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New Bites Soon after Treatment
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AnneWithBites
newbite
Joined: Nov '07
Posts: 21
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Nov 23 2007 7:00:49
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On the 5th day after the first treatment in my flat I found two new bites on me. Is this normal? I got very shocked. It looked like the treatment didn't work.
I also thought of my workplace. What if I have already had bedbugs there!?
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Anne
Recent research has shown that some residual pest control agents may take up to 21 days to be effective. You could also be dealing with newly hatched nymphs.
Don't be discouraged, it is not uncommon to continue to experience new bites. Any remaining bed bugs are hopefully moving across the treated areas and will eventually die.
Multiple applications are often required before the eradication is successful.
Read the FAQs on this site about isolating your bed to reduce the number of bites that you experience in the meantime.
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Here is my experience so far, almost 2 weeks post treatment. I don't know the combination as the PCO and landlord were uncommunicative but it included a spray on floor, baseboards and tongue in groove murphy bed harbourage, and a dusting on the harbourage as well where access possible.
Discovery Tues Nov 6th Notified Landlord
Inspection Fri Nov 9th by Orkin PCO
Treatment Sund 8-9:30am Nov 11 by Orkin PCORed LED Hunts at night (they aren't disturbed by red (LED) lights, only movement and whitelight; hunting done all night at 1-2 hr intervals using sticky clear tape, post treatment activity occurs during all dark hours rather than strictly in early morning; only sparse lighted activity noted post treatment):
Date/Number of Active Insects Caught
Mond Nov 12 - 2 (3rd stage)
Thurs Nov 15 - 25 (mixed 1st-adult)
Fri Nov 16 - 2 (3rd stage)
Sat Nov 17 - 7 (mixed 2nd-adult)
Sund Nov 18 - 1 (3rd stage)
Mond Nov 19 - 12 (mixed 1st-3rd stage)
Tues Nov 20 to Nov 23 Free from visible activity so farEggs have hatched as I have inadvertently caught tiny 1st instars when taping other older live bugs. Against the cedar of the murphy bed they are invisible. Only two adults seen away from main harbourage, hopefully a good sign.
The main point I'm making is activity increased immediately post treatment, then waned. Since my active areas are isolated I haven't been bit, except perhaps once from an untreated chair. Unsure due to some allergic response to older bites still.
I have scanned most of my live catches, taped to white paper at 300DPI; the tape reflects some light but the stages are clearly visible. I also have a high res scan of an adult and 1st instar with a tape measure at 1200DPI. Anyone wanting these for morbidity's sake, I can email you.
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Anne-
Hang in there.NotSoSnug-
I'm impressed by your organization and record-keeping, and glad you've had no activity in 3 days. Can you tell us about your LED light and search methods? A lot of people here have difficulty locating actual bugs. I am struck by how you have been able to find so many bugs. Is it the LED light or you just have great eyes? Thanks! -
I sleep on a tile floor isolated by tape/vaseline about two feet from my retracted murphy bed. The bed when retracted looks like a big cedar tongue in groove closet against the gyprock wall in my bachelor suite. This is their harbourage, hopefully their only one as there is alot of tongue in groove in this place and it all wasn't treated! So far I've only noticed activity associated with the treated murphy bed and one treated lounge chair. I am unsure but I may have received a bite from an isolated, untreated, upholstered computer chair.
Even with the isolation I am not sleeping well, partly out of anxiety and partly because I am incessantly curious. So I wake up at intervals all night. At first I was using my white LED camping light when they were limited mostly to being active in early morning before treatment and before they got really hungry from my isolation. But I could see the white light alarmed the critters and I had to be furtive with it. Even so I caught 25 one night with the white light a few days before treatment! Then I realized from reading somewhere a red light might work and I had my red LED tail light from my bike. So out it came and me and my trusty sticky tape were ready.
The red light does not alarm them but movement does. I have to lay still on my air mattress and sweep the murphy bed with the red light to spot them. They may be moving or still. If I sneak slowly I can tape them before they realize I'm upon them. I use a piece of 2"x2" sticky packing tape cut to size. Since I don't have to move far it's not hard to sneak up on them even with their speed. Sometimes I have to wait until they have crawled away from a groove or crack sufficiently so I can nab them. Sometimes I can clumsily and groggily nab them half into a crack. I've nabbed 2nd instar nymphs up to adults this way. Some 1st instar nymphs were inadvertently retrieved during taping the older bugz as well.
Any ones I've seen I've nabbed, with patience. Even if they disappear for a bit they inevitably come out as they are looking for a meal and unwilling to leave with a fresh bod nearby.
I've noted that they seem unwilling to venture out on the tile preferring to lurk on the wood. I've only caught very few out on tile, two adults and two nymphs before treatment and since treatment I've only seen two adults venture onto the tile, and then only close to furniture. And I've only seen 2 (adults) out during the day, on the floor, pre-treatment and none on any walls or the kitchen or bathroom or closets. Of course the 1st instars are virtually invisible to me on any surface so I may have missed some. But I am thankful for having the tile, it makes looking for them easier and seems to limit their excursions somewhat!
I'll add that it embarasses me I didn't notice this many critters in the months preceeding my discovery. I had bites but thought it was my seasonal excema. I wonder that so many bugs have remained limited to one area. Lots of nooks and crannies I guess.
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Thanks for that explanation.
I am so sorry that you are not sleeping. You could forego the vigil at least some nights to get some uninterrupted sleep. It can't be good to do that every night. The Murphy bed sounds like a terrible challenge. I hope they treated it thoroughly.
I'm glad you have tile too. :)
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The murphy bed isn't the only tongue in groove, that's what worries me. The cedar is all over: on a 12' patio door valance, in the kitchen cupboards, in a built-in bookcase and the bathroom and front hall ceilings, all mostly untreated!
So far no signs of bugs in those places but lot's of opportunities for harbourages should this infestation not be properly treated. And this style of finish is all through this highrise building. So you can see my dismay at a building manager and PCO who are opaque and inexperienced.
My only option that I can see is to leave at the right window of treatment timing and be as scrupulous as I can in my preparations. Happily I have very little belongings as it is a furnished suite.
I am planning on leaving at the 40 day mark. If he only treats once, which he has said he would then I am probably going to have a recurrence, but we'll see.
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That sucks. Sounds like you already know how you need to be extremely careful if you are moving. I hope you get a sufficient period of no bites/no signs to increase your chances of getting away without any bugs.
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currentinsomniac
member
Joined: Nov '07
Posts: 121
Posted 1 year ago
Sat Nov 24 2007 16:07:28
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This is all so interesting. I'm going to go get me a red LED light today and see what I can see. We were treated a week ago and got many more bites than usual after treatment. I figure a bunch of eggs must have hatched. I woke up Tuesday morning following the Friday treatment with 10 new bites. (I was only getting 2-4 a night before). I called my PCO and he said the same and came over to treat a little more. The bites went back to the normal amount, except for Thursday night....I woke up on Friday with 6 bites...and I never even really slept that night. I had tried going to bed at about 2 in the morning, but started feeling crawling straight away and did until 4:30 when I finally pulled myself out of my partly sleepy state to go shopping. Last night I reinforced the DE barrier around my bed and felt much less crawling. And if I did get bit, it has yet to show up (that I can tell anyways). But I really want to see if I can catch any of these pests. My PCO has never been able to find any evidence of bugs except our bites and our reports of light smears on our sheet corner. A light and hunting techniques might be the only way to find them since we have wall-to-wall wonderfully upgraded shag carpet that is light in color but with dark specks in it. Plus, with no head board, an isolated bed with every square inch of the metal frame, mattress, and box springs covered with Tempo, and DE all over the carpet, it would be interesting to see if I can figure out where they might be harboring.
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notsosnug,
sorry you are not sleeping.
I am impressed with your hunting and very pleased at the no samples in 4 days. You may have significantly reduced your population by collecting these and I think this may be a Bedbugger first.
I'd love to see your collection and post it to the blog and the flickr group if you did not mind. I think readers of the blog would be interested and I could post your report above there as well. let me know via email! nobugs at bedbugger DOT com.
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Well NBOM, thankyou. I was hoping that my efforts might help reduce things a little. I was worried that the ones I caught were the tip of a very large bugberg especially since I think I had been getting bite reactions for 2 months and a calculation will yield an obscene ammount of insects after that time. Oh and I am sleeping- call it power naps at night. Sigh.
I've emailed you Sat night with questions about how to forward the pics.
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currentinsomniac: How did you red light night go? Remember movement scares them too, you have to be sneaky- they are fast! I could lay in bed and scan with the light without alarming them. Then I could sneak up on them slowly.
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Correction: prior to treatment I caught 10 one night, not 25. And Thurs Nov 15 I caught 26, I just noticed another 1st instar on that paper. (Boy are they tiny!) I will adjust the report to reflect these corrections and all pre-treatment catches and forward with the photos.
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NotSoSnug: My husband and I also use your same clear packing tape trick! After just smashing them into our bedding, walls, etc when trying to capture them with tissues, we found that clear packing tape allows us to pick them up and then we just fold over the tape to seal them in. Smashing them is optional! We have found that our bbs are pretty fearless: we can catch them in the middle of the night and they don't run away when we turn on our bedroom lights. One night we caught 41! We have also been keeping a record of numbers and stages caught. Our record night (of 41) was within a week of treatment. Our numbers seem to get worse before they drop off. Best of luck to you! We will beat these critters!
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NYCBBS: Way to go! I stick mine onto paper and scan them to record my travails. (Here you go NoBugz!)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21233046@N03/
But I have a bit of a naturalist interest simultaneous to the horror and dismay. The tape works well though. It occurs to me that the ones stuck to paper are not likely dead, just trapped alive forever between sticky tape and porous paper until they die in 18 months. Muahahahahahaha!
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NotSoSnug,
Thanks a lot for the scans! I posted a story about you and your "work" on the main page of the blog. (The readership is quite different, and wider, and I wanted people to see this stuff.)
You can read it here, and I hope others will go to the link to read and comment.
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AnneWithBites
newbite
Joined: Nov '07
Posts: 21
Posted 1 year ago
Mon Nov 26 2007 10:25:53
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NotSoSnug, you caught a LOT of bedbugs! :)
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NoBugs: Thanks for the spotlight- if my experiences can add to the accumulated wisdom, I'm happy to help, even tho I am shy. The sleep 'deprivation' isn't so bad. I tend to sleep lightly anyway, waking up lots from noise etc. So now I just 'hunt' when I wake up then most of the time go back to sleep right away. Unless I obsess about the critters. And that happens more than I'd like.
Anne: Thanks! Curiosity and aggravation have become useful companions for motivating me.
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AnneWithBites
newbite
Joined: Nov '07
Posts: 21
Posted 1 year ago
Tue Dec 4 2007 7:29:15
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Yes, I know how it is when you are just in the middle of the bedbug story.
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