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Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Tales of Bed Bug Woe

Desperately Need Advice!

1. 

   florida st
   

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   Joined: Mar '10
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   Posted 3 years ago
   Wed Mar 10 2010 13:46:53
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   Here is my situation-
   Six months ago I started getting bites, but only when I sat on the couch, in the evenings. My other two roommates did not get bites and I didn't get bites sleeping in my bed. We suspected bedbugs but weren't sure- I was checking regularly for stains, bloodmarks, casings and bugs and never found anything even when I woke up at 4am to check my sheets. I avoided the couch completely but one of my roommates was still sitting on it, and moving bedding and clothing from the couch to her room and the linen closet.

   I still got bit- but over 6 or seven months it wasn't every night, or every week or even every month. They were so intermittent I wasn't sure where they were coming from. Last week they started getting bad and Thursday morning I woke up with about a dozen bites on my back. I put on a pair of jeans that had been on the floor and went out to get coffee and when I got home I felt something on my leg- it was a bedbug. It was the first one I'd seen, but I'd looked at so many pictures of them online by that point that it was unmistakable. It was like seeing a famous person. Only horrible. And gross.

   I notified my landlord and after several fights, he agreed to have a PCO come in. But he picked the cheapest one he could find. The PCO examined my mattress, the couch, and the baseboards in the bedrooms and didn't find anything. He told us he could not legally treat the place without physical evidence of bedbugs, and my roommate had already thrown out the only one we'd ever found.

   One roommate (there were 3 of us) is moving out. I want to move out as well but it will be a couple month before I can afford to, and I'm terrified I might take them with me. In the meantime I'm sleeping on the (new) couch and haven't gotten bit again since. Everything I have is washed, dried, and bagged, except for items I don't know how to decontaminate yet (shoes, a suitcase). I cannot afford a packtite.

   What do I do?

   I'd appreciate any advice, especially from someone who's had a similar situation. In most of the cases I've read here the infestation was bad enough that the bugs were visible- we've only ever seen one.

2. 

   wchicago
   

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   Joined: Oct '09
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   Posted 3 years ago
   Thu Mar 11 2010 1:18:11
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   It was like seeing a famous person. Only horrible. And gross.

   lol well its good you're keeping your sense of humor. trust me, thats a valuable asset in the bed bug fight. i didn't see many in my infestation (4 month infestation with many many bites i saw 1 nymph, 2 adults, some cast skins). after my infestation i found some dead ones (creepy) that had fallen out of a crack in a dresser drawer. they are sneaky hiders.

   packtites are awesome and seriously worth the money. that said, you can also decon your shoes and luggage using nuvan prostrips or hot shot pest strips in large airtight sealed bags. search on "ddvp" in the search box - or google "nuvan prostrips" and read their instruction sheet for bed bug treatment of objects in bags. dichlorvos (active ingredient) is serious stuff, so make sure you read all instructions on the strips, and use it in the bags as instructed on the label. i've used ddvp successfully, feel free to pm me if you want advice.

   good luck!

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