We know someone who lives here who had bedbugs before we moved here (last winter) and we are pretty sure that they came from him. We knew that it was a possibility that we could get them since this is a close friend, and we have him over a few times a month as well as visiting him.

We sleep on a sofa bed and so far it’s the only place we’ve seen them. On Friday we tried using tape around the cracks that had evidence of them and only caught one tiny one. Saturday my husband was taping it up again and happened to stick the tape into the crack. It came out covered in eggs, babies, and one big adult. We went into battle mode and pulled apart the couch (it’s from Ikea so it unscrews easily), and we taped up all of the ones we could get to with one of those rollers that’s designed to get pet hair/lint off your clothes. The tape wasn’t quite sticky enough to hold all of them down, some of the smallest babies were crawling around on it, and we ended up smashing them as we taped them. As each roller sheet got full we peeled them off, folded in half, and dropped them in a ziploc sandwich bag which was sealed unless we were putting more in. Once they were all hiding in tiny crevices, my husband pulled them out one by one with a pair of tweezers and we taped and bagged those ones too. Eventually we couldn’t find anymore and washed the area with a scrub brush and hot water to remove any eggs. We flushed the water down the toilet.

That night we still got the same amount of bites, so on Sunday we did some more searching and fond out that they were hiding in another area of the couch. We did the same thing in that crevice, which was close to the wall. This wall is brick and does not attach to our neighbors. The bed bugs were building a nest between that wall and our couch. These two areas had much less bed bugs and we got as many as we could using tweezers, tape, and scrubbing. We had killed a lot at this point but we still got some bites that night.

Today my husband brought home a small hand held steamer. It was about $40. We can’t really afford anything else right now. He found a couple of bed bugs roaming around and looking for hiding places, blasting them with the steamer does kill them. We used it in all of the cracks and crevices in our couch and around the wooden baseboards on the brick wall our couch touches. We’ve also pulled it away from the wall. We did wash all of our laundry, bedding, etc. in hot water and dry them on hot.

We’re still planning on getting a PCO in, but we really want as many of them gone as possible as soon as possible. Now I’m wondering if we did too much. Will they scatter and cause more problems later? Spread to our neighbors? We tried to make sure we got them all but who knows if a couple managed to get away. We don’t think we can totally get rid of them by ourselves, but we do want to kill as many as possible so we won’t get bitten so much!

No! Bed bugs defecating in your mouth is not the cause of morning breath.

In the many thousands and thousands of emails and bed bug comments and forum posts I have read, here and elsewhere, I have seen probably one comment where someone said a bed bug crawled in their mouth and bit them.

I suspect it is extremely, extremely rare. It is not something to worry about. If you have bed bugs, you need to get rid of them, in general, but this is one thing I would not lose sleep over!

If you want to learn about bed bugs, this may help.

I understand. Well, if you want more feedback, please do come to the forums. Few people read the comments on the FAQs besides me.

“Bed bug treatment can be very effective, but ONLY if you participate 100% with prep AND if the PCO is aggressive and thorough and treatment is repeated in all infested units until all bed bugs are gone.It’s important to get treated properly or they will just keep breeding and biting.”

Yea- thats what i figured but i feel my complex I live in which has hundred of units are infested. The last time terminix came they sprayed for all kinds of bugs- mostly cockroaches and bed bugs but I have a feeling they didn’t change any sprays of anything like that.

Bed bugs can be living in the futon mattress, the bed toppers, the futon frame or base, or any other futniture in the room. They can also be living in the walls and floors.

For this reason, encasing bedding is just the tip of the iceberg. Bed bug treatment can be very effective, but ONLY if you participate 100% with prep AND if the PCO is aggressive and thorough and treatment is repeated in all infested units until all bed bugs are gone.

It’s important to get treated properly or they will just keep breeding and biting.

Please come to the forums if you need more support; you will get more responses there: http://bedbugger.com/forum/

The FAQ on steaming has suggestions and links to resources which explain how to steam properly to kill bed bugs, and how to do so safely. Even if you’re not using a dry vapor steamer, I would read the information provided.

I do want to note for others reading this that the steaming FAQ does provide suggestions from readers and PCOs about dry vapor steam models starting at $399. I know that will be too much of an expense for many, but it is important that $1500 is not the base price for a dry vapor steamer. There are both the Ford Focuses and there are the Lexuses of the dry vapor steam cleaner continuum.

The FAQ on DE may also be helpful.