Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Introductions
New blood here, LONG introduction.
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NewBlood
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 47
Posted 1 month ago
Wed Sep 30 2009 8:32:31
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Hey everyone, new blood here (pun intended) with a story of how I may or may not have these things, and what I'm currently going through now. I want to say first off, that this website is wonderful - great to see a place that offers support, FAQs, and ideas on how to combat these little monsters.
So August 30th I awake with bites all over my feet and ankles. I attribute it to walking around outside (grassy area) the day before in flip-flops (must have picked up some chiggers) as an area I had walked through for about 30 seconds or so was damp and shaded. I also had bites a bit further up on my left leg though - which was odd for me as usually chigger bites get me only near my feet. The bites area also lined up around my sock line though - so I'm pretty sure that's the problem. Just in case I wash all of my sheets, linens and clothes - I don't want these things walking around on me and eating my skin!
A week later though... I wake to find more bites on my inner right thigh. That's odd... I don't remember them there before, but they itch like the others. I start to become a little more worried now. I wash ALL of the clothes I ownAGAIN, and all the sheets/linens on my bed again. I also begin researching on-line what else bitesyou and leaves welts.
Chiggers. Fleas. Bed Bugs. Bed bugs? Those are real? After spending 4 hours reading about them I become worried. VERY worried. I live in an apartment complex -and of course I have friends and family visit from time to time. None of my friends have ever complained about getting bitten by anything and I don't talk to my neighbors very often... I'm also a hypocondriac so I panic about all sorts of things (but since I have almost died two years ago to a blood clot, and I have a host of medical problems wrong with me I tend to panic easily).
I decide to keep track of how many bites I have, and see if I'm bitten again. The problem is that the bites don't always itch - the itch comes and goes randomly throughout the day. However, I do wake up with new bites on my arm - a single one. I go to the real estate office and let them know I may have bed bugs. They are surprised, and say that they'll have their pest control guy stop by to deal with them. During this time I have been sleeping with a flashlight to see if I 'get lucky' and spot one, but no dice. I have also looked throughout the bed, and box spring but don't find any either. I have set my frame (metal, no headboard) in plastic dixie cups with soapy water in them to try to catch the bugs if they're crawling up from somewhere else too - nothing has been caught. This would have been two weeks ago - September 17th.
Sure enough - later that day the PCO stops by. He's a really nice guy and takes a look at the bed for the tell tale blood specs. He doesn't look all that long however, (no lifting up the seams as I had done) but he, like me, doesn't see any sign of them. I lift up the box spring and there's no obvious sign of them there either.Just to be sure he sprays the entire mattress and box spring down with cedar oil which supposedly kills them (I've not heard of this treatment before) and the bed room certainly does smell nice. The inspection though, lasted only about 4 minutes if that - as it was only a really brief look for the bugs.
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NewBlood
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 47
Posted 1 month ago
Wed Sep 30 2009 8:35:11
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So I go to bed after some airing out of the room, and I wash all my linens again. I'm not bitten that night! But alas, the next night I am - I awake to a small biteon my left arm again. So I decide that I will get some help of my own to look for them - at least if I find a bug I can then try to persuade my LL to use a group that I choose (nothing again the PCO that visited me, but I've heard the only real way to get rid of these things is a steam/chemical visit and a repeat as needed once every two weeks or so). After looking around online I find that K9 teams are supposedly very good at locating these things, especially with low level infestations whichis what I hope I have. I find that only Action K9 Pest Control does the area that I live in (I'm 20 minutes away from Atlantic City - not in the city itself) and decide I'd give them a call.
The customer service ladies they have were extremely nice and, like me, hoped that I didn't have the nasty little suckers. They tell me it'll cost $300.00 though andthat makes me nervous. That's really expensive. They'll do a visual inspection too right? Yes - they are instructed to search the area that the dog alerts too. Are they sure? Yes, definitely. Over the next three days I'm bitten again I think. None of the new bites look like the old ones though, nor do they itch quite the same.
The team comes down with Cassie - and she's a beautiful dog indeed. The handler is very nice and knows his stuff - as I would have expected. They walk in and take alook at the bed - it's a brief look (I have inspected my bed more thouroughly) and just as I don't find anything on the sides of the mattress -> however they did not inspect the underside, nor the boxspring. This is fine, after all they have Cassie to do the inspection to help them realize where to look. So Cassie comes in and they lead her around. She's hungry though - she was begging for food earlier which didn't make me feel any better. I definitely don't want false positives! She doesn't find anything until they bring her to the bed - and she sits to indicate that she's found something. She does this three times around the bed, and there's nothing else in the room. Good - I'll finally have a sample bug!
The rest of the apartment is checked and the CHAIR I sit in near my computer has them too according to Cassie. Amazing! Most of my time is spent in that chair! So now we know where to look... and this is when I am going to be let down. The tech says that there's no point in searching for them via a visual inspection. I'll never find them because of how tiny they are. Now - the CHAIR I use is a $20.00 from staples put-it-together-yourself chair. It's very easy to take apart and inspect butthey didn't want to do so. They also wouldn't check the bed/box-spring for them. I had called and asked several times before they arrived if the techs would also doa visual inspection. It was the entire reason I decided to pay the $300 to them instead of having a PCO over that would spend 2+ hours looking instead. Also - one CAN see them, and they should have a magnifying glass to look for eggs and whatnot! *
*Note - see the fourth/fifth post here to see more about Action - they have apologized for this and are resending the team out to check again with a visual inspection! Yay! That's fantastic!
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NewBlood
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 47
Posted 1 month ago
Wed Sep 30 2009 8:35:42
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So the assistant stops by and briefly looks under the boxspring, the mattress and the sofa in my living room. He can't see anything easily either (again, I've lookedmore closely for signs and I can't find anything myself) and indicates that the dog must have been wrong. I'm not so sure myself since I haven't had, what I feel, isa good honest LOOK around yet. I also haven't been 'feasted' upon since the first round of bites appeared. He is a nice guy - everyone has been rather nice and helpful, if not very thourough, and helps me put the Box Spring in an encasement. This was last Wednesday (September 23rd).
I have been trying to see if I have any 'new' bites since then but it is impossible to tell. I think something is biting me still -> but none of the new bites itch or look like the first batch I have had. I have a log of where I've been bitten as well to try to track it all, but I think I am constantly missing spots. Twice I woke up this past weekend to find a mosquito like bite on me, but as of today (September 30th) they are gone, and never itched past the initial bite, compared to the bites I got on August 30th that STILL itch occasionally.
So thinking that NJ law says that my LL must take care of the problem I put together a list of companies he can use to combat these things -> as if he is required to take care of them I want him to make a good choice or else they'll spread through the entire apartment complex (if they haven't already). I call up 8 different pest control companies: Cooper Pest Solutions, Eliminex Pest Control, PROs (AAA Superior Pest Control), Action Pest Control, and two others that don't service my area. Action - upon finding out that their team did not do a visual inspection - had been incredible. They've offered to send a team down AGAIN for free to inspect WITH visual,and apologized numerous times. They've also put me into contact with their bed bug expert Tom who is to call today to give me some advice. I also want to add here that ALL of the companies I listed above have excellent customer service people who handle the calls -> they are eager to educate people about these bugs and help however they can.
ALSO - AAA Superior Pest Control has a Thermal Van treatment for those who may be looking to move out of an infestation into a new home. It is expensive ($1,500) to use it, and I am not sure yet about how much it is guaranteed to work (or if any warranty applies) but it was interesting to hear about it. I returned to the Real Estate Agency with all of the information from these companies - and then discovered from them that the NJ A-3203 bed bug elimination law is in fact, not a law at all! It's still a bill. How embarrasing. The Land Lord's reaction to the cost of removal was "WOW that's expensive!". He offered to go 'halfs' on a treatment for my apartment though - as I am a great tenant.
This brings me to wrapping up this story:
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NewBlood
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 47
Posted 1 month ago
Wed Sep 30 2009 8:38:45
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My brother Dave, God bless him, stops by yesterday with chemicals (Hot Spot I think is what it was called) and helps me vacuum my apartment again and we spray the stuff in cracks and get the box spring sprayed down. "I didn't get them last time I was there Tim, I'm not going to get them this time either, I'm not going to let a bugget to me". It meant alot to hear that, and I can't bear the thought of spreading these terrible creatures to him, or anyone in my family. Action Pest Control also called back again - God bless them too - to coordinate when to send their team down again. Next Wednesday (October 7th) is when they'll be down - and odds are I'll bechoosing them to perform the extermination too as they offer a 90 day warranty on their extermination service. It's expensive, but then again it's about what I wouldexpect given how difficult these things are to treat.
Unfortunately I can't guarantee that my neighbors will be checked, and even if they are if my LL would pay for their apartments to be cleaned. I plan on springing for the entire cost of my own apartment to be cleaned out, and if my LL will still 'go halfs' that maybe he'd pay for a retreatment if the bugs come back after that time. (Hopefully they won't, I've heard good things about a properly executed exetermination)! I would hope that would mean that the bugs are finding their way in from some other apartment if that was the case, as opposed to simiply 'missing them' via treatments.
So that's my story, and my introudction. Thanks for reading it all, sorry if it was rather long winded, but I'm rather long winded myself. :) I am not too sure about what I should be doing now - as I want the treatment I get to be successful, but should I start bagging everything now? What do I do with all the little nick-nacks I possess - like books, collectable stuff, and so on? Do I thow them all away? I'd hate to get rid of it all, especially some of the pictures I own as they were gifts from other people. :( Anyway, I better stop typing or I'll NEVER stop typing. :)
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spideyjg
oldtimer
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 1,405
Posted 1 month ago
Wed Sep 30 2009 8:53:57
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You should not have sprayed anything if a PCO was coming in. If they were bringing the K9 back out they likely will not use it due to the pesticides you applied for the dogs safety.
Jim
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