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More treatment?
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bedbug avenger
newbite
Joined: Dec '10
Posts: 2offline
Posted 2 years ago
Tue Dec 14 2010 22:36:40
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Looking for some advice:
Setting: Small 2BR apt in Manhattan, 2 children sleep in bunk beds in 1 room
About 4 weeks ago, child in bottom bunk getting extremely itchy skin (bites?) on arms and legs. Bites did not present themselves in the "classic" BB pattern, but we begin getting suspicious. I do some inspections that yield no evidence (but, at this stage, I am not yet a graduate of bedbugger university). The (bites?) continue. For what it's worth (about nothing) a dermatologist opines that they do not look like BB bites.
We bring in a dog. The dog "indicates" the bottom bunk. I am not entirely sold on the dog as she seemed to be inordinately interested in getting a treat for indicating. The dog's handler does no inspection. Nonetheless, I immediately bag the bed and all of its contents and trash it. We call a PCO experienced in BB's who comes the next day. He seems dubious of the dog and his inspection yields nothing. He sprays the baseboards and dusts the outlets in the entire apartment.
The (bites?) continue - or are they leftover? At this point I graduate from bedbugger university and perform meticulous, exhaustive inspections of everything. I take apart furniture. I encase the beds and pillows. No sign of anything. Not one fecal spot.
Paranoia increasing, I steam every square inch of the bedrooms, slowly. We wash, dry and bag all the clothes. 2 weeks after PCO treatment, I assault the bedrooms and their contents with Alpine and Bedlam. I hit the baseboards in the living room. Through it all, i find one desiccated carpet beetle (id'd by pco) and 1 panicked cockroach.
We continue to sleep in our designated beds and my children have been subject to all-night flashlight inspections. (I wonder if this will do more psychological harm than BB's)
That was 9 days ago. Since then, there have been no itchy (bites?). There have been small red (bites?) on the other child and on my wife that do not itch and honestly would have gone unnoticed if we weren't in a period of hyper-vigilance. Continued inspections yield nothing. There is 1 large crack in the bookshelf that I cannot see into and I have not drilled into my wall voids (yet). I have been over the bunk beds with a hairdryer trying to to rouse any signs of life. Nothing. I have sealed every crack and pipe possible. My building is thick concrete walls and floors- PCO said in his experience, BB's don't often travel in this type of building.
So my question is: What do I do next? Do I perform a 2 week follow up treatment? Do I wait and see? Is there anything else I can do? Also interested in thoughts on DE for my situation. My PCO basically considers it useless - he said, "sure, if they swim in it for a long time it will eventually kill them." I don't like the idea of introducing anything permanent into our living environment.
Thank you for your thoughts.
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SearchandDestroy
senior member
Joined: Sep '10
Posts: 452offline
Posted 2 years ago
Tue Dec 14 2010 23:22:09
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Wow..you've done all of this without evidence?
I would take a wait and see approach...get passive monitors for the beds and try to take a step back. As someone once said to me, "everything is pointing in the right direction...don't get into a doubt, treat cycle...you want confirmation that no bugs exist. Wait for the evidence (which at this point, there probably won't be any).
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bedbug avenger
newbite
Joined: Dec '10
Posts: 2offline
Posted 2 years ago
Thu Dec 16 2010 0:14:40
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I wouldn't say "no evidence" - unless you are considering the dog's inspection to have no value. They say a dog's indication has to be confirmed by a visual inspection - but if the bugs could be confirmed with a visual inspection, then what good is a dog? I'm feeling like dog inspections are of very limited value.
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spideyjg
oldtimer
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 3,201offline
Posted 2 years ago
Thu Dec 16 2010 0:22:58
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Real evidence is BB samples, fecal stains, and cast skins.
Anything else gets tossed out of BB court as circumstantial due to other possibilities.
Jim
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nycyn
senior member
Joined: Sep '10
Posts: 701offline
Posted 2 years ago
Thu Dec 16 2010 3:10:46
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What Jim said.
Maybe the kid tangoed with Hair of Carpet Beetle.
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