Bed Bug Treatment
This page is a compilation of bed bug treatments offered by visitors to the site. When we hear of a treatment, be it a way to kill bed bugs or treatment for a bedbug bite, we list it here (so that you don’t have to read through 100′s of comments).
If you are not sure you have bed bugs, but need to know how to spot them, then check out our Bedbug Checklist; this short but concise list is a great way to quickly spot infestations.
If you find a treatment that works for you, please, take a few moments and leave a comment so that others may benefit from your experience.
How to Kill the Bed Bug – Visitor Suggested
The most common suggested solution for killing bed bugs (from visitors) has been to use Diatomaceous Earth because it kills insects by dehydrating them.
One of the visitors (Leanna) suggested this:
Go to a pet feed store and buy Diatomaceous Earth. It is 100% safe, chemical free, and all natural. God bless mother earth for that. It is also very cheap. The parasites have a waxed shell and the powder (ditomasis fossilized earth) sticks to their bodies and dehydrates them. They eventually dry up and die.
Leanna also suggested using Diatomaceous in the follow areas:
- Under your mattress
- Along the baseboards in your place
- On your bed frame
- Under all your furniture
Krista stated that she had a hard time finding Diatomaceous Earth, that it is also referred to as Silicone Dioxide and found that ChemFree Insect Killer is the same thing, inexpensive and available at any store.
Sherry says that Neem Oil works great as a bed bug repellent.
You can spray a mixture of 3 parts rubbing alcohol with 2 parts water on the bedbugs to get rid of the ones you see. This won’t do much for the bugs that remain hidden, but it will kill the ones you spray.
How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs – used by Pest Control Companies
The method most used by pest control companies is a mixture of steam treatment and insecticide, usually a solution with d-Phenothrin mixed in. d-Phenothrin is a non-systemic insecticide which is effective by contact and as a stomach poison. Used for power-spray, mist, thermal fog, aerosol and ULV applications. The major use of d-phenothrin is in the control of nuisance insects such as bed bugs and human lice.
There is mixed opinions on the bed bugs ability to detect insecticide; because of this, some companies are now using Chlorfenapyr which is non-repellent and effective for a period of ti
Below, we cover steam treatment and what you need to know, plus mention a few other methods of pest control.
Steam Treatment
Steam is the most common method of pest control and will eliminate all stages of the bed bug, but not necessarily all bedbugs. Studies suggest that steam treatment followed by insecticides is a better solution than insecticides alone; the bugs that steam misses will be have to make it through the insecticide increasing your odds of success.
Not all steam cleaners work and it’s suggested that you select a cleaner that has the following:
- Produces ‘low vapor, high temperature’ steam.
- Dry steam (it will still be damp. Air out after to prevent mold).
- Use a machine that has continuous flow to avoid ‘reheat’ downtime.
- Steam should not be too powerful so that bed bugs are not blown deeper into cracks.
- Use a steamer with multiple jet steam heads
When steaming, you need to be as close to the bugs as possible; just a few centimeters is all it takes to decrease the temperature to a non lethal dose. The steam head should be moved along at a rate of only 30cm per every 10-15 seconds.
Start with the mattress making sure to treat the seams, labels and any other attachments. Next, move to the chairs and sofas taking care with cushions, seams and buttons. Pull out beds should be treated just like a mattress. Continue to surrounding areas and then move out.
Do not steam electrical outlets as the steam head may make contact through steam or by directly coming into contact with wires.
Heat Treatment
Bed bugs are very sensitive to heat and are rapidly killed when exposed to temperatures over 45°C. If your are using heat to kill the bed bugs, it needs to happen as fast as possible or the gradual temperature increase will cause the bugs to scatter and possibly lead to further infestation, such as to the room next door or the floor above, etc.
When using heat to control your infestation, remember that some material is more resistant to heat than others, such as your mattress or couch; if they are in there, the temperature may not be as hot as the surrounding area.
WARNING: Also be aware that some items will explode, such as aerosol can which state on the label of the container to not store them in temperatures greater than 120 degrees Fahrenheit. 114 degrees Fahrenheit is recommended for bed bugs and care should be taken not to exceed this temperature! Also consider photographs and heat sensitive materials when considering this type of pest control.
Cold Treatment
If you’re looking for a completely chemical free non-toxic solution to eliminating bed bugs, then Cold Treatment is answer. Bed bugs can become resistant to pesticides over time, but when using cold treatment, the bugs die, regardless of how resistant they are.
In Europe and Australia, they use a product called Cryonite. This looks like an oxygen tank on wheels with an attached nozzle. Cryonite is really carbon dioxide snow that once in contact with the bed bug, it causes their insides to freeze; death occurs when the snow crystals land on the bug and convert to CO2 gas, a reaction that requires energy that is taken from the bug causing their cell water to crystallize to ice.
Because this method of bed bug control is poison free, it has the following advantages of other methods:
- No need to evacuate the area
- In kitchens, pest control can actually happen while food prep continues
- Can be used on surfaces in direct contact with food
- Hotels can rent as soon as treatment is completed
- No chemical smell or dust to attach to surfaces
- No cleaning after treatment necessary (can’t hurt)
- Hospitals and nursing homes can function during treatment
Most of all, this is discreet bed bug treatment unlike other methods such as smoke treatment which can draw attention as smoke escapes from windows.
You’ll still have to bag clothing and wash with hot water (120+), clean up areas, vacuum before treatment, etc – something you should do with any method of pest control.
Note that you can also freeze the bed bugs by placing items in the freezer with a target temperature of -26 F for a few days. It takes less time the colder you make it.
Smoke Treatment
You may hear pest control companies talk about smoke treatment for controlling bed bugs. This is a canister that generate a large amount of smoke which contains Permethrin Synthetic Pyrethriod Insecticide.
One the bedbug smoker has been activated you will not be able to return to the property for at least four hours (each product has a different time). I’m not sure how effective this is.
See our Bedbug Checklist for a list of areas bedbugs love to hide!
How to Treat a Bed Bug Bite
By far, the most popular suggestion for dealing with bites is using Tea Tree Oil. Tea Tree Oil is an essential oil derived from steam distillation of the leaves of Melaleuca Alternifolia. It’s the oil from these leaves that are used for medicinal purposes, such as healing cuts, burns, bites and infections.
Tea Tree Oil is said to have antiseptic and anti-fungal properties. Uses other than treatment for bed bug bites include: Acne, Lice, Thrush, Dandruff and many more.
Note: Warnings found on the internet claim that tea tree oil may alter hormone levels and unexpected breast enlargement in boys. Undiluted oil may irritate skin or cause redness and blisters. Tea tree oil should not be taken internally. Don’t use tea tree oil if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Here are a few visitor suggestions:
Sue offers this:
There’s a great folk remedy for the itching: In the bath or shower, use water just as hot as you can stand to treat the bites for a few minutes. It itches intensely for a few seconds, but then there is relief for many hours.
Lei states that Hydrocortisone helps deal with the itching.
Bug Buffet says that the allergy medication she took for her cold symptoms seemed to help and believes that it was the antihistamine in the medication that helped deal with the itching. She also claims that a hot bath, although itching increased momentarily at first, felt much better after.
Naomi attributes her relief of itching bed bugs bites to household ammonia placed on a cotton ball and held on the bite for a few minutes. The relief was not instantaneous, but after a bit, it stopped.
Chrissie said that a dab of Essential Oil of Basil with a cotton bud on each bite brings the ‘poison’ the bug has deposited to surface (she lances her bites with a sterilized pin (flame heat/wipe clean)). She then dabs the bed bug bites with tea tree oil and then some lavender oil and her itching goes away.
Sam uses crotamiton creme followed by lotrix creme for 15 days to stop the itching and clear things up.
Rachel had doctor prescribe her betamethasone valerate to relieve the itching. She says it works, but doesn’t get rid of the bites.
Bridget’s Dr. prescribed a topical cortisone cream to stop the itching and was told that dyphenhydramine (Benadryl) will stop the itching too.
Julie’s Doctor suggested using teatree oil as a repellent and fucidin H on the spots. He suggested that I should spray everything with the green baygon even the mattresses.
Claude mentioned:
That a number of people have claimed they relieve the pain by applying hot water (120 F) to the area of the bedbug bite. Care must be taken to not burn your skin but also understand that if it’s not hot enough, it may make the area bitten worse.
To help reduce burn risk, don’t apply the hot water to anyone except yourself. You can also use a wash cloth to apply the hot water to help further reduce injury.
Some believe that the heat from the water overloads the ends of your nerves and prevent them from telling your brain to itch. Some believe that the heat causes your body to release more histamine than usual and thereby leaving less histamine around the bite. Whatever the reason, it’s commonly used as a solution to itching caused by bites.
Disclaimer: These Bed Bug Treatments are suggestions from people visiting our site and kind enough to leave a comment helping others. I have no idea if they work or not and no idea how safe, if safe at all, any of these treatments are. You should consult a doctor before acting on any of these comments. I’ve listed them so that you can further research them, not act upon them. ALWAYS consult a doctor before acting on any of this information. We are not medical professionals.
Most Popular Pages Listed Below
Can bed bugs live in TV’s. The apartment was treated by an exterminator and the TV is in the living room. The bugs were found in the bedroom. Also does freezing the clothing work? Or maybe drycleaning?
sorry, r, but we finally had to call the exterminator….. i just can’t deal with them. we had to borrow money, but to get rid of these things, i’ll do anything! we moved everything out except the furniture and pictures, and they spray next week. it is costing us 500 dollars and a storage. good luck!
I’ve had bed bugs for maybe 2 months now. They started in my bedroom. We treated it and seemed to have contained it but the problem is.. they are now in my mother’s bedroom and my living room. This is enough to make me sick. I really don’t know what to do.
I’ve been using the DE powder and every spray imaginable. I’m about ready to just move and leave everything behind, not that I really have the money to do so. I really cannot afford an exterminator as they cost up to and over $1000. I simply don’t have that money.
Are there any success stories out there to make me feel positive about this? I’m getting knots in my stomach and losing my appetite because of this. Can I really get this matter taken care of in my house on my own without spending an extreme amount of money? Or will I have to move?
Also, I read about washing your clothes in hot water and drying them as the bugs can’t live through the heat. I have no dryer at the moment, is washing them in hot water enough? Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.
How do you get rid of the bite scars? My daughter’s bites don’t itch anymore but scars have formed.
BOROX AND SALT are the CHEAPEST MOST EFFECTIVE way to get rid of bed bugs…. you mix half and half and sprinkle everywhere…. read below for more directions…and for your clothes stick them all in plastic garbage bags , black ones and leave them in the sun for a day then wash completely in hot water….we have not seen any since and glad someone listened on this page Borox (its laundry detergent) costs like 2 dollars at the store
thanks, abel. we have already moved the furniture out, and treated the area with 3 kinds of bedbug spray, used poison on the couch, soaked it with cedar oil, and covered it with plastic, in the sun. we have not had any in the bedroom, and when we moved the furniture out in the heat, the only thing the bugs came out of was the couch. we are treating all of it though, anyway. i also got some DE, and am going to use that. all the items that we think may be infested is in black plastic bags in the sun, and the furniture is soaked with cedar oil in the sun. my fingers are crossed!
Sue,
i believe the oil is a repellent. it hasn’t worked for me, but you could try lavender oil instead. it has many benefits. it can help keep the bugs away from you as they hate string smells. it also helps you sleep more relaxed. and you could also mix it with you laundry if you really like the smell.
but you should really try to kill them instead of helping them migrate to another room or perhaps another house. you could start by vacuuming you bed, floors, and baseboards. then spray rubbing alcohol in any opening near your bed. alcohol dries them out and kills. then you could do what “alex” suggests and turn your bed into an island. i tried this and had great results, but i uses mouse traps under my bed legs instead. it did work tho.
i hope you can rid yourself of these modern vampires. the world would be a better place without them.
my BROTHER brought me bedbugs! will the cedar oil work like they say?
Make your bed an island!!!! These words have changed my life (ok, maybe not my life, but my sleeping experience)! I had (have…) bed bugs. The trick is this – make sure you have a bed frame (initially I didn’t – so the box was right on the floor) – cover the spring box and the mattress with a good quality mattress cover (you can get the type which is actually rated for bed buy infestations). It’s CRITICAL that you don’t rip the cover when you put it on and that you DO NOT cross contaminate by re-using the same covers, etc.
Now – here comes the most important part which almost everybody is unaware of: make your entire bed an island, so the bugs cannot climb onto the bed, do this: get 4 (or 5 if your bed frame has 5 legs) plastic containers, or glass jar lids, and place them under each leg – and fill them with oil! so this way, if the bugs even manage to climb the plastic containers/lids, they will just fall into the oil almost eliminating the chance of them being able to climb the frame and getting to you. Good luck!!!!
Excellent tips James, thank you for sharing, and for the video!
Jim
Replie to Ann W
annW i wouldn’t go threw with it the problem with that is bed bug will run too the walls ask them if there going to get inside the wall if they say yes. if your going to shell out that kind of money go with the therma treatment, it’s new and they come to your house, see the video at the top of this page. I would go with these guys Ann w
Hi all i see a lot of people having problems with bed bugs.We had the same problem i freaked out so did my wife but after reading up on these thing, i manage to be bed bug free. I try to be straight to the point with steps that can help you guys like it work for me.
Good luck let me know if this help some of you folks.
Hi Ann,
Vikane (made by DOW) is really sulfuryl fluoride which replaces methyl bromide (harmful to the ozone layer) and is for serious infestations; your place will be tented, every living thing removed and then it’s treated with this deadly gas, and it takes three times as much to kill bed bugs as it does termites! The tent remains in place for about 18 hours, then must be ventilated for 6 more hours. Many pest control companies claim that the Vikane Gas Fumigant will kill 100% of the bed bugs and any eggs.
Ann, will you do us a favor write back and let us know exactly what they did and how much they charged? If possible, pictures would be great, but certainly not necessary.
Good luck – this should do the trick.
I talked with Terminix and they are using Vikane Gas Fumigant. He said it will kill anything…including the eggs. Has anyone know anything about this product or had any experience. The house will be tented for 3 days. I’m suppose to sign the paperwork tomorrow for them to tent on Saturday. Please if anyone has had an experience with Terminix or Vikane Gas please, please tell me. Thank you
I’m considering having my house tented by Terminix for bedbugs. I know its expensive but it is worth my sanity!!!!!! They tell me that it will kill the eggs. Does anyone know if this is correct or not? Please someone respond ASAP!!!!
This summer will be two years since we noticed we have bed bugs. We have tried a powder that drys them out, but when I tested the theory and put some bed bugs in a glass jar it took 7 to 10 days for them to die. We figured we had them when I was getting bit sitting in the upstairs living room wearing a sweat shirt, and finally my mom found them. My father who is a hoarder brought them in on something from a thrift store, even though he tries to say it was from his brand new bed from the mattress company. Well because of my dads hoarding, his room is so infested that they are living in colonies on the ceiling and he tracks them through the house.
I live in the basement and spray 3 times a week on all my furniture. I use Rest Easy spray from Bed Bath and Beyond. It kills on contact, repels, and is all natural. I am allergic to the bites, they will cause me to break out in hives near the site so I am obsessed with getting rid of them. My father on the other hand wears them in his clothes and we can’t take him anywhere, we have tried everything our house and the only thing that has seemed to work is constant cleaning and de cluttering around the rest of the house. But we can’t do much with having animals and my dad not doing his part.
We called a few exterminators and was quoted $200 just for his room cause of how cluttered and infested it is, but there is nothing from keeping them from spreading even more. I will be moving next week into my place and plan on steam cleaning my furniture and then spraying while they sit out in the heat all day.
With my dads room, we literally have to throw everything out the window and put him in a nursing home. So try Rest easy, vacuum, de clutter, and hope for the best. Oh and get rid of the pest who brought or keeps bringing the pests in.
Keith Gordon –
We just had our second treatment done by an exterminator. Early April, we realized we had a big bed bug problem on one of the two couches in our living room. We threw out the couch and had them spray (Suspend SC and Sterifab).
Mid-may (about six weeks later) a friend stayed over on the OTHER couch and was eaten alive. Since then, we have noticed that the couch was covered in them. However, we did watch the PCO treat it.
Today, we threw out couch #2 and were treated again. This time, PCO did not find a single bug, but sprayed all over anyway.
A few questions:
This has been a trying experience and I want to be cautious, but I want things to go back to normal asap!
DE works excellent as a pesticide and has one of the best success rates around, not to mention it is environmentally safe and not harmful to us! You can buy DE (Diatomaceous Earth) in almost any feed and supply store for cheap. Are you sure you applied it the right way?
I got them when my landlord used a bug bomb in the apartment above us, which had apparently been infested for at least 8 months… I tried using DE, as I am chemically sensitive, but it didn’t work. At the 7 month point, the landlord came and sprayed in our apartment, so I couldn’t be in my home for a week (tried on day 3, but it shut my lungs down.) He sprayed the same pesticide again at the 8 month point. We’ve been fighting bed bugs for about 8 1/2 months now…
We can’t afford to hire a professional bed bug exterminator ourselves! I’ve done research and found a couple products that sound promising: it’s just a matter of scrounging up the cash so we can try them, and having my brother or nephew come in and do it for me.
Hi Guys,
First of all I want to thank everyone who has shared. I started getting bedbug bites the first week of May. I have not found the nest, but have found 3 of those bastards! I to am going nutz, the last two weeks I have been bawling like I found out I had Cancer or something. I pray myself to sleep every night, and I am at the end of my rope!
First of all I have a slum lord (landlord). I moved in here because the property we were renting was sold and we had to leave immediately, so we took the first thing we could find. Since then its been hell! First maggots, then mice, then we found 1 roach (haven’t seen one since). It’s just been one thing after another. Last May we finished our 1 year lease now we are month to month. The landlord called his personal exterminator (who is not from a company. He showed up at 1:30pm came in looked at my bed and says I don’t see anything. I then showed him the bedbugs that I froze and my bites, and he goes O’ yeah you got em. NO KIDDING! He did a quick spray and I’m still getting bit. He didn’t inspect anything! He told me he’s charging my landlord $150.00 for treatment, which to sounds way to cheap!! I live in Easton, PA. From what he said my case is mild, another family he had seen across town had bedbugs so bad that when he picked up the cushions on the couch they were all over. I don’t want mine to get that bad!!
I hear everyone talking about DE. I went to Walmart, because someone said its name there was Nano. WHERE CAN I BUY IT ON-LINE or IN STORE???? I also hear some places are just buying it and repackaging it. I don’t want to get something that doesn’t work> PLEASE HELP!
Please forgive my spelling errors and again thank you to all !
Hi,
I haven’t gotten any bed bug bites that are visible (thank god for that) but I always have this stinging feeling while I am watching TV sitting in my couch. Also I have seen little black spot on my bathroom counters. When I use my finger tip to get it off, it comes out easily like a ink smudge. So I am not quite sure if my apartment is bed bug free.
I have been going through this for the past couple of weeks now and have been stressed because of the bed bug issues. So I was thinking about using this product show in the picture and just need your feedback on it. I would really appreciate if you could tell me other ways that I can apply to be sure that the bed bugs are still there.
Thank you.
Bibhuti
Ok so im glad i found this page it was very helpful, the information given by everyone…and just knowing that im not the only one with these creepy bugs!
I JUST discovered them, and i dont know how i didnt notice them before…my mattress was infested with them. I dont have a light or lamp n my bedroom so when i go to bed its completely dark so i never see them nor did i notice bites or even have reaction to the bites. however, the other day i went in the AM to sleep and was lying there for about 25 minutes and happened to open my eyes an see a bug, not realizing what it was i went to kill it and as i moed i saw another and another and so i jumped up and OMG they were scattering all underneath where i was lying i started screaming and lifted up the blankets and they were there too tons of them…omg, it was a nightmare come true! it was DAYLIGHT and they were all over my bed. once i realized what they were i pulled the fitted sheet off the bed and saw all i nthe seems…more big juicy ones and shells or something. … i freaked and cried and freaked somemore! i called every exterminator in the phone book and all were soo expensive, and i have no money. finally i found a guy who only charged $300 and guarentees for a year. …and maybe sensing my panick , he offfered to come and inspect for free, and he came in 20 mins to my door. so he inspected and was amazed that it was as bad as it was and i had not known, he inspected my kids bedrooms also and said that they were not to bad which he was also shocked because of the amount i had in my room he assumed they would have travelled to the other rooms too. any way he came the next day and did the whole house. he did inform us to bag everything which i am going crazy …i have taken everything possible out of dressers and closets and gbagged them, and have been trying to wash and rebag them, we wrapped the mattress and box spring and threw it out the window lol, ( i refused to bring it threw the house) the guy did warn us that we will still see some until he comes back in 2 weeks then we should be i nthe clear, but now after reading im worried that this is gonna be hell. we are tearing out the carpets in every room too, and baseboards.. i dont care, i wil llive like that if it means getting rid of them. but just like a post i read on heer i feel like theyre all over my scalp and in my hair, i feel so itchy on my head and it s driving me insane… twic e ive broken into tears and had to have my kids check my head to see if there were bugs …the man assured me it was psychological but i feel it and it s freaken me out!!!!i have big thick hair and i know that if stuffs in their it wont come out! I hope this works, i hope the exterminator works…i have seen 2 today …he sprayed yesterday…but again he said that would be the case for now…. i think i might just go get that DE that everyones talking about just to be sure…but what to do about my head/hair aside from shaving it off? I wish everyone on here and every where else all the best in dealing wit hthis bed bug issue!!
I found bed bugs just before Christmas, when the superintendant told me the man that moved out upstairs was infested with them. I have sprayed hot shot spray and scrubbed the rug with hard scrup brushes to get rid of the eggs, because i have done research on this digusting topic. The other night after all my spraying I saw two bugs in the apartment. Other tenents are not cleaning or keeping up with spraying. I live in a one room studio and have mostly everything in bins and i want to move, but can’t find a place yet and want to leave bug free. A saleslady in home depot told me to get a steamer because her niece suffered terribly with bedbug bites and ended up on antiobiotics. Please tell me what type of steamer should i get. I am loosing sleep. I am not infested with them, but this whole floor is now throwing furniture out and i just don’t want any more of them. Carolyn
Sooo I wanted to update on my progress with the DE. I found it in 200g bottles at the local hardware store for $8.99, I also found it afterwards cheaper at Wal-mart, but the brand from WM had an attractant mixed in for ants, etc., where as the one I found locally did not, so I continued to purchase it. I’m on my 3rd bottle, it has a little nozzle, but I ended up for the most part mixing the DE in water and painting it where I wanted it.
I painted it around the floor boards and the moulings by the ceiling, I took apart all my dressers and painted lines on all sides of the drawers as well as the frame. I dusted inside and all around my couch, then I made DE barriers around every door and window in the house (just in case).
I live in an older building so there are a lot of crack and crevices, when the exterminator came the one time, he said they could even be coming up through the floor boards. I removed almost everything from the bedroom and then dusted the floor in there and painted the walls, boards, and moultings. I have an Ikea metal bed frame, so I lucked out there, but the boards that hold the matress up are wood, so I painted all of those as well as the matress and pillows themselves before putting their respective covers and bedding on.
The good news is that since I’ve done the bed I haven’t gotten another bite. The bad news is that early last night I caught another bed bug. I noticed it while trying to catch and remove a spider (don’t want to kill those), I saw it wandering about the mouldings by my desk where I’d been working, I bagged it – it was a not quite full grown bed bug.
I’ve washed and bagged up all my clothes, they’re back in the dressers, but just bagged up. I’ve also bagged pretty much everything else in the apartment. The things I can’t wash on hot I’ve been submerging in water and soaking for extending periods ( not sure if this works for eggs), I’ve also been steaming what I can with a clothes steamer (I’m sure an iron would work too).
I’m going to try one of those DIY C02 traps with dry ice to get an idea of what I’m dealing with in here, I feel that the DE is working, but it may be too soon to say, I don’t think my situation was too severe. I am able to sleep a bit more than before, and I’m getting more comfortable, and feeling safer in my bed etc. I imagine I will still have to move if my neighbours cannot get their situations under control.
Thanks for all the DE info everyone posted here, I’ll update on what happens in a month or so.
god am i glad i found this site! i went through a recent separation and all my stuff was stolen by my ex. well anyway i needed to buy a new couch. so i was on a budget and didn’t want to finance a new couch so i bought a used one from craigslist.
The couch was a sleeper sofa, well i have a one bedroom apartment and was sleeping on the sofa pullout because i wanted to get used to so when my daughter would visit she would sleep on my bed. Come to find out the sofa was infested with bed bugs, i have a ton bites!!!
I threw the sofa in the trash and i was moving my blankets back and fourth from the sofa to the bed. so i through my bed away as well. i only found one bed bug on the mattress of the sofa but i was bitten all over my body except my face.
I have now financed a new bed (thank god for 90 day same as cash) and bought a futon for the living room. i tore my place apart and swept like crazy. anything that was in contact with the couch or bed is washed or being washed. i didn’t find any traces of them besides on the couch but through the bed away anyway, i wont take any chances with my daughter visiting shes only 2!!!
I had a exterminator or the complex i should say had one come and he was a fly by night. he had a maglight and that was it! he flashed it around like he was going to see these things in plain view at 12 pm and said i don’t see anything. so he was a joke. well today i bought Diatomaceous Earth and some bug insecticide.
I put the Diatomaceous Earth on everything! it was like a volcano went off in my house! i haven’t been bitten since i removed the couch and bed but its only bed two days so i don’t know.
I only had the couch for 8 days as well so i’m hoping i caught them very early! by the way everyone if you cant find Diatomaceous Earth that’s because your not looking for it correctly. DE is the actual scientific name of it. you cant just go to walmart (where i bought mine) and ask for DE (Diatomaceous Earth) you have to know a brand name with Diatomaceous Earth in.
You can buy DE at walmart its called nano d the d has a _ or underscore under it. and it says organic crawling insect killer. its in plastic round bottle the top is green the d in nano is yellow and the bottom of the can is black. it also has a yellow pinstrip in it.
I am disgusted with this!! if anyone can’t find the de write back and i take a picture of the bottle to show you.
I live in a small low rise building. My neighbour in the apartment underneath of me let everyone in the building know they had bed bugs last summer, subsequently the landlord had the exterminators come out and spray all the ajoining apartments. Then in March of this year I started getting unidentified bites. At first I thought it was a spider, but when it kept happening I became suspicious that the bed bugs had somehow made their way into my house. The exterminators came out again and sprayed very thoroughly again. For a couple of weeks I didn’t seem to have any bites, but then they started again. It could have been because the exterminators didn’t come back after 3 weeks this time, or because the landlord is using a sketchy exterminator.
A couple of days ago while reclining on my sofa I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye, it startled me and I immediately jumped up. It was a bed bug trying to make a meal of me, I cornered it on a cushion and trapped it in a ziploc. I was sure it was a bed bug but I double checked online to confirm, luckily it was still thin and hadn’t had a chance to bite me.
I’m a little more freaked now though, I assumed I had, and I guess knew I had bed bugs, but since I’d never caught or seen one it made it less real. I hoped that it was just this one lone bed bug since I’d only been getting bites about once every 7 days. I got another bite tonight though, again while one the couch I think, so I’m really pissed and worried now. Tomorrow I’m going to head out first thing in the morning to find some DE and dust my entire house with it. I don’t really have faith anymore in the exterminators and feel like I can do a better job myself at this point. I’m crossing my fingers that this works.
Glad to hear about mixing salt with the Borax. Will do that this week and see what happens.
Both of my feet became swollen. I think something happens to our bodies once the bugs insert their saliva into us. Anyone know about that?
I read that Eucalyptus Oil would kill bed bugs. I finally went to GNC (General Nutrition) and bought some Eucalyptus oil ($5.00). I tried it on my car seat and it seems to work.
The guy at GNC suggested that I put my clothes in a tub, boil some water and pour it on the clothes. It worked on some of the clothes but not on others. I’ve been throwing away all my clothes if I put them on and get stuck or bitten. Now, I’m boiling them before I throw them away. If it works — fine. They would go in the trash otherwise.
I’m wondering if anyone else feels a type of “slime” on their skin, floors, carpets, bedding, or elsewhere where bed bugs have been? I feel this some time. It’s like something invisible is crawling on me. When I put either Listerine or Eucaluptus oil on the affected part of my body, the sensation goes away.
I’m sick of dealing with these bed bugs. Seems the only real way to get rid of them is to throw away everything and start over.
Found that Borax works well to kill bed bugs in clothes. Add 1/2 to 1 cup to wash water. Wash on hottest setting twice then dry clothes on hottest setting for at least 2 hours. Having clothes cleaned at the cleaners does not necessarily work. Also found that Eucalyptus Oil (the primary ingredient in Listerine) kills bedbugs and will keep them off you. Off Liquid Spray does nothing to stop bed bugs so don’t waste your money. The Off aerosol spray did work to keep bed bugs off me while I was driving and being attacked under the steering wheel. There is a commercial chemical preparation called SUSPEND that was recommended by the hotel manager where I am living.
I was forced out of my apartment by bedbugs. The best advice is take swift action. I have had terrible experiences with bedbugs including having to throw away all of my personal possessions ($40,000). Now, after starting over, I am under attack again. I have put Borax under the steering wheel area of my car. I tried “Hot Shot” spray in the apartment, it helped the bugs live. However, when I sprayed my car and left it overnight with all doors and windows shut, it worked. It is easy to transfer bugs from your home to your car so be careful and act swiftly to eradicate. The manager of this apartment just sprayed this suite and because of the transfer from car to suite, I’m going to buy Diatomaceous Earth today — but where to get it? There are almost no choices in Vegas.
The spray “GOODNIGHT . . . kills bed bugs and dust mites” is not effective. I have sprayed so much of the “Good Night” and “Hot Shot” that it is coming out in my skin and my face is now hard with a rash. Be careful. You get desperate for relief and will do anything to stop the bugs.
Thanks for all your sharing.
Be careful when purchasing clothing and bedding. I have found it is possible to purchase these items already infected with bed bugs.
OMG!! I think i just figured out that I have bed bugs. However I have not found one. But I do have the symptoms. I’m not sure how I got them exactly which is pretty scary, and I just don’t want them to be traveling around my house and into my daughters room…..i hope i can overcome this very quickly :(
Just got these creatures after a visit to New York for vacation. They hitch hiked on my luggage. I have had 6 estimates $700.00-$2500. First thing cover vacuum your mattress and box spring. Then cover them with a mattress cover on both parts. You don’t have to buy the expensive ones, the vinyl ones will do. Duct tape the zipper all the way. Put your sheets and blankets in the dryer for 20 minutes on high every night before going to sleep. There is a cheap way to detect how bad they are and you can make the detector yourself. Take a dog food bowl put painters tape all around the bowl and scuff up the tape with sandpaper. Turn the bowl upside down with the rim facing up. Dust the bowl with cotton balls filled with baby powder. Fill a 1/3 gallon jug with 2.5 pounds of dry ice, leave the jug slightly open and place on top of the inverted dog bowl. Good Idea to put a towel under jug so the moisture will not go into the bowl. The dry ice will attract the bed bugs into the bowl and the powder will kill them. This way you can see how bad it really is invested. There is a website with a video showing you how to make this trap.
I WAS plagued with these horrible insects for 1 year… i tried everything…. i spent so much money on stuff that never helped then one day my moms friend who considers herself “oakie” suggested we use BOROX 20mule team mixed with salt…. so we used an seasoning container for the holes at the top and mixed 1/2 borox and 1/2 salt…. we pulled out mattresses to garage and started sprinkling boroxsalt on top and you just seen them pop off instantly…. then sprinkled carpet house tile anything everything especially between cracks…. thoroughly vacuumed and left another round of mix all over house for the night….. we brought our mattresses back in and finally had a good nights rest…. then a couple weeks later repeated the sprinkling of mix and haven’t seen 1 since. borox and salt and a sure solution for bed bugs hope this helps!
hi i found out we had bed bug back in november and they (landlord) sprayed the apartment and three weeks later they were still there my landlord toke two mths before the sprayed again well to my surprise there still here were completly fed up so now were trowing out the mattress’s my question is can i use bleach on the bed frame and head board would that kill any remaining eggs adults feces ?
to be honest were tired of sleeping in the living room on a blow up mattress .
All i can say is that its so irritating, I’ve got my legs swelled up and i don’t know how I’m going to treat these bed bug bites and solve this itch problem… i really hope i could figure this out asap because I’m telling you its not looking good…
In February 21st I went to a birthday party of my niece, the next day i had 8 bites around my neck. I was allergic to it and my neck swelled up. I went to the Dermatologist that Wednesday and she said she wasn’t 100% sure but considering i had three bites in a straight line (breakfast, Lunch, Dinner) she gave me a cream and allergy medicine to take the swelling down.
Next day I placed my sheets and clothes in plastic bags and went to wash them. I sprayed the room with 90% rubbing alcohol. My boyfriend didn’t get a single bite and thought i was over reacting. I taped all the electrical outlets and any open area in the walls and floor. I placed my pillows and mattress in a encasement and checked my mattress before this and saw nothing at all, even tried using my blow dryer on high and let it blow on the cracks of the wood furniture. Nothing.
I slept on the sofa and my boyfriend slept on the bed, and still no visible bites. On Feb 28th we went back the apartment that my niece had her party at. we found that one of the other children has a bed bed problem at home. I didn’t know they could travel like that but i really didn’t know much about bed bugs anyway.
My boyfriend was convinced it was something else because he had no bites. when we got home that day I noticed him scratching like crazy and he lifted his arm and he had three bites. WE then again washed all our clothes and sheets. Since then i have been sleeping covered from head to toe except my hands and head is uncovered. No, bites on either of us.
Yesterday was such a beautiful day i opened all the windows, at night I closed them and when i went to fix the curtain I saw a adult bed bug. I squashed it and placed it on a white tissue then placed them into a sandwich bag. To say the least we slept on the sofa. Could this mean we could have eggs or smaller ones? Is there a way to tell in the bites if they are from an adult or smaller bug? If they are in my bedroom and we are in the living room, do you think they will come to the living room?
Because i don’t see so many i am assuming we are not infested. I am freaked out and tired, we plan to clean tonight and over the weekend. Is there anything else we can do, besides call exterminator?
Please help!
After finding a bug crawling on me in just before dawn it became clear to me that these weird red patches I’ve had on my arms and legs in the past couple weeks must be bedbugs. I caught the blood filled critter and bagged him, researched and confirmed my suspicion.
I studied up a bit on here and some county extension sites and decided that I needed Diatomaceous Earth and some spray of some sort. I did not disturb where I thought the most likely places they would be but took off to ACE hardware once they opened. I bee lined for the chemical aisle and already had the Diatomaceous Earth in hand when I was approached by a clerk asking what I was wanting to kill.. told him I had the bedbugs. (they are apparently very common in my area) He advised that I did have the right thing in hand and also suggested a bottle of JT Eaton bedbug spray, (label says it lasts for up to 16 weeks)
There was a huge display of several bedbug choices right as one walked in the door, so I felt a bit better knowing I was not the only one facing this embarrassing situation. I took the spray containing Deltamethrin .03% and the Diatomaceous Earth bottle (Safer Brand) home and formed a game plan.
I have an upholstered suede headboard from floor to almost ceiling with lots of tufts, buttons and folds so I figured that’s probably a favorite hiding spot. Sure enough, after noticing some poop marks and trails, I was sure of it. I started checking it out and there were about 10 creepers that I caught and bagged. I wanted to make sure the spray killed the suckers so I gave them a dose in the bag and they were all incapacitated immediately and died soon after.
I then took the vacuum hose and sucked in every crevice in the headboard and then took the bed apart, loaded up the washer on hot and threw in the sheets and mattress cover and bagged the wool blanket. The bed springs of this king bed sit directly on the short tight woven carpet so I figured I would find a bounty there, but did not. The mattress showed no signs of infestation, whew….. I sprayed the headboard, I don’t care if it kills me or not!! I spayed around the bed, under it and inside the box springs. I then caught a couple more adults wandering around in a stuper.
I vacuumed the entire room at least 12 times over, cracks, crevices, mattress, box springs, headboard EVERYTHING!! I sprayed around all the base, door entries, bathroom and closet. Then I dusted all the door entry ways in case some tried to run out, they would be coated in the dust. I set the box springs and mattress up on edges and let everything dry. Then I laid out lines of the dust and since it only made heavy lines, I took a broom and went back and forth to throw it all in the air— I stuck my face in my shirt since the whole room filled up like smoke. This coated EVERYTHING with the dust, which was my intention.
I then laid lines along the baseboards and swept it up under all the base, put some in the air returns and also turned on fan on the HVAC unit and pumped some of the dust in there in case they were hiding out in the vent system. Everything I have read and trust me, I read all day, states that this Diatomaceo Earth dust is really effective in long term due to its action of dehydrating the bugs and killing them naturally within a short period. This would include the new hatches as they come along, but I plan on vacuuming it up and re-applying in 2 weeks.
I don’t care what they say, I am not sleeping in that room for at least a week. I am in the spare bedroom which someone had recently been sleeping in with white sheets and there is not one single sign of a bug anywhere in there. I figure if they are going to come after me in that room, they are going to have to go through A LOT of the dust to get at me so this might actually work in my favor, making them chase me down thus making sure they get a good dose of the dust on the way.
I am now off to scrub the headboard with hot water and laundry detergent and am going to use a scrubber brush. Will report back with my results. I really appreciate this forum and thank you all for your contributions. I really couldn’t afford to get an exterminator and I feel good about my decision to take this on myself, but couldn’t have managed without help from you all. !! I am in Denver, by the way! Thanks..
FYI folks:
Bedbugs do not live only in the beds or mattresses, they hide out, especially during the day, in walls, furniture, carpets, floors, wherever….then they come out to feed in the bed at night.
If you are trying to get rid of them, throwing out your mattresses and blankets and sheets won’t do it, you have to eradicate them from the entire room.
good luck!!
I have read on several sites that have information on how to get rid of bed bugs that they recommend using diatomaceous earth. It is a natural, inexpensive, non-toxic insecticide. You want to be sure you don’t breath it when you are applying it, and don’t ingest it, but other that that it is very safe. Just dust it on the floor under your bed, on your box springs and on baseboards. You can also dust your mattress & box springs with it and then enclose them in plastic covers that are made for them to reduce allergens.
I have not used it for bed bugs yet, but I have used it to get rid of aphids on my tomato plants in the summer and it works very well.
Note: Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth
Hi, before I share my story I’d like to make a suggestion. I haven’t read every last post yet so I don’t know if anyone has already mentioned this but there is this product called “Miraculous Insecticide Chalk” otherwise known as “Chinese Chalk.” It is mainly used to kill cockroaches but its supposed to kill bed bugs also. It used to be sold back in the 70′s but it was banned because children were mistaking it for regular blackboard chalk, swallowing it and having seizures.
Chinese Chalk looks like regular chalk so if you have children you MUST keep it out of reach. You can order it on Ebay or across seas like I did and it is very inexpensive. I used it for roaches and it was a MIRACLE, got rid of my roaches in ONE night and I haven’t seen one since. It affects insects’ nervous system and basically makes them go crazy and die.
The directions say that if you’re using it for bed bugs to take your mattress and put it on the floor and draw a circle around it and leave it there for a few days so when they come out they have to walk across it. I would, for extra measure, also draw lines around the rest of the bedroom or whatever area is infested and leave it there for about a month.
When you draw your lines you have to make sure they are thick so that when the bugs walk across it they will get the chalk dust all over their body. Also, remember not to draw lines in places that children or animals will come into contact with. Clean up is also a breeze, you just use water. I hope this helps some people.
Now for my story…There are 3 different sites for my job and I have recently become the floater so if someone calls out at any of the sites, I fill in for that person. Well, I had been covering in this particular location since last Thursday. I was there Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, and half of Wednesday. I had been working with one other guy (an old man who refuses to retire), who’s not the cleanliest person in the world. I had been hanging my coat next to his each day I was there.
Wednesday I saw a bed bug crawling out of the pocket of his jacket and I freaked. I left everything there in the office and went home with the t-shirt on my back. Now I am really paranoid that I may have already brought a bed bug home with me as our jackets were touching each day I was there.
I haven’t seen a bug or noticed any bites but I fear that my infestation might be in its infancy. For anyone who knows all about bed bugs please tell me what are the chances that I probably brought a couple home with me????
Thanks
———————-
Hello Jessica,
I think you’ll be fine with the bed bugs not jumping to your cloths, but if I were you, I’d would not wear you work cloths home and instead bring a clean pair to change into, or sweats, etc. Use a plastic bag to put everything into and seal – you want to isolate your work cloths from home, then when it’s time to clean the work cloths, make sure to wash in hot water – take some time and read the comments here – you find some great ways to make sure you stay bed bug free.
*** WARNING: DANGER ***
Here is information from the government on Insecticide Chalk that is illegal in the United States! In a nutshell, they say:
I also found this statement from:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1026725/pdf/westjmed00130-0076a.pdf
For those of you reading, please beware of these warnings. Consider using Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth instead – there are a number of comments on this page with more information about this all natural product!
I use steam cleaner with 1500 watts + vaccum cleaner and it reduces them. Is there any way by which I can detect their places?
Dear people, please avoid chemicals as much as possible.
I have lived in many places, NEVER have I had to deal with these horrible creatures before!
They tell me my sister brought them to my dads apartment inside her stereo speakers and she had done it before to someone else’s home…shame on her.
Anyways, I came to stay with dad and to get rid of these things. I bought the Bayer spray from Lowes and spayed and sprayed and sprayed (always use a respirator/face cover, do not breathe in the vapors). It seemed to work some but the temperature in this house is 86 and I cannot use the spray anymore because I cannot take Dad out of the house. The bugs are EVERYWHERE!!!! Its horrible day or night all over! My son had one on his lip when he went to take a drink! My grandson had one on his finger when he was at the table eating!
##BTW SPECIAL NOTE: Bed Bugs DO drop from the ceiling and walls ##
I will go today to get the natural products you have listed and get some storage bags and a steamer. I will let you know how I make out .
Hello,
Back in October me and my family move into our new home. well about two weeks later one of my daughters came to me me and said something was biting her, not thinking about bedbugs because she has a infant and she was getting bit we threw out her bed and that was it.
Well, about two weeks ago i noticed bumps on my arms and they were itching like crazy! I just thought it was from something that i ate. It wasn’t getting better and there were more bite marks. It’s now January 20th 2010 and i couldn’t sleep well so I pulled back the covers and there it was! At first I thought it was a cockroach so i killed it then i saw the blood started checking the covers. Sure enough, there were many more and decided to get on the internet and look up bedbugs, found your site and they match exactly!
I put all my blankets in the trash, I’m calling my doctor in the morning for treatment and i will be calling the landlord! I think that this house was already infected because the people that lived here before me were very dirty! I am terrified to go to sleep and want to move!
Bedbugs, what Horrible, Nasty little monsters they are, we ‘got them’ somehow after moving to a new apartment about 2-3 months after moving in ,we got rid of our matresses and the landlady had a, in my opinion, fly by night guy come, we seen one here nn there for a few months, after we ‘thought’ we were clean, our church got us new matresses, now here we are a couple months later and we have found bedbugs on our new matresses!
Dear God, this is like a Biblical curse of some kind, we thought we were clear, but now we find out, NO, we are not we still have the little monsters, i have put down Delta Dust after the exterminator was here i thought that would keep us safe, i am going to put some Delta Dust on the box springs under the mattress and use some kind of a spray and check Every DAY for the bugs.
I don’t know what else to do, the exterminator stole from me while in my apartment, so i don’t want to go back to the landlady because she will call him back and i don’t want that thief back in here again, i am 55 and have Never come across Anything like this creature before.
I have the greatest amount of sympathy for Everyone that is going through this terrible ordeal, i want to move but am on a limited income so moving is not an option at this time, i hope to somehow get rid of these critters, it is just going to be a matter of time, i hope.
My house was totaled in a spring storm, I was homeless, had to stay a in transitional housing, in was my first encounter with this problem – BED BUGS! What was the solution, because there were other people sharing this place, I cleaned House, started with bleach, pine-sol, wiped every thing down, then get a gallon of ammonia, either one works, lemon scented or plain, get a funnel, spray bottle, a mask, rubber gloves and go spray every where, it kills them right then!
Beds, floors, couches, walls, rugs, cracks! Just Open Doors &windows for ventilation! The situation was Bad, I had no money, disabled, but this was what I had to do in order to get to sleep or sit down in this place!
These bed bugs were eating me alive face, back, legs, arms, it was a nightmare! There is a God and believe me my prayers were answered! after spraying the fist day I could sleep a lot better, but you continue the treatment everyday, until you run them out, Kill Them!! this is also good, for those nasty Water-Bugs, Roaches, spray on your bed, bedding around floors carpeting daily they will die! it is strong smelling but after it clears it has also been disinfected! GOD IS Good! Sweet Dreams!!
I just moved into this apartment building in Washington DC, and only been here for seven months and i got all these bite marks on me found out that this was bed bugs never had them in my life so please help me to get ride of them thank you! need to know where to buy the cleaning supply to kill theses pests!
I work in a hotel, and we have had problems every now and then with bed bug bites but i work at the front desk and don’t go to rooms very often. I have had these bites for months now, It started with a few bites on my legs that itch so much i bruise my skin from scratching.
I haven’t pursued an answer for what it was but in the last two weeks I have been getting increasing number of bites. One of two new ones a day and I now have about 18 spots some are close by each other but they range from neck to legs. They take weeks to heal and continue to itch. My boyfriend sleeps in the same bed and has no bites.
I haven’t seen any bugs or eggs or anything, I was wondering if they could live in my car? Does it match bed bug characteristics to bite one bite a day only? Under a magnifying glass it looks like the skin rises almost like a boil or wart and after i have scratched even a little, the top breaks and it looks like the center is a thin scab or blister.
They are tiny dots smaller then mosquito bites and they bleed easily. It doesn’t seem like bed bugs but i don’t have a clue?
I am pretty sure I was getting bitten by bed bugs, but have never been able to find anything. I did find though that putting Peppermint Oil on the bites helped more than anything else I tried. It relieved the itching for over 24 hours.
Please provide a quote to my center for the bed bug treatment. The dorms are having a major issue with these pests and we are looking to have the hot treatment done.
I’d like to try the DE treatment for bed bugs, but where can I buy the DE Powder from?
Why don’t you provide instructions on creating a Bed Bug Barrier so that bed bugs can’t climb up and bite you? Not really a treatment, but something everyone will find useful.
Well i said i would return…. Ok so ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL really works on the critters but you have to see them and spray them good because i saw one hiding on our sheets and BAM i showered that vampire with the alcohol and it died immediately…
DE powder works extremely well and I put it all around where wall and carpet meet as the little critters hide there and under our bed on the carpet and in between mattress and box spring… I also purchased Sterifab and so far bites have been very minimal and far in between… What a relief! Although I think they have moved into my hair..
I saw a couple of postings that said they can so i did treat my head with lice shampoo and that seems to only be a temporary fix because again my head itches extremely bad and get bites all down my neck so I feel they did get in my hair. So I will look forward to any postings as how to get rid of them in your hair.
As far as my house goes I think with PERSISTENCE, DAILY follow up and treatment, thorough inspection you can get rid of them. But one thing I can say is fogging doesn’t work and for us the best thing was to throw out our sectional, matress and box spring, no visitors or traveling prior to treatment. I know it seems drastic to throw out your furniture but if that is where you find the abundance of them why not get them out IMMEDIATELY. But make sure to wrap or mark furniture when you dump it so that way you don’t allow someone to bring them into their home.
Knowledge is power and I thank all the websites and postings that took a major part in us battling the bedbugs. It saved us from having to deal with an exterminator and costing us a whole lot more but one thing i can say is if you are to treat them on your own be ready to fight them on a daily basis and be persistent with treatment… it is extremely tiring and repetitive but if you truly want to get them out of your life you need to do just that.
So remember ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL, Diatamacious EARTH, STERIFAB, and discard of furniture (optional but your best alternative) with persistence and daily treatments this will do the trick.
Please note wherever in your household you have slept after finding a infestation, any clothes or items that are around or near an infestation and moved be aware you probably moved it to that area as well you should continue to stay in the same location to avoid spreading them to another part of the house but you should still inspect and treat other areas of your household for prevention. I found some newly hatched nymphs in my daughters room hidden in the fur of stuffed animals slowly making way to her bed so they will hide in the least places you would think but they are always near their food source.
For those postings that are looking for treatment of the bites there truly isn’t one however I was a statistic of allergic reaction to them and I found hydrocortisone was not that effective but this will sound funny but true HOT water seemed to soothe them if you can withstand that and the most effective I found was allergy medicine worked extremely well but I also read that lavender is like a force field to the bed bugs. I did try that and I didn’t get bit but I can’t say for sure if that was the cause but worth a try.
Good Luck everyone and hope my experience will help others in their Battle.
O BTW—- if an exterminator tells you you can not do it on your own think about it why would they tell you otherwise they want the business but I can’t stress it enough that if you are going to treat on your own its persistence that counts so if you can’t then an exterminator will be your person.
I have to warn you though I have done A LOT of research and read A LOT of postings with that said the majority said exterminators don’t work but one exterminator did post that this is true and continued to say when he first got a call he himself didn’t know how to handle them but with more calls he finally figured it out, and, that if done right they shouldn’t have to come back more than 2-3 times due to hatching of eggs but remember if your neighbors are infected you are wasting your time unless they are ridding them themselves the bed bugs will just continue to come back.
OMG!! i first noticed bedbugs 3 months ago and have had an exterminator come out 3 times now. did everything they told me to and 2 nights ago moved back into the room with new everything and this morning woke up with 3 tiny bites…really, i cant believe these pests don’t go away!!!!
what now????
I just discovered that I have bed bugs. I’m not sure how long that I have had them. From what I could tell we had both adult and small bugs. There appeared to be maybe approximately 30 to 50 visible on my bed. Have I had them long? I didn’t see them in any other room. Can I keep them from spreading and will it be hard to get rid of them?
I have been dealing with bug bugs for almost two years now. I have had professional people come and treat for bed bugs but they keep coming back. I live in a duplex and my neighbor won’t get their place done so they keep coming back. I cant afford to pay someone again; is there anything i can do it control them or stop them from coming back?
Please help, I have a 6 year old son that has bad asthma.
We have been dealing with bed bugs for almost 2 months. At first, we were told my bites were a rash, MRSA etc. It was so frustrating. Finally, I found one crawling on my bed as I was making it one morning and sure enough, Bed Bugs.
We had to dry on HOT all of our clothes, empty out all drawers/ closet and they sprayed the other day. We have encased our mattress / box springs in BB proof covers. This is costing us over $1000. I am finally able to sleep. They will come back for another treatment in 30 days, and every 30 days for 4 months. I’m told that this is the only way to get rid of them and that you can not do it on your own. The eggs STICK and they multiply quickly….just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
This is a nightmare and I wish everyone the very best!
i went to the movies yesterday and my hand started itching, I’ve been scratching since my hand is swollen and my chest haves red patches. when i got home i noticed my hand and chest was swelling fast i went to take my shirt off and there was a bedbug in my shirt it was small i tried to kill it, it didn’t work so i flushed it in the sink. am worried cause am still swelling what can i do to reduce the swelling with the itching.
Diatamacious earth is the way to go! It’s totally organic, safe for people & animals and the nasty little bugs can’t develop a defense against it…it scrapes the wax coating that coats their bodies…they then die from dehydration.
You can also kill them by spraying with isopropyl alcohol…but the eggs hatch every day! Move your furniture away from walls and anything that bugs can crawl up, dust heavily with diatamacious earth, cover your mattress and box springs with bed bug covers…remove bed frames and ornate beds, spray with alcohol and store until the problem is gone.
Buy cheap metal bed frames and coat the legs with petroleum jelly..they can’t cross it…and don’t forget to put DE between the mattress and box springs…your goal is to break their life cycle. BB’s have to feed between molting and before laying eggs. Nymphs are hard to see, but 2nd, 3rd & 4th stage bugs are easier to see…if you see one, you probably have hundreds…it’s war…don’t be shy!
If you choose chemical’s for bed bug treatment, spray/fog every few days for a few month’s because the eggs are hatching every day and the BB’s will feed on whatever they can, including your pets! Buy pet beds with a separate mattress or pad and sprinkle DE between them.
What is most disturbing that 3/4 of most people have no reaction to bites, so have NO symptoms! No welts, no itching & no marks…DE is the way to go!
You’ll have to live with dust everywhere, but that’s much better than the bugs!
We first came into contact with the bed bug situation while I was seven months pregnant in a large apartment complex. I had been getting bites for two weeks, and even though I checked multiple times every night- everywhere, could never find a single one. The first night I saw one, we found several- it was like they just decided to make their presence known.
We had the complex bring out an exterminator, bagged and washed everything, steam cleaned every night(!), and thought we were clear. What we went through was a good week followed by a bad for two months! We then moved to another apartment off the complex, and found them again! We threw away everything, and because we had no furniture moved in with a relative.
We literally just finished moving the few things we have into my mother’s basement and guess what? She’s found them in her upstairs! It’s a horrible thing to go through- especially over and over again, but we will definitely use all the resources on this website and let you know how it works out… together we can beat them!
I read about bug bombs and everyone said it just made the bugs scatter. I then read about Diatomaceous Earth, so I mixed the earth with roach proof and spread the earth all around the perimeter of the room then around the Bed then I set off the bomb. It’s one day later and I’m not finding any bed bugs I think I may have to set off another bomb in two weeks if they left eggs but I’m ready.
Also, I had to use a hot blow drier to kill the bugs in my hair then shampoo them out.
I recently moved into an apartment. I bought a new mattress and plastic cover for it day one. I was fine for a while but one night I fell asleep on the couch, woke up at 3 in the morning and went to bed.
I woke up the next morning covered in massive welts that looked almost like the beginning of chicken pox. I had no idea what they were, and the next day they were worse. After searching around on the internet, I came to the conclusion they were bedbug bites.
The third day, my hands were so swollen I could not even bend my fingers and they started getting little pus filled lumps. I had to have someone drive me to an ER. They looked at me, laughed, then gave me a steroid shot and a prescription of Prednisone. I started taking it and all the bumps dissipated.
I cleaned all my bedding, hoping that it would work. Now my Prednisone is out and the bumps are showing up again. I have no idea where they are hiding, because my mattress has always been in a plastic cover.
I am a poor college student, any ideas?
OH and for those of you questioning of a possible bed bug problem don’t waste time for answers just take Precaution and action of a “possible” infestation.
My local Environmental Health Dept advised it can take up to 6wks before you get bit in numbers and a family of bed bugs so the sooner you treat your home the sooner to rid yourself of a “possible” or “future” issues with these little critters.
Trust me I originally thought my bites were of mosquitos, then it changed to fleas, after two months one appeared on my arm after i felt a burn which then confirmed the beginning of the end of these critters.
So take ACTION ASAP!!!!
Please let your neighbors know or have no visitors while treating or you will just allow these critters other “possible” victims and NONE OF US deserve having to live with these BB’s so why continue the spread EVEN if you “THINK” you might have them tell others…. Also I found my bugs with thorough inspection with flash light and peeling back and looking in little cracks and crevices… but still missed some probably in the outside lining where my carpet and wall meet up…
GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE COMBATING THESE VERMINS!
LET OTHERS KNOW WHAT WAS MOST EFFECTIVE FOR YOUR HOME… DON’T BE SHY!!!!!!!!!!!
I am currently dealing with these Bed Bugs who are living off me and my children but are sparing my boyfriend. We had been dealing with bites for over two months and one finally appeared to confirmed what we would have never guessed; BED BUGS.
We rid ourselves of our sectional which was infested, our mattress and boxspring which we found a few in, soaked babies playpen which was also infested in boiling hot water which worked found the nasty critters at bottom of tub. Steamed the floors sprayed with a Home Depot found insecticide (didn’t work) and rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol definitely is a temporary relief.
Currently ordered 2gal of SteriFab and the Diatomaceous Earth with bulb to disperse the dust and will let you all know if these team of defense against the blood sucking vermins is effective.
The Home Depot brands and rubbing alcohol cost $33 plus laundry $50.
Online products 2Gal STerifab, 1bottle of Diatomaceous Earth, and bellow bulb duster $114 plus laundry $50.
Will return with update, stay tuned!
Any one know where to get the food grade diatomaceous earth? I live in Michigan. thanks. I can only find it in Ace, which is a non-food-grade big bag.
I got bed bugs from my apartment-we has a large influx of new tenants. The landlord says it is our problem. It is an old building, and all that is being done is herding them from one apartment to another and back again.
Right now I’m sleeping on an air mattress. I’m moving to a house and am afraid I will bring them along. Any advice? I’ve bombed and used lawn and garden spray which seems to control them in the apartment, but still get bit up as they get sent back to my apartment.
I was thankful for Keith Gordon’s comments about bedbugs. The place I am living has had quite an influx of bed bugs in several apartments. I have been reading all these different things and heard different things and it gets confusing. I will share his article with the people who run the place. (It is a senior center)
I live in North Dakota, i think i got them from a stupid hotel i stayed at this summer. I couldn’t find any of the stupid bugs on my mattress or my boxspring (brand new)but i found a bunch of them on one of my gym bags and another camp of the bugs on my bedskirt, so i threw them out
Here is what i have done so far:
- Vacuumed my mattress and bed frame
- Sprayed the heck out of my mattress with rubbing alcohol 90%,
- sprayed the heck out of my mattress with HOT SHOT bedbug and flea killer
- sprayed the heck out of my carpet, closet with the hot shot and the alcohol.
- washed all my bedding in hot water and dried them in the highest temp.
- i bought three HOT SHOT foggers and set em off before i went to work… (i live in a one bedrm apt )
i sprayed myself with rubbing alcohol and now i hope the biting stops.
Any other suggestions i don’t think they are too bad but i know i got them and i am trying to get rid of the bastards before it gets too bad..
ANY OTHER IDEAS?
Also… I’ve heard these bugs cant stand too cold or too hot weather… Could i just leave the window and balcony door open?( it gets to -20F and lower in the winter here?
My son just informed me that night before last he slept on a friends couch that they found was infested with bedbugs. Do I need to worry about him bring any of them into my home on the shorts or t-shirt he slept in? He just put the clothes in the hamper when he got home yesterday morning & I am worried about infestation now. Should I be?
This is disgusting. I am so freaked out. We have been sleeping on the couch for 5 nights. The exterminator isn’t coming until Tuesday, and that’s just for the inspection. I know we have those sneaky nasty bastards- I want these bed bugs gone! I’m afraid they will come out to the living room, but I cannot sleep in that bed.
My boyfriend went to the ER THREE TIMES due to boils/blisters/sores. Diagnosed with Cellulitis, MRSA, and shingles. Did I mention he has no insurance? And spent god knows how much and took both antibiotics and antivirals. Several months later, I’m realizing that the bed bugs affect him far worse than myself. They are like a cross between a mosquito and flea bite for me.
However the mental part is making me crazy. I’ve suspected bed bugs for a while, and pushed it out of my head. Then, we were lying in bed, I felt so creepy-crawlie, and saw something move beside my face. I pushed down and blood spurted. Got up, told my boyfriend to change clothes, and we went to the couch. I still avoided calling my landlord for a few days, just trying to process and absorb it… Did I mention I am an adult who is struggling with severe adult add (unmediated/untreated). I am the queen of clutter. I’m not DIRTY, but I have piles of clothes, piles of books, papers, ect… I keep the living area tidy but my room is all over the place.
I’ve got some ideas on how to treat the bed bugs, trying to figure out if I should buy a mini steam thing or a mini vacuum. I have 2 rugs, one in the bedroom (where they are) that I could throw away and not care, and one in the living room that is fairly expensive and Turkish.
Before I realized what was going on, I was ALREADY pushed to the point of basket case. Everything in my life is snowballing, my finances are out of control, I can’t afford to live on my salary, and I CANNOT afford this. Emotionally either. I truly am a HOT MESS right now.
Regardless, I don’t have a choice. The blessing is that I am forced to clean. But I don’t want to be in my bedroom. I am so grossed out by those f***ers.
Did I mention I have a miniature cat? She is a 3lb runt and full grown. She is also truly psychotic. I cannot put her in a kennel… when I took her to the vet she turned ferrel. Is this bed bug extermination going to poison her?
Nice to read other peoples stories, takes a little of the shame away. But it’s an epidemic. Sometime over summer the city paper had a front page article about them… too bad it wasn’t informative, but about one dudes story (Baltimore.)
Just thinking about bed bugs makes me want to throw up.
Wish me luck. When I go in to bag up clothes (throw away, wash, and cannot wash), what should I do if I find eggs or their nesting place? I don’t have a vacuum or a steamer… although was thinking of returning something to Walmart and getting a mini vacumn. I am so broke i don’t even have change to cash in for gas.
Sigh… Ick…. This SUCKS!
Hey DD,
Can you call the city or county and check for complaints of bed bugs? If there are no complaints, perhaps now would be a good time to file one so that the next person has something to show the landlord. Note that the landlord may contact your previous landlord to see you had issues as well.
Have you searched Google for history of bedbugs with your landlord / address?
Local pest control companies can also be helpful – when asking for a extermination quote, ask them if they have had to treat your address in the past. They may give up the information voluntarily.
It is very rare that the landlord will take responsibility for the bed bugs!
Good luck and keep us up to date!
I’ve lived in my apartment a little over 3 months and recently discovered that i have bedbugs in two bedrooms. I know that bedbugs are a traveling bug, but I don’t think we bought them into the apartment. I feel that it is a pre-existing condition. I reported the problem to the apartment manager and they said I’m responsible for the treatment. Is there anyway I can prove that we are not the cause of this problem. I know this may sound ignorant but i lived at my previous residence for 7 years and never had a bedbug infestation. I’ve called several pest control businesses and they said I would have a hard time proving that we were not the cause. We have several nest in our walls and it’s just hard for me to believe it was us.
Waging war is what I’m doing.
I have a nephew staying with me and he brought bedbugs with him. I have only seen them in my daughters room, which he was using for 3 weeks. Now he is staying in my basement apartment, so I’m sure he has introduced them there too.
Over the last two days I have been throwing out everything that I don’t need. This is a lesson in living with less, for sure.
I have purchased vinyl bed covers as well as dust mite/allergen covers, new metal be frames that will serve as boxsprings( throwing away my old boxsprings). I will be spraying Pro B1 Home and apartment insecticide (propoxur 1%) as well as dusting with Pro Ant and Roach Pyrodust (Pyrethrins 0.2%, Piperony butoxide 1.0%).
All laundry will be done at one time at the laundromat and double bagged. Anything that we don’t need over the winter will go in the garage.
Every corner, crack, crevice and surface of my 3 level, 3 bedroom house will be treated.
It’s been difficult convincing my 11 year old that the books have to go away. I found a dead bb on one of her pieces of art!
Nothing is coming back in this house (from the garage storage) for 18 months without a very careful inspection. I hope that our cold temps will kill them over the winter although from what I read that doesn’t seem likely.
This is a battle I plan on winning, although I know it’s going to be a long course.
I wish all of you battling this, the best of luck in eradicating them.
Toronto, Canada
Hi,
I have just moved into an apartment complex and within two weeks I had my first bite. I had pest control come since I thought it may be from ants I had around my window. Within the next week I got so many bites, but I then thought they were flea bites. I had them come back and spray again and it still continued.
I did find small black thin dead bugs in my bed and some brown bugs that I now think are bed bugs. I think I have both since I found two different looking bugs. The management is doing the pest control, but I have been treated 4 times, not for bed bugs but for fleas. I did show samples of the dead bugs to the guy but he never indicated that they were bed bugs. In fact he said they were not.
I now have new samples and I am certain I also have bed bugs because one is very large and some have left spots and larvae looking material. This is my first time with this and I am freaked. I live in Florida. The apartment had new carpet installed before I moved in and they think it came from that or from the truck the carpet came in. Has anyone had this problem with new carpet?
Thanks so much for all the posts. They are helpful.
I have been dealing with this problem for about a month and a half now. Though I keep hearing all of you talk about how you can see the bugs, I have only seen two bugs during this time.
The thing that is bothering me is not the bites, but the feeling of them crawling on me at night. It is really ruining my life considering I am a full time student and have to work to support myself.
The bites aren’t bad, as a matter of fact, they seemed to be just like mosquito bites. I threw away my bed, and that worked for 2-3 days then they were back. I bombed my apartment 3 times, washed all my clothes in hot water countless times, cleaned my apt top to bottom, ect, ect.
Bought the BB powder, and it seemed to work but I feel sick in the morning after breathing it in… Anyone else have this problem? God this is really ruining my social/love life as well… A nightmare!
I talked to my landlord and they are willing to pay the exterminator, lets hope this works….
What can I do???
Aaron had mentioned that it was a good idea to put furniture out in the sun in plastic bags— be careful with this if you live in an infested apartment complex: the bugs aren’t just inside! Be sure that the plastic bags are completely sealed so more bugs can’t hitch a ride back to your apartment and DON’T bring the bags inside with you.
We have been seeing bed bugs on the ceiling. Has anyone else seen this?
Amen Sister! I feel the same about the plague. These things must be of the Devil. They come out at night, suck your blood, go back to their nest and crap then their babies eat that. From hell I tell you. Crazy like a bed bug?
These little monsters are eating me as i type this. My husband thinks i am crazy. This is my 2nd go around in about 3 weeks. Hugh welts and tracks that look like a constellation. Will try dusting them. The alcohol spray. I feel as if I’ll never really get rid of them.
This site has been really informative; maybe they will inherit the earth!!!
I’m amazed at the damage these insidious creatures can inflict in such a short period of time. My son was bitten 400 times in a two night feeding frenzy by the bed bugs that came with a used bed. My husband and daughter had no visible bites, and I was bitten 60 times.
We’ve had the exterminator in twice, and I’m praying that the pests are gone. We’re not even living at home because my son’s reaction was so bad that he had to take prednisone. It is interesting that some people have huge itchy welts, and others have no reaction whatsoever.
I am not a pesticide user indoors and even garden organically, but I’ve made an exception for these little buggers. It’s really like a plague from the ten commandments days–I pray that God will free me from the pestilence.
I read about the cold treatment with CO2 but I’d like to suggest another way that CO2 could be used.
A technique used by some to store grain and keep it from being infested by bugs whose eggs were present already is to place the grain in a bucket, put a chunk of dry ice on top, loosely place the lid on top, wait for the CO2 to sublime and then snap the lid on the bucket.
The CO2 is heavier than the air and so displaces it out of the bucket and bugs cannot survive because there’s no oxygen. You’d still want to leave it in the container with the air tight lid for several days. It could also be done with bags rather than buckets but it might be trickier as it would need to be in a walled container to support it while the CO2 was sublimating.
If you close the lid from the start pressure will build and it may pop off. Very large buckets with tight lids are available for under $20 at home brewery stores.
Note: If the lid is too tight, it may explode due to the increase in pressure, so make sure that the lid is tight, but not so tight it won’t pop off under pressure!
This method would be useful for things that can’t go through the wash easily or items that water will damage such as stuffed animals, pillows, books, dry clean only items…
1 pound of dry ice is supposed to fill 8.3 cubic feet.
More useful- 1/4 pound will fill a five gallon bucket.
I live in NYC and bed bugs are an epidemic here. We currently have an infestation in out small studio apartment. We had pest control do an inspection and they could not find anything. I put the mattress and box spring inside dust mite covers, and while peeling back the cloth on the box spring I noticed one. The next day I saw one on the side the side of the bed sheet, and then found another on the bathroom wall.
The Sleep Easy spray only seems to aggravate them more, and I usually wake up with multiple bites on my neck face and arms. I have resorted to sleeping in long socks and long pajamas tucked into the socks to keep them from biting my legs. I sleep with the lights on, and sleep lightly in hopes of catching them, but they are extremely clever at hiding and not being seen.
The specimens that I did find looked like flax seeds. Same size and color. I noticed that they can flatten their bodies out, almost to the thickness of a sheet of 20 pound paper, in order to access tight spaces like cracks and crevices.
I have been bitten close to 100 times, and this really starts to take an emotional toll, making me afraid to go to sleep, and or afraid to go home. I am unemployed and live on a fixed budget and cannot afford an exterminator, or afford to buy a new bed. We are trying to move and find a new apartment but we cannot afford the current housing market here in NYC. These bed bugs really are a living nightmare.
My next step is to try and put the legs of the bed in plastic containers and fill them with water. I have also heard that sticking double sided tape onto the bed frame can help in catching them when they crawl onto the bed. My one fear is that will just simply crawl onto the ceiling and drop down onto me though. These bed bugs seem highly evolved and very intelligent. I really think that the government should intervene and create some sort of program to eradicate them for good.
Dear xyz,
We found a bedbug near the suitcase that my husband took to Boston with him. I panicked, looked on the internet until I found a site that let me identify them with certainty. Had to use a 10x magnifier to do so and count the hairs on the bug’s head shield, but sure enough it was a bed bug.
: ( Got to thinking, Diatomaceous Earth!! Yep just like the suggestion left by Leanna, except I wore a dust mask and only put the stuff around the perimeter of the box springs (under the mattress) and around the legs of the bed for each bed in the house.
Have NEVER been bitten or seen sign of another bed bug. The stuff I got was agricultural from an organic farmer in the area, you can probably get it from the farm feed store, or elevator, or check the internet for local organic farmers.
Hope this works for you.
Before you have furniture in the mattress covers or in plastic be sure to go to your local dollar store and buy 90% rubbing alcohol and spray your furniture with it. Then set your furniture in the sun for 24 to 48 hours. Note that you don’t want to spray near flames and some plastics and finished items may be damaged by this… Fabric should be fine!
I’ve had bed bugs for 6 months and can not get rid of them I’ve tried everything except an exterminator. Don’t know for sure, but may have came though the floor from the neighbors house. Is it the landlords job to get rid of them?
I am sick and tired of these blasted bugs!
I found bed bugs in the apartment. I have complained them about these bugs. Will the owners take care of these? And, I am upset mentally because of these bed bugs, because i can hardly get any sleep at nights. Can i transfer to another apartment. Is it a good idea to do it?
I recently stayed one night at a local hotel & have what I believe to be BB bites. No one else that stayed in the room has any symptoms. How can I be sure that I haven’t brought any of them home with me? I don’t see any, but want to be sure. What should I do with my luggage? I read about freezing things. Do you actually put stuff in the regular freezer along with your food?
I saw 2 bed bugs in my bed….i recently moved into a new apartment…did not see them since 3 months …were in my previous place…..
I just have my bed and table and clothes,,,,,seems they keep following me…my apt complex is getting an exterminator tomorrow…
can i get rid of the …should i throw away the bed….?
I washed all my clothes and bedsheets…..
since house is empty with barely any furniture….do you thing the bugs may be gone in one shot?
I was at Home Depot looking for some degreaser when I came across this bed bug spray by Sprayway.
Of course, I couldn’t let it pass and had to take a picture. Each can of bug spray was $6.48 and claims that you will have a good night’s sleep without being bitten by bed bugs.
Here is what they state:
and here is the State Right to Know section:
Seems safe and not a bad idea to prevent bed bugs from hitching a ride home with you, however, I doubt this bug spray will kill the population.
I think I have a bed bug problem, it is very embarrassing to acknowledge it or even to ask the store person to help you diagnose the ‘bedbug’ problem.
It has been months since I have a good night sleep, yet my fiance persisted that it is all in my head. He says he’s okay most of the time, only occasional bites here and there, and explains that it might be due to mosquito bites of hot summer months. I have had not had a good sleep in three months, and i am disturbed with these so-called ‘invisible’ mosquitoes. I swear i can feel the crawling under my mattress at night time, and I can’t stand it anymore. I know it is bed bugs though I have no evidence or any dead insects on my mattress that is visible to human eyes. Despite the fact,
I am taking the drastic measures. It will take a while until I can get my hands on the online-ordered products to prevent bed bugs. My question is, “Is it okay if I use the flea killer powder for my mattress now until I can get the proper material?” It says on the label that it will kill ticks, fleas, lice, ants, and roaches. “Any products anybody can recommend?”
I bought diatomaceous earth at Lowes
I would like to know if you have any suggestions. I am moving out in my current condo. My roommate happens to have bedbugs in her room and I am sure that they have traveled to my room but since I have had experience from these creatures, I have been lucky to not have it in my room.
I will be moving to a new place and will not be bringing any of my furniture and bed. I will only be bringing my clothes, books, luggage and kitchen appliances. I would like to know if you have any suggestions to prevent me from bringing these bad creatures to my new place since I will be buying a new bed and furniture. Please advise.
Thank you.
My opinion is, if you have a couch in an infested apartment, get rid of it. If you have a wooden bed frame- get rid of it and buy a metal bed frame. Get a new mattress and box spring. With the metal bed frame- get a pack of fly paper, unravel one, wrap each bed frame leg with fly paper, make sure it doesn’t curl back up- you need to check this daily. Fly paper was designed to catch all sorts of flies large and very tiny, it will catch and hold the bed bugs. Place the fly paper several inches above the base of the frame, make sure you don’t bump into it and replace every 6 months to one year- the glue starts to lose its stickiness about that time. I’m Bed bug bite free for two years and probably bug free in my apartment too. The only real way to get rid of them is to starve them out. It takes time but it’s worth it. Also check your purse, backpack and day packs on a daily basis and wash often if possible- that’s how they often get into apartments- we carry them in. Good Luck to All!!
I’ve had four different exterminators treat for bedbugs over the past year. In all my experience, this is what I can tell you:
1 – Hire a GOOD exterminator. He should come wearing serious protective clothing and a mask. If he doesn’t have that, send him home and call someone else. The exterminator should do the following:
* A thorough inspection of the mattress, bed, headboard and all wood in the room, including furniture, floorboards, baseboards, outlets and light switches.
* Spray all the wood in the room with a mixture of a growth regulator (IGR) and a Pyrethroid, such as Suspend SC. Make sure you get all the cracks and crevices. Allow the room to air out and dry.
* Spray the mattress, boxspring, bed frame, and also any living room furniture you have (as the bugs travel with you and infest elsewhere).
* Once dry, dust the cracks and crevices of the room in a light (very light) dusting of diatomaceous earth. Get a simple manual duster to spray the area with. Be careful to get the organic kind, not the crystalizing kind that his highly dangerous and cancer-causing. (I had an exterminator that used the later kind, which got all over my skin and face, and caused my skin to peel and a sunburn sensation for two weeks afterwards!)
Note that you can do all of this yourself, but it’s best to have an experienced exterminator do it for your first round of exterminations, which should be a minimum of 3 over the course of 6 weeks. (This is because there is absolutely no pesticide that can kill an egg. Eggs hatch in 7-10 days, at which point a new round of exterminations will be necessary to kill the bugs.)
2 – Sanitize your place. This is very time consuming, but you must be diligent in your effort.
* Wash and dry all of your clothes and any linens, bedding, curtains or other fabric in HOT water and HIGH heat. The dryer heat must reach a minimum of 120 degrees (140 is better). I dry my clothes twice in this heat, just to be safe. Immediately after the dryer is finished, fold the clothes and put them directly into a sealed plastic bag. Keep all your clothes in plastic bags until after the first round of exterminations, although I recommend waiting until after the second round to really re-settle into your wardrobe and closet. (Make sure your wardrobe is treated as well during the extermination.)
* Anything that can’t be laundered, you can put in a black plastic bag and sit in the sun on a very (VERY) hot day. Again, you want the temperature to reach 120 degrees for an extended period of time.
* Encase your treated mattress and boxspring in a bedbug-sealed mattress cover. These are essentially dustmite covers, but with a special sealed zipper closure to make sure nothing can escape. This does two things – it prevents any surviving bugs from getting out, and thereby allows you to starve them to death, and helps protect your mattress from future infestations. They generally run about $100.
* As bedbugs can live in nearly any wood or warm place, they have been known to breed in furniture, books and other clutter. Go through everything with a close eye. Clean up any eggs or bugs you may see, again throwing them out immediately in a sealed bag. Anything that you can’t examine closely to be sure it’s safe, put into a sealed bin (I prefer clear ones so I can see what’s inside!). Keep those items sealed for AT LEAST 18 MONTHS! Bedbugs can survive without feeding for up to 18 months. If one little guy escaped the pesticides and found his way into one of your books or other items, he can start the infestation all over again.
* Once a week, be sure to sweep up the diatomaceous earth and any dead bugs and throw them out in a sealed bag. Then re-apply the diatomaceous earth in a thin layer. Repeat this process until all the bugs are gone. Also repeat the liquid process every 4-6 weeks, either by yourself or via an exterminator.
I, personally, find that the best way to treat the bedbug problem is through preventative care.
~ Avoid clutter.
~ If you wake up with a bite that you didn’t have the night before, you should be wary and examine the problem immediately!
~ Do preventative treatments regularly throughout the year. Just as most city buildings have monthly exterminations, you should do a monthly treatment of the IGR and Pyrethrins, as well as regular crevice treatments of diatomaceous earth. Also, spray in the walls when possible. (This can be done by turning off your breakers, removing the light and outlet covers, and spraying into the openings. Or you can drill small holes into the walls, spray through the holes, then patch them up.)
Most importantly, though, EDUCATE YOURSELF. The more you know about the bugs and their habits, the more power you have to fight them! And don’t listen to what the exterminators tell you – do your own research. I’ve had at least three exterminators that told me variously – “No bug can live for more than a few months without food,” “If the bug’s living in the wall, then you’ve got bigger problems,” and “Don’t worry – this pesticide will penetrate the walls and will kill any eggs out there.” All of those are FALSE. Bedbugs live up to 18 months without food, they DO live in the walls frequently, and there is no pesticide that can kill an egg!
The good news is that if you educate yourself, follow the instructions above to a T, and are diligent about this, you can overcome the bugs!
im sick and tired of it. how can i get rid of it. somebody help me please!
Hi,
I have been experiencing bed bugs for months now and still trying to find a way on how to get rid of them. They seem to grow in numbers each day. Is it true that alcohol could eliminate them?
For months I have been waking up with massive welts, painful, warm, and itches like crazy. Nothing seemed to help the itching, the pharmacy suggested cortisone but that did nothing for me. It was so hard to function, I spent all day itching all over, so uncomfortable. For the longest time my husband and I thought I was having allergic reactions to something because he didn’t share the same symptoms.
We finally decided to go to the doctor because I was having a hard time sleeping and doing day to day stuff because of all the itching. The doctor was puzzled he had no clue what was wrong with me, he said I feel so sorry for you I have never seen this before, so he ordered blood tests, that was about $2000 worth of blood work, but nothing came back out of the ordinary except that I had a blood inflammation, so he suggested I see a dermatologist.
Right when we were getting ready to make an appointment, my husband saw a little bug on the wall next to the outlet, neither of us knew what it was so i went online and started researching and since my welts always appear in the mornings I thought well I must be getting these bites at nights, so I looked up bedbugs and a chill just went over my body when I found the picture of the very bug we had in the container.
After reading up about them we started to search everywhere, we didn’t find a lot on the mattress and there was not a lot of signs they were on the mattress so we figured they must be living somewhere else, like in the wall. We bombed the room, we strayed the bed with t-tree oil, we washed everything in hot water, and that took care of them for about a week or so then, we started getting bit again (my husband bites ate just red marks on his back, previously we thought they were just hair bumps). I started sleeping in the sofa trying to avoid them, when I do sleep in the the bed, I wake up every couple hours checking the bed, I even started wearing insect repellent to bed.
The inspect repellent helped, then last night I decided well not to wear any, and I work up itching all over so I took a flashlight and check the bed trying not to wake my husband, and I found 3 fat ones, I immediately put the repellent on.
We are now planning to move, but our landlord told us we need to give one month’s notice or pay August’s rent. So we are thinking well we have medical record, blood work, evidence in a container, not to mention the many scars I have all over my body from the bites, welts, and itching ( I don’t even dress the way I use to I have to be fully covered before leaving the house), which means this is a real emergency that we have to move, so if they give us a hard time, we are going to report them to health department.
My mother-in-law was saying considering how much money we have been spending over the past months because of these bedbugs, the landlord should pay over moving costs, that would be nice, but doubt they will go for it, doesn’t even sound as if they want to give us our deposit back.
Bottom line, I really feel for all of you, because I know what it is living in fear, waking up throughout the night checking the bed, I literally don’t want to fall asleep because of fear of been bitten.
That’s my story and hopefully when i move it will be the end of it. We have a new bed, but we not taking any chances, we plan on getting rid of the bed and sofa, all the bedding, mats, anything they could live in, and searching everything else before moving, and washing all the clothes. We do not want to take these things to our next apartment.
I moved into a gorgeous place last summer and my roommates told me the day I was moving in that they were spraying for bedbugs. (Thank You!! What wonderful people!) I was devastated because I had saved so much money to move. I make 30K in NYC… its tough. Our apartment cost 2300 a month split between three people.
The landlord sprayed twice, two weeks apart to try and get all the eggs. They were back 3 months later. The worst part was I kept all my packed stuff in boxes, and then in plastic bags and didn’t open them until after the second spraying had been done. Bought the bed covers, diatomaceous earth… etc.
The second time, when they came back we sprayed again and I caulked the spaces between the floorboards and walls and every crevice of the apartment. That seemed to help in two of the bedrooms because my roommates didn’t have anymore problems. I did though because I hadn’t noticed my bedcover had ripped. Blast!!!!!
This time around I made the landlord remove the outlet covers and light switches when he sprayed. That was the only other place they could be because we emptied the bedrooms. I spray the floors down with 70% isopropanol every couple days and I plan on filling cracks in the outlets with insulation foam after the second spraying.
I also bought two mattress covers, and put them both over the mattress in opposite directions (zippers) in case the outer one rips. At first I bought the 90$ allergy luxe one, but the bedbugs I found last had been living on the cloth like outer surface of the cover and on the metal (yes! metal) bedframe. Go with the plastic kind. I think they work better because they are slippery and hard to climb.
I now put my clothes in large plastic bins immediately after I come back from the laundry mat. I also wash my blankets every week religiously. This has helped as well because they have no place to hide. I threw out every piece of furniture and now just have a bed and kitchen table. I am going to wait another year before I buy any furniture. It is just too difficult to get them out when they have places to hide.
There really is no point in moving because if they are in my stuff I will just be taking my problems to another building of people. When they are gone or when I’ve saved up enough money (which ever comes first) is when I will make a clean break. I have decided to only bring my clothes the next time I move.
It has been a year and they are slowly being eradicated. They have come back slower and I rarely wake up with bites now. We sprayed three times (twice each time two weeks apart). Be prepared to have a lot of patience and not get lazy about cleaning. Get down on your hands and knees and scrub the floorboards with a brush.
At this point it has become a blessing to be poor and not have any possessions. Imagine that.
Good luck to anyone who has this problem. If they don’t come back this time consider this my road map to bedbug success. I will post again in six months if they are gone.
I live in an 3 story apartment building and recently found out the the first floor tenents have bed bugs. Unfortunately they had received a used living room set already occupied unknown to them. It’s been approx. 5-6 weeks now.
We’ve had a professional in twice now once for the building and found nothing. 2nd time to inspect the apartment and found the critters in the childrens beds. The building will be professionally done but I was wondering if there was anything I could do now to prevent getting the little buggers?
I do have pets and I have grandchildren that come visit so chemicals are really not an option. The building is old but the apartment themselves have been remodel. However I have the old wood floors with some gaps between the planks. Also, Do you have any idea of what the preparation will be for me for them to come in and exterminate? I’m painting my bedroom and really don’t have a lot of space to be tearing this place apart.
hi there! i am confused! why? I am living in Spain, and the other night, i slept in a bed, in a cave (temp about 15 deg C), and my body was being bitten regularly all over (except for face and exposed arm) by something. i looked, and could see nothing …. it was semi dark, but i could see nothing on the bed and bed linen the next day, nor could i smell anything unusual.
I put the mattress and bed linen outside in the hot sun for a few hours, thinking this would kill them, though i haven´t been back there to sleep yet. i´m basically very confused because, though i was bitten many times, i have no red or raised or itchy bite marks on me! this seems to contrast with others experiences of being bitten.
What were they if not bed bugs? certainly not mosquito, which i experience a reaction to, and would have been bit the parts of me outside the bed. they felt as if they were fleas, the way they jumped around my body …. so no pain, and no evidence of bites ..-.. well lucky me, but i don´t want to sleep back there until i’ve treated the place with the silica dioxide. can someone give me some advice, were these bed bugs or something else. thanks
I recently found several bites on both of my arms. I thought it was an allergy to a cat I just adopted (it started a week or two after I got the cat). I found a bed bug 3 weeks later on my light colored sheets.
I completely stripped the bed, and all clothing and curtains from the room. I purchased some bed bug spray, but notices that even a direct spray would not kill them. I used two full bottles of the spray any way. I finally resolved to spraying Raid for flying insects (it mentions bed bugs on the label), it kills on contact.
The treatments seem to be working so far, although I was concerned that I have found a couple live bugs since the treatment, but feel better after reading here that it can take up to 30 days to kill them all.
I have also discovered that my infestation was not on my matress (after a very close inspection (not to mention zippered mattress covers for box springs and mattress) but appears to be at the crease between my wall and ceiling above the head of my bed. I stand up a couple of times a day, and inspect the wall. Thankfully, I haven’t been seeing them lately, and the treatment was almost 2 weeks ago.
An FYI for the bites, when I thought it was an allergy, I started wearing a long sleeve shirt to cover my arms, it helped. I then read where they seem to only attack exposed skin. I started wearing gym pants with socks covering my feet and hem of the pants, and the long sleeve shirt. I used my so called “battle armor” while waiting for the treatment to take hold. I had no additional bites while wearing my gear..lol.
Good luck all on this hard won battle!
I can’t find the Diatomaceous Earth in any pet store , someone can help me and give more ideas,,, I live in Pennsylvania!! thanks
I buy a set of mattress reconstructed and i bring bedbugs home with them. I call a company call vikings and they charge me $600 for 3 rooms ,, i threw away the mattress … But now they are in other rooms. There very ugly and nasty. Any help please!!!
I t is a terrible and embarrassing situation, my life has not been the same since the invasion of the bed bugs! I thought that they were just a fairy tale I did not know they were the real thing. I have not had a good night rest in about eight months. I did not even know that they were in the house.
One early fall day I noticed that my daughter’s arm had a lot of bug bites on it. I thought they were mosquito bites from playing outside. She kept scratching and itching and I also was doing a lot of itching at night while trying to sleep. I asked myself what’s really going on, just like everybody else; I started lifting up mattresses and there they were.
It’s a $181.00 to exterminate the house and $75.00 every two weeks. Who has that kind of money laying around in these tough economic times? I live in Ohio and they are closing up companies left and right! I am going to Home Depot! Is it really something out there that kills these bugs?
I discovered BB about 2 weeks ago, i am positive we got them from my mother-in-laws house who has them and cant get rid of them because they are not treating them, they just keep throwing out some of the furniture now the bugs have move downstairs.
I was sleeping getting ready to get up fo work, i turned on the light but laid back down well when i opened my eyes, it was as if a bug was looking at me although it was very very tiny but red and i jumped and moved the pillow and looked closely and picked it up with a piece of paper and flushed it in the toilet then looking again, another one and another one flushed again.
Thinking okay, this cant be, heck no! I picked up the pillow where i was laying my head and several more i thought oh my god no please no, i lifted the sheet and walked around the whole bed looking closely, i see nothing, so i said let me make sure looking again closely lifting the mattress; something said check by the head board because i have a huge bed and head board to where once you set the bed it cant be moved. Ii didn’t see anything still, i checked in between and everything until i lifted the mattress tag, lo and behold there they were in a group very tiny, I panicked.
Right then, i used all my force to push and move my bed that i never move to see behind it, nothing back there but i did see dark spots but not real sure because some wood is spotted. Now I’m upset, my husband doesn’t even move the bed, (and when he noticed he said did you move this i said yes. I’m real upset because we spent so much money and it took us so long to purchase this bed, blasted bed bugs).
I rolled everything up trying to be careful and not spread them, sheets, pillows, comforters curtains everything and set it out for trash. My husband and I then carried the mattress out with the infected side up that we could see carefully, we showered and went to work knowing we have a war when we get home.
I searched the internet for more information on bed bug treatment and after work we went to home depot and bought some home indoor insect killer for bedbugs and sprayed everything, baseboards, my very very expensive bed frame, cracks, screws, everything.
The next day we bought a gallon of Bonide for bedbugs. i took every piece of clothing out my closet and saw one early stage of bed bugs on a pair of pants, okay fine, right there i sorted what i would keep and throw the rest away, bagged everything threw out and the rest i bagged for cleaning. I washed them in hot water dried on super hot and bagged them while my husband used the whole gallon on a 12×10 bedroom taking the bottom bed frame 3×4 wood off and spraying them and in the closet.
We also searched the other 2 rooms and mattress finding nothing and I was sure i wouldn’t because those mattresses and bed frames were just bought in March and April and we put mattress covers on them and just painted one of the rooms as well so i knew they were okay, but check to be sure.
I even threw out curtains and shades, the desk, the broken TV leaving the bedroom bare except my expensive bed frame that i want to keep, my bedpost pretty much stands 7 1/2 ft tall, my husband took the top of the bedpost down which he thinks they may have crawled up there because it is wood.
Every night since, we check to see if we see any more bed and in the morning only saw a few. One bug on the post, wall, closet and 2 dead ones, so far the bed bug treatment seems to work.
Friday we vacuumed really good then arranged to have it cleaned but later decided to take up the carpet upstairs carefully rolling it up taking it to the trash then spraying, we did not want to take any chances since it was in that one room.
We think we found the host on the mattress before taking it out because that was the only place they were in, one area, but i knew probably they were at the other end as well. we tend to think we got most of them, it was not that bad or many maybe we caught them before it got so bad, no bites or anything.
Question about bed bug treatment: what can i get to truely kill bedbugs? I don’t want it to reach the other rooms. How long will it take for them to be gone and spraying. I don’t have money to afford the professionals. I don’t plan on moving back in there until i know they are gone. I even planned to set a tester to see if they are still there by laying some sort of pad down to see if they attack it.
I’ve heard people use a hot steamer, drione dust. Will the drione dust really work and how do i apply it to my bed frame, and can i mop the floor with any thing to kill them as they crawl. we are now sleeping in the spare room that has not been used , we just furnished it. we did not move anything into the room just our bodies that we cleaned before moving in there and as i said we washed everything, really my clothes were the only thing ever in there and those have been cleaned or thrown out and now I’m living out of a bag.
Should i go over the whole upstairs with the drione dust even the other rooms and bathroom. one mattress still has the plastic on it and mattress cover. We even bleached down the garage. that was a lot of work and we are still not done. Sometimes i am scared to go to sleep and i always think they are on me even though i know they are not.
what do i do next.?
BUGWAR…..
U R not ALONE! Bed bugs are popping up all over and they aggravate us all. I am so paranoid and every time my hair tickles my neck I throw a fit. The worst part, I have an infant son to worry about. So far he hasn’t been bitten.
I inspect him all the time and so far we’ve been very fortunate. But enough is enough I’m not going to wait until he has a trail of bumps. I will be getting that “D… earth” stuff tomorrow! I’ll be back to tell u how it went.
Thanks for the advice!
I know someone who manages a large hotel. They have no bed bugs, but all the other hotels in their area constantly battle them.
What do they do differently?
They go down to Mexico and buy ddt. They spray the rooms with ddt, and then call in an exterminator to cover the trail. ddt is illegal. He said its harmless to humans but horrible for birds – but since they use it only indoors….
Is there anything at actually works and is legal?
After living with bedbugs for over a year and combing the internet to find some way to get rid of them the only thing that remained constant was the professional (and expensive) treatments. My problem may not have been a full blown infestation (compared to things I had seen on TV) but was still pretty bad.
My girlfriend and I woke up every morning with lines of bumps up and down our arms, legs, back, and neck. I had even taken to setting my alarm for predawn hours so I could turn on the light and catch them on the walls and squish them. Of course I took to vacuuming the room, especially the bed area and bed its self quite extensively making sure to take the canister out to the dumpster away from the apartment.
I was trying to save enough money to have a professional treatment, but in the meantime tried everything I could to diminish their numbers.
One day in the grocery store (Giant or Safeway, I forget which) in the pet aisle I came across a flea/tick powder and thought “what the hell, can’t hurt”, so I picked it up. I was amazed that within a matter of days the number decreased dramatically and within a week they were gone! Thinking this may have been a temporary fix I have waited several months to post this just in case it didn’t last. Well, I am proud to say that for 4 months now we have been bedbug free!
So, anyone with a bedbug problem I strongly suggest this powder called Nature’s Guardian made by Sergeant’s. Do a through vacuuming of the area and bed and then apply the powder along the baseboards and sprinkle under the bed and between the mattress and box spring. Also be sure to change your sheets just before applying and be sure your old ones are washed just in case there are any bugs hiding in there.
I HAVE BEEN BEDBUG FREE FOR 4 MONTHS NOW AND HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT. I don’t work for the company or stand to make any profit or anything. I’m just someone who knows what it’s like to live with bedbugs and wants to help others so that they don’t have to go through what I did.
Man these things suck. I cant see them, I cant hear them, but these little bastards keep biting. I am going to buy the mattress covers and that dimetrious earth stuff and go to town. If it works I promise I will come back and post again. If not I am going to come back and tell all of you how wrong you are.
Love from Texas Ya’ll.
up until yesterday i had not thought about bed bugs.. yesterday morning i noticed two small welts on my arm, then again yesterday as i lay on my bed i get some more of the same welts. last night i could not sleep and each time i got up i had more but never saw the bug nor felt the bite.
I got up and removed the sheets off the bed and i did see a bug on my mattress but he didn’t look like the pictures I’ve seen out here. My question is now what do i do. i just got laid-off and can’t afford to hire someone to come in, is there something i can try to stop this problem before it gets bigger?
This question is for Keith Gordon or anyone else that knows; We live in a house, we are tenants. We have had bedbugs and did a lot of the things that have been said. There is a one bedroom and a bachelor downstairs used for storage. Can bedbugs go down there and make or start a nest when no one ever goes in those apartments and come back up to feed (feed on us) ? does harborage mean nesting?
I’m sorry if my English is not that good, i’m french
Our friend had bed bugs in his car. He said this is about the 3rd time in 4 years. He took everything out, vacuumed, then treated it with cedar oil spray from the pet department at Walmart. It took several treatments (cars have a lot of hiding places) but the bugs are gone. He didn’t really like the smell, but he didn’t like the bugs either.
“Diatomaceous Earth” seems to work wonders on everything!
Cockroches, fleas, dust mites. It is very gentle and you can even put it on your pet. Cedar oil for pets is safe on animal, & people. I like the cedar smell. Please don’t be afraid of these little bugs … they will go away if treated. If the bites really bother you, talk to a doctor. Stay calm, treat your home and your bites and you should be just fine.
First of I had no idea about bed bugs! I started breaking out in hives about 3 months ago. i did wake up once or twice to use the restroom over the course of the last month or so and had a bug on me but assumed it was because my window was open. Well needless to say I couldn’t understand what is going on, I’ve gone to the allergist and everything.
Tonight, just about an hour ago, I had what i thought was my worst “allergic” reaction to date…It was SEVERE. I got up and then as I was going back to bed…WOW…there was no less than a half dozen of these buggers on my mattress, I went on to inspect further and its a full on infestation! My mattress is 6 years old and its a top notch 20 year mattress..very expensive and comfortable? Can I keep it??? I need to resolve this tomorrow, I live in San Diego, so I’m hoping i can find someone that has good experience in removing these.
I have surfed the internet for two days regarding bed bugs. I live in an apartment, which has very high turnover and recently found a bite on my arm, which became inflamed and swollen. I went to the emergency room due to the itching and swelling where the doctor said he cannot diagnose the problem and referred me to a pharmacy for cortisone etc. cream.
I was sitting on my couch, around 6:30 and felt something on my leg. I had socks on covering my pull ups and as I looked down and there was a little bug. I swiped it and it tried to get away, but I killed it. Bed bugs do not only bite at night, this was in broad daylight! Besides this I kept lights on in my home for days, because they say they bite while we are sleeping, this was not the case in my experience and so i wanted the experts to know what my happened here.
Thanks!
I work at a large apartment complex where we have had four cases of bed bugs in some of the apartments. These were not just normal cases. When we entered the units they were on the walls and in the corners of the walls behind the electrical outlet plates.
Bed bugs were even found behind the blind brackets. What I am trying to say is they were hiding in the smallest places. We had to remove everything in the rooms and pull back the carpet. We treated with pesticides (Suspend SC liquid and dusted every crevice we could find with Delata dust. There was a 100% success even in the occupied units. The key is to not to bomb the little bugs it drives them into places where they can hide from the gas.
So i had a situation where i had bedbugs living inside of my mattress. I have no clue how they got there but as I checked other beds in my home i found 2 more infected beds where they were living. Automatically I threw out the infected beds and ordered new ones. That all happened at least 3 or 4 months ago.
I have now been sleeping in my new bed but I’m finding that there coming back. Is it a possibility that getting rid of the infected mattress and boxsprings wasn’t just the solution to my issue? Would it be smart for me just to call an exterminator because i don’t want to wait too long and have 3 brand new beds become infested with these creepy crawlers again. I also noticed that somehow they get under my sheets?
I’m personally not an insect person and it creeps me out to the point where every night before I go to sleep i take off my comforter just to check for those damn bed intruders….If anyone can please get back to me quickly on this because THIS NEEDS TO STOP…I hate having to wake up and see blood on my sheets which I don’t know if its either mine or there’s because i have figured out that sometimes i’ve squashed a couple turning in my sleep…SO Please, any help with bed bug treatment would be greatly appreciated!
Hi………I am developing a phobia of bed bugs, even though I don’t currently have any. I just ordered new bed covers, and my husband travels once a month. We try our best to put his clothes right away in the dryer, and I spray his luggage.
I am now so scared, I am becoming afraid of buses, cabs, restaurants, etc….this is all I think about. Can anyone tell me something positive (I live in NYC!!!!!), like, the majority of people do not get this? We have millions of people here.
I would like to ask Keith Gordon if I could speak to him via e-mail or phone, or right here, as to prevention methods, if he would be so kind….or anyone else who can tell me SOMETHING positive!!! I am scared to death of getting this……
Thank you!!!
I think Many people has misse what Mr.Keith Gordon said.
I did pass my license as an exterminator for NJ but never started a business; but i can tell you that a proper management program should easily get rid of the bugs.
I got them on my property; beds you can get zipper covers in Walmart for less than $30 for queen size, they are dust mites covers, as well as go to home depot they do have a great spray safe for beds called goodnite sleep; and treat the mattress with steam first. After the steam treatment, put it inside the pillow and spray it with the insecticide before you close the zipper; just steam the room and then apply the spray; give it 30 days and spray again it should get rid of them; you will have a good sleep from the first night.
A good steamer is any that can reach 180 f and have 35 psi. I had used a McCulloch mc125 and was not to expensive, less than a $100 dollars.
Just be very careful with the spray and always make sure of reading the labels (where it says caution) and follow instructions it will work.
as Keith said it is not too hard to deal with bed bugs; read his comments.
Hi,
I noticed bed bugs in my studio 3 years ago when I woke up with what seemed mosquito bites and then thought it was a spider bite I cleaned my sleeping area and didn’t find anything and then my neighbor complained her daughter had bites and my mother in law was the one that told me they were bed bugs.
I threw my mattress away because I kept spraying it with Raid and they just did not seem to go away, I moved to a 2 bedroom in the same complex and the same night I moved I had a bed bug on my new bed and was so disappointed because I had threw most of my furniture including sofas, beds and had washed all my clothes.
I now keep waking up with bites every other day and plan on getting one of those products I read from the comments “Diatomaceous Earth” I personally think the complex I live in was where I got infested from, I plan to move soon and disinfect everything and throw most of my furniture away and hope they don’t follow me to my new place!
Hey guys, I just wanted to say that our house has been infested to and right now we are having a hard time with pest control.
I thought that if we get the beds out we would be good. we don’t have a bad case of it but well enough to where we just don’t want them. So we have found more eggs and treating for bed bugs in every room.
So far I have heard getting some chemical and spraying works and that dehydrating them works. Well, let’s hope so because I cant take these nasty things anymore!
I just don’t understand? Our house is always clean.
Well, I’m praying this bed bug treatment really works!
I discovered my BB problem in Early January. Seems I inherited it from my recent next door neighbor whom after 5 months has moved again. Obviously, though he blunted denied it, he has been transferring it all over the city.
His bed was adjacent to mine, and only divided by a wall. They came through the floorboards or outlets. I have had an exterminator in to treat all furniture, baseboards etc. with pyrethoid and have since discarded the bed, moved to the coach which he previously treated and 2 weeks later I have re-treated with a bottle of the same which he left me as well as treated around every floorboard, outlet and pipes (kitchen and bath), under all furniture and sporadically through out the carpeting and floors with Mother earth/DE.
It has only been 2 more weeks since, and I have noticed a marked improvement. By the way, I took a few days off work, and on my hands an knees, brushed all carpets and picked up eggs (though I don’t know if they were spent) and steam cleaned most of the carpeting.
Hoping this will eradicate the situation and murder the bed bugs once and for all!
Please let me know if you think I have done enough. I too am terrified to sleep at night!
Janina (Mississauga/Ontario)
Hello Kristen…
You can also go to your local department store, find the section that sells bug killer and look for ChemFree Insectigone. This stuff is silicone dioxide (present as Diatomamaceous Earth). This stuff is safe for pets. I have first hand experience with it due to an ant invasion last year and than bed bugs this year! The only bad thing about DE is I find it clogs your vacuum cleaner.
Hello Kristen,
Try ‘food grade’ diatomaceous earth which is EPA approved against indoor and outdoor crawling insects and is also FDA approved for internal and external use and has a rating of Food Chemical Codex Grade.
I am wondering if that diatomaceous earth is safe around pets. I know you say its natural but I want to be sure. Will flea powder do the same thing or does it have to be diatomaceous earth?
I have never dealt with this before. I am very frustrated by the fact that I have bites all over my body seemingly overnight. I got a mattress cover and vacuumed… do I also need to treat my curtains? This is so frustrating. I can’t afford an exterminator.
I cannot get rid of these dang little bugs! i am on a tight budget and all of the things that i have seen to kill bedbugs cost a lot! Please tell me what i can do to get rid of them!
We found bed bugs in my son’s room, we treated his room and now we have them in the master bedroom. We are going to treat the entire house, which means to pack and bag everything!!!
We have hardwood floor and we have been told that the bed bugs could be living in some of the cracks in the floor. It was suggested to us that we should do the floors to cover every single crack, meaning, hiring a flooring company to put a clear coat on the floors all over the house. This represents a monumental job, not to mention how expensive that would be.
Are we really at risk to get them back if we don’t do the floors?
After writing my last comment I went back and read some of the other comments. I don’t want to insult anyone, I just want to get the truth out about bed bugs. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to sell you anything (unless you live in Iowa. He He!). It just bothers me about how much misinformation is out there. I’m here to help. Most home owners are misinformed and even quite a few professionals could use some education. I have spent a large part of the last 5 years studying this subject and, I am somewhat of an expert. I don’t want to brag but I know exactly what I am talking about and, my treatments have never failed. I have achieved 100% control in 100% of my accounts.
1. Many of you have paid large amounts of money for a professional treatment. When we first started getting calls for bed bugs we charged quite a bit too because we didn’t yet know how little we could get away with and still get control. Now that we have learned that they are very easy to get rid of we have dropped our prices a ton. I can treat an apartment for $250 – $450. A house may be a bit more. It depends on how many beds and pieces of furniture we have to treat. Many companies have not lowered their prices yet because they have not learned that bed bug infestations are often very localized. Bed bugs just don’t spread all over the place unless you ignore them for months or fail to do a proper treatment. Most of the time we find 2 or 3 small harborages and that’s it.
2. If you had a professional treat 3 times, I would bet that he did it correctly but you didn’t allow 30 days for all the eggs to hatch. Nothing on Earth will make the eggs hatch other than time. It is also not true that eggs can be killed with insecticides. If you are told that an insecticide will kill the eggs too, you are being lied to. Steam will kill the eggs but insecticides won’t When you hear about eggs being killed, what they are talking about is insect growth regulators (IGR’s). They do not kill eggs. They keep insects from growing to a mature size. Thus, they will not be able to reproduce. The eggs will hatch no mater what we do (other than steam heat) and, you will see live bed bugs for 30 days. A few days after they are exposed to the products, they will die. There is no way around this. You did not waste your money on the treatment. The only reason your glue traps worked is because the treatment finally worked. I bet if you look at your traps there is nothing in them. I would also like to say that if you were told to rip up your carpet, this guy had no business being in the pest control business. They do not live under carpet. They quite often will get under the very edge of the carpet (which can be very easily treated) but, they do not ever crawl clear under it. I take back what I said earlier. He may not have done the job properly. All he needed to know is that you would see them for at least 30 days. He is incompetent but, it sounds like his treatment finally worked. Like I said, they are easy to get rid of. Even an incompetent technician should be able to get them stopped.
3. It is true that cold is not as effective as heat. You would need to keep the house at sub-zero temps for a week or 2. The fact that you have not seen any since you opened your windows tells me that you must have thrown out whatever they were living on, performed some sort of treatment that finally worked (remember the 30 day rule) or you only transported a few male bed bugs (and no females) into your home. That happens all the time. If 1 or 2 males crawl into your suitcase, and you take them home, the problem will take care of itself. As for steam, if you were successful at steam treating every harborage, you would notice instant results. Steam is effective but if you miss one single egg or pregnant female, you will need to have a residual insecticide in key locations to kill what you missed. I use steam sometimes and it is effective but, it is not a silver bullet.
4. Glue traps under the bed legs will not work if the bugs are already living on your bed. In addition, if your sheets ever touch the ground they can crawl right on to the bed. I also agree that they can drop off the ceiling. This alone will not be effective. Glue traps as part of an integrated pest management program will help but alone they will not stop the problem. Think of it this way. Bed bugs that are not living on the bed are going to keep reproducing wherever their harborage is located. They will just keep getting worse. Eventually one female will find her way into the bed. It is a bad idea to use these as a stand alone control device.
5. The person that said they found bed bugs on the head board and threw the head board away may have solved his/her problem just by getting rid of the harborage. Remember, these things don’t just run all over the place. The find a nice little crack or crevice that is close to a blood meal and they move in. Once this harborage is established they only leave their harborage to feed. Bed bugs do not always live on beds and furniture but, many times they do. If that is the case, all you have to do is get rid of whatever they are living on. If you want to keep it, all you have to do is treat it. It’s just that simple.
I could go on and on but I think what I have given you should be helpful.
The Truth About Bed Bugs From A Pro
I have been in pest control for 16 years. 5 years ago we started to get calls for bed bugs. I have performed over 300 treatments and have found that they are not very hard to get rid of at all. Most companies will tell you that you need to have multiple treatments done. This is not true at all. 80% of the jobs I have done require only one treatment. 99% of them are stopped by the second treatment and, I have never, ever had to treat more than 4 times (that only happened once).
The fact of the matter is, if you find and treat every single bed bug harborage on the first attempt, you will have killed every single bug in the house. That’s just a fact. In fact, many times there is only one harborage. The key is to not miss anything. But, even if you do miss some, if you treat properly, you can still get rid of them. It’s just not that big of a deal.
Any insecticide will kill a bed bug very easily. They are not that resistant to insecticides. When I have to go back a second time it is because I missed something or the customer did not allow 30 days for it to work. You must allow 30 days for nature to take it’s coarse. You have to let the eggs hatch and let the new bed bugs get exposed.
The last thing you want to do is change your behavior. Don’t sleep on the couch. They will just go dormant or move to the couch. If they move we hope that they will get into the product but, that does not always work. Just keep sleeping in your bed. I know that doesn’t sound good but, you will get much quicker results if you do.
I have never failed and I never will. If you are worried about the products we use, don’t be. When they are used according to the EPA label standards, there are no potential health risks. These products are designed for this purpose and affect the insect in ways that can only harm the insect. They have an internal make up that is different from that of mammals. The chemistries take advantage of those differences and thus are void in the human system. Besides, we don’t treat the entire mattress. We only treat the crevices that they live in.
Modern insecticides are largely misunderstood. They get a bad rap from the old, outdated, products that we have not used for decades. You have nothing to worry about. Bed bugs are much easier to get rid of than German Roaches. I do it every single day. It’s no big deal.
Good Luck!
Just a comment, when I went to the exterminator to buy the insecticide to kill the bed bugs, they told me that cold will not kill bed bugs. That like most other bugs, bed bugs will just go into a hibernation state and once it warms up, they will be on the prowl again. They said that the only thing that will kill them beside chemicals is extreme heat…high setting on a dryer…for 40 minutes.
Also, bed bug barriers on the bottom of your bed legs will not always work as bed bugs have been known to crawl up the wall and fall on their prey if they cannot get up the bed.
Hello,
I live in 4 plex and have found 3 bed bugs in my bed. I found them behind my headboard and have put that in the trash.
I’m araid to buy a new bed and have no idea how I got the bugs in the first place. I’m stressing out here and hope to find a solution on your site. I’m so afraid that I can’t even sleep at night!
Thanks
I returned home from traveling recently and brought bed bugs home with me. It was a nightmare! No matter what i did i could not get rid of them. After getting the pest controller back 3 times he that they were probably under the carpet and it needed to be ripped up which was going to cost me a lot of money.
Then I came across a low cost bed bug barrier that fit onto the bed legs with a special glue that traps Bed Bugs. The glue lasts over 1 year so will protect from any eggs that hatch later no. There were no chemicals needed and was so much cheaper than using a pest controllers. I simply moved my bed away from the wall, applied Bed Bug Barriers and have never been bitten since.
Thank you!
I have just returned from Mexico. I have 3 bites. One on my jawline, one on my collarbone and one under my armpit. They are red, with a raised center and tiny white center. They are incredibly painful, but NOT in the least itchy……I read that if you have multiple bites, it is NOT a spider, but rather it is likely bedbugs….has anyone ever heard of bedbug bites that do not itch, but instead are just intensely painful?
Hello Matt,
To kill the bed bugs in your home by turning the heat off, you would have to get the house down to about 5F for a day and if the infestation is heavy, you’re going to need a few days at -5F. Just turning off the heat and an outside temperature of 0F doesn’t mean the inside of the house will be 0. Insulation, length of time, size and more are all factors you need to consider.
I’m guessing you live in a very cold area?
Best regards,
Jim.
I was able to vacate my house with the heat off during a cold night and freeze my infestation out. I saved hundreds on an exterminator with this technique!
The only way to keep bed bugs from infesting your home is to avoid buying second hand furniture, books, clothing, etc… be informed of your friends and family who are infected so that you may protect yourselves and your home.
Do not over crowd your home with items, clutter is their hide out. Room to room carpeting is a no, no. Bed bugs can breed in the fabrics of your carpets, especially where there is an opening where they can hide underneath. When cleaning your home, don’t do it half way.
Make sure you use citrus or citronella cleansing solutions mixed with rubbing alcohol, but make sure you do not mix chemicals which might harm you in process. Keep it natural as possible. And yes, use Diatomaceous Earth in all corners, cracks and openings in your home. Make sure you use it on your carpets, under your bed, around your bed, anywhere there is a hiding place. Even in your closets and drawers.
Check for blood spots and wash your fabrics as suggested according to the label of your fabric. And keep checking for signs of them anywhere you look, and spray some of that powder on them and their eggs.
Keep the temperature of your home on the cooler side, for these bugs thrive in warm temperatures. In winter time, leave your windows open and your air conditioning or heating off to freeze the bugs to death, if you can afford to.
All the best
I am pregnant and just found bed bugs in my bed. I live in an apartment and I need to know what I can do to get rid of them? Are the owners responsible to getting rid of these?
I just bought a new mattress and a bed set. Bed Bugs appear a lot and I tried to use a spray to kill them. I was panicked and did not know what to do as this is the first time in dealing with pest control. It started from the new set and then to master bedroom and other rooms.
Singapore only sells the dust mite protectors for mattresses with rubber bands and not with a zipper. Do you sell it? Please let me what can I do to prevent the bed bugs.
Thanks and much appreciated.
I recently moved into a subsidized housing unit and made the mistake of leaving my bed flat on the floor, without the legs; there is no infestation, but they are lurking. One easy method of preventing bed bugs from climbing onto your bed is to put a plastic Tupperware container under each leg of the bed; as of yet no bug has climbed the smooth plastic and over the lip of the container. If you have further doubts as to whether they can climb over the containers, fill them with water.
Hi Jeni,
They say insecticides with “d-Phenothrin” as an active ingredient are most effective on bedbugs, but make sure the product is made for ‘household’ use or you could end up damaging the items you spray it on!
No matter what the product says, always use care when around children and the elderly, especially people who are immunocompromised or sensitive to products such as these.
When heavy infestation, you probably won’t get rid of all the bed bugs at first and will have to hit them again in 10-14 days. Also, be aware that pest control companies are the best bet at dealing with heavy infestation of bed bugs. Failed attempts at do-it-yourself pest control means that bed bugs have that much more time to multiply.
Note: The general consensus are that insecticide sprays are not the effective. Unless it specifically states that it’s safe to use on your mattress, don’t use it. If the product does not guarantee it safe and danger free for humans, then I’d stay away from it!
Best regards,
Jim.
will a home fogger kill them
The way I get rid of bed bugs is to use any spray that has alcohol content and find it kill’s them instantly. Start by spraying the bugs slowly since the pressure may move them and then try to cover them with the liquid.