OMG now I might not eat dinner…I shouldn’t have looked but it was too tempting. And before anyone asks, I don’t eat anything that looks like this EVER. Some people are very brave, I am not.
So as an Australian I scoffed and thought, we’ll see about that! ![]()
yeah, you win, that thing IS quite terrifying.
and look at the world map for these guys, THIS is why we have such strict border controls in australia. we have enough scary shit here already!
Definitely. I’ve said here before that I once had a guest knock on my door at night to show me a photograph of a dead cockroach that she’d just seen in the apartment.
My response was “Wow. A palmetto bug. I haven’t seen one of those for years. Thank you so much for showing it to me. Goodnight”.
Five star review, by the way.
You made it an achievement jaquo. Brilliant!
Update: jaquo, in the last few days we had a group of very painful guests and their excessively-obnoxious leader brings me some dead bug as they were leaving as if she needed to calm down some impending uprising among her subjects.
Following your example somewhat, I immediately said - “Oh my God, that is a hercuba undulata!” and put him in a little glass with great fanfare as they watched in total confusion. They looked at me as if I was nuts (including my wife and cleaning lady). I bet I spooked them enough out of even wanting to leave a review, forget wanting to come back.
P.S. They can’t anyway, they were a direct booking, not an Airbnb one. ![]()
@house_plants I agree as others here have said, make a paragraph in your House Rules pertaining to this kind of situation. Here is what I have in my listing. Fee free to use it or change it to your unique situation. I hope you are able to have the review removed, but if not, feel free to leave that Public Response about your efforts to remediate the situation. That will speak volumes to future Guests–good luck ![]()
TROPICAL FRIENDS: We are located in a tropical location. Bugs, rodents, lizards, iguanas, and other pests are part of the environment. We hire services to provide pest and animal control. You must contact us through “Airbnb Messages” to report any issues that may arise during your stay, and we will address any issues promptly. Contacting your Host by any other means of communication is not considered notifying the Host. NOTE: You agree to allow the Host to remediate the problem. If we agree that you must vacate the property, we will contact Airbnb customer service to help you find alternative lodging. You agree, by booking Cozy Oasis by the Sea, to a pro-rata refund for the “unused” days only.
Hi. I am wondering if you can recommend any sprays. I am also suffering from pests at home. I know that I will never get rid of them fully, but at least… maybe you know some effective methods. I know that there are traps like here to catch mice, but can they be used against incests too?
Hi Anna: Fish (made in Jamaica) and Baygon are definitely our favorites. Perhaps Fish (big yellow tall aerosol) is
not as readily available, but Baygon is.
We also are very conscious of no open foods, everything in containers. Helps a lot.
If we see one we spray, within a day they be dead.
Good luck ![]()
fred
is that a made up latin name? makes me think we should make up a latin name for “bugs that scare townies”
if you have an infestation you’ll probably want to have a pest company come in and put down a barrier. you can get “green” versions of this nowadays, and i’m not sure how effective it is, but that’s what we use. We have cats, that deals nicely with rodents. Flying insects cannot be stopped, but allowing spiders to live in your yard is a good start. Pretty sure the inventors of flyscreen were inspired by spider webs. and finally make sure your pantry is clean and food is sealed up nicely. in the tropics we used to keep rice, flour and other things like that in the deep freeze.
Made up name, mixing a butterfly genus (Hecuba) with a mayfly species (Undulata). Entomology was a passion earlier in life during my college years.
Recently we sprayed with a component we have never used that appears so effective we have yet to find a single bug, it also wiped them out quickly, thus within a day we found what was dead. Will get the name of it later today.
A friend has opened a case with ABB support 5 days ago regarding bedbugs and cockroaches living and dead in a unit. The host has been notified. It’s the weekend so support response has been slow into the 5th day. ![]()
This is quite disconcerting as the pests could make themselves at home in the luggage and clothes. I will update as to how ABB support responds, if at all.
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5 days to live amongst bedbugs and cockroaches is not impressive. ![]()
I once stayed in a bed bug infested spectacular villa, unfortunately I booked on TripAdvisor, I wish I could have destroyed him on airbnb, he called me a liar and insane! cockroaches are nothing compared to a bed bugs, they leave hideous scars!
if there are bedbugs, then every guest prior should have reported it to. If they’ve just turned up then it’s probably the guests brought them in somehow. Finding dead bed bugs is quite rare.
not really, unless you’ve scratched and made sores, and then scratched again. or you’ve had a personal allergic reaction.
I agree that bed bugs are the worst, we had them at home once (hubby came home from a trip and must have brought a few in on shoes or luggage). I learned a lot about them whilst trying to get rid of them.
I just hope you weren’t confused with flying midgies, who also are “invisible” and bite you and leave a tiny red mark.
if there was even one prior review about bed bugs then I would have never stayed there, yes I am sure they were bed bugs and of course a prior guest brought them, I am sure the host is not breeding them on purpose.
AGREED!! After my one experience with them I will run a mile at any mention of them.
If there are really bedbugs, why would your friend continue to stay there? Doesn’t make sense. The way a guest gets a refund in a situation like that is to cancel and leave.
Does your friend expect to get a full refund after continuing to stay and availing themselves of all the amenities and a place to stay?
The infestation began 2 months into a 4 month reservation.
agreed. how on earth does the guest think they got in there?? bed bugs don’t fly or walk around the neighbourhood. Even from your first comment I sensed there was something off about this.
“of course”, hmm, and then they waited 2 months quietly until mid-stay a good idea struck and they helped your friend get a discount? Perhaps you have the details wrong because this isn’t making sense now.
Also, in my experience the best and only way to “exterminate” the bugs is to replace the bed and mattress, or buy one of those silk blend bed bug sleeves. The bugs themselves are incredibly difficult to kill as sprays don’t work, and they generally are hiding in crevices during the day.
It doesn’t take 2 months from a previous guest for bedbugs to appear. It takes only a day or two, max. Sounds to me like your friend is either trying to scam a refund because she decided she doesn’t want to stay for the full time she booked for, or there are some other type of insects she mistakenly thinks are bedbugs.
Definitely. And hosts who are in a buggy area (such as me) can avoid bug problems by having a preventative exterminator visit every month. It only takes a few minutes and it’s not expensive.
Ours leaves a receipt every visit which is a handy thing to wave at guests or Airbnb if necessary. That’s lovely peace of mind, bugwise.
I live in a buggy area, but I don’t exterminate. Not into using toxic chemicals, nor disturbing the balance of nature, nor killing the beneficial insects along with the pests. I manually kill cockroaches and scorpions and do use a special cockroch gel in out of the way spots where humans or pets would never come in contact with it.
And there is no way I would want to stay somewhere that had just had toxic insecticide sprayed.
