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Help Solving My BB Mystery Requested
(8 posts)-
Hello. Here's my BB saga as condensed as I can make it. I can't seem to solve the problem. Advice is appreciated.
I believe I brought BBs home from a trip in January. A couple weeks after my return I begin seeing bites on exposed areas. Found a blood spot on my pillow, another on a blanket. I believe I found BB feces on my sheets once. I didn't see any BBs.
I hired an exterminator highly recommended on Angie's List and a therapist highly recommended by a friend. I bagged, I drycleaned. I used the dryer. I encased. I cried.
The exterminator probably sprayed four times at 2-3 week intervals. We never saw a live or dead BB.
Bought a Packtite. Packtited my stuff that I couldn't clean. Still bites.
I brought in a BB dog. It postively indicated my register and got excited about a couch and bag of linen. Threw out the linen. Discarded the couch. Sprayed the register. Foamed in the recesses around it. Caulked every crack I could find in my room. Tried an exterinator recommended by the dog person. He found nothing. Didn't really care for him.
Saw a dermatologist: he couldn't identify the red spots. Don't feel he took me seriously.
Tried the DE on the carpet treatment for a month or so. Still bites.
Consulted with a leading U.S. entomologist. He sent an article to me of everything that it could be other than BBs. None of the explanations fit. He also recommended an exterminator in my city.
Hired that exterminator. He found two dead BBs in my room. We began treatments at 2-3 week intervals.
When I traveled, the bites went away (always Packtited my suitcase/clothes). I'm out of my house: the red welts stop appearing
Put the exterminator-supplied traps around the legs of my bed (the BBs crawl in are unable to crawl out). I have found nothing in them. I switched them out for glue traps on the legs of my bed. Nothing caught in the glue traps. I did find one BB exoskeleton near my bed (confirmed by the exteriminator).
So, to recap: three dead bugs found, no lives one found. Still getting bites 9 months into treatment. But no other evidence.
My exterminator has been awesome. After approximately 4 treatments we brought the dog back: it gave a negative reading.
Bites still.
I live in a condominium of nine units, separate entrances. The unit diagonal to mine got BBs approximately the same time as me -- I figured it out because they used ozone treatment (I saw the truck, saw the signs on their door). Spoke with them. They said that the ozone treatment worked, but the BBs returned after a few months. They recently used ozone (once, then again three weeks later) again. Their infestation was visible and they said that the visible evidence disappeared. They felt the two incidences they experienced were unrelated. Ozone as a treatment is controversial: not a lot of data. It's also expensive. Would it drive the BBs to my neighbor? Did it drive the BBs to me?
I think my exterminator is going to give up on me: there's no evidence other than my bites. My therapist, by the way, does not think I'm crazy (but I feel like I'm heading in that direction).
I looked into heat treatment. It entails a lot of money and having a generator parked in your driveway.
Questions:
- If it's not BBs, why do the bites stop appearing away when I'm not home?
- How did they get to me with the traps (both the plastic and the glue)? My bed (wrought iron: not a favorite material) is continuously doused in spray. It's been dismantled, wiped down. I've caulked around all seams. My mattresses are encased. I use minimal bedding, which I clean and dry frequently.
- Where are they hiding? 9 months and we've found 3 dead ones, no live ones
- What should I do next?
- Could I be generating the bites psychosomatically? (except I know how far-fetched that is)Thank you in advance to anyone providing constructive input.
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stevebeast
newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 32
Posted 1 month ago
Sun Oct 18 2009 16:18:57
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I bet its bedbugs, you did find bedbug evidence, the dog found bedbugs. question is where and when are you being bit. is it possible you got them in your car and are being bit and bringing them back in from there, maybe patio furniture?
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MyWorstFear
member
Joined: Sep '08
Posts: 266
Posted 1 month ago
Sun Oct 18 2009 20:10:44
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How often are you being bitten? You say that this all started in January and it's now the middle of October. This is confusing because in 10 months, you'd have a really big infestation that I think you'd easily see signs of it. So, maybe the treatments are wiping them out and the bed bugs are somehow being reintroduced, (perhaps from where you work or a neighbor) ? Have you seen any other bugs that are maybe causing your skin reactions? Maybe one of the experts will see this and respond. I'm curious too as to why/how this is happening.
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Thank you for your input.
Hi Steve: I doubt it's my car (although I'm not eliminating any scenario). I work from home and drive once or twice a week. I also sprayed/fumigated it a couple times. Other than spending time on bed, I spend it on a futon cover on the floor in my office (it temporarily replaces the sofa that I threw out).
Hi My Worst Fear: I've seen an occasional spider. I'm being bit a couple times a week, typically on my upper chest and occasionally on my hand, neck.
More information: for the past couple months I've worn a long-sleeved t-shirt that reaches the base of my neck -- I sleep in this type of shirt as well. I tend to sleep these days with the covers pulled up tight (although who knows what happens when I fall asleep deeply). Yet the bites are most frequently on my upper chest....?
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buggyinsocal
oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,130
Posted 1 month ago
Mon Oct 19 2009 10:02:27
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Some people, esp. those exposed to DE, report that their skin gets hyper-reactive after a bed bug incident.
I absolutely believe that you did have bed bugs.
Whether you have them or not now is hard to tell.
(Sorry this is short, I have to get to work).
I wouldn't do thermal until you're sure that all units in the building are bed bug free. It's possible that there's a unit farther away than you and your one neighbor who has them and hasn't treated or doesn't know and you're just getting a few stragglers. If your skin is extra sensitive or you developed chitin sensitivity, you may be reacting to other bugs or the dead carcasses of the stragglers that got killed in treatment.
Thermal is great; I had a good experience with it, and I live in a four plex. But I wouldn't have trusted it if all apartments in my building hadn't been inspected and declared bug free.
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Hi Buggyinsocal. Thank you for your feedback.
Updates:
- Yesterday I booked a dermatologist appointment
- I also spoke to my diagonal neighbors. The ozone did not work for them. I'm encouraging them to contact my PCO, who is excellent. I feel that I have a stake in their solving their problem as well.
- Have been thinking about MyWorstFear's post. I do spend one or two nights a week watching TV in a separate room connected to my bedroom. The recent bites did correspond with my TV watching. Upon realizing this, I inspected the perimeter of the room and found a dead one. So...perhaps I'm being bitten watching TV in the dark at night? That would explain the bed mysteryANYONE have a recommendation for what to try next? Thanks.
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MyWorstFear
member
Joined: Sep '08
Posts: 266
Posted 1 month ago
Tue Oct 20 2009 21:36:03
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I just saw your post so sorry I'm a bit late responding. Does your TV room share a wall with a neighboring apartment? If you found a dead one in there, then it's confirmed...bed bugs. What furniture is in this room and when the pco came, did he treat that room too? But I still believe that the pco had to have knocked out the majority of the bed bugs and that they are coming from someplace else now only because if this all started in January, you'd have a significant number of bugs by now if he hadn't gotten most of them. Can you call the pco and run all this by him? I wish you the best of luck and hope you don't have to go thru all this again.
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Hi MyWorst Fear --
Thanks for your empathy.
I brought the dead insect to my PCO yesterday and it was a spider beatle, not a bedbug.
However, there's a new feces spot on my bottom sheet and a bite so the mystery of the bed isn't solved. I agree my infestation is small: 10 months, 3 dead bugs, 0 live ones.
My PCO (who is a godsend) is at the same conclusion as you: unless we solve my neighbors' problem (one unit down and one over) we may not solve mine. I believe that they are going to contact him today.
We have agreed that it's time to tell the residents in the other units about the situation and we are drafting a communication to them this weekend.
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