OK, slightly embarrassing, but help?

[LauraMoser]

After battling these mysterious bites on DD1, and sometimes myself (but not nearly as bad) for a few weeks, I took her to the Dr last night. He said they were bug bites of some sort and prescribed a cream.

Well, knowing that my sister had a case of bed bugs just a couple of months ago in her one chair, I've been on the lookout for any bugs in our couch. Never saw any evidence of any bugs until this morning. Some thorough google investigation tells me that yes, we do indeed have bed bugs in our couch. :@

Ugh, I'm frustrated now. Our budget is tight right now, so there's no room for paying an exterminator to come get rid of the damn things. I have some spray my sister gave me to try, and have sprayed some of the couch this morning so far, but am waiting to do more spraying until later, once I can get the kids out of the house for a little while.

Being 36.5 weeks pg, the damn couch is the only comfortable place for me to sleep. Both DDs end up sleeping there pretty often too, as I have been fighting with DD2 and sleep issues. I will work hard to get DD1 back into her bed and to stay there knowing now that there are definitely some bed bugs.

I know that having bed bugs doesn't mean we're dirty people, but ugh, its just disgusting! And frustrating! I know the easiest solution would be to throw the couch out, but we can't afford to replace it right now.

Anyone ever dealt with them? How did you get rid of them?

[Deleted]

Throw the couch out. Get a 0 percent offer at a local furniture store. Seriously, bed bugs can make you and the baby sick. They can get into your walls and infest your whole house. This is a health issue and worth going into debt over.

[Deleted]

I would guess if they're in the couch, they're already in some other places also. I would call an exterminator because it will only get worse if you don't treat your home.

[thatgirl2478]

I've never dealt with them, but I'm pretty sure that any spray you get is not gonna cut it. From what I understand, MOST sprays aren't going to cut it (even the kind exterminators use). I believe the only thing that works is either heat or extreme cold (ie liquid nitrogen). I would treat or remove from your home sooner rather than later since the buggers will travel to other areas of your home (ie your bedrooms) and multiply there.

This sucks. Sorry you have to go through it.

[LauraMoser]

Nov 1, 2012 9:09:51 GMT -5 papiercherri said:

I would guess if they're in the couch, they're already in some other places also. I would call an exterminator because it will only get worse if you don't treat your home.

Do you think so? My thought was that they may have been brought in by my sister (not that I'm blaming her, just that she had them recently) in nephew's diaper bag or something. I babysit him daily, so there's lots of opportunity for them to hitch a ride. The diaper bag often gets sat on that couch.

[Deleted]

If there on Nephew they can be anywhere in your house nephew is/ was.

[hocus]

You need to find the money for an exterminator. You have bed bugs, they are not limited to your couch most likely. You risk spreading them every time you sit on in a common space (starbucks, library, train etc) or visit someone else's apartment. Your car should also be treated.

[Deleted]

Nov 1, 2012 9:13:18 GMT -5 @savestheday said:

If there on Nephew they can be anywhere in your house nephew is/ was.

Or anywhere you have been. They travel on clothes.

Call an exterminator. I work in the hotel industry. You have no idea how seriously we take those suckers.

I am sorry you have to deal with this

[Deleted]

I would pay to get an exterminator asap.

[Deleted]

Nov 1, 2012 9:12:18 GMT -5 LauraMoser said:

Nov 1, 2012 9:09:51 GMT -5 papiercherri said:

I would guess if they're in the couch, they're already in some other places also. I would call an exterminator because it will only get worse if you don't treat your home.

Do you think so? My thought was that they may have been brought in by my sister (not that I'm blaming her, just that she had them recently) in nephew's diaper bag or something. I babysit him daily, so there's lots of opportunity for them to hitch a ride. The diaper bag often gets sat on that couch.

Even if they were brought into your home by your sister or nephew, they have likely multiplied, and the also travel within your home. They aren't like lice or something, where the lice live in your hair and can only live hours off a human. Bed bugs can live in your furniture, behind your trim, behind the headboard, etc, and they can go days upon days without feeding. So throwing out the couch more than likely won't solve the problem.

[biscoffcookies]

Ditto what pp said -- most of the sprays that are available to general consumers on the market are not effective against bedbugs, even the ones that are specifically marketed for bedbugs. They are hardy little critters. I know you said finances are tight, but honestly, I think the only real alternative here is to hire an exterminator.

We thought for awhile we had bedbugs (luckily, we didn't) but I talked to some exterminators about our treatment options. Chemicals are one option, but not ideal if you have kids because they are not non-toxic. In addition, the chemical treatment is a huge hassle, because prior to the treatment you have to wash/dry all your clothes, linens, and other places a bedbug might hide and then keep them in plastic bags to prevent reinfection. Because typically they do multiple treatments spanning a couple weeks, you are living out of plastic bags for a few weeks.

The other one is heat treatment, which is done in one day. That is what we were going to do if necessary. Unfortunately, it is kind of pricey, but the exterminators I talked to agreed that the heat treatment is more effective (since it permeates through furniture, etc.) than the chemicals, not to mention easier (no living out of plastic bags).

They do sell a product called ClimbUp Interceptors, available on Amazon, which is designed to prevent bedbugs from climbing up/down pieces of furniture. However, I think in your case it won't be that useful -- I wouldn' t be surprised to find that the bedbugs have already spread to other parts of your house. But you could try this in the short term -- but you will have to stop using the couch entirely, as the bedbugs or their eggs can easily hitchhike off the couch on your body/clothes, which would defeat the purpose.

ETA: One thing you might want to consider is getting a dog trained to detect bedbugs by scent to come inspect your home. This is what we did. It was not that expensive -- only $125, and we are in a HCOL area. You know you have bedbugs in your couch, but it would give you an idea of how widespread the infestation is. If it is localized to certain areas/pieces of furniture, the chemical treatment might be more feasible (and it is less expensive).

[Deleted]

Ugh, I'm so sorry but this is one of those things you need to find the money for because it will only get worse.

[LauraMoser]

Ok ladies. Can anyone give me an idea how much (ballpark figure is ok) an exterminator runs?

My house isn't huge, only about 1100 sq ft. They would probably treat the whole house, right?

[Mrs.Beagle]

If I had bed bugs, I'd pay the exterminator whatever it took to get rid of them.

Sorry you're going through this

[biscoffcookies]

Nov 1, 2012 9:28:30 GMT -5 LauraMoser said:

Ok ladies. Can anyone give me an idea how much (ballpark figure is ok) an exterminator runs?

My house isn't huge, only about 1100 sq ft. They would probably treat the whole house, right?

Probably, although it depends. My friends had bedbugs in their 800 sq foot condo. Their exterminator only did the chemical treatment in their bedroom, as that was the only place that he found evidence of bedbugs.

We have a 1000 square foot one-bedroom condo, and the quotes we got for heat treatment were around $1800-$2500 (again, HCOL). Most exterminators charged a fee of about $100-$150 to come out and evaluate the situation (e.g. the dog detection, or an inspection by the exterminator for those with no trained dog) but most said they would put the cost of that toward the cost of the treatment if we decide to go with them.

Various exterminators had different ways of deciding how much heat treatment would cost -- some did it by square footage, some did it by number of bedrooms, and some did a combination. I definitely recommend calling around to compare prices.

I only got a quote for chemical treatment from one exterminator, but it was around $1400 or $1500, I want to say?

I found the exterminators we called on Yelp based on good reviews. We ultimately went with one who specialized in bedbugs and, like I said, had a dog who could come out and do the detection to determine if/how extensive the infestation was.

[insominac]

Bed bugs suck. My coworker had them and for a week I was paranoid that I did too. I'm sorry you have to deal with this.

[satama]

Get rid of the couch now and call an exterminator. Do you watch other kids besides your sister's kid? You need to notify parents. If your sister did not treat properly they could keep bringing them back as well.

[Ashley&Scott]

Make sure your sister gets her house/car treated too at the same time. It would suck to pay to treat your house only to have it reinfested again.

[mrshandy]

Oh man, I'm so sorry. I had them once in a very crappy apartment I lived in when I was broke and in grad school. Ugh my skin is crawling just thinking about them.

They are terrible. I would get rid of the couch and exterminate. This is a big deal because they are really tough to get rid of.

Our solution was to move out of the apartment (our lease was up within a few months of finding them) and throw away anything they could have gotten into. Our complex sucked and did fucking nothing to get rid of them.

I agree that they have probably spread to other places in the house. Make sure to vacuum any floors around the couch very frequently. Check your mattress seams or other nearby couches for signs of them so you know how bad it is.

[LauraMoser]

Nov 1, 2012 10:13:01 GMT -5 @gypsy said:

Nov 1, 2012 10:06:11 GMT -5 Ashley&Scott said:

Make sure your sister gets her house/car treated too at the same time. It would suck to pay to treat your house only to have it reinfested again.

+1

I read someplace that they can live up to 18 months without food.

bedbugger.com/forum/topic/bed-bugs-really-live-18-months-without-feeding


Not sure how accurate that is, but they won't go away on their own.

My cw had her place reinfested several times. (apt/shared walls)[/quote]

Ugh!

I just looked in the other couch and found a few there too. I want to cry, lol. I don't quite understand how DD2 doesn't have a single bite on her! Meanwhile, DD1 is all bitten up!

I've been researching, and if an exterminator is going to cost $1-2k, then its not really a possibility at this point, no matter how much I want to go that route. I do have connections to an exterminator, so that could help a little, but I'm not sure how much.

It seems from what I've been reading that a steam cleaner seems to be pretty effective as long as you take a day or so to thoroughly clean everything. A decent one runs about $100 at Home Depot.

We will be discussing it tonight. I'm hoping the fact that I haven't found a ton of them may mean that they're not too severe yet. They're not all through either of the couches, only in a few spots.

And it doesn't help that DH is being a pain about it, ugh. He says we can't afford this and that. Yes, DH, I know we can't afford much right now, but this can get much worse if we don't act now!

[arch01]

You need to go through an exterminator and do a heat treatment. It's worth the cost.

We did bedbug training for work, and they (scientists who work for a state university) were telling us that most live for up to 6 months without food/hatching.

Your car may or may not need to be treated, depending on where you are. Most cars heat up over the threshold of killing them (140-160 degrees) on a regular basis due to the sun.

[biscoffcookies]

DD2 may indeed be being bitten. The bite marks are basically an allergic reaction -- some people react more than others (and some not at all).

[krystee]

You operate a daycare, right? If so, I don't really think you have an option--you really HAVE to take care of this. If you don't want to put it on a CC, I think your DH should take on a PT job, just for the length of now until the end of your maternity leave, to pay for this and your lack of income while on leave.

I am so sorry you are in that situation! Ugh.

[mbcdefg]

Sorry you're deadling with this

I can definitely appreciate money being tight, but I would definitely put a new couch and an exterminator on a credit card in a situation like this.

[Doggy Mommy]

This is what emergency funds are for, and if you don't have an emergency fund, I would absolutely put it on a credit card. Calling an exterminator is not optional. It is very unhealthy to live with bedbugs and it'll just get worse and worse and you'll spread them to everyone you know.

[Daria Morgandorffer]

Wait you operate a day care? Those parents need to know ASAP.

[barefootcontessa]

I would beg or borrow if necessary. No way would I bring a newborn into a house with bed bugs. And what about the other children you watch?

[insominac]

This is a serious emergency. Heres what Id do on a budget:
Remove the couch from my house and sit on metal folding chairs.
Get bedbug covers for all mattresses
Wash all bedding, clothes
Steam clean carpets
Roll up rugs

This is serious. you should probably shut down your day care.

[LauraMoser]

Just to clarify: I don't run a daycare, I just babysit my nephew. My sister is well aware of the situation and very understanding since she just recently dealt with bedbugs her self.

Insom- that plan is a good one. We are ordering a steamer tonight, (DH has Amazon credit, so its the most affordable way to pay for a steamer right now) and I've read quite a few success stories online about using a steamer to kill them. I will make sure we get one that is known to reach the best temps to kill them, so we may spend a little more than DH really wants to on one, but I just want to get rid of the damn bugs. I'm going to check the weather for this weekend to see if we could put the couches outside in the sun (sister claims that worked for her) or at least take them outside to clean them.

I've checked both DDs mattresses and they both seem okay thus far. I will make sure to get some covers for them though. Is that something I can find at Walmart or Target?

We just cleaned our living room carpet two weeks ago, but we still have the cleaner here (its my parents') so I think we'll run that again this weekend.

I want to get rid of these buggers as fast as I can! Looks like we'll be busy this weekend, on top of our already booked up weekend.

And barefoot- Yeah, I really don't want to bring a newborn home to these things. I am terribly worried about that, and if I need to, I'm sure at least myself and the baby would be able to stay at my parents for a week or two if necessary. Hopefully we'll be able to get rid of them before baby comes though.

[Daria Morgandorffer]

I think you're underestimating how difficult it is to eradicate bedbugs. It's a mothereffing nightmare.