Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Tales of Bed Bug Woe
Orkin didn't do the trick, trying again
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Bugged1525
newbite
Joined: Apr '10
Posts: 11offline
Posted 3 years ago
Fri Apr 2 2010 9:57:02
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After a honeymoon in Antigua we brought back more than we bargained for... we've now been fighting bedbugs for over two years. We make some headway then fall back again. We've had Orkin in, they did nothing to help but treat the house, cost us lots of money, and still no progress. They did damage our furniture with their chemicals though, so that is a plus.
Presently we are beginning another treatment cycle. This time we hope to be successful. We have used steam, dust, evacuation of all items from the rooms, bagging of matresses and box springs, chemicals in the bags, etc.
Presently we also sleep on bagged mattresses and box springs, but still have issues. The infestation is worst in my daughters room, though we often encounter them in ours as well. I hope to find help here as well as tips and post on how we do with our problems...
Good luck all, this is still a huge issue throughout the states, you're not alone, and you're not dirty if you have this issue...
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wchicago
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Joined: Oct '09
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Posted 3 years ago
Fri Apr 2 2010 14:28:23
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hi bugged1525, and sincerest sympathies. what a long battle!
if you are in a standalone house -then i'm thinking after doing battle for all this time, you should just go for thermal or vikane and get rid of these once and for all. its expensive, but it sounds like you've already gone to expense and inconvenience and have NOT been successful with the chemical spray route. time for thermal or vikane.
just my 2 cents. -
Bugged1525
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Joined: Apr '10
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Apr 5 2010 13:43:32
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Ok, so first treatment in my daughters room done again, wife cleaned vigorously, dusted with the dust and sprayed the spray... I have to get you the names of the chemicals, they are listed here on the site though, we bought them under different brand names but appear to be same chemicals. We did then bag her box spring (previous bag had ripped). We found when cleaning her room that when the sheet was removed, the bedbugs were all located between the sheet and the matress protector, at least hundreds of them were. We didn't even try to clean the linens this time, just destroyed them.
We haven't done our room yet, that is the next target, then weekly cleans and retreats until this stops. So far no new bites that I saw, but it was a holiday weekend and my daughter spent the night at friends one night. Will keep you updated.
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cilecto
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Joined: Aug '08
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Apr 5 2010 14:15:41
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Fortunately, you and everyone is two years smarter. We have tools now that we didn't have when you started the battle.
Bed bugs hitch rides on stuff. Are you taking precautions to not spread the bugs around your home as you move about or carry things? What about protecting your car and the places you or your kids visit?
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Bugged1525
newbite
Joined: Apr '10
Posts: 11offline
Posted 3 years ago
Mon Apr 19 2010 10:48:32
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Well we are now two weeks in and found some interesting things. The master bedroom we treated with steam in the box springs, cleaning and vacuuming as well, and did the entire room with the vaccuum. We then dusted, spraying inside the box springs as well. We already had the mattress in a bedbug proof cover, but this time put the box springs in one as well. We dusted heavily, and have seen no recurrance in the master bedroom, planning next treatement for this weekend (would be two weeks almost exactly).
In the kids room, she was still getting bit after the first round of treatment this time, and we were puzzled... we tore her room apart again and steamed the bed frame, the mattress and box springs were already covered with bedbug proof covers, we re-dusted and were still confused... we heated her bedding and pillows multiple times, no apparent success, so we began tearing the entire room apart, and found that a curtain near the bed touches the bedspread sometimes, which seems to be their transfer mechanism to avoid the dust... we found a large infestation in the curtains and curtain rod (a flat metal rod for valances. We bagged and removed everything associated with the curtains, steamed the window frames and dusted, then purchased a brand new blind and dusted it as we put it up. So far so good, no recurrance. We know we are now facing eggs at this point, so we intend to dust and clean again this upcoming weekend, then again two weeks from then and two weeks again further. At that time, we are going to hold off for a month, to see what happens, then do one final treatment. That should cure our egg problems, especially if we don't see any further bites. We intend to leave the mattress and box springs covered for up to 18 months, just to be safe.
We have treated the rooms closest to the bedrooms as well, and have not seen any evidence in the living or family rooms, but we hope to treat them and add them to the cycle in the next cleaning. Will update you on them as we go...
One nice feature this forum should add is emailing when a response to your post is put up... that way you'd know to check in...
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cilecto
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Joined: Aug '08
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Apr 19 2010 19:21:31
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Regarding "dusting heavily"; the DE FAQ notes that properly applied, DE is applied very lightly, almost unsetectable (like a surface you haven't wiped fora few weeks).
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Bugged1525
newbite
Joined: Apr '10
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Posted 3 years ago
Fri Apr 23 2010 14:42:09
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So far so good. Adults bedroom, no bites, no evidence. Kids room, seems ok but may be new evidence present, but hard to tell... need to replace sheets to verify if stains were previous or not (or circle with marker).
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Bugged1525
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Joined: Apr '10
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Apr 26 2010 8:38:17
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Ok, round two. No bedbugs found in adult room, though one pissed off spider behind the curtain rod. In the childs room though, this is the first round where dad is doing the whole room. We had previously found an infestation in the box springs, mattress folds, etc. Then the last two weeks we found them in the curtain rod mounts and curtains, which we destroyed.
So... round two began yesterday with me cleaning, vacuuming the childs room, removing all outlet covers, vacuuming and dusting there (no evidence there found), wiping down, then spraying and dusting all furniture pieces, working clockwise through the room... found 3 adults in the bed frame (ok, two in the bedframe, one on the matress protective cover itself)... but no huge infestation... did trash the sheets after finding a very large fecal stain area in the one corner with a large number of eggs and nymphs in the same fold of the sheet. Steamed the frame extensively and then sprayed the liquid throughout, allowed to dry, as well as sprayed the carpet area all around the bed, once dry, dusted everything again including the bedframe, the corners of the walls, etc... put everything back together and buttoned it all up.
So we'll see what we see... so far since initial re-cleaning and treatment three weeks ago, no bugs in the adults room at all... now if we can just kick them from the childs room I think we will have this thing licked.
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soscared
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Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 429offline
Posted 3 years ago
Mon Apr 26 2010 11:50:21
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That's very exciting, I hope it works for you. What a liquid are you spraying?
Thanks. -
Bugged1525
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Joined: Apr '10
Posts: 11offline
Posted 3 years ago
Wed Apr 28 2010 10:42:17
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We bought the DE and liquid as a kit... I'll have to verify, but it is commonly referred to around here. I believe the brand name was De*Stroy in this batch, the previous was DE*Adbug or something like that... I'll try to get the exacts for you later today.
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Bugged1525
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Joined: Apr '10
Posts: 11offline
Posted 3 years ago
Wed May 5 2010 16:04:26
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Ok, the link to the products we have used is here:
We are using the spray, the DE product and the pest pistol spreader for the DE dust. We used Micron One mattress bags, along with plastic mattress bags bought at another site... the plastic bags were crap. They ripped easily, and were full of 'air holes' so the mattress wouldn't baloon up when you slept on it. We taped over all of the holes, then insterted the mattresses into Micron One bed bags, which zipped (be sure you lay on the mattress before zipping to get as much air out as you can and did the same for the box springs.
We're going on two weeks now, only one or two small nymphs spotted, already dead. Adults have had no symptoms, no bites, no unexplained marks. Daughter has admitted to none, and searching her room has not turned up any new fecal marks or blood stains. We have another cleaning session planned for this weekend, where we'll tear everything down again and search. If no infestations found, we're hoping to call this a success. If we are good, we're going to run out to three weeks before the next inspection as we're approaching 6 weeks since major cleaning and treatment.
Hopefully we're a success story and someone finds all of this useful...
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Bugged1525
newbite
Joined: Apr '10
Posts: 11offline
Posted 2 years ago
Tue Jun 1 2010 13:36:33
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I have an update. We are now 60 days since first post here and so far we have been bed bug free for a few weeks now. The use of sprays, bagging matresses and DE in concentration along with vigilence, steam treatments, spray re-treatment, bedding washing/drying and re-treatment with DE seem to be doing the trick. We will not consider ourselves out of the woods until October or November, but we are less concerned now. No bites showing now for a few weeks, no fecal stains, nothing unexpected.
I want to thank this forum for the wealth of information, and will check back in periodically to see if I can help in any way. For now though, we're having success!
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