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just starting out and scared to death

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thosedamnbugs

newbite
Joined: Sep '10
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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Sep 2 2010 0:29:18
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Our Story: One of my kids woke up last weekend with bites all over which quickly turned into huge welts and then a rash too. Long story short, there were of course bedbugs in between his mattress and boxspring (just saw two, but some fecal matter too). A day later, encased all mattresses and box springs, vacuuming like a fiend, steamed all carpets, cleaned all furniture inside and out, took down pictures, washed and dried all bedding, curtains, stuffed animals etc. on super hot in both washer/dryer. Taped over electrical outlets. Vaselined legs of the metal bedframes. Trashed dustruffles. Pulled beds away from walls. Packed up stuffed animals in bags and put them in attic to cook more.

Haven't noticed any new bites on my son- and he's the only one getting bitten so far- since encasing and cleaning but it's so hard to tell since the welts/rash are all over. I've also been checking the bed/walls/floor etc several times during the course of the night/early, early morning and have seen nothing.

PCO's came today with K9 detection, did the Cryonite treatment, they sprayed Phantom & Gentrol. Seems all bedbugs are only upstairs- no trace on other floors (we have a single family home). Sprayed carpet in den, just to be extra safe. The dog only smelled bugs in the upstairs bedrooms on the carpets and the PCO's only found one baby bedbug during their search on the outside of the mattress encasement. They are telling me the infestation is probably minimal and we caught it early. Which is hopefully actually the case. Do you think it sounds like it?

Baked some non-dryer stuff in the car today, still in there. Ordered Sterifab and a Packtite today which should all be here by this weekend or so.

Here's my question- the PCO's didn't reccommend the whole bagging thing and I'm not sure how that works (not to mention that I have 4 very young, active boys so I don't really see how we would keep all the clothes bagged anyway, nevermind the dirty laundry). I plan on running all clothes in the dressers and closets thru the dryer on super hot, cleaning the dressers with the vacuum and sterifab and putting the clothes back in. But what if the bugs are still in the carpets and climb into the drawers?? How can these bugs actually be erraticated? Ever??

We have a big home with lots of 'stuff'. I plan on PT'ing everything else (books, toys, photos/frames, etc) but if you don't do everything on the same day which would be impossible anyway- don't they just get "rebugged" as soon as they come out of the PT and go back to their spots on shelves or where ever? I just don't get it! And I'm so scared we'll never get rid of these bugs and that they will spread thru the rest of the house. No matter what we do.

What about the vaccum? Do the bugs/eggs get stuck in the brushes? Can they escape the filters? It's a canister vacuum. I've been emptying the canister outside in the garbage after each room trying not to spread the bugs from room to room. I guess when I get the spray, I'll spray the vacuum brushes and the inside of the canister after each use as well. Does that sound right?

I'm planning on vacuuming every day until the PCO's come back in 2 weeks and will call them prior to that if I see anything as per their suggestion. Do I dryer the sheets/bedding every day too? Should I get a bag for dirty laundry (but as soon as you open it to add more, don't you risk the bugs in there if any escaping anyway??) What else do you suggest?

The PCO's are coming back in 2 weeks to recheck with the dog, another Cryonite treatment and more spraying. After that, we have a 90 day guarantee so they will come back if we see anything else (or if I don't see anything and I just get paranoid, they will come back to recheck)

I think I'm doing everything right, but it just doesn't seem like enough. Please help and make me less scared?? Will these little effers ever get out of my house????
thosedamnbugs

newbite
Joined: Sep '10
Posts: 9
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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Sep 2 2010 0:37:02
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also, just wanted to add that we can't use DE because we are all asthmatic. I'd like to, but I'm scared that it'll just add health problems onto the bug problem. Ugh.