Tell me what you know about bed bugs

[whiskeyandwine]

EEEEEEE, this is the worst! 

So far it sounds like you've done what you can. Have the exterminator check the entire house, and treat the entire house even if there isn't evidence of them anywhere other than the room. For the clothes you did not throw away, bag them up in plastic bags and take them to your laundry room. Dump them right in the washer and wash and dry them on high heat. Heat will kill them. Cold will not.

If your exterminator does a heat treatment, you'll only need one treatment. If s/he does a chemical treatment, insist on follow up treatments at a week out, two weeks out, and four weeks out. Better safe than sorry. 

Push for a heat treatment if you can. 

[residentdj]

I don't know much about bed bugs other than the fact that they are nasty little fuckers that multiply with the quickness. Have the entire house treated like PP said. Also, I'd be asking the grandparents to cough up some dough to help pay for the treatment. I would also let them know you will not be visiting until they make sure their house is bed bug free too.

[compassrose]

Put every piece of cloth in the room (and I'd be paranoid and do the entire house, but that's because I've had them before) in the dryer for 45 min on high. Curtains, rugs, everything. Store in plastic bags and/or plastic rubbermaid containers. Put a bug-proof wrap on every mattress in the house. Pay an exterminator to come stat and treat every piece of furniture and every wall.

I know I sound crazy, but we had them for months and could not get rid of them. I moved out of that apartment and it's still killing my credit 4 years later for breaking my lease. All of my stuff went in to storage for over a year. I am still paranoid about it.

[residentdj]

Sept 13, 2015 19:11:09 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Sept 13, 2015 19:10:07 GMT -5 residentdj said:

I don't know much about bed bugs other than the fact that they are nasty little fuckers that multiply with the quickness. Have the entire house treated like PP said. Also, I'd be asking the grandparents to cough up some dough to help pay for the treatment. I would also let them know you will not be visiting until they make sure their house is bed bug free too.

They hung up on us. 

Ugh! That's just nasty. Family or not, I wouldn't be setting foot in their house anymore. And they certainly wouldn't be welcome in mine either as I'm sure they'd track those little buggers in with them. Sorry for your troubles :/

[Deleted]

Ugh I'm so sorry. It's huge dough to get these treated. That sucks so bad!

[emsumm]

I'm amazed you do a routine check every month. I barely get laundry done.

[littlepeanut]

No advice. I'm just really sorry!

[jane6672]

ugh, i'm so sorry! glad you caught it pretty early on

[imojoebunny]

{hugs} this is pretty much my worst nightmare. Hope the exterminator can help. Not sure how to deal with the uncooperative family member. Bed bugs are not like lice. They can live in and on things for much longer.

[Velar Fricative]

I'm sorry! They are the worst. We got them in our apartment after traveling.

Here is what helped:

1) The best bed bug exterminators we could afford (check yelp; a lot of "regular" exterminators aren't great with bed bugs).

2) Almost everything in the dryer for 45-60 minutes each. Dried items went into contractor bags that we kept in the bathroom (the place least likely to get infested) and our kitchen (no sign of infestation).

3) Anything that couldn't go in the dryer was placed in sealed contractor bags for 7 days with a Hot Shot (I think that's what it was called, found at Home Depot).

4) We kept our mattress and box spring sealed for 18 months. The bugs can live that long without food so the exterminators said any they couldn't get would be dead after 18 months.

The process was long and horrible (and I was 5 months pregnant, which sucked) but I am glad we didn't cut corners. The exterminators guaranteed no bed bugs if we followed all of their instructions perfectly, and we did. No bed bugs after that. Good luck!

[compassrose]

Sept 13, 2015 20:28:23 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Thanks for the advice and letting my cry about it on here.

Good luck with the exterminator tomorrow!

[residentdj]

Sept 13, 2015 20:43:51 GMT -5 happywife said:

OMG, I'm in a hotel once a week for work and this is freaking me out. How can I prevent bringing them home? Sorry, OP,!!

From what I've been told, when you check into your room, check under the mattresses, particularly in the corners because that's where they generally like to hide. Don't leave your suitcase on the floor - keep it elevated from the floor. That's what we do whenever we stay in a hotel. If you are the one choosing the hotel to stay in, maybe check trip advisor or yelp for reviews to see if there's been any complaints for bed bugs?

[residentdj]

I don't know how reliable this website is, but my friends told me about this when I was choosing hotels for people to stay in when I had my wedding:


bedbugregistry.com

Worth checking if you are staying in hotels....

[whitemerlot]

Oh no!

[compassrose]

Sept 14, 2015 14:53:32 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Omg. My room is infested!

See my instructions from yesterday.  You might also consider getting a small storage unit to store treated items that you would not miss for a while.  Also price out heat-treating your entire house. It's expensive but effective.

[miso]

Sept 14, 2015 14:53:32 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Omg. My room is infested!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I'm so afraid for you!

We got ravaged by bedbugs at a hotel.  We had a special bed bug exterminator come (with a beagle) to check out our whole house, and we were very lucky we didn't bring the bugs home.

happywife, I know how freaked out you are about this, so I recommend you get some special bedbug-proof luggage for your own peace of mind.  It heats up or something and kills them all dead.

[miso]

And, seriously, don't fuck around.

Spend whatever it costs to remedy this ASAP.

Or it will be a problem FOREVER.

[dana2006]

I'm so sorry to hear this! My parents had them 3 years ago. We searched around and hired a company that specialized in heat treatment. One treatment and they were gone. We did not consider chemical treatments due to the multiple visits, prep work, and my dad's poor health. It still took my mom a long time to clean up after, but it was well worth the peace of mind. FWIW, it cost about 4.5k for a 1200 sq feet row house in Philly.

[miso]

GoFundMe time!

(Just kidding.)

(Although I probably would contribute if you really needed help. This is one of my worst nightmares.)

[iamali]

Exterminator STAT.

Don't try those DIY bug bombers, they do nothing.

Dry everything on high heat for 30 minutes. I threw away all pillows.

Go buy some DE and sprinkle it around the walls in the entire house.

I'm sorry. They are utterly awful and a giant mindfuck.

Hope you can rid yourself of them soon.

Sent from my Fortress of Snatchiness

[bonnie]

Sept 14, 2015 14:58:03 GMT -5 miso said:

Sept 14, 2015 14:53:32 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Omg. My room is infested!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I'm so afraid for you!

We got ravaged by bedbugs at a hotel.  We had a special bed bug exterminator come (with a beagle) to check out our whole house, and we were very lucky we didn't bring the bugs home.

happywife, I know how freaked out you are about this, so I recommend you get some special bedbug-proof luggage for your own peace of mind.  It heats up or something and kills them all dead.

What is your routine when you come home from travel? I'm so paranoid about bed bugs!

[miso]

Sept 14, 2015 16:10:18 GMT -5 bonnie said:

Sept 14, 2015 14:58:03 GMT -5 miso said:

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I'm so afraid for you!

We got ravaged by bedbugs at a hotel.  We had a special bed bug exterminator come (with a beagle) to check out our whole house, and we were very lucky we didn't bring the bugs home.

happywife, I know how freaked out you are about this, so I recommend you get some special bedbug-proof luggage for your own peace of mind.  It heats up or something and kills them all dead.

What is your routine when you come home from travel? I'm so paranoid about bed bugs!

Like others stated, I use luggage racks.  I rarely set bags directly on the floor, bed, or upholstered furniture.  If this is not possible, I take out all clothing and hang it in the closet, zip up my bag completely, and place it as far away as I can from the bed and other upholstered furniture.

When I get home, I try to leave my bag in the sun for a few hours.  Then I wash everything.  All clothing goes directly from our luggage into the washer.  Unfortunately, this can't be done with dry-clean-only clothes, so it's not a foolproof solution.

If we get home at night, I skip the part in the sun.

Whether or not this helps at all is questionable, but I feel better about having a process.  LOL.

[miso]

Sept 14, 2015 17:15:00 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Also, if you're just checking your mattresses and they look ok, don't just assume all is well. My mattress looks nice and white all the way around. It was my curtains above my bed that they were hanging out in.

OMG.  Ugh.  I'm so sorry.

I really hope you can get this all fixed very very soon.

[lg28]

One of my worst nightmares!! I'm sorry this is happening to you

[sjh722]

Oh no. I'm sorry.

[jssymom14]

Hugs! That sounds like a horrible situation.

[mrsd2006]

Have you tried Sterifab? I know a bed bug expert and he uses this on his suitcase when he gets back from a trip. Sprays down his suitcase and puts it in a plastic bag, and leaves it outside for a couple days.

www.amazon.com/TopDawg-Pet-Supply-7040-Steri-Fab/dp/B000SOJQDA

[deanlicker78]

Sept 14, 2015 17:17:14 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

And I don't remember ever having a bite, but we obviously have been very good hosts. My husband had no bite marks that he can remember either.

Only 20% of people react to their bites. The other 80% never know they've been bitten.

Sorry you are suffering! They are everywhere though. The exterminator that sprays monthly at work was telling us how insanely busy bed bugs have been keeping them.

[deanlicker78]

Sept 14, 2015 22:33:40 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Sept 14, 2015 22:31:38 GMT -5 deanlicker78 said:

Only 20% of people react to their bites. The other 80% never know they've been bitten.

Sorry you are suffering! They are everywhere though. The exterminator that sprays monthly at work was telling us how insanely busy bed bugs have been keeping them.

That's what the guy that came here said. He said it's been insane.

We pulled apart our mattress and really cleaned around it. Our mattress and bed was not nearly as infested as we were initially thinking. They were mostly in the curtains. So hopefully that means we caught it early. Please just let me believe that!

You caught them super early. They'll be gone very soon. They just stopped briefly for a snack. You're delicious.

*hair pats*

[deanlicker78]

Sept 14, 2015 22:44:50 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Sept 14, 2015 22:44:06 GMT -5 deanlicker78 said:

You caught them super early. They'll be gone very soon. They just stopped briefly for a snack. You're delicious.

*hair pats*

When this is all over, wanna meet up for coffee?

Yes! It's been too long!