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How do you know when they are gone?

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buggedoff

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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Aug 5 2008 13:10:55
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I had my third treatment last week (3 treatments at 2-week intervals), haven't had any bites (knock on wood) for the past two weeks, haven't seen any bedbugs (dead or alive) since the second treatment though we have seen other kinds of dead bugs (beetles, ants, flies, etc.). I haven't put together the bed yet since it is the dreaded captain's storage bed and we are sleeping on just the frame. During the last treatment, the PCO sprayed the entire frame, nook and cranny and drawers. I also lightly dusted some of the screws with DE and some of the gaps that were inaccessible. I haven't seen any evidence of activity on the white sheets in the mornings since the last treatment. I did find black dots on the bottom of one of two of the drawers when I took them out for the third treatment...but PCO sprayed all of the drawers with Prelude.

I'm so nervous. I just don't know how to tell when they are gone? I am still living out of ziplock bags, though the PCO said that it would be okay to start putting the clothes back in the closet. I'm just scared to start living again.

Can anyone help with some advice? Do you need to continue to wash all clothes on hot water? How often should I vacuum? When can you be sure that the nightmare is over?
Itchy-Scratchy

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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Aug 5 2008 13:26:18
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I'd be interested in a response to this question also. Our third spraying is tomorrow and *fingers crossed* we're hoping for some success.

We haven't seen any bugs in over a week, but swear we're getting new bites. It's a little hard to tell because we have so many bites, we can never be sure if it's an older one or a new one.

So if anyone has advice, I'd love to here it also!!
beerbeast

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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Aug 5 2008 13:34:06
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I was thinkiing of marking old bites with a marker, might not work if they are on your face.
Itchy-Scratchy

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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Aug 5 2008 13:47:37
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LOL, beerbeast, you always make me laugh! I'm picturing a person with big circles all over their face ... maybe even labelled #1, #2, #3... Oh, the imagery has given me the giggles.

FYI, my daughter was thinking of getting a tatoo pen (which is temporary) to mark bites. However, we're not sure how washable they are ... I guess we'll have to report back!
kjdrga

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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Aug 5 2008 15:04:45
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I just had my third treatment on Friday....and have forced myself to sleep in my room. I have yet to find any bugs on the wall and I think I found a very "drunk" acting nymph on my bed yesterday AM.

I really can't tell yet whether I have new bites I'm not sure I am as sensitive as I once was to them. But I keep looking for live ones.

I am debating whether to have a 4th treatment. I can see eggs in some of the holes that use to attach the headboard to the bed, it's dusted with DE at the moment so I can't steam it.
spideyjg

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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Aug 5 2008 15:35:00
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"I can see eggs in some of the holes that use to attach the headboard to the bed, it's dusted with DE at the moment so I can't steam it. "

Why not seal the holes? For our replacement bedframe I hit all hollow metal fittings with DE and then caulked or foamed them shut.

If you plan on getting a replacement headboard and do not want to caulk or foam it at least duct tape the holes so if the eggs hatch the little baby vermin will be trapped in there with the DE and have no escape. The more they run around in that stuff the faster they can tear up and die.

I leave no openings in anything now except my wife's all metal file cabinet. She will not let me DE or caulk it.

Jim
BBcoukHome

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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Aug 5 2008 15:39:04
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Hi,

You can tell when they are gone if you dont see any of the following:

1 Live samples
2 Faecal traces
3 Do not get biten

The simple fact is that to tell if treatment is effective and if you still have a problem then you need to put the time into looking.

If you find any live samples kill them.

If you find any faecal traces mark them with a red pen or remove them, that way if you see fresh ones you will know you still have an infestation.

If you get biten then you may still have a problem. I say may because bite responses are highly variable and probably the last thing I ever consider when looking at bed bug cases, they are just too variable to be an accurate indication of anything. If you want to keep a record of bite numbers and locations use a camera and take pictures, the time stamp on digital cameras helps to keep a record of old and new.

Please dont treat for the sake of treating, the best way to use any products especially chemicals is in the lowest effective quantities and the correct doses. I have been asked to look at far too many homes that have been either self treated or "so called" professionally treated to the point where the walls shimmer with layers of insecticide. It's not only not needed it makes clearing a property a lot harder.

David
buggedoff

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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Aug 5 2008 16:33:40
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Thanks David. I read your last post about the 17-23 days. I pray that the treatment is working. Throughout this ordeal, I've seen only a few samples - 2 live and 3 dead. It's not like other pests where they lie dead everywhere so you know that the treatment is working! I'll continue inspecting for the next few months.

Does anyone have advice about the laundry protocol? Is it necessary to continue washing everything in super hot water and drying for an hour?
BBcoukHome

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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Aug 5 2008 16:37:07
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Hi,

If you wash it once and seal it you dont need to wash it again unless it gets exposed.

So wash and seal or keep out of infected areas.

David
Itchy-Scratchy

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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Aug 5 2008 17:13:04
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Thanks David, great advice.

I'm still a little confused about feces. I've performed a tag search on this site, and it seems to imply that they are poppyseed-like droppings. I have seen these in my apartment, but have also encountered small, wet droppings that seem rather large for a small bug.

Can you clarify what BB feces look like?
BBcoukHome

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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Aug 5 2008 18:37:22
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Hi,

There is a gallery full of images at:

http://www.bed-bugs.co.uk/index_files/Gallery.htm

It does depend on the material that they are dropped on. If its porous they will often soak in and appear like a felt tip pen has been dabbed on the surface. If you wipe at it with a gloved hand if it moves as a whole spot its not bed bugs. If you wet a cotton bud or Q tip with a little saliva they will almost always smear like a comet passing through space.

I have seen on some materials and non porous surfaces that the droppings can fall in a spherical shape and look like mini balls.

The colour usually appears black but it is in fact more accuratly a dark brown coplour although to distinguish this you need to be looking through very high magnification.

Although it is extremely hard to capture scale in the images as they are all taken while I am working I do try and have an object of identifiable size in shot where feasible.

The monthly inspections newsletter linked below has a ruler in shot:

http://www.bed-bugs.co.uk/index_files/May2008BBNewsletter.pdf

It's a simple biological fact that if there are bed bugs about they will leave faecal traces, they cant feed without processing the waste.

David
kjdrga

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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Aug 5 2008 22:03:56
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spideyjg,

good suggestion. I think the anxiety of it all makes you overlook the simplest of tasks...
belle72

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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Aug 5 2008 22:50:20
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We have a heather-gray berber in our master bdrm. Looking for fecal markings on this is absolutely impossible. I mean that.

Our room is emptied now except for the king bed and one wood armoir, which we did inspect but there are places in the frame where we cannot see...so far we have not used DE, preferring to let our PCO do their work. We do inspect our bed (Allerzips) and so far nothing. But last wk, 29 days after the 2nd treatment, I got a bite. I know what they are and I am ceratin it was a BB bite. Now we're back to square one. I'd cry except I already did that.
buggedoff

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Posted 4 years ago
Wed Aug 6 2008 11:21:09
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Oh Belle! Can you get another treatment? Did you put everything back in the closet, etc?
Bite me

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Posted 2 years ago
Mon Oct 11 2010 17:55:44
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I've been wondering the same. I had 2 treatments, 2 weeks apart, the last one being 6 weeks ago, but did not occupy my home until a week ago. I have had no evidence since the first treatment. It seems that once I removed my bedding/pillows where I'd seen them (and washed and dried the hell out of them) that not even the PCO's saw any evidence. They said I caught it early, and I'm sure it was less than 2 weeks, as I would have seen them in my pillows the last time I changed my sheets. I'm still living out of ziplocs, but don't know how long I need to do that.