Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So the other day, we got a notice under our apartment door saying that an apartment near ours had been treated for bedbugs and that as a preventative measure, they were going to treat ours as well. Spraying pesticides all over our apartment is obviously not good, but it doesn't sound like it's possible for us to opt out of it.

We've got somewhere our geckos can live temporarily (thankfully my GF's parents are willing to take them in for a while), but we don't really know when it'll be safe to bring them back. We're doubly concerned about our leo's crickets, as it's reasonable to assume that whatever pesticide they use to kill bedbugs will kill crickets pretty effectively as well.

Does anyone have any experience with something like this? If so, how long did you keep your animals away and how did it work out?

Thanks for any info you can provide - we're both kind of freaking out about this, so even a little tiny bit of reassurance would be nice.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

if crickets are left in the apartment,they will be killed and useless even if they manage to survive. You might as well just keep them at the same place your geckos will be.

As for how long to keep the animals away, just ask. You don't have to say you have reptiles, just say you have pets. If they have no clue...I would talk to your landlord about hiring a 'real' exterminator. As a tenant you have the right to know what could be dangerous to you or your pets, so the exterminator or your landlord will have to be able to explain everything about the process of spraying your apartment with a deadly chemical which is dangerous to your health. I would be more worried if its just your landlord spraying the apartment with a can of RAID. (if he is, give 24 hours at least, before going back in yourself...that stuff isn't safe to spray around animals and people either, especially if they are going to blanket the entire apartment with it. (or other similar products....I think roach bombs can be bought by anybody too).)

Typically when a house or apartment is fumigated, they don't want people in it for a period of time either. Once you are allowed back in, open all your windows and air out the place for a day or two then you can bring back your pets.
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PHLdyPayne

>>if crickets are left in the apartment,they will be killed and useless even if they manage to survive. You might as well just keep them at the same place your geckos will be.
>>

Yeah, obviously any crickets left in the apartment would be expected to die. Conveniently, we've just run out of crickets anyway, so the cricket terrarium is going to hang out in our garage for a while, and our leo can eat mealworms for the time being.

>>As for how long to keep the animals away, just ask. You don't have to say you have reptiles, just say you have pets.
>>

Well, the landlord was really clueless in this department, saying, "We just tell people to lock their cats in the bathroom for a few hours," which seemed like her typical, "I don't know, so I'm going to make something up and hope you don't realize that I don't know what I'm talking about" type of response. I really miss the old apartment manager, who when we moved in initially and were asking if it would be ok to have geckos here, told us about how she used to have a Chinese Water Dragon, and that geckos were totally cool. She was a lot more friendly, understanding and helpful in general as well.

>>If they have no clue...I would talk to your landlord about hiring a 'real' exterminator. As a tenant you have the right to know what could be dangerous to you or your pets, so the exterminator or your landlord will have to be able to explain everything about the process of spraying your apartment with a deadly chemical which is dangerous to your health. I would be more worried if its just your landlord spraying the apartment with a can of RAID. (if he is, give 24 hours at least, before going back in yourself...that stuff isn't safe to spray around animals and people either, especially if they are going to blanket the entire apartment with it. (or other similar products....I think roach bombs can be bought by anybody too).)
>>
>>Typically when a house or apartment is fumigated, they don't want people in it for a period of time either. Once you are allowed back in, open all your windows and air out the place for a day or two then you can bring back your pets.
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>>PHLdyPayne

Supposedly we are going to at least get the opportunity to speak with the exterminator(s) when they show up today, so hopefully they can tell us what they're using so we can look it up and judge for ourselves what the best course of action is.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear