Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » General Topics
Question about treatment
(5 posts)-
plankfarm
newbite
Joined: Apr '11
Posts: 11offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sat Apr 30 2011 12:04:40
#
Login to Send PM
I haven't been able to find any evidence of bed bugs, but keep waking up with bites. I also have a cat that sleeps with me most nights and am hoping these bites are maybe from fleas. (I forgot to give the animals their flea meds last month!) Anyways, I've set up a bed bug beacon and have a PCO coming out for the 2rd time to go through the house on Monday. When talking to my husband, the PCO suggested we start washing, drying, and bagging all our clothes in advance of his visit. He also mentioned that it may be virtually impossible to find them and he would recommend just treating the house even if he's not able to find any signs of them. What do you guys think about this? I know there are some pros on this site and I need all the help I can get. Would you treat a house after finding no fecal dropping, cast skins, or bugs? Also, do you really have to wash EVERYTHING or can I just stick everything in the dryer and fry the little suckers for a hour or so? To tell the truth, I'm afraid of shrinking everyone's clothes in the hot water, but if it must be done, so be it.
Thanks
-
plankfarm
newbite
Joined: Apr '11
Posts: 11offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sat Apr 30 2011 12:10:13
#
Login to Send PM
One more question.... Most if the bites I'm getting are under my clothing and haven't really itched. Is this normal for bed bugs? I've read lots of differing opinions and thought all of you with experience in this area might be able to best answer the question.
Thanks again.
-
jrbtnyc
Member
Joined: Sep '10
Posts: 1,001offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sat Apr 30 2011 12:24:52
#
Login to Send PM
First off: be sure to check out the faqs here at http://bedbugger.com/faqs .
Being not one of the pros myself, nevertheless I think I can speak for them to a certain degree in saying you MUST positively identify your problem as being actually bed bugs before treating. Otherwise it can be a pure waste of your resources and energy.
Your problem might really be from mosquitoes, fleas, mites, scabies, lice, prickly hairs on carpet beetle larvae, poison ivy, folliculitis, allergies, psychosomatic, or etc.. You can't tell very much just from the nature of your bites alone since different people react quite differently or not at all.
Also in some locales, treating for bed bugs without having a positive ID is actually illegal, from what the pros frequently write in this forum.
So if the PCO is recommending treatment without any positive ID, that PCO may be incompetent and/or unethical.
Other topic: what the pros write is that it's not the washing that kills bb's including their eggs, it's the drying – as long as the drying is on a sufficiently high temperature for sufficiently long. In fact it's said certain kinds of objects which would likely shrink after washing and drying won't shrink if only dried, as long as they were completely dry with no moisture in them before going into the dryer.
By the way, you've read about the PackTite, haven't you, available in USA at least for $300+ and highly recommended for killing bb's including their eggs by heating, not only clothes but many other types of items too that can't go into a dryer.
(If you buy a PackTite, do so through one of the many advertisements here on bedbugger.com which thus gets a small commission to help support the site.)
-
plankfarm
newbite
Joined: Apr '11
Posts: 11offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sat Apr 30 2011 15:19:36
#
Login to Send PM
I've read about the PackTite and will def. get one if we find that we do have a bed bug infestation. However, I didn't want to spend an extra $300 if not necessary.
I had the same feeling about the PCO suggesting treatment without confirmation of bed bugs. My main reason for suspecting them is because we had some rental furniture in our house for about a month during December and found that one of the box springs had a few in it. I haven't seen any sign of them since and the PCO sprayed for them back in Dec., however, just the fact that I'm noticing bites within a few hours of getting up in the morning makes me suspicious.
I was thinking that if the PCO still didn't find any signs of them when he comes on Monday, I'd give the beacon a couple of weeks to do it's thing and see if it catches anything before making any decisions about spraying.
-
jenh8sbugs
newbite
Joined: Sep '11
Posts: 6offline
Posted 1 year ago
Tue Sep 27 2011 8:40:27
#
Login to Send PM
plankfarm - 4 months ago »
I haven't been able to find any evidence of bed bugs, but keep waking up with bites. I also have a cat that sleeps with me most nights and am hoping these bites are maybe from fleas. (I forgot to give the animals their flea meds last month!) Anyways, I've set up a bed bug beacon and have a PCO coming out for the 2rd time to go through the house on Monday. When talking to my husband, the PCO suggested we start washing, drying, and bagging all our clothes in advance of his visit. He also mentioned that it may be virtually impossible to find them and he would recommend just treating the house even if he's not able to find any signs of them. What do you guys think about this? I know there are some pros on this site and I need all the help I can get. Would you treat a house after finding no fecal dropping, cast skins, or bugs? Also, do you really have to wash EVERYTHING or can I just stick everything in the dryer and fry the little suckers for a hour or so? To tell the truth, I'm afraid of shrinking everyone's clothes in the hot water, but if it must be done, so be it.
Thanks
Reply
You must log in to post.
