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Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Detection / Identification of bed bugs

please help a newcomer!!

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twitchyscratchy

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Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 33

Posted 3 weeks ago
Thu Oct 29 2009 9:41:13
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hi there,

i need some advice ASAP on a potential bedbug problem. 5 days ago, i was visiting a friend in a neighbourhood that has a lot of housing co-ops and "bachelor apartment" style low-income housing (not to be classist, i know BBs can strike anywhere, but transient housing is known to be problematic). i sat on a chair in her apartment for a few hours before going out for drinks. i found out later that the chair had been picked up from the curbside.

that same night, about 5 minutes before i got home, she called me to tell me not to bring my clothes inside- she had just seen 2 small bugs- one brown and one white- on the very chair i'd been sitting on.

so i stripped down on the porch, put my (brand new!) jacket, jeans, shirts and hat into a bin with a lid and left it in the garden. my boots, and my girlfriend's shoes were both put in separate bags and not brought in.

the problem is, i was pretty drunk when all this was happening. i thought my girlfriend also handed me her clothes from inside, but she only handed me her jacket, hat, empty backpack and shoes. she removed her jeans and top inside and put them in the washing machine. the only thing i put in the washing machine were my underwear and socks, as well as the towel we'd dried off with after having hot showers. i didn't know her pants and top were in there until the next day. we didn't let the machine run, as it was too late at night. we filled the machine with hot water and let it sit until the morning.

i was pretty mad when i saw the pants come out the next day. anyway, since our bloody dryer is broken and only dries at half temperature, we took everything (including her jeans, but not the rest of the laundry that was in with them) to the laundromat and washed it all on hot, then dried it on hot for 45 minutes. she told me i was being paranoid and didn't want to wait any longer for the clothes to dry so we took them out at 45 minutes. (my brand new wool jacket went to the drycleaners, but her non-wool winter coat was washed/dried with the other things.)

anyway this is getting convoluted. this all happened on saturday night and sunday afternoon.

today is thursday. as early as tuesday, i noticed 2 little red bumps on the top of my foot, mildly itchy. i tried to chalk it up to coincidence and went on. then, yesterday i noticed an itchy bump on my arm. i then noticed several on my chest (each about a cm apart) and 3 on my leg (about 7 cm apart). they are not massively itchy. they're about 1.5 mm in diameter, red, with a sort of clear liquid centre in a very tiny point.

i have not seen any blood, nor any bugs. i did see black poppy seed type things in the bed, but they were hard, and did not smear with water as they seem to be wont to do.

does this sound like something we should call a PCO for immediately? do i need to wait to see an actual bug? what if we wait and it gets bad?

i keep my apartment SO clean, i'm mortified that we could have bedbugs, and i have not slept in 36 hours, i just keep checking the internet for more answers.

also, we have a severely immunocompromised cat and we have to be extremely careful about pests, bacteria, and chemicals. i'm so worried, almost moreso about our beloved kitty than anything.

please, please, please, tell me what i should do at this point???

thanks you!

(Admin note: certain items removed at author's request)
watkinsnewan

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Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 331

Posted 3 weeks ago
Thu Oct 29 2009 11:15:13
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hello twitchy, and welcome to this nightmare reality we call BB.... sorry you have to deal with this... nobody should have to...It is A good thing that your friend informed you that they were present....did you get A conformation that they were BB from you friend...and did they treat there home...You don't want to jump the gun if you don't have to remember IF you do have them I twill be a long and exhausting process to get rid of them...Your first step is to get conformation that you may have them or Not...
have A BB sniffing dog, or A professional PCO come out...
The first thing I did was go and get a mattress covers (Encasement) Not all prevent BB from escaping.. it has to be specially woven.. I suggest this to all family and friends... For the simple fact that not only does it Help in BB's situations and makes them more easy to spot but it protects the mattress from various spills too... Some PCO's do not want you to do this so you have to ask him/her
I don't know where you are located but there are safe steps you can take with you cat * I don't know much about animals But I am a mother an understand that you love you pet just as it was your own child* you can look into Thermal Heat treatment... From the research I have done I personally think this is the safest coarse of action when dealing with a situation like your cat...
I wish you well And hope that you do not have BB....
2manybb

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Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 22

Posted 3 weeks ago
Thu Oct 29 2009 11:26:44
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If you do have bed bugs, then you would have caught it super early. How many could have possible been brought in? If they were brought in on the clothes, could they have made their way to the bed so quickly? I wish i had more answers than questions
cilecto

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Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 513

Posted 3 weeks ago
Thu Oct 29 2009 12:34:56
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Take a breath. You are clearly vigilant and that will help you. At the very least, you'll have a better system for re entering home from places that might be infested (anyplace). Your reactions may be bites, maybe not. You might have gotten them at your friends', at home, or someplace else entirely. You may have killed the BB from your trip. You may have had BB at home before.

I'm not an expert, but if the washer was far from "food", any BB would have probably stayed in the washer and subsequently drowned of cooked in laundry. BB die at about 115F, so if your dryer gets there, you're good. And f the neighbors. You can't afford to be nice or shamed through this epidemic.

Definitely be vigilant and get educated from this site. Another good one is bedbugcentral.com. I'd avoid going all out for treatment just yet and be wary of those trying to sell this on you. (quite a few entrepreneurs see your fear as a "business opportunity".
cilecto

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Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 513

Posted 3 weeks ago
Thu Oct 29 2009 12:38:16
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Early infestations are relatively hard to spot, so get educated, weigh your options while you stay alert. Best of luck, we're with you.
Vell23

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Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 30

Posted 3 weeks ago
Thu Oct 29 2009 13:32:09
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Twitchy do u have any other friends besides the girl u went by first, to hold onto ur cat if u have to take any drastic measures? That's what I would do.
twitchyscratchy

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Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 33

Posted 3 weeks ago
Thu Oct 29 2009 13:43:51
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wow, thank you for the quick replies everyone. i really appreciate your reassurance.

yes, my friend's apartment was confirmed to have bedbugs. she told me today.

true, i have seen no evidence in my apartment, only on my body. but that's enough to hit the panic button. i was sitting directly on a chair that had bedbugs on it. even though i took great precautions, i feel the likelihood is still strong, considering i am displaying bites. i really doubt i would have had them before, since i never get skin flare-ups and these ones have only been around since tuesday.

cilecto, i really hope you're right that they would have perished away from "food" for the night. but my girlfriend took her clothes off inside! (trying to not be angry!)

ok so my REAL problem is that i can't afford any professional treatment right now. as i mentioned, our cat is severely immunocompromised and we have to spend a lot of money to keep him well. (watkinsnewan, i'm so glad you understand that pets can be just as loved and important as family members- this one certainly is). i am unemployed (not a bum, just a victim of the recession, but i am going back to school in january) and my girlfriend is working a crappy contract job that will be over in 6 months.

the awful part is, we splurged on getting nice things for our new apartment- all new furniture- our first nice new couch, a brand new mac computer!! and i am so clean and careful. now all of our investments could be ruined, not to mention the fact that we don't have money that isn't for rent, pet care, food and bills. we just don't. we even sat down to work out our pathetic budget the day before i found my bites! it was grim then!

if i rented a steam cleaner and cleaned our bed as a precaution, bagged and washed and rebagged all of our clothes, gave an extremely thorough vacuuming of the bedroom... would that suffice for an early infection? watkins, we are going to buy mattress encasements. and i'm going to junk my gorgeous antique walnut art deco bed, because it's full of frayed little pieces of wood around the inside- hundreds of them.

are there any guidelines for early, suspected infections? other than "wait 'til they get bad enough to see"?

please and thank you, you've already been so helpful.

thank you thank you.
cilecto

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Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 513

Posted 3 weeks ago
Thu Oct 29 2009 14:06:56
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I'd caution you against throwing out anything valuable or spending lots of $s yet. Throw out only those items which are in your way. Learn how to inspect and build it in your routine. Bedbugcentral.com has some good videos. Do learn more re encasements and decide for yourself. (BTW, AFAIK box springs are the bigger issue with BB than mattresses.) People take varying time to react to bites, so your reaction is not necessarily from bites at home. Do get more advice re your cat. Vacuuming can be an important control and detection tool, but you also need to take steps to insure that you don't spread an infestation via your vac. Do you rent? Check your local laws re who's responsible fir treatment. Attached? Need to deal with neighbors. They might be infested and that might be your source. And a not trivial question. What confirmation do you have that your friend had bedbugs and not some other insect?
twitchyscratchy

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Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 33

Posted 3 weeks ago
Thu Oct 29 2009 17:10:02
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hi cilecto,

thank you again for your response. i forgot to mention that our home dryer is broken and doesn't get hot enough (ie; it takes 2 hours to dry a small load at the best of times).

in terms of confirmation, my friend whose apartment i was at got confirmation from a PCO today that she had bedbugs (the PCO found 1 dead one, which i'm certain means there are more). she got her apt sprayed. it was the very chair i was sitting on that had the bedbugs on it.

is it possible that i could have bites all over my body just from that night? wouldn't i have noticed bugs crawling all under my clothes if i was awake? i know the biting is hard to feel, but i think i'd have felt the crawling at least.

i will get rid of my bed only because i know it will be impossible to inspect. it's hard to explain it- the inside of the frame is full of tiny frayed slats of wood, i can't even peel them back to get a good look inside and there are hundreds. as reactionary as it may see, i think inspection will be made much easier with a smooth surface.

however, our current bed is just two mattresses on top of the other, on top of some wood, on top of the bed frame. getting rid of the the frame would mean we'd have to buy a boxspring and a new frame, otherwise we'd just be sleeping on a mattress on a wood floor- not a good idea! (we also have centipedes and i could not sleep thinking one of those things was going to crawl over me!)

who should i talk to about our cat? the vet? a PCO?

thank you and thank you and thank you again.
twitchyscratchy

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Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 33

Posted 3 weeks ago
Thu Oct 29 2009 17:12:58
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hi cilecto,

thank you again for your response. i forgot to mention that our home dryer is broken and doesn't get hot enough (ie; it takes 2 hours to dry a small load at the best of times).

in terms of confirmation, my friend whose apartment i was at got confirmation from a PCO today that she had bedbugs (the PCO found 1 dead one, which i'm certain means there are more). she got her apt sprayed. it was the very chair i was sitting on that had the bedbugs on it.

is it possible that i could have bites all over my body just from that night? wouldn't i have noticed bugs crawling all under my clothes if i was awake? i know the biting is hard to feel, but i think i'd have felt the crawling at least.

i will get rid of my bed only because i know it will be impossible to inspect. it's hard to explain it- the inside of the frame is full of tiny frayed slats of wood, i can't even peel them back to get a good look inside and there are hundreds. as reactionary as it may see, i think inspection will be made much easier with a smooth surface.

however, our current bed is just two mattresses on top of the other, on top of some wood, on top of the bed frame. getting rid of the the frame would mean we'd have to buy a boxspring and a new frame, otherwise we'd just be sleeping on a mattress on a wood floor- not a good idea! (we also have centipedes and i could not sleep thinking one of those things was going to crawl over me!)

who should i talk to about our cat? the vet? a PCO?

thank you and thank you and thank you again.
cilecto

senior member
Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 513

Posted 3 weeks ago
Thu Oct 29 2009 18:02:42
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I hope others can chime in re noticing the crawling. If you're going to toss the frame (and I'm hesitant to encourage you) I'd skip the box spring (which BB love) and go with a smart base (metal substitute for BS). The best news in your post? Centipedes. They're your allies now. CPs eat BBs.
cilecto

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Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 513

Posted 3 weeks ago
Thu Oct 29 2009 21:02:14
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I thought about this sone more. People, like you, introduced to the world of BB, are horrified, traumatized and overwhelmed. They want a way out, they want it the way it used to be. So they make quasireligious mental bargains. "I'll do X. I'll toss Y. I'll scrub with bleach (when milder cleansers will do)." Reality is that it won't necessarily solve the problem. If you toss your bed, but your infestation is in a duffel bag, you're out the bed and still have the infestation. Or, you have no infestation and you're also out the bed. Or, they go on buying sprees, often spending money on equipment that's not up to the task (like those $50 steamers and "bedbugs kits"). Your bed frame can probably be treated, sealed with wood filler or caulk, varnished, etc. scrubbing it down with Murphy soap will kill bugs (not eggs) on contact. Back to my original comment to you. Take a breath. Toronto must be lovely this time if year.
twitchyscratchy

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Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 33

Posted 3 weeks ago
Fri Oct 30 2009 0:00:52
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ha!

that's the only thing that's made me smile all day, for real. thanks!

well, we just dismantled the bed and i micro-inspected every little crevice imaginable. things that haven't been looked at since 1940. i did find what looked like a tiny egg cluster, but it was very old and had an tiny, anemic dead spider in it as well, which makes me think it was a failed spider colony of some years ago. i swabbed it out with full-strength vinegar and brought it right outside. nothing else of note was seen. i looked under the baseboards as well. nothing.

so we made a plan of action. you're right about saving the bed: when i looked at it, i realized i could chip off much of the loose wood debris i described. i'm taking it out to the garden tomorrow to chip, sand and scrub it. i think murphy's would be great, thank you for that!

i also plan on scrubbing floors and baseboards with soap and lavender/tea tree oil and caulking baseboards and 1/4 round with some of the products i read about on this site.

we are going to rent a steam cleaner and go over the mattresses. i know with larger infestations, steaming can drive them into hitherto uninfested areas, but i think in our case, any bugs would presently be in very small numbers.

i'm also going to give the laundromat a lot of money tomorrow. and pray that the book i bring is untainted. alll clean clothes are going into fresh ziplocks.

we are also seriously considering getting a can of "PRO aerosol insecticide". it's what the PCO recommended to my friend. mind you, she is petless and i'm so nervous about exposing my poor kitty to insecticide, particularly one that contains pyrethrins (read: bad kitty chemical).

NOW. should i hold off on purchasing encasements? our local store is selling them for 180 a pop. i would love to not have to spend nearly $400 on something that is possible totally unnecessary. but then, i would hate to be wrong.

also, should i steam clean my couches? my poor, 5 month old couches! curses!

cilecto, et al, you have been most welcoming, reassuring and informative thus far. i truly appreciate the time and thought you've put into my frantic questions.

i will keep this thread updated with my many obsessive actions.

and yes, toronto is beautiful right now!

cheers!
twitchyscratchy

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Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 33

Posted 3 weeks ago
Fri Oct 30 2009 0:36:04
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ps- i had thought centipedes to be my worst nightmare before this! but, like some other posters, feel that a tenuous alliance may be in order. (shudder!)
hathead

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Joined: Jun '09
Posts: 46

Posted 3 weeks ago
Fri Oct 30 2009 7:32:11
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we poured boiling water over every inch of our wooden bed frames
then isolated the beds
the boiling water will kill both eggs and bugs
we saw an adult and a nymph die in the boiling water treatment
and suspect others died whom we did not see

we never got bitten in our beds after that
if your frame will stand the boiling water
it might be a good way to go
(we did it inside with a small watering can/narrow spout
and one of us poured and the other held a basin to catch the water-
well most of it - it was a little messy but worth it!)
or you can do this outside
cilecto

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Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 513

Posted 3 weeks ago
Fri Oct 30 2009 8:14:29
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Twitchy: ask your vet re cat health issues.