Waiting for the infestation to come to my apartment

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Waiting for the infestation to come to my apartment

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AnxiouslyWaiting

newbite
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Posted 3 years ago
Sun Nov 29 2009 6:55:31
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Hi,

I'm new to Toronto and moved into my apartment in a fairly upscale building in Toronto 3 months ago. On Thursday the tenants on my floor, and the 2 floors above and below me were informed that a tenant on my floor has an infestation of bed bugs and that a local pest control office will be dealing with the problem this Tuesday. I have begun the rituals of carefully washing and drying all of my clothing items and am trying to clean and store all of my figurines and shoes etc... according to the limited guidelines provided by the PCO and the tips listed on the site. As of yet, my husband and I have not seen any of the typical signs pointing to an infestation in our own apartment (bites, fecal matter, streaking on the mattress, bugs/eggs).

*I am worried that after the treatment to the apartment on my floor the bugs will be more likely to wander/flee from the infested apartment and relocate to my apartment. Are there any preventative measures that are recommended for these types of situations? *

I've already contacted the PCO and they do not want any Diatomaceous earth spread around the apartment afterwards. We are considering shelling out money for the mattress encasements and bug catchers around the bed feet. We don't have a lot of money to throw around (we spend all of it on rent) but peace of mind is so important. I feel completely panicked whenever I think of the horrible problems looming or already occurring to my suite.

Has anyone ever lived through a similar situation unscathed? Or am I just hoping for miracles at this point?
buggyinsocal

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Posted 3 years ago
Sun Nov 29 2009 12:36:39
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Every situation is different, but keep in mind that if the PCO is treating the bugs properly, the bugs are no more likely to flee after professional treatment than they were before.

If it makes you feel better, I had the bugs for several months without knowing it (didn't know they existed, thought it was mosquitos or fleas, you know, the usual deal), and they never migrated to my neighbors' apartments, even though I was often out of town for a week at a time.

I would continue to do everything you're doing right now.

Personally, I'm not sure if I would put the encasements on now.

On the upside, with encasements, you're not going to get new bugs in the mattress in the event that bugs are introduced to the home.

However, on the downside, if there's even single bed bug inside that encasement, the encasement must stay on the bed without any tears for at least 18 months. Since I have a cat who cannot be closed out of the bedroom (the bathroom is only accessible through the bedroom, and I refuse to keep her litterbox in the living room or kitchen which would be the only options if I closed her out of the bedroom) and I consider declawing to be profoundly cruel, encasements as part of the bed bug treatment strategy strike me as a really bad plan for my situation.

Everyone's situation is different, and the PCO you're working with will be part of the equation as some prefer to use encasements and some don't, but early in the battle a lot of people misunderstand how they are used: encasements can prevent bugs from getting into a mattress set. Encasements make it easier to inspect the mattress to see if any bugs have moved in because they prevent bed bugs from getting into hidey holes if there's a rip in the batting on the box spring an/or because they tend to come in colors and fabrics that make detection of bugs easier than the fabrics on some mattresses.

However, they don't deter bed bugs. And as I stated before, if there are bugs inside the mattress already, since we know isolation to kill bugs requires 18 months, that can be a long time to keep any mattress encasement from tearing while flipping the mattress or moving it.

Bug catchers around the feet, however (A much cheaper option, I might add) *do* sound like a good idea. The idea behind climb up interceptors is that they'll catch the bugs before the bugs get to you. In addition, they are designed to prevent the bugs from releasing their alarm pheromone. This means that you'll be able to keep an eye on any new arrivals without running the risk of driving any new arrivals into deep hiding. Since you don't know if you react or not, passive monitoring devices will probably give you a little more peace of mind.

Also, there seems to be at least some anecdotal evidence that bed bugs are more likely to migrate up and down rather than laterally when moving from one apartment to the next, but that's still in the early stages of being checked out for accuracy.

I know that bed bugs produce a bucketload of anxiety, so even the threat of an infestation is stressful. The good news is that the building sounds like it's on top of the issue, and they aren't in your apartment yet.

At this point, if I were you, I would just be vigilant and keep doing what you're doing.
AnxiouslyWaiting

newbite
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Posted 3 years ago
Sun Nov 29 2009 23:48:35
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Thank you so much for the advice! The more you read about bed bugs the scarier they seem and when they suddenly appear at your doorstep you realize how fragile your whole home really is.

I really appreciated the insight on your pets and the mattress encasements. I have a cat too and did not even think about what her nails might do to the security of the product. This site has been SO helpful in keeping my sanity and giving me a game-plan as to how to attack and preemptively clean the apartment and my stuff in the best manner possible.

9 million bags of dryed and bagged laundry crammed into my kitchen and bathroom, only a few more to go before the PCO comes!
Emmm

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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Nov 30 2009 9:45:30
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It sounds like you're doing the right thing. Not to mention, if the building or PCO were open about information with your neighbour's infestation, it may indicate a better PCO is taking care of the problem and that the building is dealing properly. So perhaps you won't see anything, and if you do, you won't face the nightmare situations plenty of other apartment folk face.

We had a small infestation, and the other apartments were treated with DE and something else (also given a full search). And over the entire time, they never ran into problems nor did they do any typical bed bug pre treatment. So, while of course you can run into bad luck, if the bugs are taken care of properly, you'll be less likely to face this, I'd think.

Good luck!
AnxiouslyWaiting

newbite
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Nov 30 2009 17:32:23
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I have talked to my building's office multiple times trying to get a better idea of what is going on. They have always been friendly, but it is quite clear that they know nothing about bed bug infestations and detection. I have also contacted the pest control office and they have answered most of my questions but do not seem to want to tell me what it is they will be doing to my suite.

The most thorough answer I received was that they will be using dragnet around the baseboards (but not in the kitchen) and they will not be treating the mattress or the bed frame. As my suite is being treated as a preventative measure, they will only be applying the dragnet once. I'm a little nervous because one of the ladies at the pest control office told me to bag EVERYTHING (books, papers, etc...) while the next time I called with a related question I was told that this was madness as my suite was only being preventively sprayed. I'm going to keep all the papers and books out because if I have a few mystery bugs it seems to make sense for me not to lock them up for a few weeks only to release them after the treatment has worn off. Here's hoping that this will be enough.
BugBoy911

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Posted 3 years ago
Wed Dec 2 2009 9:55:14
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AnxiouslyWaiting - 1 day ago »
I have talked to my building's office multiple times trying to get a better idea of what is going on. They have always been friendly, but it is quite clear that they know nothing about bed bug infestations and detection. I have also contacted the pest control office and they have answered most of my questions but do not seem to want to tell me what it is they will be doing to my suite.
The most thorough answer I received was that they will be using dragnet around the baseboards (but not in the kitchen) and they will not be treating the mattress or the bed frame. As my suite is being treated as a preventative measure, they will only be applying the dragnet once. I'm a little nervous because one of the ladies at the pest control office told me to bag EVERYTHING (books, papers, etc...) while the next time I called with a related question I was told that this was madness as my suite was only being preventively sprayed. I'm going to keep all the papers and books out because if I have a few mystery bugs it seems to make sense for me not to lock them up for a few weeks only to release them after the treatment has worn off. Here's hoping that this will be enough.

I hope everything works out for you. I really feel that what your doing is a little drastic for you are already letting the bedbug win over your feeling of normalcy and state of mind. If you are that worried that a bedbug will enter your place of living, you can seal up your apartment while all your laundry and cleaning of your residience is well "clean." Any crack or space, wether its within a cracked wall or baseboard, I would look into hiring a painter or if you are handy you can use clear silicone and seal up any spaces within your baseboards to prevent crossing into your apartment. For a state of mind you can place papaer glue monitors around the apartment behing furniture and along the back of your bed area or arond the room out of the way of site. In all honestly bedbugs really do not cross into other apartments from the host unless the problem has been going on for at least a year or 2, IMO this is not researched or proven scienfically yet this is what I"ve observed. AFer the pco treats, get back to living normal caues you have a very slim chance of contracting bedbugs from your fellow tenant on your floor.