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40+ Days Bug Free and About to Move--Concerns
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OkSeriously
newbite
Joined: Jun '09
Posts: 1
Posted 4 months ago
Mon Jun 29 2009 16:54:27
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I'm hesitant to say they're gone, but here's hoping.
I moved into a second floor apartment with carpeting at what is supposed to be a pretty nice apartment complex. I had an aerobed, some stools, some plastic drawers, three canvas chairs, a wood table, a metal table for my tv, and a plastic table (first job after grad school, and didn't have any stuff). So basically my apartment was mainly empty, and I'm a tidy person (no clutter). I got bitten the first night I slept there. Thought it was gnats. Bugs love me. My boyfriend stayed over that weekend, and he got huge welts. We didn't know what it was. Looking back, I remember killing a pretty large size brown bug on my bedroom wall, and when I squashed it, a streak of blood came out on the wall. I had never had bed bugs though, so I had no idea that is what it was.
The exterminator was coming every week to spray, but he could never find anything. I had the weather stripping on my doors replaced because I thought bugs were getting in that way. A second exterminator was called in, and they found nothing. I got bit while asleep, of course, but also while I was sitting at the breakfast bar working at my computer. Not a ton of bites, but some. I'm also allergic to them, so the bites are huge welts larger than a quarter and bright red or pink. I also had gotten a real bed by then. I finally caught a bug and took it to the rental office, and they showed the exterminator. Bed bug! They had initially ruled them out because they could not find any tell-tale debris on or around my bed.
So they scheduled the first treatment at the beginning of May (a month and a half had gone by since my first bite). They said that it was a very mild infestation, and that it looks like they probably came from another apartment. I hadn't traveled anywhere recently and my furniture came from my parents' house (and I have never been bitten there, and still haven't been even now). They checked the surrounding apartments and found nothing. I'm thinking maybe it was the tenants before me, and maybe they just weren't allergic like I am.
I got bit after the first treatment. Before the second treatment, I washed, dried, and sealed my clothes in those vacuum seal bags. I admit I didn't wash everything--I actually ran out of time. But anything I didn't wash I definitely stuck in the dryer on high heat for at least 20 minutes. I didn't dry my shoes, but I sealed them in bags. After the second treatment, they put a bed bug bag on my mattress (I don't have a box spring). I kept my clothes and shoes in their bags. I got bit the same day as the treatment and the following day, and then no more bites.
That was May 20. I have a short lease which is up mid-July. I'm getting a new place lined up for July 1, but I'm nervous about spreading these bugs. I'm getting rid of the bed frame, and after much thought I'm getting rid of the mattress as well. I'm going to re-wash my wardrobe and put it in new sealed bags. I'm going to throw my shoes in the dryer as well. I threw out my wood hangers and have started the process of brushing my plastic hangers with a scrub brush, then washing them in hot soapy water before drying them and putting them into a plastic bag which then goes into my car. So basically I'm taking my wardrobe and those small tables I mentioned earlier. The canvas chairs are not coming with me, and I'm getting rid of my vacuum cleaner.
I'm concerned about my VCR, TVs, printer, microwave, sandwich maker, and shoes. My CDs were already put into sealed bags and are in the trunk of my car. I would also like to add that I have traveled multiple times to both my parents' house and my boyfriend's apartment, and have not spread the bugs there (and I feel like we would know, given that both my boyfriend and I are super allergic, and I'm willing to bet that my mom is since she is as sensitive as I am to regular bug bites). The precautions I took before visiting them was washing and drying everything I was taking to them and then running out the door with my bag.
I guess I'm just worried about the fact that it hasn't been 55 or 60 days of being bite-free. I think I've been pretty lucky--I haven't seen "nests" of the bugs, and I had no trouble sleeping. I think I had it pretty easy compared to some people whose stories I've read on here. If anyone has any advice about moving, I would really appreciate it. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I have had 4 treatments total.
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