plague.