Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Introductions
Help for a new member?
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anneski
newbite
Joined: Nov '09
Posts: 10offline
Posted 3 years ago
Sun Nov 29 2009 8:43:17
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I have a lot of questions...
I started getting bites about 6 weeks ago. I ignored the first one, assuming it was mosquito, but then a coworker said it looked like a bedbig bite--she's had them before. About a week later I got two more, and called the landlord. She sent the PCO that day--he was very nice but not very thorough. He isnpected the bed, tok a flashlight to the bottom of the boxspring, vacuumed and sprayed and then checked the areas around the bed. He recommended encasements and left.
Because I'm paranoid I bought the encasements and a bunch of airtight platic bins for my clothes. I did not clean my comforter--which I know no was a mistake. I kept being bitten and one day my super came around with a guy from the pest control co. and asked if I'd had any bug problems. I said I was still being bitten so the next day the same PCO came again. This time I removed and washed the bedding and he treated my couch as well--I felt like that's where I was being bitten. Still, he was kind of haphazard, it seemed. Two weeks later Nov. 24, my damn bday!), I woke up with a new bite and finally saw one of the little bastards on my blanket. I killed it but it was awfully flat so I don' t think it was the one that bit me. The PCO came back yet again and this time I was pretty forceful--I'd also bagged everything in the damn bedroom. He sprayed vacuumed, checked me encasements for tears, treated the sofa again. (I'd thrown away the couch pillows earlier.) Not 5 minutes after he left I sat down on the couch and got two new bites on my leg.
The next day, my coworker friend lent me her Packtite--and for the last several days I've done nothing but launder, heat, bag EVERYTHING. I'm still going through the books--I have a lot. My bed and sofa are isolated, and I very thoroughly vacummed the sofa, including the underside (it's an Ikea, pretty simple to get to the cracks, etc.) In case they were coming from another apt. I treated all the baseboards with DE, although some of the cracks are just too large to caulk. I used DE, dusting it on with a makeup brush, on the underside of my couch, sprayed everything with spot treatment Bedlam, retreated the legs of the bed frame (metal) and like I said, I'm now in the process of emptying bookcases and inspecting/ treating them. So far, nothing. No fecal stains, no blood, just the one bug. My parents told me that they had them when they first married and that the blood stains were hard to miss--they are both non-reactors so that's how they knew they had them. Of course, back then they just doused the bed with DDT and went about their business---and since they're both near 80 I guess it didn't do too much harm!
I'm just paranoid as hell. I'm moving out of NY next summer and I've already decided that no matter what, most of my things will remain bagged until then, and that I'll just retreat the books et al before I move. It's going to be a pleasant way to live for the next 8 months---
Questions: I'm a public school teacher in Brooklyn and I know my school has to have them. And since I "travel" I'm exposed to several different rooms and a couple hundred kids every day. Is it possible that I just brought a couple home from school and I (hopefully) got on this early? I've been paranoid about adjacent apts. because this bldg. is so old, but the couple of people I've managed to track down so far have reported no issues. (Although I'm sure I scared the hell out of them.) My landlord and the PCO aid they know of no other issues--the PCO said that one tenant in another wing thought she had them a few months ago but that he treated once and she had no futher issues. I have a feeling they were in my sofa, which was not thoroughly inspected/ treated until I did it a few days ago. The one on my bed (Since my bed was already isolated at that time) could have been brought in from my couch, where I tend to sit for several hours each evening.)
Now I won't let anything I've been wearing anywhere near my bed till it's been cleaned. I keep my nightgown in the ned. I'm bringing an XL ziploc to work to keep my backpack and coat in, and I will no longer bring ANY of my work home. I won't use the lockers at me gym. I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing, because I feel so crazy obsessive! I was once infested with dog ticks when I lived in S.Fla.--it turned out that the crawlspace was infested with bats and my landlord refused to have them removed, so I stored my things and moved home for awhile (I was renting while I awaited completion of my home and was terrified about bringing ticks with me.) My paranoia paid off--even though I had a dog, I never saw a tick in my new home. I hate the thought of living this way for months but I don't want to take chances--am I crazy? And how long should I wait till I can breathe again? I'm stuck with this PCO because it's who the LL sends, and although I'm not sure he's very good at it, at least my LL has never given me a moment's grief about it and is very proactive--I think she'd certainly take on a building-wide treatment if she thought necessary. Any thoughts?
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BugBoy911
member
Joined: Jan '09
Posts: 203offline
Posted 3 years ago
Sun Nov 29 2009 10:01:02
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Make-Up Brush to apply DE!!!! Interesting! Never heard or thought of that, probably very easy to apply accuratly. Sorry to hear about your situation, hope all works out... Seems like you did pretty good over their with your treatment and prevention practices. Furstrating when LandLords choose PCO's, some tenants get lucky, most chosen can't or are far to lazy to even kill roach's. Forget bedbugs...
That was quite funny though...:)
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oldtimer
Joined: May '07
Posts: 1,969offline
Posted 3 years ago
Sun Nov 29 2009 13:47:41
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You have educated yourself.
You are using the right approach to decon and isolate your belongings.
You might want to consider adding passive monitoring devices for surveillance of live activity.
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