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Isolated Infestation
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Sleepless_In_Mass
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Joined: Dec '11
Posts: 11offline
Posted 1 year ago
Sun Dec 18 2011 1:30:58
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Hi all,
Just looking for some opinions. I live in a single family home and my youngest son was misdiagnosed on Monday with scabies after approx 3-4 weeks of "rashes". After his treatment, I was cleaning his bed per instructions and found the bedbugs. I travel a lot and therefore was well educated on what they look like and easily identified the nest (after I stupidly touched it in the dim light!!!!)
Unfortunately, I wasn't well educated on treatment methods. Before I knew we were dealing with bed bugs, I stripped his bed and placed the dirty linens in a hallway that is shared with the other two bedrooms, bathroom and living room. After I found them, I freaked out!
I dumped an entire bottle of flea powder on the bed and the area around the bed (which actually killed everything I could see). I then dismantled his bed and through the whole thing out the window into our backyard. Then I steam cleaned his floor. Then I Murphy's oil soaped it and left a line of flea powder across his door. I tore my house apart for signs of them anywhere else. Nothing! We have some blood spots on our sheets in the master bedroom but they are more than a month old, maybe more than two. I am a cluster headache sufferer and spend significant time pacing the floors of our bedroom and living room in the wee hours of the night, there has never been any bugs in the middle of the night in these rooms.
I called an exterminator the next day. He did a thorough inspection and found no signs of them in any other room or even in other parts of my sons room. We scheduled our first treatment for Friday (yesterday). We didn't get a new bed for the little one and he slept in the living room or in our room leading up to our treatment. They followed him! WE would find one or two bugs in whatever room he slept in. The exterminator said sometimes they do that - find a host they like and follow.
We were given instructions with most of the usual stuff - all our laundry has been washed dried and bagged, curtains and bedding too. We vacuumed, steamed and alcoholed everything in the three bedrooms and the living room/dining room. We were told we didn't need to remove all the books/etc from our living room built-ins, so we didn't. We didn't even remove most of the items from our finished basement, just blankets and pillows.
At our first treatment, they found bugs in one bug each in three pieces of furniture in the living room. One on my older sons bed, one on our bed, one in the basement couch and one in my youngest sons cabinet that we kept books in - all the books are burned now
All of our stuff (clothing excluded) from these three rooms is now stored in our garage along with the Christmas presents. Everything will be going through the PackTite before it comes back in. We are only scheduled for two sessions. The exterminator says that should be enough for our situation. They gave us a 30-day guarantee.
Are we doing enough? I have zero confidence that we will ever be free and I am afraid we are continuing to make as many mistakes as I made that first day. We were even told it was safe to keep our Christmas tree and to have our family over for Christmas. Any advice is appreciated!
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oldtimer
Joined: Nov '11
Posts: 2,597offline
Posted 1 year ago
Sun Dec 18 2011 2:01:54
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Dear sleepless,
I'm sorry you're going through this and will help you as best I can with advice. My son suffers similar headaches so I understand what you're going through in addition to having this BB problem.
In order to save time, I'm going to list a number of things for you to consider below:
> Your beds - inspect & treat the bed frames carefully & thoroughly. Encase the mattress & box springs. Install climb up preventers. Be sure your bed & bedding do not toch the floor, walls or other furniture. If you use climb ups, be sure to check them at least once each three or four days.
> Furniture - BBs may be found on any uphulstered furniture where people sleep or rest. In my experience couches can be problematic and we've inspected a couch for an hour to find one BB. Encasements are available for couches and ez chairs.
> Note that proper encasements may be used to thoroughly seal BBs into a couch, box spring or mattress. Most mattresses are constructed such that BBs cannot penetrate or enter them however, there may be some where they can and with plush pillow top type mattresses, it may be difficult to find eggs and 1st instar nymphs that may be hiding in any of the many hiding places therein. As such, I support the use of encasements as they can take away these hiding places and also lock BBs in where they cannot feed and eventually die of starvation. ( Adults may last many months but newly hatched unfed 1st instars will usually expire in about a week or two.)
> BB Locations - normally BBs are found close to the host; bed frames, box springs, mattresses, couches & ez chairs are where we normally find most of them. In advanced infestations we find them literally everywhere but most are in the normal locations.
> Self Treatments - I realize that my posts may be controversial to some but as long as I tell the truth I'll never have to remember what I've said. I encourage BB victims to become pro-active and help themselves. For those who can afford professional services fine, however, most folks who contact me through the net cannot and are stuck with their situations in need of help. Here's some stuff yu can do:
a. Use your packtite.
b. You don't need to burn your books or throw away your stuff. Simply heat treat it or seal it into plastic bags or sealable containers.
c. After your stuff is heat treated, keep it in plastic bags or containers until your problem is over.
d. Use BB traps/monitors to monitor your situation and to determine if you still have a problem.I hope this information helps you and wish you well in successfully dealing with this problem !
Best wishes for a Merry Christmas to you and your family,
paul bello
pjb pest management consulting, llc
author: the bed bug combat manual -
Sleepless_In_Mass
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Joined: Dec '11
Posts: 11offline
Posted 1 year ago
Sun Dec 18 2011 11:54:02
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Thank you for your response. I honestly believe this infestation was isolated to my sons bed and book cabinet, UNTIL I found them and did so many things wrong from what I read in here. Although we did find a few bugs in other rooms, they were not found during the initial inspection. They were found after we took their home and food source from them. There are no signs (fecal stains, blood or shell casings) anywhere else in the house, except for those old blood stains on our sheets. Considering how old these are, that I often shave my legs before bed and I have large moles on my back that often bleed from getting caught on clothing, bedding, etc. its likely these are unrelated, but who knows.
We are doing all the things you mentioned (except the exterminator forgot to leave the climb-ups). My biggest concerns are:
1.) That I spread them all over the house with my initial reactions and this is going to make it much more difficult to treat. In the 4 days between initially finding them and killing most of them is likely they could have become established elsewhere in the house?
2.) All of the untreated items. Many things remained in the house. Many more things were brought into the attached garage, untreated. I am particularly concerned about my sons larger toys that were put out there untreated and unbagged. They will all be going through the PackTite before coming back in - after our next treatment. Is this enough? Our garage is attached to the kitchen through a breezeway and it abuts the back of my closet. The exterminator said the cold in the garage isn't enough to kill them, but should keep them dormant enough not to go traveling around out there.
3.) Christmas. I am really worried about the tree and the presents. The presents are in the previously mentioned garage. I plan on putting them through the PackTite before bringing them in. However, I can bag the presents going to other people. But I can't bag the stuff going to the kids. The little one still believes in Santa. He has already lost so much, including his favorite blanket which fell apart in all the hot washing and drying (although a seamstress is trying to repair it), how do I take Santa from him too?
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oldtimer
Joined: Nov '11
Posts: 2,597offline
Posted 1 year ago
Sun Dec 18 2011 16:27:28
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I will answer you ASAP. My wife has a list of stuff I gotta do first, sorry ! pb
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Peace4
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Joined: Jan '12
Posts: 3offline
Posted 1 year ago
Mon Jan 2 2012 0:41:29
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I noticed a bug casing a couple weeks ago and brought it to the management office of the apartment I rent. They assured me it wasn't a bed bug. The following day the exterminators came to check my apartment since they were on the property and took a look at the mattresses, found nothing & no stains...well last Thursday I found 1 bed bug on my bed, I took a picture of it and then stuck it to a piece of tape to show the mgmt office Friday morning. They at that time confirmed yes I have bed bugs, apparently it was an adult bb I had found. They told me that the exterminator will come by my apt Tuesday 1/3/12 to check the entire apt in depth. I have not been able to sleep, I feel so stressed out and have so much anxiety I am sick!!! My three children (16, 11, & 5) sleep with no problem, they don't seem to care about the bugs at all, me, I feel like sleeping in the car...
Does an apartment ever get bed bug free with extermination? I have read different responses some people have said yes as others have said that they always remain!!! I just want to sleep!!! -
your host
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 14,081online
Posted 1 year ago
Mon Jan 2 2012 15:07:00
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Peace4 - 14 hours ago »
Does an apartment ever get bed bug free with extermination? I have read different responses some people have said yes as others have said that they always remain!!! I just want to sleep!!!
Yes. Bed bugs can be treated.
There are sometimes situations where a whole building has bed bugs and the management does not respond sufficiently, and these are the kind of places where they "always remain". In such a situation, the management eventually needs to deal with it properly, or people need to take precautions and move.
I tell you that not to scare you but to reassure you. Bed bugs can be eliminated. It takes some knowledge and skill, hard work, and persistence.
It sounds like your management is fairly responsive so far, so I would put those negative thoughts out of your mind and assume you will be able to get rid of them.
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Peace4
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Joined: Jan '12
Posts: 3offline
Posted 1 year ago
Mon Jan 2 2012 21:55:50
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Thank you for responding, however until then how does one sleep knowing that most likely you will have bugs crawling on you?
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