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I have an infestation - possibly deriving from the move in/out of a couple people in the building, since I've never had them before.
Unfortunately, I've also had two anaphylactic reactions, one almost fatal. Luckily I always carry an epipen for totally unrelated reasons. I'm sleeping in the (bug-free) kitchen right now.
I have ordered Diatomaceous earth and am getting black garbage bags to sequester the bedding...
Anyone have any advice for dealing with this?
My apartment is in a 150 year-old haunted former brothel (including fabulous plaster putti and a huge ceiling) and I am reluctant to move.
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Jeff my condolences-I just recovered from bedbugs myself. What worked for me and my wife was re caulking EVERYTHING, YES EVERY CRACK, SEAM AND SEAL in the house after putting everything in bags and heat treating everything. If you need the contact info for a guy who has the heat treating bag you'll need, ill email it to you tonight- even if he doesn't live in your area he might know someone who does.
Its going to be a crucible. You're going to have to check everywhere and inspect every piece of furniture with the exterminator. They will show up in unusual places, check your bathroom especially and anywhere there is old moulding. We had to get rid of our bed and outr living room furniture, and we have yet to fully recover from that. But remember that you have to ACTIVELY KILL THEM ALL- or they will only come back again and again.
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You could try to ask Moorluck for advice - he worked in the pest removal business (at least before his move to Texas), IIRC.
Doh! I should have also bumped the lpm! Yes, he is a ranger who has been hunting vermin for years and enjoys all the bonuses associated with the class.
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Call your exterminator if you can afford it. If you're in a region known for them like Cincinnati or NY the price for the visits has gotten pretty low due to demand and if you are in a place that's rent controlled hit up your land lord.
Barring that while you wait pick up a steam gun. looks like a dust buster but is basically a high pressure scalding supersoaker and blast everything you plan on sleeping on.
After that put all your clothes in your dryer on HIGH for 15 mins. That kills them all off. Also remember when you are coming back from or going to other places to keep clothing contact to a minimum that way you avoid spreading and picking them up.
My suggestion is to also keep a set of clean cloths ready for when you get home that you only wear to sleep or in spaces you have cleared of the pests. This helps keep exposure and the chances of reintroducing them into said spaces low.
Also avoid using bug killers that are designed for other vermin like roaches. Most of those are built to be entice the prey and then be ingested by said vermin which makes them ineffective against those little bastards.
Also rubbing alcohol+spray bottle might be helpful. My mom has used it and I've found it to be okay but not nearly as good as steam gun plus exterminator.
hope that helps man.
OK. Thanks for the mask advice. I'm using food grade, which should be fine.
The earth sticks to their legs. When they lick it off it destroys their insides.
still be careful. Don't breathe in even food grade de directly.
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One guy who got rid of bed bugs eventually without exterminators used the following tactic...
First, get the bed free of bed bugs, using whatever methods you can, I like the steam gun idea.
Use old yogurt containers and put all four bed legs into said containers. Then wrap the outside of the yogurt containers with carpet tape. Make sure nothing else on the bed touches the floor and keep the bed well away from the wall.
Now any bedbug trying to reach you should get stuck on the carpet tape. If a pillow or sheet falls off the bed during the night run it through the dryer.
I have heard of bed bugs dropping onto a bed from the ceiling so you might want to carpet tape the walls near your bed as well.
Hmmm. I'm going to try to eradicate them first. My daughter lives with me part time and I don't want to chance things.
My ceiling is 10 feet up...
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I paid for an exterminator, it was $900 and it eradicated them. Had to wash every blanket/article of clothing in the house at once and dry for an hour. They guaranteed a follow up visit, and said most people get a secondary infection because they don't follow all the steps, I didn't need a follow up. I also shrunk all my sweaters and some nice stuff from the high dryer heat. And it got the GF to finally throw out a bunch of unused clothes.
Oh, and none of the tricks we read online worked, so careful w the diatomaceous earth or whatever. And the heat treatment is rough b/c you have to get every room in the house up to like 130 degrees, right?
It was horrible an We still have PTSD from that s$&+.
The infestation could have come from anywhere - if they came in on someone's clothes who was even there for a casual visit, that would be enough. You're going to need to work with your landlord to clear the entire building, or they'll just keep on coming back. If you can demonstrate that you have a life-threatening reaction to bedbug bites, that will get you points. Use them. Work the system. If word gets out that your building is infested (looks up and whistles innocently), people will stay away in droves. Be ready and willing to go to City Hall. Unless your landlord is a lifelong friend, he (or the company that owns the property) won't be terribly anxious to do anything that costs money (such as a wholesale extermination), so you can't have compunctions. You can't afford them, not with your life on the line. Welcome to the Bug Wars, soldier.
I say nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
More seriously, though just an unformed thought. If you book an appointment with an allergology doctor, you could discuss going through hyposensibilization treatment. It's not necessarily a good move, in that it could change the stuff you are allergic to, but it is often possible to reduce someone's sensibility to certain allergens. Now, getting allergic to grass instead may not be a life-improving suggestion, but almost-fatal reactions to bed bugs aren't so hot either. I would at least say it's worth a consultation about it.
I remember staying with a friend in Bondi (coastal suburb of Sydney, Australia). His girlfriend got all these weird marks all over her body. They were (at first, after visit to Doctor) concerned she had scabies and were very afraid they might spread to me so we all plastered ourselves with toxic anti-scabies cream all over (yep) our bodies. Twice. A few days apart. My friend's gf still had a nasty rash, and my friend and I were miraculously unaffected.
Later they worked out it was a bed bug infestation, and my friend's gf was having an ultra bad reaction to the bites. They were unable to eradicate the vermin from the flat (apartment) and broke the lease in order to escape. The landlord was completely, obstructively, uncooperative. Local opinion blamed the recent Sydney Olympics and influx of tourists/backpackers bringing them from overseas. ;) Gotta love a sunburnt country!
The reason I remember it is because I'm the dirty feral hippy and my friend was the corporate property mogul-type. And they were worried they'd infested me! [Wipes tears out of eyes] Good times.
@Jeff - didn't you just move there recently? That sucks - and it sounds like a fantastic building apart from the deadly vermin.
Yep, I've had scabies. Got 'em from a movie theater that had been around ever since dirt. Compared to bedbugs, they're a breeze to get rid of.
Jeff, Sissyl's suggestion about a consultation with an allergist is a great idea. An allergist would be able to tell you if desensitization would be possible, and, more importantly, would document the condition, so you'd have an expert backing you. We went through it with my brother (anaphylactic reaction to bee stings), and it came in very handy later on.
As I understand it, there are ALWAYS bed bugs. The types may vary, of course, but you really can't get rid of them for always. Having anaphylactic reactions to them sounds like living with a ticking bomb. Even if you solve this infestation, you can never be sure you won't end up there again. So, really, do talk to a doctor about the situation. You won't be the only patient with this problem, and they know what can (and should) be done.
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I cannot get a doctor at the moment. I live in the US, and have a pre-existing condition (and work freelance/am a single dad). Appointments w/o insurance run roughly $300 a pop and medicine or regular treatments even more (my epipens are $175 each). You have to be destitute to get free or reduced fees, and I'm not destitute. However, the costs should come down in January, with the ACA. I've been looking forward to some sort of allergy consultation for years and years. At the moment, it's insure me or insure my daughter.
So I have to find a way not to get bitten between now and then. I'm also locked into my lease through the spring.
However, only one wall adjoins another apartment. If I can eradicate the bugsy bugs I can sleep more soundly. It looks, after taking apart my and my daughter's bedding and moving the beds that the number of bugs is very small (and possibly simply got tracked in). This is good, since it will be easier to make the place inhospitable to them.
Hilariously, I bought an air mattress and a sleeping bag for sleeping in another, un-infested, room, and the air mattress turns out to have been defective. So I slept directly on the kitchen floor last night.
I cannot get a doctor at the moment. I live in the US, and have a pre-existing condition (and work freelance/am a single dad). Appointments w/o insurance run roughly $300 a pop and medicine or regular treatments even more (my epipens are $175 each). You have to be destitute to get free or reduced fees, and I'm not destitute. However, the costs should come down in January, with the ACA. I've been looking forward to some sort of allergy consultation for years and years. At the moment, it's insure me or insure my daughter.
So I have to find a way not to get bitten between now and then. I'm also locked into my lease through the spring.
However, only one wall adjoins another apartment. If I can eradicate the bugsy bugs I can sleep more soundly. It looks, after taking apart my and my daughter's bedding and moving the beds that the number of bugs is very small (and possibly simply got tracked in). This is good, since it will be easier to make the place inhospitable to them.
Hilariously, I bought an air mattress and a sleeping bag for sleeping in another, un-infested, room, and the air mattress turns out to have been defective. So I slept directly on the kitchen floor last night.
first off, I wish you nothing but the best in your search for insurance and help with your pre existing condition. Epipens remain an expensive lifeline for many and I don't think that's going to change soon. Of my wife and I, I am the one who is allergic to bedbug bites and I looked awful when I woke in the morning.
Regarding your apartment, I am in the exact same situation. The shared wall was the first one my wife caulked, and there was a significant decrease in bedbugs after that. My wife and I are still at odds with how we got the damnable things-I think they came from her uncles donated living room furniture(which we tossed), she thinks they came from next door as we have NEVER seen those neighbors since they moved in.
Yep, I've had scabies. Got 'em from a movie theater that had been around ever since dirt. Compared to bedbugs, they're a breeze to get rid of.
Jeff, Sissyl's suggestion about a consultation with an allergist is a great idea. An allergist would be able to tell you if desensitization would be possible, and, more importantly, would document the condition, so you'd have an expert backing you. We went through it with my brother (anaphylactic reaction to bee stings), and it came in very handy later on.
got scabies once when an infected woman stayed with my roommate a few years back. My roommate had an awful unable-to-sleep case and the.doctor thought he had eczema instead. I got a milder case on my butt (laughable now, but torture then). We lindaned ourselves up and that was that. I still remember having a nightmare where my body was essentially telling me there were parasites inside of me- one of the most surreal dreams I have ever had and one of the most direct conversations I have had with my own body.
I paid for an exterminator, it was $900 and it eradicated them. Had to wash every blanket/article of clothing in the house at once and dry for an hour. They guaranteed a follow up visit, and said most people get a secondary infection because they don't follow all the steps, I didn't need a follow up. I also shrunk all my sweaters and some nice stuff from the high dryer heat. And it got the GF to finally throw out a bunch of unused clothes.
Oh, and none of the tricks we read online worked, so careful w the diatomaceous earth or whatever. And the heat treatment is rough b/c you have to get every room in the house up to like 130 degrees, right?
It was horrible an We still have PTSD from that s@*&.
I'm still a little twitchy myself.
The infestation could have come from anywhere - if they came in on someone's clothes who was even there for a casual visit, that would be enough. You're going to need to work with your landlord to clear the entire building, or they'll just keep on coming back. If you can demonstrate that you have a life-threatening reaction to bedbug bites, that will get you points. Use them. Work the system. If word gets out that your building is infested (looks up and whistles innocently), people will stay away in droves. Be ready and willing to go to City Hall. Unless your landlord is a lifelong friend, he (or the company that owns the property) won't be terribly anxious to do anything that costs money (such as a wholesale extermination), so you can't have compunctions. You can't afford them, not with your life on the line. Welcome to the Bug Wars, soldier.
Get on the bounce, trooper!
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This thread gives me some ideas for a pretty nasty Call of Cthulhu game. (Just what is going on beyond the shared wall...?) In my case, it is a friendly Mexican grandmother, but there's also some old furniture on the porch beyond my bedroom window which might have got infested.
I did get scabies once from crashing with a friend in SF. Ended up at the free clinic there, which was much more accommodating than the ones down here in Santa Cruz.
This thread really makes me want to watch starship troopers again. Loved the cg movie that recently came out- it did a lot to unite the fractured fanbase.
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Just a suggestion but if you are gonna steam the mattress to kill off the vermin, I would immediately put it in a plastic, zip-shut cover and keep it there for at least a couple months. That way you aren't having to redo that step, and you can more easily deal with sheets and such without having the mattress getting re-infested....I would even bag the box-spring.
I had a red mite that infests birds infestation in my son's room a few years back and that helped in that process.
My only issues with this is that I hate the vinyl/plastic bags because they have toxins and stuff they release but I am overly concerned with such because my son is hyper-sensitive to toxins and his autism gets worse when exposure to that kind of stuff happens. (I moved him into his sister's room for the duration of our problem)
got scabies once when an infected woman stayed with my roommate a few years back. My roommate had an awful unable-to-sleep case and the.doctor thought he had eczema instead.
[Emphasis mine]Yup. Same thing happened to my friends GF. Quacks told them all sorts of things and ran a bunch of blood/dermal/allergy tests freaking them both out.
Then they found the bedbugs.
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Just a suggestion but if you are gonna steam the mattress to kill off the vermin, I would immediately put it in a plastic, zip-shut cover and keep it there for at least a couple months. That way you aren't having to redo that step, and you can more easily deal with sheets and such without having the mattress getting re-infested....I would even bag the box-spring.
I had a red mite that infests birds infestation in my son's room a few years back and that helped in that process.
My only issues with this is that I hate the vinyl/plastic bags because they have toxins and stuff they release but I am overly concerned with such because my son is hyper-sensitive to toxins and his autism gets worse when exposure to that kind of stuff happens. (I moved him into his sister's room for the duration of our problem)
I actually have an anti-allergy cover on my mattress, that's non-toxic-ish (this brand). I believe the actual mattress is bug-free. This means there weren't any seams for them to get borrowed into. I think they are primarily in the carpet and a pillow case.
My friends bedbug infestation came from the walls/cornices at night when they sensed warm bodies in the bed. Like that's not creepy.
I actually have an anti-allergy cover on my mattress, that's non-toxic-ish (this brand). I believe the actual mattress is bug-free. This means there weren't any seams for them to get borrowed into. I think they are primarily in the carpet and a pillow case.Just a suggestion but if you are gonna steam the mattress to kill off the vermin, I would immediately put it in a plastic, zip-shut cover and keep it there for at least a couple months. That way you aren't having to redo that step, and you can more easily deal with sheets and such without having the mattress getting re-infested....I would even bag the box-spring.
I had a red mite that infests birds infestation in my son's room a few years back and that helped in that process.
My only issues with this is that I hate the vinyl/plastic bags because they have toxins and stuff they release but I am overly concerned with such because my son is hyper-sensitive to toxins and his autism gets worse when exposure to that kind of stuff happens. (I moved him into his sister's room for the duration of our problem)
make sure your boxspring is protected as well- that's where they were on my bes. Little bastards love wood.
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I paid for an exterminator, it was $900 and it eradicated them. Had to wash every blanket/article of clothing in the house at once and dry for an hour. They guaranteed a follow up visit, and said most people get a secondary infection because they don't follow all the steps, I didn't need a follow up. I also shrunk all my sweaters and some nice stuff from the high dryer heat. And it got the GF to finally throw out a bunch of unused clothes.
Oh, and none of the tricks we read online worked, so careful w the diatomaceous earth or whatever. And the heat treatment is rough b/c you have to get every room in the house up to like 130 degrees, right?
It was horrible an We still have PTSD from that s&&*.
Wow $900? Over here it was like $260, but to be fair we were the #1 city for Bed Bug infestations at one time.
But yeah hit your land lord up man, it is his imperative to remove them so as to continue his business. Remember to try and avoid making it sound like you tracked them in or allowing the conversation to veer that way and you should be good.
Second is to steam! Steamgun and Steam the little bastards off everything you love and want to sleep on! If nothing else it's incredibly cathartic to know that you are basically lobster frying the little mothers to clean your sleeping arrangements.
Other thing that can help you gauge the severity to watch for the other signs of them namely their predators. Keep track of if you are seeing a lot of spiders or centipedes floating around your house especially in the weeks following your clean and extermination since bed bugs are rarely seen and can go dormant for awhile but their predators will still be looking for them.
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My friends bedbug infestation came from the walls/cornices at night when they sensed warm bodies in the bed. Like that's not creepy.
Dude read how they breed.
They are like a xenomorph nightmare made real.
Also the wrapping your bed and box spring is a great idea. Remember though to NOT REOPEN IT. Bugs can still be sealed in there and go dormant for up to 18 months so keep it closed and let them starve.
other thing you will probably want to start doing is keeping a set of "clean" clothes at the house that are bed bug free for you and your daughter and to change into these once you come home so as to not track more of them in. After that I would throw any clothes that have been outside into a laundry basket or some other preset spot that is off the ground and can be chucked or cleaned should it get infected. Remember to also keep said spot in a place that is easy to reach from your entry way so as to reduce time spent in infected clothes and the amount of ground you can traipse them through the apartment before removing them. Last thing you want to do is establish a decontamination zone that's deep in your house and having you or your daughter drag them all the way through your house before you swap into your clean clothes.
That should help keep your chances of exposing yourself again to a minimum.
ZOMG HOW THEY BREED IS A NIGHTMARE MADE FLESH
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When I had my time in the trenches with bedbugs infesting my apartment, it was amongst the worst periods of my life.
Thankfully, my apartment manager and company are awesome, so they paid for repeated apartment treatments. Along with this, I put everything that would fit into a hot dryer and then liberally coated my mattress, bedding, bed frame, and floor around my bed with diatomaceous earth.
It took a while to get rid of (because I took too long to diagnose, accept, and treat the problem), but they have not come back and I didn't have to move or throw anything out. My bed is against the wall, so I keep a 3-4" wall border of DME on the floor beneath my bed at all times, and I periodically re-dust the frame. Furthermore, all of the units in my apartment building now get periodically inspected for bedbugs and preventatively treated (which makes me assume that my infestation was a part of the whole building getting hit).
The good news is that I found out that DME can be found at most pet stores, as it is (I understand) a very good, non-toxic, flea treatment.
I did not know that! Wow! But I'd be wary of giving my furry child de-couldn't it harm them too? I thought it was dangerous for everything to breathe.
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Food-grade DME is basically safe (it's used in food!). Don't breathe it in if you can avoid it, but if you do breathe some in, you'll be fine. That's what is used to kill fleas, roaches, and bed bugs.
I have several bags arriving tomorrow to treat the room.
The one thing about laundry equipment and bedbugs - if they don't kill the bugs, you're just spreading them around. The dryer in my complex doesn't work very well, so I think that's a possible vector for how I got them in the first place. I talked to a person yesterday who explained how to heat-treat the infested bedding/clothes prior to washing them.
130 degree F heat will kill bed bugs. Don't use the dryer alone. Turh on the stove and oven if you have them.
They can't regulate their body temperature.
Unfortunately, I've also had two anaphylactic reactions, one almost fatal. Luckily I always carry an epipen for totally unrelated reasons.
Wow! Glad you are ok and hope you don't have any more reactions.
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I've safely used diatomaceous earth many times as a natural insecticide on my home garden. It works on slugs too.
130 degree F heat will kill bed bugs. Don't use the dryer alone. Turh on the stove and oven if you have them.
They can't regulate their body temperature.
Heating an apt to the necessary temperature is something only a professional should do. Seriously—don't try to use your oven! (Plus, you pay for that, unlike the exterminator!)
The heat treatment is more expensive than chemical treatment, but it's usually a one-shot treatment, esp. if they also do the adjoining unit at the same time. (Chemical treatment is a months-long process and requires repeated visits to kill first the adults, then any that hatch in the interval.)
Re: clothing: I'll second doc the grey's recommendation to wash and immediately dry on high anything you're about to wear, or keep clean + dried on high clothes somewhere that you can change into when you leave the house (and quarantine anything you wore at home in a plastic bag with diatomaceous earth). BUT, if you're getting the heat treatment, you don't have to go through the rigamarole of washing and/or drying on high all of your clothes at once. Anything that you don't need immediately, you can just leave in open bags to get nuked—so if possible, assign shrinkable sweaters, leather shoes, etc. to that category, because the heat treatment alone probably won't harm them. (You'll want everything off your bed and out of your dressers so the furniture can heat up enough). Good luck!
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I have an infestation - possibly deriving from the move in/out of a couple people in the building, since I've never had them before.
Unfortunately, I've also had two anaphylactic reactions, one almost fatal. Luckily I always carry an epipen for totally unrelated reasons. I'm sleeping in the (bug-free) kitchen right now.
I have ordered Diatomaceous earth and am getting black garbage bags to sequester the bedding...
Anyone have any advice for dealing with this?
My apartment is in a 150 year-old haunted former brothel (including fabulous plaster putti and a huge ceiling) and I am reluctant to move.
CALL YOUR LANDLORD!
They need to get a professional in there toot sweet.Killing the bugs isn't enough, the eggs can be anywhere, and are invisible to the naked eye, and can lie dormant for up to 18 months.
You're going to need to
1)probably toss your bed if you didn't have a bedbug resistant slip cover on it already, as well as any furniture that might be contaminated.
2)Move all your furniture/belongings into the kitchen where it is (presumably) tiled.
3)Have someone spray.
4)Vacuum all carpeted areas once or twice a day for 6 weeks.
5)Systematically tumble dry all of your clothes/towels/linens/etc. at high heat as to kill any eggs, and keep them in garbage bags until the 6 weeks is up, quarantining them.
6)Cross your fingers.
I had bed bugs 3 years ago and it was THE WORST! Such a hassle.
Well, my landlord is dragging his heels. His response: "that's too bad!"
Where do you live?
Tell him it's too bad for him. Talk to the tenant board or the BBB.Here in Wisconsin a tenant cannot be held liable for bedbugs.
Just remind him that it's his property, and if left undealt with it is a public health hazard for you (his tenant/customer) as well as others in the building.
Basically your landlord is a dick for not being responsible and/or empathetic. Don't take his s#%~. Learn your rights.
Fair enough, but make sure you tell him you'll challenge it in court.
I know, when you like where you live the landlord has you over a barrel, but considering how much it can cost I would recommend you play hardball.
In the meantime do the rest of the stuff. Try to cordon off the infected areas and start quarantining your laundry.
You're gonna be in for a bumpy ride I'm afraid to say. It's a real nightmare :-/
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130 degree F heat will kill bed bugs. Don't use the dryer alone. Turh on the stove and oven if you have them.
They can't regulate their body temperature.
Heating an apt to the necessary temperature is something only a professional should do. Seriously—don't try to use your oven! (Plus, you pay for that, unlike the exterminator!)
The heat treatment is more expensive than chemical treatment, but it's usually a one-shot treatment, esp. if they also do the adjoining unit at the same time. (Chemical treatment is a months-long process and requires repeated visits to kill first the adults, then any that hatch in the interval.)
Re: clothing: I'll second doc the grey's recommendation to wash and immediately dry on high anything you're about to wear, or keep clean + dried on high clothes somewhere that you can change into when you leave the house (and quarantine anything you wore at home in a plastic bag with diatomaceous earth). BUT, if you're getting the heat treatment, you don't have to go through the rigamarole of washing and/or drying on high all of your clothes at once. Anything that you don't need immediately, you can just leave in open bags to get nuked—so if possible, assign shrinkable sweaters, leather shoes, etc. to that category, because the heat treatment alone probably won't harm them. (You'll want everything off your bed and out of your dressers so the furniture can heat up enough). Good luck!
Pretty much this, with the exception of washing all the clothes. Don't, if you get a heat treatment done (which I do recommend over chemical treatments in a home) pull your clothes out of the drawers and toss them in the middle of the floor. I'm not going to lie, your house will be tossed and in total disarray when they're done, but it simply must be done to kill the bloodsucking little bastiches.
Edit: I see where it was already stated about not having to wash the clothes first, I just got home after a 11hr day so I just skimmed the post to start with. My bad.
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Okay.
1. Call the county health department and tell them that you have an infestation, and that getting bitten may kill you. Ask if there is a local allergist or allergy clinic that uses a sliding scale for billing if you have no insurance. Get your name and the situation into their records; this is why they exist in the first place.
2. Call the doctor who prescribed the epipen for you and explain the situation. Ask if he/she can work with you or if he/she knows of someone who can. If he/she is in another city or state, ask for a recommendation. Some of them are absolute heroes; my husband's allergist volunteers half the year with Doctors Without Borders, and he's in his late 60s. I'd send you to him in a New York minute, but we're up in Sonoma County.
@Ambrosia Slaad - DE works on slugs? Really? We have a bunch of it in the garage [/fangy grin].
Unfortunately, I've also had two anaphylactic reactions, one almost fatal. Luckily I always carry an epipen for totally unrelated reasons.Wow! Glad you are ok and hope you don't have any more reactions.
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I've safely used diatomaceous earth many times as a natural insecticide on my home garden. It works on slugs too.
Does it work on fire ants?
Oh one BIG +1 for calling the county. Bedbugs and the like aren't a state issue, they are a county issue- go with local government on this one.
