What else can we do - 14 months and counting..... « Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums

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What else can we do - 14 months and counting.....

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2babiesplusbugs

newbite
Joined: Oct '08
Posts: 5

Posted 4 months ago
Mon Jun 29 2009 1:13:46
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Our problem started last May - we have:

1. treated ourselves
2. thermal treatment, steam, and peppermint spray on perimeter and in wall voids
3. re-sprayed walls higher
4. re-sprayed perimeter
5. another thermal, steam, holes drilled all over floor and poison inserted.

oh yeah, and at some point, the dog couldn't find anything, my husband and PCO weren't believing me but a few weeks later I found ample evidence to support my claims of being bit every night.

I am pissed off. I am bitter. This started about one week after the birth of my 2nd daughter - she sleeps in our bed and my 3 year old sleeps right next to us. Over the past year I have been the main victim, occasionally my husband. But now my girls are getting bit.

WHAT IS LEFT TO DO!!??

We found the HUGEST BB right after our last heat treatment, so big I said "No, that's not one" Well on closer inspection (and squeezing the blood out) it certainly was. And now my husband searches the bed and kills them each night.

My landlord has been great, paying for all this pricey work, but he also wants to spray something "this guy got in Yemen". Ummm, NO.

What do you do when you are desperate?

Moving is not an option for many reasons including we have a storefront here and cannot take the chance of such a major upheaval and bringing them with us.

To anyone who read this far - thank you.
Fearful_and_Buggy

junior member
Joined: Jun '09
Posts: 53

Posted 4 months ago
Mon Jun 29 2009 1:42:06
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That's a lot of treatments and a lot of frustration. Have all the treatments been of your own doing or have you had professionals come in to help? Who did your spraying and your thermal treatment?

You say you've had two thermals with no success. Were the thermal treatments done for the whole apartment building or just your apartment? Have there been any reports of other bedbugs in the building that aren't being treated? Are people traveling out of the country repeatedly (the comment about Yemen got me curious)?

From what I understand about BB, this sounds like a constant re-infestation issue and not a personal apartment issue.
2babiesplusbugs

newbite
Joined: Oct '08
Posts: 5

Posted 4 months ago
Mon Jun 29 2009 21:27:33
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Thanks for the reply. Only early on did we try to treat ourselves. The past 10 months have been with a great PCO. There are 3 other units in my building. They have all been inspected numerous times. We all know each other, are friends, socialize and have playdates. No one else has them.

I think these are the same bugs. We always get bit immediately after treatment.

The first thermal was our most successful. I seriously think we knock out all but a few nymphs / eggs. But within a week or so I started to get very small, unnoticable (sp?) bites on my feet and hands. This is the point when no one believed me. The bites kept coming and my PCO brought a dog who found nothing. Evntually the bites got bigger, looked like your textbook bb bites and we started finding them.

My landlord "knows someone" from Yemen - neither one of them live in the building.

I am at a loss.

My PCO said most things being sprayed nowadays are not working anymore. What DOES work?
buggyinsocal

oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,160

Posted 4 months ago
Mon Jun 29 2009 21:56:01
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If you trust the quality of the treatments you've been getting from the PCO, and it sounds like you do, I would look into the question of reinfestation.

Have the places that you work and/or any places that the children spend time (school, daycare, etc.) and/or your car(s) been thoroughly inspected?

How long did the PCO doing the thermal treatment take the temperature up, and to what temp? How long has the thermal provider been in business? Have they treated for bed bugs and/or termites before?

I know it's frustrating to keep finding them, but a little more info might help us narrow down our suggestions as to what your best bets for next steps might be.
2babiesplusbugs

newbite
Joined: Oct '08
Posts: 5

Posted 4 months ago
Tue Jun 30 2009 23:25:55
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i trust the PCO and he is also stumped as to WHY.

they heated all day long (12 hours total i believe) up to 150.

we do not have a car, no school, no daycare. my husband had a shop - never a bite or hint of them there. also he has numerous friends that stop by his shop and hang out, even late at night. no one haas bbs. He couln't be the only one bringing them home over and over....

sorry i know it sounds like i shoot every idea down, but we've been over and over the possibilities.

i think they are just super hidden and just a few have survived each time.

killerqueen is coming tomorrow.
buggyinsocal

oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,160

Posted 4 months ago
Wed Jul 1 2009 0:17:43
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No, I don't mind the ideas being shot down at all. Finding the bed bugs is often the pest control equivalent of a diagnosis of exclusion in medicine. (A diagnosis of exclusion is a condition that there aren't lab tests for, so pretty much you test the patient for anything that it might also be, and then if all those are ruled out, and the symptoms fit the one disease or syndrome left, that's your diagnosis. The similarity is that there are a lot of other possible options that have to be ruled out before you finally get to the heart of the matter.)

I'm glad to hear that KillerQueen is coming to take a look. Having an expert willing to do a thorough inspection in your residence is probably going to get to the root of the problem a lot faster than we can through playing twenty questions.

I do hope you'll update us on what he finds. I, at least, would appreciate it if it's not too much trouble. Not only am I curious by nature, but every report we get back from someone helps us give better advice to people in the future in similar circumstances.

I'll cross my fingers that KillerQueen can help you ferret out the root of your problem. In the meantime, hang in there.