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Toss the couch?
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Well this is just grand...
newbite
Joined: Mar '11
Posts: 2offline
Posted 2 years ago
Fri Mar 4 2011 21:50:04
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Our saga started about two weeks ago when my wife called me & said that she woke up with several bites & that we may have bedbugs in our NYC apt (I know, shocking that a NYC apt has a problem) I came home early from my conference, we made arrangements with our landlord to have an exterminator inspect our apartment the next day, and saw what we thought was a small bit of evidence on our mattress (fecal spotting). We packed everything into garbage bags, vacuumed everything & had the place sprayed two days later. We now have encasements on both the boxspring and the mattress, I've placed diatomaceous earth along the wall near the bed, the couch, and any other piece of furniture that has cloth. Finally, I've placed double-sided carpet tape on the legs of the crib & the bedposts, and I've ordered some of the ClimbUp Interceptors.
After that, nothing for 10 days until -- my wife wakes up with a large number of bites again on her upper torso after falling asleep on the couch while watching TV. The same thing happened again last night, which leads us to think that the couch may have been the primary problem from the beginning (her general sleep ritual is to fall asleep on the couch while watching TV before moving to the bed later in the night).
I currently show no signs of any bites, but I don't sleep on the couch -- or I could be one of those individuals who has been bitten, but is not outwardly affected. Fortunately our 13-month old baby shows no signs of being bit either.
At this point we're a bit lost. We haven't SEEN a bedbug yet, but in the words of my wife, "I look like a leper" from all the bites she has on her. We haven't seen any of the fecal spotting either on either the couch or the bed. We know the apartments across the hall (with whom we share a kitchen wall) had bedbugs for at least the past year and that our problems started when they began renovating the apartment after she moved out (elderly woman with intractable Alzheimers). As an aside, we also started developing a small roach problem as she deteriorated, which again got worse when they renovated the apartment -- I heard a rumor that bug bombs may have been used as part of this process, which I understand to be the worst possible thing you can do.
Right now we have another appointment with the exterminator scheduled in 10 days. until then, we are seriously considering throwing out the couch given that appears to be the focal point. Does that seem like a wise plan or should we wait until the next extermination?
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oldtimer
Joined: Mar '08
Posts: 2,545offline
Posted 2 years ago
Fri Mar 4 2011 22:10:38
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Can you isolate the sofa with climb ups until the PCO comes?
In most cases people don't need to toss out furniture. Given the fact that you haven't seen anything yet ... I wouldn't go turning your life upside down. Can you photo the suspected fecal traces and post them online?
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Well this is just grand...
newbite
Joined: Mar '11
Posts: 2offline
Posted 2 years ago
Fri Mar 4 2011 22:48:01
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At this point I'm not looking to remove the mattress from its encasement, which is where my wife saw the small spots. Our PCO is coming back in about another 10 days -- I do have double-sided carpet tape on the sofa legs, and we will have Climb-ups on the legs as well shortly.
I will also try to post some pics of my wife's bites tomorrow. For now, thanks for any advice, and take care all.
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jrbtnyc
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Joined: Sep '10
Posts: 1,001offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sat Mar 5 2011 18:32:12
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KillerQueen - 20 hours ago »
Can you isolate the sofa with climb ups until the PCO comes?
...KQ, can you explain. Would isolating the sofa via climb ups under its legs actually be sufficient in your experience. I would have bet you would say that could be useless, because can't bugs just live inside a sofa indefinitely and grow and prosper and even breed new generations there, if they're getting meals without having to depart from the sofa and re-enter it. That's the same thing, isn't it, that they often do inside beds, especially when they can live inside a box spring which offers myriad nooks and crannies just like the inside of a sofa does. They can feed and multiply and never have to exit the bed so they'll never encounter climb ups in that situation – could be exactly the same with a sofa, couldn't it.
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oldtimer
Joined: Mar '08
Posts: 2,545offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sun Mar 6 2011 14:19:40
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I suggested using the climb ups merely to hold over the problem until the PCO got back in to treat the sofa again.
No, climb ups will not solve the problem.
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old timer
Joined: May '07
Posts: 978offline
Posted 2 years ago
Tue Mar 8 2011 2:11:24
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KQ why?
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oldtimer
Joined: Mar '08
Posts: 2,545offline
Posted 2 years ago
Tue Mar 8 2011 19:10:17
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Winston O. Buggy - 16 hours ago »
KQ why?You lost me ?
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