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LINCOLN — The ongoing effort to sniff out bedbugs in University of Nebraska-Lincoln residence halls has so far turned up 43 infested rooms.
Bedbug-sniffing dogs have found the pests in 35 rooms in Abel, six rooms in Selleck and two rooms in the Village apartment-style hall, said spokeswoman Kelly Bartling.
She said inspectors also found bedbugs in about a half-dozen common areas, including in lounges and study rooms in Abel and Selleck Halls.
Bartling said the infestation hasn't spread to as many rooms as the university had anticipated.
The university has been battling a bedbug outbreak since Jan. 9 after students returned to campus from winter break.
Two bedbug-sniffing dogs are on campus this week — beagle mixes named Ricky and Tracker that were contracted from Minneapolis, she said.
Next week, Bartling said officials hope to have a total of five dogs on campus, including Spots, a rat terrier that participated in previous inspections; and two dogs from a pest control company.
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UNL officials have said they will inspect every residence hall room — 3,256 of them — in an effort to make them bedbug-free.
Bartling said the university has decided not to purchase its own dog because of the cost and time involved for training.
The cost to use the dogs is $875 each per day, and the heat treatment applied to kill the bedbugs is roughly $1,000 per room, Bartling said.
Thus far, she said more than $50,000 has been spent on the effort. Campus housing officials have said the cost to combat bedbugs could well exceed $100,000.
University officials originally had hoped to have all the inspections done by the end of February.
However, that may not be possible, Bartling said, because it's taking longer than expected for the dogs to go through each room.
"We're probably looking at going further into March than we had originally thought," Bartling said.
The inspection of Abel Hall is almost complete, with only a few floors remaining. Dogs will start checking Sandoz Hall on Monday.
Bartling said officials hope to return to Selleck for a floor-by-floor sweep Tuesday, with a full schedule of when each hall and floor will be inspected to be available soon.
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