Please tell me I didn't bring bed bugs with me to my new apt??

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Please tell me I didn't bring bed bugs with me to my new apt??

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slowlygoingcrazy

newbite
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Posted 1 year ago
Sun Jul 10 2011 16:20:53
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Hey all! I know this is long, but please read. I'm absolutely, positively desperate. My story is hilarious horrible and I'm hoping you may give me opinions/peace of mind.

I came to NY at the end of May for a 10 week internship. A girl and I subletted a furnished dorm room at a college here, and a week later, we found bed bugs. It wasn't a huge infestation or anything, but we found some under the bed. We had the exterminator come and do the spraying twice, along with the contractor thing. I dried all of my clothes, and placed them all in air-tight vacuum bags. My shoes were vacuumed and kept in a large trash bag, and I inspected all of my jewelry and cosmetics and everything that was sitting on desks and placed them in zip locked plastic bags. I got a better deal on a different sublet, so I moved the day after the entire spraying, contractor, spraying ordeal was finished. I inspected the large plastic bags around the edges to see if any bed bugs were catching a ride, but I didn't see any. SO I moved.

I've been in my new apt for a week and a half now and unpacked all of my 'sterile' clothes and hung them up. I didn't take any of my medicines/lotions/jewelry out of the plastic bags, I just lined them up on my dresser with the openings facing up. BUT I did unzip the bags for easy access.

Today I was sitting on my bed, and I happened to look over at the bags and saw something in the very corner of one of the plastic bags. I looked, and it was a bed bug. I crushed it and resealed the bag, but now I am 100% paranoid. I have no idea how the bug got here, or if it's been in the bag for the past 4 weeks since I inspected everything and placed them in bags. I've stripped my bed and looked under the mattress, and haven't seen anything...but I know that doesn't mean much.

I'm truly freaking out. I have 3 weeks left in NY, and I may have brought BBs to my new apartment. I don't want to bring them back to college with me, and I can't afford (monetarily or mentally) to go through this ordeal again. Is it possible that the bug was just a straggler? It wasn't engorged with blood or anything. I've been sitting on my bed for 3 hours as bait, and nothing has come near me at all.

The only way I can think that I could have brought them with me is if I missed an egg or something during my hand inspection. Or if one somehow hitched a ride on the outside of a plastic bag? But I thought they couldn't climb up slick surfaces like plastic bags?

I'm tempted to burn everything I own (I basically brought everything I owned with me to NY) and fly home naked.
slowlygoingcrazy

newbite
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Posted 1 year ago
Sun Jul 10 2011 16:52:42
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Anyone? Please?
blargg

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Posted 1 year ago
Sun Jul 10 2011 16:58:55
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Ok, you found one bug. First of all, was it truly a bedbug, or was it a beetle or other insect?

Let's say it was a bedbug. Your guess is really as good as anyone's at this point. It could have hitchhiked, and it may be the only one. Maybe the new apartment already had it. Either way, if you do find problems getting worse, contact the landlord and request multiple, scheduled treatments.

As far as moving home; can you afford a vikane-gassed truck? You'll have to ask someone else on the price of one, as I've never dealt with one.

Either way, relax. It sounds like you have everything under control. Remember, you are big, and they are small. Don't let the little things scare you. Give the rest of your stuff a good inspection.

Good luck.
buggyinsocal

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Posted 1 year ago
Sun Jul 10 2011 16:59:52
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If it had been an egg that had hatched, it couldn't have grown to adult size without feeding.

I'm not as up on the life cycle of bed bugs as I'd like to be, so I can't tell you much about how long it takes for egg to go to adult, but I can tell you that each stage of development needs a blood meal before it can grow to the next stage.

I would suggest the use of passive monitors in your new place.