This page is a compilation of bed bug treatments offered by visitors which have worked for them; it’s about how to exterminate these bugs yourself. We have a separate page for those looking to treat bites from these bugs.
When we hear of a treatment that works, we list it here. 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.
And, if you’re convinced that you have bugs but couldn’t find them, make a bed bug trap using dry ice or Alka-Seltzer, it’s amazing what you’ll catch!
If that doesn’t work, read how a bed bug sniffing dog helped Mimi find bugs when professional exterminators said she was bug free!
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 top rated and most common solution for killing bed bugs (from visitors and entomologists alike) has been to use Diatomaceous Earth aka Bed Bug Dust; it works by dehydrating the bugs and it has fantastic results!
One of the visitors (Leanna) suggested this:
Go to a pet feed store and buy food grade 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 (diatomaceous fossilized earth) sticks to their bodies and dehydrates them. They eventually dry up and die.
Leanna also suggested using this powder 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 and move about 1 inch per 10 seconds; 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.
A visitor, Marie, has fought the war against bedbugs more than once and won without having to call a pest control company! It’s a great example and well worth reading if you are going to do this on your own!
Two years ago, I had a group of foreign exchange students visiting. After they left, I had a young American man here tell me about my bedbugs. I didn’t know what he was talking about. So he showed me. I spent the next ten days doing research on line, The American kid wanted to treat immediately, and picked up cockroach spray. That served to spread them to another bed in the same room. I told him to stop it, what he picked out was shown online to be ineffective in anything but causing them to run and spread. They run so fast.
What I discovered in the local hardware stores (sprays and bombs), and local chemical store (a spray), did not work, even though they were advertised as bedbug killers. They were very expensive, and even with direct contact did not kill all the adults. The local fumigators wanted $700 to $900 to come and put a bag on my home and fumigate. I would have to vacate, taking pillows and food things out of the house for three days. And then I was going to have to do it again in ten days, and again, in ten days. So for $2100-$2700 in fumigation, plus 9 days in a hotel, i was going to have the opportunity to have someone else take care of my problem.
The 20 Mule Team Borax I have found useful in treating for fleas over the past thirty years did not make a dent in the bed bugs, I haven’t tried the salt / borax mixture I’ve read on this website.
In doing research i discovered that malathion is one of the pesticides on the market that still works, and it it not available in my county. I found it online from a plant nursery in the north, and had it shipped in to Florida. The first thing i did was the edges of the room, the doors frames, the window frames, and then the a/c vents. I turned off the power to the room (best to turn off all power!) and took off all electrical covers, phone line cover and the cable tv jack cover. I sprayed Malathion into all the openings in the wall. I sprayed along the baseboards. I sprayed the spline edges on the screens.
Then I spread food grade diatomaceous earth all over the floor. I sprayed bleach on the mattresses, and the bugs did not die. I put three adults on a paperplate and sprayed different things on them and 1 out of 3 would die, and the other 2 would get up, wave at me, and attempt to walk away. I crushed them. I then mixed Dawn for Dishes 1/5 soap and 4/5 water. I got an immediate 100% kill rate on the adults.
Having isolated the creatures in the one bedroom, taken out the exits with poison (yes, I hated it, but i wanted a quick, thorough kill, not a gradual die off that would allow the females to drop eggs as they were running to other parts of my home to die. I then caulked every floorboard, window frame, and the frames in the bed and furniture. I caulked and painted the furniture to completely seal the furniture. I put two new layers of paint on the walls and ceiling. I vacuumed daily for six weeks. The war lasted 6 weeks, eighteen hour days. Thank God i am self employed and was able to carve out that time, more than ten percent of that year, to handle the bug problem.
After six weeks, I was bug free. I was so relieved.
Two months later, I had a young college come and stay with me to start school in my community. He only stayed a month because he took to bringing home street people to sleep on an air mattress on the floor of the bedroom. He was feeling virtuous that he was helping the less fortunate. I was not comfortable with his charitable activities, and he left. As I was pulling the sheets from his bed I discovered three adult bed bugs. There were no sheds or obvious eggs, there was no blood load or blood trail. These bed bugs were MUCH larger and more ovular in shape than the bedbugs i did battle with downstairs. I didn’t know there were different types of bed bugs like there are different types of than the cockroaches.
I immediately treated the perimeter of the room with malathion to prevent an escape into the rest of the house (baseboard cracks, window frames, door frames, plus turned off the electric to that room and removed all the electrical covers, cable cover, and phone cover). I replaced the covers, caulked and painted. I sprayed the ceiling fan motor with malathion. I waited a day, again, to turn the power back on to the room, giving everything time to dry. Then I did the entire room as i had done the downstairs. This was a metal framed bed, so i did not caulk and paint it. I stayed out of the room for ten days. The Dawn for Dishes / water mix i had found effective once again killed all the adults with whom it came in contact. After ten days, I returned to the room and checked for bugs. I found another three adults on the edge of the box spring, against the metal frame. I sprayed them with the Dawn for Dishes mix, and they all died immediately. I had no further problem in that room.
It has been two years, and I have been relieved to not deal with bedbugs, again, until 3 days ago. A visiting friend said something about the ticks in his bed. I went to see what was going on, and discovered he had unpacked his entire van, his personal effects had piled up two feet deep around the bed, plus the underside of the bed was stuffed full, plus there were clothing hanging on the curtain rods. The first things i noticed were the discolorations on the creases at the top of the insulated curtains. I didn’t remember my curtains having those dark stains. My friend had been with me six weeks, and I hadn’t been in his room. I had a hard time crawling over his things to get the the mattress and look closely. The first thing I saw on the bed were the speckles of dried blood on the pillow. Not good.
I pulled back the covers and immediately saw two run. I raced back to the kitchen to fill a spray bottle with Dawn for Dishes. I have a fifty pound sack of DE i picked up from a feed store to worm the animals and myself, and to take down the flea and tick problem in the yard. It takes about six weeks to take the flea and tick infestation down to zero. Since the room is already caulked and painted from the bug war two years ago, I put the DE down along the perimeter of the room, under the mattress and box spring, and began pulling all the linens and drapes for washing and drying with Dawn for Dishes and 20 Mule Team Borax. I sprayed the ceiling fans, outlets for the electric, cable and phones with malathion.
Three days ago we had one bed with a huge infestation. Today, I discovered six living adults walking around by day. One was attempting to run through the DE and couldn’t make it to the edge of the thick layer of DE on the floor. That is the first time i have seen them moving around by day. I have another twenty loads of clothing, bedding, curtains, pillows, and towels to wash and dry. We are moving the clean clothing into a safe room, and leaving them there until we make sure we have gotten rid of these bugs, again, in the guest room. They have been there between three and six weeks by the size of the large ones. I assume a visitor brought them in and left them for the next visitor coming into the bedroom.
Now that i know what works for me, and have that room caulked and painted, the bugs didn’t find furniture cracks and crevices to hide and lay their eggs. Instead, they have congregated in the clothing, the suitcase clutter surrounding the bed, and in the clothing hanging from the curtain rods. I will leave the DE down until tomorrow, and will vacuum it up four days after first putting it down for this infestation. It is 4am, I have gone into that room looking for live bugs every hour. There are no live bugs in that room at this time. This is good. This is the quickest i have been able to bring these creatures to a stop. They are so smart and resilient.
I’ve read that the way to to treat luggage is to put it into a car in the sun for an afternoon. Perfect, I’m in Florida. When I want to dry plant specimens quickly, I press them and put them in the car in the sun. Quick dry. Tomorrow I will take the DE covered luggage and have my houseguest put them back into his car in the sun. Teaching him what to do and not to do has been difficult. He was so horrified by the bugs that he started throwing his things from the floor onto another bed. NOOOOO! He wanted to throw all the furniture away, NOOOOO!. Drag an infested piece of furniture through the house means it can drop eggs as it goes and causes the risk of infestation of the rest of the house.
I am not as flipped out as the first time I saw them, but i am in the itching scratching response of just seeing them without sleeping among them or getting bit. I have stopped having visitors into the house, and opted not to spend the night at a friend’s home.
During the first infestation, I was traveling for school, and opted to sleep in my car in rest stops rather than in hotels or at friend’s homes because i did not want to risk passing the infestation on. I didn’t know then what i have read on line tonight about the car heat killing the bugs.
I have spoken with cleaning people from the local expensive hotels, and they say that they have rooms that are infested in the bed area, and in the pull out bed area of the living room. They have to spray repeatedly, and they keep coming back.
They told me to NEVER put my luggage on the carpet on a hotel, to put the luggage in a hard surface in the bath area where bed bugs are not likely to travel, on top of a dresser, and to use the luggage stand available in the closet.
I never thought to look at the luggage stand for blood load, but after reading more tonight, i will look closer.
Good luck to all of you in battle with the bugs. You can win this war!
We have a ton of success stories, so many in fact, we had to break the comments up into pages:
Bed Bug Treatment – Comment Page 1
Bed Bug Treatment – Comment Page 2
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.
WOW! Its month now since we conquer those tiny but might creatures. Thanks for all you help on this website. I thought i should share some tips and products we used.
1. Isopropyl is the only product that kills bed bugs instantly.. you have to spray it directly on them and they will be dead. We used isoproyl 99% aka rubbing alcohol. I purchased it from walmart.. we sprayed it in every nook and corner just incase there were any life ones we did not see.
2. We used rubbing alcohol because my diatomateous earth did not attive. when it arrived.. the product was poured on all baseboards, we lined it along every wall. Pour it on mattress seams and bed frames. we pur some in between our sofa…
We still saw beg bugs around after we did these but their death is just a few hours away after they come in contact with DE
Insecticides do not work on bed bugs.. it only makes them angry.
Bed bugs are attracted to oxygen, so if a room is not in full use it is possible that you wnt find any.
I have tried everything in the book to get rid of bedbugs to no aveil. I have a son and a daughter who dont deserve to live like this it is the most miserable thing i have ever exprienced in our life. Thank you for your advise and i hope and pray it works. I am on my way to the feed store now. God bless you and i hope to have a nights sleep soon.
Well, I am quite upset to say that, after 6 months of being bite free, I have bed bug bites again. I work in the bar of a hotel that is more like a glorified rooming house. Most of the tenants are monthly. We have a very serious infestation in the rooms upstairs. These same guys come downstairs and drink in the bar, so it is quite conceivable that I truly did get rid of them last time and this is just a new infestation due to bringing one home on my clothes.
This time, I am fairly certain I got bit on my couch, as my bed has been isolated since my last incident. The legs are all still in margarine containers lined with Vaseline. I still have DE around my bed. I have noticed a couple mystery bites in the last few weeks, which I attributed to the masses of mosquitoes we have due to all the rain we’ve received. However, the other day, I was laying on the couch and got really itchy all of a sudden. Looked at my ankle and saw what could only be a bed bug bite, as mine tend to swell up quite a bit. The next day, I was vacuuming and putting DE in the couch when I all of a sudden got itchy again and looked at my leg to find 7 new welts. Definitely bed bugs.
Since I’m quite freaked out by this, I texted my boss to let him know that they’re back in my house and he immediately called me and said he would come by and drop off some chemicals the exterminators had left him. He brought pyrethrins and propoxur. He also told me that if this doesn’t work, he will pay for a PCO to come exterminate.
So here’s the plan: I sprayed the heck out of everything in both my living room and bedroom. I have bagged up all fabrics to be laundered. Everything is out of my dresser and closets. The areas of the house that I did not spray with the chemicals have all been dusted with DE. I am going to spray all those same areas again in a week and then start using DE everywhere the following week. Once a week for 3 months. I know I can get rid of them, but it definitely takes alot of diligence.
Britanni I’m so sorry to read about your situation, believe me i understand but let me tell you :i know this is going to sound stupid but you need to understand that this are living creatures just like any other animals !!!so they aren’t here to attack us just to live the course of their life like we all do, unfortunately they feed of our blood and it sucks. i am allergic but i understand a lot about this insects because I dealt with them for about a year last time i got bitten was a few weeks ago when i desire to kill them all, in a patient, smart and organized way…..please dont give up and if you get to read this and reply i’ll share some of the things that i have been doing to get rid of them…..god bless you,you are going to be ok !!
These vicious little vampires are destroying me! The infestation my fiance and i are living with has not only had an effect on our home and work life but is wearing on our relationship. we have tried everything and our resources are completely tapped out. i wish i could afford to pay an exterminator but i cant, all those in the area i have called, and all want hundreds of dollars that i just don’t have.
I now want to move away, my fiance doesn’t, and I’m sad to say as my entire body is covered in bites this may be the end of our engagement. i cannot stand it any more, I’m in constant discomfort and have tried EVERYTHING to get rid of them, at this point I’m done discussing it.
I’m miserable, i cant even wear my flip flops and sandals anymore because they’ve destroyed my feed and I’m embarrassed to show them because of how disgusting they look. I wish there was a service for people like me who cant afford $700 to $1,000 and more to have the place treated for bed bugs, but the fact of the matter is i may be moving back to Illinois to get away from them and it breaks my heart to know my fiance will be lost without me, but i don’t know what else to do.
I hate these insects with every fiber of my being and if i could hunt and kill every single one and watch him die in pain i would do it for destroying my happy once peaceful home. Ive stopped planning my wedding and have no intention of restarting unless we can relocate together and start fresh, and i know we cant afford to so i’m throwing all this wedding stuff away and giving up. this has been one of the most depressing experiences of my life!
My skin is covered in bites, i have black scars covering the skin between the bites, I’m in constant discomfort and my relationship is in serious jeopardy and i just don’t have the strength to deal with it any more. what’s worse, most people think its a problem with cleanliness that causes them so I’m too humiliated to even be able to talk to my loved ones about it. i feel so alone in this struggle!
I found bb in my room and i’m treating them but is it safe to treat a crib my baby girl isn’t getting bits or anything but i want to treat it so they don’t go to it… also my sister took my playpen which is in my living room, to my moms house so her daughter can sleep in and the next day she woke up covered in bits but my daughter who is always in there, has never had any bits… so how would i treat the playpen and crib please help.
hello everyone who has this situation let me tell you my story….i got them for the second time in one year after moving out of my old place i thought i didn’t have to worry about them again, WRONG! I’m allergic to them and thank god i have dark skin and i am kinda hairy on my legs because it covers the nasty looking bites!!!
i was in my bedroom going crazy and found this website, read for two days and got enough info and i’m pretty sure i will get rid of them here is what i did. for starters i took care of the bites using baking soda made the paste with it and applied it on my arms and legs, rinse off, applied calamine and scar cream (memerma) and finish with Vaseline to keep the bites cover and control the itching.
I know it seems like a lot of work but i was desperate…..now time to kill the bugs! cleaned up my bedroom, put anything on the floor in plastic bags after been inspected and kept them in the basement, next anything that i know i don’t need or i wont use got rid of it, i bought a sealed cover for my spring box, sprayed the inside with a mix of water, alcohol and dish soap, bedbug spray from walmart and .D.E (ill explain what this is) sealed my spring box and set it on the frame of the base that i had already clean the same 3 ingredients.
Next i tapped any holes on my mattress sprayed with my alcohol mix and truly inspected ,every corner,tag ,line very important and cover with a brand new sheet, at this point i know for sure there are no bugs on my bed at all. had sealed the mattress and spring box so if there were any they will remain inside, next put the legs of your bed in a plastic bowl with Vaseline or hair gel or aloe and don’t forget this! Don’t let your bed touch any walls, if any bug tries to get onto your bed will get sucked into the bowl, now you have a bed free of bugs and they cant get to you anymore.
So you took care of your bites and your bed, now you take care of them, clean the room with the spay mix ,pour D.E or diatomaceous earth ,go to a health food store and ask for the food grade ,it is a powder. Pour it around your bed around the walls, around the windows and the doors every where dressers, closets and don’t forget to wash your clothes with hot water and dry them off ,you will need to get a sealed basket for dirty laundry.
The D.E it natural you can even drink it i guess (but check for yourself first…) ,but i only use it for this situation, use gloves and a mask so your skin doesn’t get irritated, what it does is dehydrates the bed bug. Get a bedbug bomb at walmrt and set it off, follow the instructions, when you get back the bomb would have eradicated or removed this things from their hiding spots and forced them to walk around into the D.E…..i know this seems like a long procedure because it’s hard to stay on top of it for a few months and it may just work…please let me know what you think. I spent around $150 total …i understand what you all are going through and i really really hope this helps you!
God bless you all.
For those who are having trouble finding DE (diatomaceous earth) locally, here’s what I did: Go to sears.com and start typing that term in the search field. When you see the site offer “safer brand diatomaceous earth – bed bug, ant and crawling insect killer,” click on it. Then click on the picture of the large yellow bag at top left. You’ll see a page with a note that mentions “ship free to store.” DO NOT try to order through the site, because that option doesn’t work. Instead, write down the Sears Item Number (just above the price), call the 800 number, and order by phone. Specify that you want the ship-to-store option. Your DE should arrive in a week or so. Make sure you ask to be notified when it does!
I found several bed bugs in my apartment and had pest control come out a week and a half ago. They sprayed and said that the spray would make the bugs become more active, so I ended up staying in a hotel for 4 days. I called management and insisted they do something besides spray and tell me to deal with getting bit for 2 weeks so they called in a bed bug sniffing dog.
The dog was led around the entire perimeter of my apartment and did not hit on a single thing. After the pest control guy left, I proceeded to put my mattress and box spring in hypo-allergenic bed covers. Low and behold what do I find on the floor by the wall? A BED BUG!
I called management and said that I had found one, they asked to see it. I had flushed it down the toilet because when I find one my first reaction isn’t to keep it!
Needless to say, sleep has been challenging since then. I have thrown out my couch, chair, and all my bedding (comforter, sheets, pillows etc).
I decided to take the fight to the bed bugs myself, I read about 91% Isapropyl Alcohol being effective to kill bed bugs and eggs on the spot. I took the time to go around my whole apartment, pull up the edges of the carpet where they are held down by tack-strip and vacuumed and sprayed a 1 part alcohol to 3 parts water mixture.
For the last two nights I have no bite marks, I am thinking maybe between pest control and my edge of the carpet treatments this problem may be over!
It’s hard to not get up and inspect every corner of my apartment on a daily basis, and it will also be hard to ever sit comfortably in my apartment again. Tricks of the brain keep making me feel like I have things crawling on me, when in actuality I do not.
Pest Control will be coming back in 3 days to treat again and then a day or two later management will be steam cleaning my carpet. I hope to have this problem solved. Not having a couch or a nice bed set anymore is worth not having to deal with these pests from hell.
I have an out of town friend that wants to visit and recently he had to throw his bed away because he has bed bugs. My wife says hell no he cant stay or visit. We have a fifthteen month old son and she doesnt want to take the chance of getting them. I feel bad but after reading all the testimonals I agree with her.
A few weeks ago my daughter who is in her 20′s . Told me she was or felt she was getting bit, where or how she didn’t know. well , i never saw or had any trouble with bed bugs before in my life , till now. She went too the doctor & got some medicine for her bite’s. So when i got home went &checked out her bed, oh my the were on the side’s of her bed with blood mark’s on the mattress & box springs, i about lost it, & her too.I looked it up on line too find out what too do.I have sprayed the beds & other furniture that i can spray. I used alcohol &water & white vinegar mixed in it , it work’s, u can use bleach & hot water or mix with the alcohol & or vinegar mixture, they all work.Wash down the beds & wall ‘s with this mixture, or with hot bleach water. I’ve got good responses while using these. Wash & dry all u r bedding real good in hot water & dry in a hot dryer. Clean the house real good when u can. Good luck all, i still check beds daily .
When I finally realized I had bedbugs and what they were, I went hunting. They aren’t so tiny as to be invisible, not if you figure out where to look. They tend to hide in crevices and under things (either in darkness or, more likely, more precisely the cockroach principle of instinctively preferring any tight spot where touched on multiple sides). However, if you take away their cover, they can be seen. And what can be seen can be killed. Adults are several millimeters long. Younger ones often are such as a millimeter or two, maybe smaller if very recently hatched but generally visible.
Pulling up the crevice border corner of my mattress revealed a dozen which were staying just a foot from my pillow unknown to my prior knowledge. I killed them all. In the rest of mattress crevices and elsewhere, I killed 70 to 90 bedbugs in under a hour. Although dripping liquid dish detergent on a bedbug or detergent-flooding a crevice will kill it in a few seconds, mostly I simply use packing tape to pick up bedbugs with no mess and seal them in it to throw away in the garbage.
I had no idea there were so many, as I had never seen more than one or two out at a time. Before, I had just dismissed them as ordinary bugs to be brushed or blown off my bed without bothering to kill (a mistake), knowing nothing of bedbugs and mistaking the reddish spots on my skin for usual occasional acne. Then I got suspicious from how they seemed to be attracted to me. After comparing what they looked like to internet pictures of ticks and lice, neither matching, I vaguely recalled the old saying “sleep tight and don’t let the bedbugs bite.” Then I finally learned bedbugs were more than mythological creatures, with pictures being a perfect match (a more flattened appearance than a small roach) and them homing in on people by CO2 and heat.
Now that I know what to look for, I’ve been keeping a roll of tape beside me on my now clean mattress while I use my laptop on my bed frequently during part of the day and night. Periodically a surviving bedbug comes out … and doesn’t make it back alive if I catch sight of it. I repeat a more active search of their hiding spots periodically but am finding progressively fewer new ones day by day.
I’ll add diatomaceous earth later and sticky pads (the $2-for-a-4-pack at Walmart kind) to help make sure their population doesn’t recover. But already I’m not getting bitten often like I was before. Don’t just think of them as solely something invisible.
This is good, as I didn’t want to throw out my mattresses right now or spend a hundred bucks or whatever to seal each. Instead, I’m using the crevices as an effective trap, to be searched by me periodically for newcomers.
In short, one *can* hunt bedbugs for a very fast nil-cost start to population reduction. Use tape.
I think we might have bedbugs I keep reading about Dawn for Dishes what is it I’ve never heard of It before?
Update: It’s Dawn Dish Detergent and kills bed bugs.
I went crazy when I found bedbugs. At first I thought the small bumps me and my 1.3 year old girl had were an allergic reaction to our laundry softener. It was a week after our bumps, I saw a bug running across my bed at 2am. I quickly took my little girl to the living room, stripped her cloths and changed her diaper. Making sure no bugs were on her.
I started cleaning. I vacuumed that night. I took apart my bedbox and dressers. I only had pinsol. I used it full strength. I bagged all our cloths and placed a duck tape barrier on the door.
The following day my sister gave me, “LA’s totally awesome” cleaner. (from the Dollar store) she said it would clean out the stains on my mattress and box spring (which were only 4 months old). I used it and it did clean it out. And it also killed the bb! I used it on the carpet, I wiped all over the mattress and killed my box spring with it. Use a face mask, the odor of the spray is strong.
I used the “LA’s totally awesome spray” one night, used my hair dryer as a heat treatment the next night. I alternated every night for a whole week. I also caulked all cracks and holes in the room. On top of it all, I vacuumed every night. I washed all the cloths and kept them n bags. I clean the vacuum bag out every time I used it.
I soaked the vacuum filter n bleached water every night. And it dried the next day.
I was determined. I lost sleep and I was miserable the entire week. I don’t travel, I am a clean freak in my house. I don’t know how we got these bb. And I also let my sister take my toodler for 2 weeks.
I am on week 3. My baby is home and we are sleeping in our room on our bed. No bites. I am still cleaning. Cloths are still n bags. Duck tape still on the door. I am found 1 adult on Sunday. I found eggs on Tuesday. And I decided to clean again today. I found died adults. And still no bites on us. we sleep with a sheet for the mattress and another sheet for us. That’s all. I wash them every night.
I will continue this because the pain of the bites were awful for my little girl and myself.
Jessica:
I, too, got bit and was pretty certain it was bed bug bites, but could find no evidence of them anywhere. I am hoping that I just brought one home and it was just the beginning of an infestation. It has been 23 days now since I got bit.
The important thing for you to do once all of your supplies arrive is to make sure that you isolate your bed so they can’t get to you to bite you. Steam your mattress, take the cover off of the back of your box spring (it’s just a dust cover, and you will be encasing it anyway) and steam it really well. Steam your headboard, paying extra attention to any cracks, and steam your bed frame thoroughly. I have read a lot of info about tape not working so well, so I have margarine containers lined with Vaseline under all of my bed posts and bed frame legs.
After steaming your mattress, box spring, headboard, and bed frame, put on your mattress and box spring encasements, rewash all of your bedding (I gave everything an extra 30 minutes or so in the dryer) and try the Vaseline interceptors. Once you have isolated your bed, and they can’t get to you to feed, you can start with the rest of your bedroom, and even the rest of your house. I didn’t do it all in one day. The most important thing to me was to not get bit at night.
I am still vacuuming my house twice a week and dusting with DE around baseboards after. So far so good. Remember that adults can live a year, perhaps longer, without feeding. That’s where the DE comes in. It will dehydrate and, ultimately, kill them, but it is a slow death, so it is VERY important to keep them from feeding in the meantime. If you scroll down the home page on this site, to the section on bed bug steamers, you can read what I did to try and eradicate them. Good luck!!!
I was in Denver Co. the bedbugs were biting my husband not me or the kids.so it took us a long time to see we had bedbugs.hardwood store has spray that works.They were biting my husband in the back.
I think I have bed bugs but I’m not sure. I can’t see any of the clues they leave behind. I’ve tried a dry ice trap and an alka selzer trap with no luck, I’ve made my bed an island and taped the legs and around the edge of the mattress, I’ve washed all of my clothes and linens on hot and dried on hot. I can’t find anything suggesting I have bed bugs except for the bites I’m getting. Huge, nasty red welts that itch like crazy. I’m waking up every day with more bites.
My DE, mattress covers, and steamer will be arriving tomorrow. My problem is that I live in the basement of an old house. Lots of places for these creatures to hide. I can’t caulk and paint since I rent. My landlord is calling in an exterminator but I’m afraid that she will hire one that will just spray or bomb for them, causing them to just scatter into other rooms of my house. I think I only have them in my room. I’ve been sleeping there every night to keep them there since I don’t want them to scatter.
This is so overwhelming for me that I don’t know where to start. I don’t even know for sure if I have them! But it’s the only thing I can think of, since the bites I’m getting look exactly like bed bug bites.
What a difference a few days make. I posted on this site on March 20th. Since then, I have found information on the Diatomaceous Earth. After thoroughly vacuuming the upholstered furniture, I dusted with the DE. I also “drew” a circle around the upholstered furniture with the DE.
I also squeezed DE behind baseboards, around the baseboards on the floor, around windows, door frames, thresholds, etc. Using an old paintbrush, I brushed DE into dresser drawers, kitchen cabinets, on pictures, anything hanging on the walls, etc.
Make sure you use the food grade DE, not the one for swimming pools. Food grade DE can be found at Whole Foods, health food stores, and online on Ebay. There is a DE that is used for insects sold at home improvement stores that is for indoor and outdoor use… some even say they are organic.
I have not had a bite since Thursday night (I put the DE down on Friday during the day). I admit that I was probably pretty heavy handed on the DE but I didn’t find anything telling me how much to use until after I used it. One site suggested 1/2 pound per 1000 sq ft. I think I used over 1 pound in three rooms alone. Overkill? Probably but those bites hurt and itch so bad.
The cost for the DE is a lot less expensive than calling an exterminator. I paid about $10 for 4 pounds. Remember FOOD GRADE DE, not the DE for swimming pools. Please read any information you can on DE before you use it.
Okay so just updating,
I think we have carpet beetles rather than bed bugs- so just wanted to let people know this is a possibility. I realise the 12 bugs we found which moved very slowly like ladybugs are not bed bugs at all.
We are going to steam anyway but I am somewhat relieved even though they are still tricky to get rid of.
C Beets do not bite you but you can react to the hairs on them apparently.
We have yet to see a bed bug and have no red marks on the sheets anywhere so i am deducing that it is more likely to be this- also I have found a lot of holes in my cashmere woolens over the last couple of years.
Also the DE we put down caused me to have an agonising sore throat after two nights in the room- I chose to be bitten/have allergic reaction to the beetles in the room next door in the end rather than a sore throat that meant i could not sleep.
Ah critters- they make life hard when they strike!
Hi Chuck, what is the name of the handbook? Who is the author, would love to read it!
I just read a 1955 handbook a friend gave me. It said that pine spirits (turpentine i asume) will get rid of bedbugs. Has anyone heard of this?
For people who have a tight budget… I actually just had an exterminator come in about fifteen mins ago. This was our last treatment and we haven’t even seen or had any bites in over a month! We called Utah pest control. They are very cheap. We called Orkin and all those places and there extremely expensive… So if you call a state pest control you will save time, energy, and of course money!
I woke up a week and a half ago and had what I thought was an allergic reaction. My arms and legs had welts with a blister. Went to the doctor, he said most likely bedbugs. I came home and looked in my bed. ICK!!! I found two of them.
My husband asked the exterminator at work what they used for bedbugs. He said steam works but you have to move the steamer slowly, about 1 inch per 10 seconds. You need to go around your mattress, and box springs paying attention to the areas that are overlapping or seamed. After you let your mattress and box spring DRY thoroughly (you do not want a mold problem), you should buy a mattress bag that is made to keep bedbugs in and out.
Don’t forget to clean your pillows and put them in bags too. Next step is to buy risers that are made to keep bedbugs off of mattresses and beds. Oh and don’t forget to check your headboard and bed frame. They seem to like to hide in cracks and crevices. From what I read, the babies look like a little curved piece of rice. They tend to hide under dresser drawers and are sticky.
Don’t forget to steam upholstered furniture paying attention to piping, folds, creases (just as you did with the mattress).
If you vacuum while you have bedbugs, remember to empty your bag or cup as soon as you are finished. Don’t want another breeding ground for them.
Clothes need to be washed and dried on the hottest temperature. At this point, it really is hard to think that you might ruin a few pieces of clothing but getting rid of bedbugs as quickly as you can is the main goal. If clothes are already clean, I have read that you can just dry them on hot for 20 minutes. Make sure you put your “clean” clothes into plastic bags and seal them while you are working on getting rid of these critters. Don’t forget, coats, backpacks, lunch boxes… just about anything that you take out of your home and bring back in can give free rides to bedbugs. Clean these items with a steamer if you can.
Steam around windows, pay attention to baseboards, and anywhere that there is a crevice for them to hide in. I would not use a steamer around an electrical outlet for obvious reasons but I have used a hair dryer set on high.
Remember you have to move slowly with the steamer for it to work. As for the bites that only my youngest and myself are suffering from, I have taken an over the counter allergy medicine, used “after bite”, and also the baking soda and water paste.
Bedbugs love clutter so consider this a good time to spring clean.
Brilliant resource here!!
Thanks everyone for all the sound advice on here. I have been up for 3-4 hours two nights running reading all the comments gleaning as much as I can so I can eliminate the problem we have discovered.
Three days ago I awoke with lots of itchy bites- maybe 12 or so. My husband had none, nor did my 2 year old son.
Ironically I have actually become really aware of the bed bug problem in the US and met an entomologist recently who I quizzed extensively as most of her work is to do with bed bugs- libel cases. She said get mattress encasements and do not take them off for 12 months for any reason!
So I had this sense that maybe sooner or later we would have to deal with them as we do a lot of trips away and my husband is always buying furniture second hand/art work etc. I had been so vigilant- leaving my suitcase outside and washing everything on return from stays in hotels….but not vigilant enough as we have them. I have found about 6 or 7 in the last 24 hours in our bed/on towels/in bathroom ensuite. Now the problem is I give birth in less than 3 weeks and I cannot face bringing a baby into a bite zone!! Hence i have been sleepless trying to work out how best to solve the problem.
My husband is not bitten so has been slow to agree that we have bed bugs-but we just spent three hours doing the following
1) Bagging up all clutter in affected room and taking outside- not sure what we will do with books etc- maybe put in garage and wait for hot day to put in car.
2) Taking bed frame apart and hoovering then wiping with hydro peroxide and washing liquid.I found the little eggs in the bed frame- not too many.
3) Vacuuming the mattress – all the seams and nooks.
4) Vacuuming the whole room and sideboards and furniture- wiping down with the solution above.
5) Washing and then drying all bedding and any clothes not in closet or drawers.
So Phase one is complete.
Our plan is to follow the advice on here next weekend when our DE, Mattress encasement and pillow encasements arrive after ordering online. WE are also going to buy a steam cleaner to clean bed frame, carpet, sideboards, furniture.
We will put DE down for 5 days in that room-do we have to sleep elsewhere when we do that?
All bed legs are sitting in bowls of Vaseline also
My question is maybe John or bedbuggirl may know- should I also treat the frame with PYRETHRIN-need to research if it is harmful to pregnant ladies or babies first.
Finally am I taking a risk not emptying the closet and two chests of drawers of all clothes to be laundered and dried- a big job as we have to use a dryer in the laundromat- I reckon 20-30 loads at least?
I can do that next weekend when we put the DE down if you think it will maximize the chance of us beating this.
I plan on steaming and putting DE down once a week for ten weeks.
Now we do have another bed which seems to be unaffected but I am concerned if we both move in there the bugs will come looking for dinner and affect this safe room!
The door to the plague room does not shut totally as the frame is warped- I sprayed eco insecticide along this entrance yesterday but will also put the tape with Vaseline and DE across this threshold. My husband is sleeping in the infected room to keep some ‘dinner’ in there as if they are biting him, he is not reacting at all. But I do not want him exposing his lungs to the DE next weekend when we put it down. Is there anything else we need to do around that entrance to minimize them migrating into the rest of the house?
I would be so grateful if anyone can answer the questions above- repeated below for clarity or if anyone thinks I have missed anything please say- I reckon we have a ten week relentless pursuit ahead of us to get rid.
My Queries
1Can I just put bagged books and clutter in the car when the heat reaches 90 degrees?Can the eggs be in books?
2We will put DE down for 5 days in that room-do we have to sleep elsewhere when we do that?
3 Do I need to remove every piece of clothing from drawers and closets and launder if they have been in that room?
4Is there anything else we need to do around that door entrance that cannot be totally closed and so sealing the room off when we treat it next weekend, to minimise them migrating into the rest of the house?
5We will put DE down for 5 days in that room-do we have to sleep elsewhere when we do that?
6 Is ten weeks of repeated vigilance, steaming and applying vacuum enough?Is once a week enough or should I do once every 5 days?
7 Should I spray pyrecthrin after vacuuming up the DE after 4-5 days, in all the bed frame spaces(wooden)
8 Have I missed anything?
I know life is busy so if anyone can even guide me on any of these questions I would be very grateful-I am trying to see the ‘funny’ side.This is not how I envisaged spending the last two weekends of my pregnancy, and at least they do not carry disease but for some reason they are really disturbing my mental equilibrium.My husband said I need to stop being frenzied- just because I was on here for 3- 4 hours trying to work out what to do the last two nights. But I cannot sleep!!
Excuse typos- two year old running riot behind me……
Thanks in advance folks.
Place mattress in vinyl cover. Smear Vaseline liberally on legs of bed. Take an old pair of runners and smear Vaseline around the edge of runners. Wear them in doors. The bugs are smart and will drop off the ceiling on you. Place clear two inch wide box tape around perimeter of bedroom walls about waist high. Smear Vaseline liberally on box tape or if you have a flat ceiling try isolating bed from there, same principle as wall. The bugs are unable to climb the walls and can not drop on you while you are peacefully asleep. Spray bedroom and any infected rooms once a week with bed bug spray of your choice, wear mask and vacate premise for at least three hours or do one room at a time closing door behind you. Place diatamous earth around perimeter of each room, use old toothbrush to distribute thin layer, too thick and they won’t walk on it. Wear mask as diatamous earth can be irritating to lungs. leave mask on until any particles in air settle out.
Go to drugstore or store of choice and buy isopropyl 99 percent rubbing alcohol. This will kill bugs on contact. I keep a large spray bottle on bed, just in case one manages to get through while trying to sleep. I have awakened many times in the dark, spraying liberal amounts on isopropyl on itchy skin or prickly skin. DO NOT SMOKE while using alcohol.
I carry a five inch bottle of rubbing alcohol tucked in my inside pocket of jacket. One day while shopping I felt something prickling my shoulder. I quickly unzipped my coat, grabbed the bottle of alcohol spray, shoved the bottle down the back of my shirt and sprayed away. The itching and stinging stopped, don’t know what was back there but it didn’t bother me the rest of the day. Got some weird stares from other shoppers.
Took about two months but no more bugs. I still carry the bottle in my inside jacket, feel better just knowing it’s there. Good Luck, good hunting. If you have kids or pets do not use diatamous earth. Do not listen to this stuff that grade food diatamous earth isn’t harmful; it harms the lungs if breathed in. I place it around the perimeter of rooms and if any is in the air I fine spray the air to settle out any particles. Always wear a mask and gloves when distributing dust or bedbug spray.
I just wanted to thank you for this site. New to the whole bedbug nastiness, and while I’m still completely freaked out, horrified and going insane, it’s nice to know that others are, too. Wait – that didn’t sound right. Misery loves company? No – not right… Well, whatever it is – thank you, everyone, for sharing your stories and plans of action. successes/ failures. I hope we can all get rid of these dregs one day!
I’ve been getting bumps on my body for months and recently found out that I have bed bugs so I brought the spay and sprayed my room and got a new mattress and they came back but the problem is I have plastic on my new bed and box spring where could they be hiding I do have blankets in top of my mattress also the people who live upstairs are dirty could they be coming from there can some help me
as i await my first comment to post i stayed up ALL night,reading, AND too afraid to sleep less i get bit, ugh, after reading all night of everyone’s posts, i know I AM NOT ALONE and that these little vampire bugs do not just happen to “dirty people” they happen to EVERYONE!
Oh man i’m seeing that this can be costly as well, no matter what you try, i am noticing from myself and some other posts, these little suckers do not like certain smells, Dracula doesn’t do garlic, these guys don’t do lavender oil, or eucalyptus.
I have some medicated anti itch creme that i slathered all over my previous bite areas last night and the only light i had on was my lap top, I’m thinking they didn’t like the medicated smell, kinda like a green tea smell, am i on to something??? I’m getting ready to take off on my first buying adventure, Ross’s dress for less has king size bed encasement made for bed bug fighting, for twenty bucks, that’s my first stop,then on to walmart to buy air mattress for myself and daughter, and the d e powder if i can find it there, the dollar store for spray bottles and dawn soap, and….where can i buy the D E powder at?
Sincerely,
Bedbug stalker aka vampire bug killer
ps…also going to buy the biggest bottle of tree tea oil or lavender oil i can find,at least thats a pleasant smell
Hi,
I live in an apartment in South Florida. After getting bites which started just before Thanksgiving and of course was chalked up to mosquito’s or something else, it was confirmed by pest control three weeks ago that we had bed bugs. Probably since I had at least 10 of them in a baggie to show them that I took from the mattresses in two bedrooms and I told the office of my suspicions . We covered the mattresses right away with the bed protectors (even before they confirmed they were bed bugs). But once they confirmed we threw the mattresses out. Since apparently I am allergic to these bites because I welt up to the size of a quarter from each bit, it was driving me crazy. After trying every bug bite lotion on the market, Benadtyll, Calamine lotion, Caladryll, Hydrocritzone cream, etc II started asking around about what to use on these bites and someone suggested Desitin (diaper rash ointment). The bites on me usually last at least four weeks and I am even scared from them. But the ones I put Desitin on, I don’t think will scar like the others and definitely feel much better than the others did as they do not itch nor do they even welt up.
I also did a lot of research on what to use for the bugs. And someone mentioned that these bugs do not like clove oil. Since I am desperate to do anything, I bought some. Since it is so strong, I mixed it with baby oil and started applying to my feet and legs. I also put some in a baggie with water and soaked a couple pieces of wash clothes in it and threw those around the bed, under a reclining chair that I slept in and would get bites in. I also made a mixture of rubbing alcohol, clove oil and Eucalyptus oil together and sprayed that on the chair and couch this weekend. Since I started using the clove oil on me and even putting some in my hair, I have not been bitten (knock on wood) in a few days. I don’t know if it’s coincidence or the clove oil but last night was the first night I have slept in months without waking up (with a flashlight in hand, my new bed partner) at 3 am because I feel something crawling on me and checking the bed, sheets, pillow, etc. (I am currently sleeping on an air mattress). I refuse to by a mattresses until I see no more bugs. And now my husband is scratching and even found a bug on his pillow this morning (he sleeps on the couch), which he thought I was crazy using this stuff, but who know what really works.
This is the third week that pest control is coming out as I sit here and type waiting for him. I have the bug in a baggie to show pest control.
I have the couch and recliner turned upside down and every drawer pulled out of the dressers. We washed everything we own at the laundry mat, (20 triple loads the first weekend), packed most of it in plastic bins and put it in storage. Are living out of two plastic bags of clothes each (one for work and one weekend ware). I hope this nightmare will ends soon, but and skeptical that we will be completely rid of these things but I will keep my fingers crossed. Has anyone fought these things and won?
Thanks for listening.
After reading all these posts I don’t believe we have them that bad. I am the only one highly allergic to the bugs, my fiance has bits but don’t itch, and our roommate is clean. I found one bug in my room, my roommate found one in his room and I just found one on my couch. All these sighting were weeks apart and I have only just now concluded that we for sure have them. I feel so itchy even as I am typing this but I believe that to be my paranoia cause it doesn’t usually happen. Oh dear, we are on a very very tight budget so I am hoping to rid us of these monsters soon!
The best solution for bed bugs is an ozone treatment. Ozone is non toxic and can be used in place and will not damage any furniture and can be used on upholstery and bedding. you just need a protocol that works.
This is how I got rid of bedbugs–
Buy foggers. Almost any fogger will do. Everytime you leave your house for at least three hours, set off a fogger in every infested room. Put the foggers in different parts of the room, each time you set them off. If you will buy these foggers in packs of three, this will be pretty reasonable in terms of cost.
Get NON POOL GRADE diatomaceous earth. Spread it all around your bed, on the side panels of your mattress, and in between the mattress and the box springs. Get a bed bug cover for your mattress and box springs.
The foggers will kill the bed bugs on a daily/weekly basis, and the diatomacious earth will kill them long term. Don’t bother throwing away furniture, mattresses, etc. It’s a war that will bankrupt you. Don’t hire an exterminator; they are costly and they don’t guarantee their work. They prey on your fear of the bugs.
You cannot kill these critters overnight. Fog, fog, fog, and use diatomaceous earth.
Slow and consistent is the name of the game. The foggers will kill any bugs that are alive, so they won’t bite you at night, and the diatomaceous earth will kill the new ones that hatch.
My wife & I started getting bitten about a year ago. we kept it to ourselves and tried to deal with it on our own. 3am leaps out of bed, snatching the lights on and hunting all over the covers, usually to no avail as if they were smarter, invisible and more clever than us. seeing my wife’s arms covered in swollen bites makes me feel like i’m not protecting her from these Vampirous Bullies. And then they get me too.
Now my two poor teen daughters are waking up to numerous bites all over. they’re ashamed, afraid, and covered with bites that look like they will leave a permanent scar. we’ve bombed, sprayed, washed, dried, cleaned, dropped powders everything. and no relief. my wife and my room still is being visited (still doing the 3, 4, 5am jump ups) but not Nearly as much as my daughter’s cluttered, clothing covered rooms.
We all feel so helpless with no end in sight. if a bed bug could personify itself into a man, I would go to jail for Manslaughter on account of his attack on my family. Self Defense. Except, I’m still not able to Defend any of us from these tiny insidious Monsters.
About 5 weeks ago one night I was giving my 4 yr old daughter a goodnight kiss when I saw a black lil bug move across her pillow. Immediately I smash it with my sleeve and my heart sinks thinking that it might be a bed bug. the reason I know about bed bugs is because of animal planet. So I quickly turn on the lights and look at her covers and see one right on top, I also smash that one with my sleeve. yes blood squirted both times it was so gross but I didn’t want them to get away. by then I recognize them as bed bugs.
I’m totally freaking out, thank god my daughter was sound asleep. The last one I find is under her pillow, a female adult who obviously just fed. i didn’t know it at the time but the white pile next to her are eggs she had just laid. Total bedbugs I find that night was five all smashed with my sleeve. I tossed my shirt in the outside trash. my sleeve was so disgusting after that. next thing I do is start yelling to my husband to get up out of bed. i tell him I found bed bugs and show him the left overs of what Ive smashed. But he doesn’t know anything about bed bugs so he thinks I’m over reacting.
I tell him to pick up our daughter n take her to our bed but before she goes i take off her pjs n leave them in her bed. Its late so I decide to wait til morning to treat this.i go straight to the internet that night to find out more but not enough cause that morning I go buy hot shot bed bug killer and start spraying the bunk bed she sleeps in. and that is a big no no it just spreads them out more. that was my first treatment I did.
my second treatment was taking half the bunkbed apart. both times I found bed bugs after the treatments. before my third treatment I’m a bit more knowledge from reading and talking to exterminators. this is 3 weeks later and I start my third treatment.
during these 3 weeks I’m up all hours of the night starring at my daughters bed while shes sleeping. I hated having her sleep in her bed so a few times a week I would have her sleep with us. i didn’t want the risk of removing her entirely from the bed and the bedbugs traveling to my room and biting my newborn son. oh I forgot to mention my daughter is not allergic to the bedbugs so there was no way to know if she was getting bit. that makes it so much harder to know if the bedbugs are gone.
my third bedbug treatment was 2 weeks ago. i emptied her room put everything in bags. i had purchased a steamer and steamed every single crack in her room .i steamed the floor which is wood, took me hours to finish. The next day I took apart her bunk bed I found most the bedbugs in the holes where the screws go. i never would have thought they could sqeeze in there.
Took me two days to stream the bunk bed I should say fry the bunk bed. i would hold the steamer for minutes until I heard the wood cracking. I’m still not finished steaming all her stuff but her bed is back up. I powdered her room with DE.
its been 2 weeks of waking up all hours checking her bed and our bed too, just today I was able to lay back on my sofa and not be afraid that there is a bedbugs waiting to crawl on me. allthough I never found one in any other parts of the house I’m still afraid I might.
as of today no sightings of bedbugs I hope I didn’t just jinx myself. I pray they are gone one good sign is that my dog doesn’t run under her bed and go crazy I knew he was catching their smell. my daughter cries that I don’t lay with her anymore in her bed and read bedtime stories. I found out I got the the bedbugs from the mattress I got my daughter that’s another long story. these bedbugs have really made my life hell! I will always be looking out for bedbugs everywhere I go.
ignorance was bliss!!!
Update:2/14/2012
Update on my bedbugs. Its been 35 days and no sightings of them. i actually got up the nerve to sleep with my daughter I wasn’t 100% comfortable but I was able to lay with her n read a bed time story. I’m still not in the clear but I’m hopeful. One thing I wish I did differently was listen to the pco when he said to empty her room n take apart everything the first time. i thought just spaying would do the trick but I learned the hard way.
I’m so glad 2 run across this sight !! I was in bed appr. 3 nights ago and felt something crawl’n on me. It was a little red bug. so small i couldn’t make out how it looked. I put it on a white piece of paper and squashed it, it was full of blood !! At that point I told my son (who was home from college) to help me check my mattress 4 bedbugs.
We found 1 bed bug alive n 1 dead at the head side of the bed. There were a lot of dark waste around the area. We then wrapped up the mattress n took it out to the garbage. We then checked his mattress n found approx. 6 large bugs (i assume to be adults), we discarded it. We’ve washed n dried all clothing bedding, n bagged it. We’re sleep’n on the couches in the living room.
Do these pest follow u to feed? I found 2 bites on my wrist today. I assume from the couch. I’m embarrassed, frustrated, n want to cry!! I’ve read about DE on some of ur post. oddly we checked the couches b-fore hand. Can i purchase DE from homedepot or walmart? SOMEBODY PLEASE ADVISE ME ON THIS SITUATION!! I’m on WITS END… Without a lot of $$$$. DEBUGMEPLEASE!!!!!
I went to the local Rent a Center and got a couch for 300.00. It was used, It was loaded with bed bugs. I have had it sprayed three time but I still have bed bugs. It is like they will not go away. They have now taken the couch to be “baked”. I hope this workes. I just dont know if you ever getting ride of them.
we found bed bugs in my daughters room we threw her bed right in the garbage and I happened to have pledge orange oil I was cleaning with I sprayed the bugs and they died so I we cleaned the room out I went all around everything with the pledge oil and left the room empty the next day there was bugs around the base boards was dead big and small ,my son had a futon mattress on his floor so we put everything on his bed opened the windows sprayed pledge orange oil all around the bed and when you go in the morning there are bed bugs dead everywhere in the oil I even sprayed the whole zipper on the cover of the futon mattress it was amazing the first day there was only a few big ones in the oil and 3 days later there are about 50 babies in the oil dead this morning it seems to be working and I’m lucky I don’t have carpets in my bedrooms my floors are slippery but its working for me and its cheap we have the kids sleeping in the living room and so far no new bites on them
when night time comes they follow me everywhere and i can never get rid of them even after hours in the hot tub – it drives me crazy I itch til literally 8 am. I’ve dried my clothes for hours and my pants never seem to get rid of them. I’ve had to buy new pants. also – the hto shot spray only works for 36 hours – after a while it starts to itch again.
Hello,
Just read your blog because I did not want to go to bed at all last night, because of bedbugs. I happily arrived a few weeks ago to visit my nephew and meet his fiance’ We stayed together and the couple left to spend Christmas with the family of the bride to be. They departed at 4:00 and my nephew woke me up and showed me this huge bug running across the bed, then it miraculously disappeared. My heart sank as I have luggage here to return with. I have been bitten several times until I started spraying the bed and surrounding areas with an organic formula. In a few days they return, and we have to make a group effort to to deal with this infestation. How can I proceed to KILL those parasites and protect my luggage ? This stole my Christmas vacation from me. Can you offer some effective information regarding this problem ?.
thank you,
ms. brown
God Bless you all for the amazing and helpful info. Unfortunately, I cannot afford most of the treatments that were mentioned. Can I still get rid of them without purchasing a bed cover? Is there anything I can do that is inexpensive?
I last posted on Sept 16. Just to give you an update, I sprayed two more times after Sept 16 and now I am completely free! I made sure I slept in the same room so they would not infest other areas of the house in search of food. I spayed the areas top to bottom with Hot Shots every ten days and yes, that means taking your bed and dresser apart but it was worth it. I saved a ton of money by staying on top of it and washing everything in hot water. Good luck to everyone.
Try Absorbine Jr on the bites this works for me, and I like the smell. Whenever it gets itchy just dab it on. The ones on my fingers I find actually sting and hurt to touch so I put spray on bandage on them. By the time it wears off they no longer hurt.
Hi Samantha,
No, the bed bugs would not die in that short period of time – they can live up to a year (more like nine months) without feeding.
If you leave your house for 3 weeks would the bugs die on their own because they have no blood to drink? My husband is returning from a camp that had/has bed bugs and I am petrified he will bring them home. My plan hose him down outside, leave car open so bugs freeze and suit case stays outside to freeze too. How does this sound????
I had bedbugs about 3 years ago it took me 8 months to get rid of them. i havent had any problems with them until these last 3 weeks i got them again. i havent got any new things or clothes and i know of no one who has bed bugs. i am puzzled on how i got them, anyone have any ideas? the only think i can think of is maybe because the landlord isnt taking care of it fast enough.
“Cold treatment” variation:
In NYC I was living in a dorm that got bedbugs. I asked ResLife for a new mattress – still had bedbugs.
Solution = *When I went home for winter break I opened all the windows (screened) in my dorm for 2 weeks in sub-freezing temperatures.*
When I came back – all gone :)
Got these blasted bed bugs last year some how. Last summer just sitting in my cloth recliner on laptop and my arm started itching and had a bunch of bites, at first thought a bunch of mosquitos had got me. Then I started getting bit in bed, big welts and intense itching. Husband not bit or that he could tell. Finally caught a bug and looked it up, sure enough a bed bug. Went to extermator and bought some spray and D. Earth. Did some good but not fast enough. Took my little halogen flashlight and a small paring knife, with a flexiable blade. Have a wood frame bed with carving. Found all kinks of the buggers in cracks and with light could see at night and before they can run I crushed them with knife blade.
Did not get much sleep for awhile as I would wake up every few hours and do a search and also check in daytime as they will be there. I also bought a heat gun and run it all over bed frame, all the joints, they also gets the eggs because you can see them, a pearly white color, All clothing gets tossed in dryer. I take bed apart every week and search. going to try the Dawn mixture). In the past few months have only found a few and they are young nits but they have been crushed.
My husband thinks I am nuts but heck the bites don’t bother him. He hates having my flashlight going off and on all nite but hey, its WAR. Before I go to bed at night I do my search and all nite. If I get bit it is up and at em. I will win…….. NEVER dreamed I would have these darn things. ( My bed frame looks terrible from the heat gun but it can be stripped and refinished.)
Hey guys sorry i been away for a while seen a lot of new people with bed bug issue. John G I am glad you got rid of those devils. Help my friend get rid of them also he is bed bug free. I see a lot of people put DE on there bed, that a big no no. De is toxic if you inhale it even the food grade. Don’t go crazy with that stuff. If your getting bit don’t panic isolate the target zone. There is plenty of information
on here to help people out. Also get a magnifying lens to spot the eggs or baby.
We have bedbugs but they don’t seem to be biting or bothering us much, if at all.
I view them like mosquito’s. They will always be with us so learn to minimize them without getting too preoccupied. The lengths some people go to, to get rid of them, is unfortunate, because they will no doubt come back sooner or later. Like mosquitoes.
I believe that some people attract plenty of bedbug bites because of some internal chemistry. Other folks like us in our household, don’t.
8 days ago I was a happy, sane single mom with three grown kids out of the house, and 1 still here going to school. As I was getting ready for my morning shower, I felt something on my belly so I brushed it with my hand and a bug fell to my bed – I picked it up and squished it, thought that’s odd and continued on. Later that morning my ankle was uncontrollably itchy, and there were six bumps on it, and later in the day 3 on my belly. My stomach fell, I searched the net, and decided, yup I’ve got bedbugs. Yuck. Couldn’t believe it, now what.
So I washed all my bedding and started reading. Ended up buying allergy grade/bed bug proof cases for mattress and bedspring and my son’s bed too (although no bites or signs in his room ($220) DE ( 50 lb bag from the local UFA $32), Murphy Oil (read somewhere its helpful – not so sure though but wiped down all wood surfaces before put on the DE), put loaf pans under my bed legs, greased edges with vaseline and the bedlegs just in case, put water and Murphy’s in the pans. Then bagged everything from my room and put things I can’t wash outside in sealed bags.
I live in Canada and hope for cold weather soon and for awhile to help treat that stuff. I bagged all my clothes and they are getting washed in hot soapy water and dried high heat. Put double sided tape at my bedroom door, around my son’s bed, and DE’d his room too, and hallway baseboards, door frames, at first did everything then realized went overboard and have vacuumed up the open areas (almost killed my vacuum – very fine dust and bagless don’t mix well).
I didn’t find any signs on my mattress or box spring when looked before bagging them, or around the baseboards or anything more than 1 small bug on the mattress after we covered it, which fell to the carpet and we couldn’t find it, and one dead in one pan under a bed leg.
Every day am washing bedding and bed clothes, and the clothes wore that day hot water, soap, hot dry. I don’t go out of the house until I’ve showered and put on clothes that have been washed. I don’t want to spread these little buggers.
I’ve also bought a hand held Shark Steamer (Canadian tire $99) and with the help of my son have steamed the baseboards, couch just in case, DE’d all baseboards, around furniture, my house is a dust bowl. Vacuuming every two days and re-apply DE to baseboards and perimeter around the furniture again. I am exhausted but still have to get up and get to work every morning – hard to concentrate when wondering how many are hatching at my house….
Had a couple of new bites the first day after massive DE house treatment, no breakfast dinner supper pattern but bites nonetheless, and my son got one after being on the couch before we steamed it. This is exhausting. My power and water bill are going to be horrendous, and also bought bins for all our clothes as they are washed that’s where they are going, and that’s where they stay! Have a dog and 2 cats, they aren’t allowed in our rooms anymore (I’m sure they think they did something wrong cause they all used to sleep in my room) and have DE’d them too.
I discovered these things the very day my first granddaughter was born, and can’t possibly have her or my grown kids over here (3 moved out, one still at home, single mom). I feel dirty and every little itch or anything gives me the willies. I’m embarrassed although I know I shouldn’t be but am not telling anyone except my kids and my boyfriend (who now can’t and won’t come over here) and have told my son no friends over and not to tell his friends for fear of their reactions. I hope all these efforts rid my house of these things. I have a single family home, and understand that might give me a fighting chance. Its only been one week – how many more will it take before I am rid of them? I don’t know for sure, but all these efforts have to count for something. I can’t afford to hire someone to come in and treat the place, and from what I’ve read one treatment isn’t enough. Hopefully by Xmas, which is 6 weeks from now I’ll be able to have people in, but maybe should have a plan B just in case. Oh ya, the gifts I have bought were in my room and are all bagged up too. Not sure where I got these things from, but may have hitchhiked here on some items I bought online and had put in my room. I don’t travel so they didn’t get here from that.
Hello again John.G, been a little under a year since I’ve been here well got good and bad news i was able to get rid of the bugs last year at a large cost I will say. 1 storage locker for things we wanted to keep, still have it. Threw all furniture our away moved in to new place with TV comp cloths and anything I could wash and DE the place before we moved in.
Steamed floors every other day we got lucky we did not take any with us. Almost a year bug free mistake I made moved to different unit same place and they’re back. We have found a mouse hole in pantry and three mice i am wondering if that’s were they came from or down the common heating pipes. This is new started to wonder about a week ago and sure enough found one. My husband is freaking out so it’s really stressful right now. I always feared this so i did not unpack storage locker and all furniture is used. I refused to buy anything new this last year except a vacuum steam floor mop and garment steamer.
Going to do same as last year throw everything away if I cant wash it add a few things to storage locker and find new place to live, DE the new house and start over. The whole building is infected. I’ve been so paranoid this year when other tenants come over. When they leave I spray where they have sat with straight rubbing alcohol. This is going to be another exhausting month or so. Glad you won your battle John. Everyone, I am doing the extreme as I have a son and husband who react very badly to bites, that’s how I know we were bug free for a year. Thanks for letting me rant!
Hey everyone..Just found a bedbug about 2 weeks after moving in a mattress that was stored in COLD NY winters for over two years!! I have been bitten a few times and had no clue since I’ve never dealt with them before. Luckily I ordered DE and already have it because I miraculously discovered the benefits of it online and wanted to try it out to get rid of my “Invisible Spider Problem” Anyway, Just wanted to let everyone know that we have put the DE in a blowup mattress hand pump and it works awesome!! Will blow a fine mist of DE up into the walls 2-3 feet and also works nicely to get under furniture and in cracks and crevices. We just took off the end piece that goes into the mattress and VIOLA!! Super Hero BB Blaster..seriously..try it out :)
So for awhile I was living in my parent’s garage apartment when they discovered they had bed bugs (they go out of town a lot). My fiance and I suspected we had them too but my mother looked and said it was not bed bugs (clearly she was wrong). Now we have moved and have been living in a 2 bed 1 bath for 3 months now and we noticed bugs on the wall. We had Orkin come look and they moved the bed saying they were definitely bed bugs.
The apartment complex scheduled Orkin to come out and spray. We did all the prep even though we were low on funds and without a washer and dryer we were out almost $100. We weren’t really sure what to do with all of our miscellaneous items but we did the best we could. After they sprayed we did not see any bugs but refused to sleep in our room or unpack until they were going to come spray again. About a week and a half later they came out again. Since the house was still mostly prepped and we were wearing only a few clothes that had been washed and dried and stayed in my car we did not have much to worry about.
Now we are putting our house back together watching for signs of bed bugs as our roommate moves out and another person will be moving in this week. In the last week I have seen 2 bed bugs (I believe pretty much fully grown unfortunately) in the texture in my ceiling. We have some bed bug spray we got from Walmart and have been using it almost religiously. I’m 19 and I’m freaking out because I do not know how to stop our problem. Any advice or tips would be appreciated. I will be calling the apartment complex again tomorrow since we are still in our 30 day guarantee period with Orkin. But unfortunately I do not know I we will pay for the prep once again with bills due next week.
Hello everyone. About 3 months ago the missus started getting the odd bite. I was guilty of not taking her too seriously as of course we sleep in the same bed and I wasn’t affected. She eventually caught one at about three in the morning and we looked at pictures on the net. Sure enough, a bloody bedbug.
Googled Bedbugs and found a load of sites with surefire solutions. Bought a kit for about £60 which included spray, foggers, powder etc and we really went to work. Washed and dried everything and steamed what couldn’t be washed, sprayed everywhere and set the foggers off. Result? No effect!
Went back on the net and found a Pest control company. They quoted £220 for a professional treatment and the boss assured me that 1 visit would be enough. We stripped the house almost bare again and they treated it. Result? No effect.
Found this site and managed to find a local chemical company and bought a 5kg tub of Diatomaceous Earth for £25. Stay tuned for results……….
Also, my wife and stepdaughter are Russian. I’m Scottish and our daughter, half Scottish-half Russian. Conclusion- Russians taste better than Scots. The wee bastards only bite my wife and my stepdaughter.
Another thought Pest control guys are better paid by the hour than the Prime minister of Great Britain and I don’t trust either. Maybe I’ll send them some bedbugs.
First I just want to say thanks to all the commenters on here for sharing your information. Its been really helpful. Here’s my story.
We are 3 adults and 2 children living in a 4.5-bedroom semidetached in Toronto. The neighbor is clean we did not get it from them. I just don’t know where they came from.
About 4 weeks ago and all of a sudden I started having many large hives running all over my arms and neck. Noone else in the house was affected. I thought I must have a health problem like failing to process milk or protein as I was working very hard at the time. Sometimes my hives would present an hour after a meal or physical exertion or midafternoon for no apparent reason. A friend said I must have all of a sudden some terrible allergy. After 3 weeks doctor could only find that I was low on B12.
Finally we discovered bedbugs in the master bedroom between the mattress and box spring with excessive blood and smear in the seams of the mattress.
I immediately looked up PCOs via the web. I could not tolerate sitting on this problem so to make a pick I compared the website quality, and writing style to make a selection from 3 that seemed to have a decent presentation on their site, and then doing a followup search with “complaints against ” (finding nothing). Now I know you are thinking, the website has nothing to do with the quality of the treatment! and you are right, but I had to nuke these buggers with heavy artillery for sanity’s sake, so I had to make a fast decision.
The service I went with was due to their mission statement of honesty, free resprays for 3 months and had a professional looking site. We had a day to get things organized before he showed up. In retrospect, we didn’t clear enough stuff for him to do a good spray, but again, I wanted immediate impact.
After onsite inspection he determined that the main infestation sites were the master bedroom concentrated near the bed, and the loft – generally distributed. We agreed to $600 for a full house spray and he started right away.
Really, just 90-110 minutes he came out and said he was done for now – having done 3 floors & basement. I kinda felt it was too fast, but its hard to say.
We discussed what I could expect: Living Bugs could stay hidden for up to 7 days, and then would have to transit across a sprayed area to be poisoned. Eggs in hidden areas would continue to hatch for 2 weeks and would have to transit across a sprayed area to become poisoned.
As a point of information, he uses a Hot Steamer for cracks and outlet and spray Premetherin solution at 5%. This is compared to over the counter consumer solutions of 0.25-0.3% for the same stuff. Roughly 15 times stronger. He is claiming a chemical effectiveness of 3-4 weeks, compared with 8-12 hours for the hand sprays.
Personality-wise the guy was low-key, felt honest to me and gave me ample time to ask questions and followup calls with no attitude. On the other hand, it was just a single guy and he was in and out in under 2.5 hours, soup-to-nuts.
Ultimately the personality worked for me, since I get really turned off with upsells and hard sells and he didn’t do any of that. The only questionable point was that he suggested we leave the netting on the bottom of the box springs and he would just jam his hose in there and spray all around. I kinda think we should be ripping that off and getting a look in there.
We left the house empty for 5-6 hours.
Now I don’t know if its just stress but within 24 hours of the spray I had painful stomach cramps, but they went away on their own. I was the only one with the cramps. Probably stress.
Worth mentioning, by this point I just could not bring myself to sleep in the master bed as bait so I was basically not sleeping until 4am and then on the couch downstairs or basement until work at 8 the next day. The bed was still baited by my partner who does not get a reaction to the bites. Horrendous fatigue, and I was really not myself (still not, its 3am atm).
After just one day post spray I was seriously considering the house heating treatment from a different provider which would be $3000-$4000 to “kill them in a day” but I am seriously skeptical of that actually working, so I chose to skip that for now.
Cleaning-wise, we have hot washed and hot dryed and bagged nearly all our clothes and stored them in the basement. New white sheets for everyone, and wash/dry daily for those.
Over the next week there was dropoff in sightings, but at the same time we are getting much better at finding them. Evenings and nights, we have found them in the broadloom, hanging off the netting under the master boxspring, and on the sheets during nighttime impromptu inspections. After the third day, we brought home DE and dusted the master bed and carpeting underneath. There is a trend towards only seeing nymphs, still seeing 2nd to 4th stage though. 6th day we found nymphs in one child’s bedroom broadloom, and both kids have single bites on their necks. Also we were not finding any in the impromptu inspections by day 6, however the grownup sleeping there does not get reactions to bites.
Tonight, 7 days post spray we found a crushed engorged queen in the bathroom behind a garbage bin which was really gross. And a nymph going up the wall in the master. I believe they are trying to get away now. So that’s where we’re at now.
Overall, I would say we are not close to done with this problem and I won’t really be comfortable until we get a second spraying done after clearing off our tabletops and moving the furniture out from the walls. We have also looked around at the household and realized we have a lot of non-essential stuff just sitting around so we got rid of it. Like an extra futon, 2 old cribs, a couch. I mean this stuff is useless to us even if we didn’t have bedbugs. So in that regard its been a real Wake up call.
Good luck to all
Hello, My name is Stephanie. The place where I work “might” have bedbugs. Reading all of the comments on here of everyone’s battle with these awful things, I was wondering if there was any advice any of you could give me to prevent me from bringing these bugs into my home…….. Especially because I have three children under four years of age… Please help :/ Thank you so much of any information you can give!!
I have found that using DE around my base boards, in the couch, and mattresses help. Also I found online that you can use Pinesol, Dawn dish soap, and water put them in a squirt bottle and spray the bugs and it kills them automatically. I have used this solution also on my baseboards, door casings, light switches/sockets.
I was laying down when I felt something crawling by my ear I swipe at it and yup it was a bed bug. I would like to say it was the first time but I’ve been having this problem for about six months so once again I’m up all night on Google trying to find out how to get rid of this problem and thank God I found this website. I already bought a steamer. I just want to say thanks to everyone that has posted their own tips on how to get rid of these guys. I feel like I’m armed with the knowledge I need to get rid of them and never have to see a bite on my little girls face. I will post later with results wish me luck please!
We have had studies done that say the steam is a great start to helping eradicate bed bugs. Therma-Kleen sells American made vapor steam cleaners the reach temperatures between 300-380 degrees F. Because they are a dry vapor steam that is 95-97% dry, they are great to use on mattresses and walls. They would also be great to use on the hardwood floors, so you would have the to have them re-finished. This is a great way to start without all of the chemicals. These cleaners have helped many and have been sold to many hotels/motels.
Someone here mentioned if it’s possible for them to attack while walking or sitting
My mom was eating and one dropped right on her plate. She was watching tv and one crawled out right in-front of her. So be very aware of your surroundings. These bloodsuckers stop at nothing!
I just hope I can get rid of them in time. I can’t board a plane knowing I can potentially carry them on board
Having a lot of anxiety about finding bed bugs in my bed. I didn’t know I had them till about 2 weeks ago. I had some bites on my ankle and didn’t know what the cause was. Thought I’d wash my sheets and get my blankets washed fresh before winter and I was in shock when I saw dead bed bugs in my dryer. I’d seen pics of them before and was pretty sure that was what they were. I went to the internet to look up photos just to double check and yep, that’s what they were. I thought I’d better check my bed and found at the top of my bed an area about the size of a quarter a bunch of baby bed bugs and some eggs.
About a month ago, I bought a new couch. My living room is about 20 -30 feet from my bedroom. I don’t know if a new couch could have had bed bugs in it or not. I’ve been frantically searching the internet on ways to kill these things. I head about rubbing alcohol killing them, and used that to kill that cluster of bed bugs. Then I vacuumed my entire room. I still got bit that night. Next day, checked my bed and found a few more baby’s but not as many as the first day. The day after that I only found one and for the next two nights I didn’t find any, but tonight I checked and they laid some more eggs on my bed again. It sounds from what I am reading in many of your posts, if I am going to win this battle, it will be weeks before I can be free of them. I plan to purchase a steamer and get some food grade Diatomaceous Earth.
I don’t have money to pay for an exterminator and it doesn’t sound like it’s 100% effective anyway. I hate sleeping in my bed but I have no where else to sleep. I plan to get some double sided tape this weekend. Can anyone tell me if this Diatomaceous Earth is harmful to pets? I have a cat that insists on sleeping on my bed with me. I’m afraid if I use this stuff, and she walks on it, will it harm her?
Well I found the earth spray at home depot If anyone was having problems finding it
They also sell it in bombing forms for more serious infestations.
I sprayed my whole house. Now to wait and see
Thanks for the information
It’s been about 6 months since our battle started. Unfortunately, we were not well informed with the bed bug thing. Our daughter (15 yrs) is ultra sensitive. We have 3 dogs and thought that perhaps she was getting flea bits. Bought the appropriate foggers to remedy the situation. Turned her room inside out to make sure we had gotten all the fleas and what we thought were “ticks”. The problem continued in her room so she moved out of her room and into her younger sisters room. Bad idea. That room was now “contaminated.” We did not realize what we had were actually bed bugs until about 3 months ago. We have used heat in the bedrooms (one room at a time). Our room has been “heated” to 130 degrees twice. Not effective.
I read somewhere yesterday that it was because the room didn’t get hot fast enough, allowing them to run for cooler areas. And yes, we did it our selves with a propane heater. Very dangerous thing, I know. But with no money in the bank, we have had no choice. We found a site and paid $139 for products. We have covered our bedroom mattress/box spring and pillow with those special covers. We have caulked our base board and sprayed this treatment. Still have bed bugs. Must say we are very discouraged. But have no real choice but to continue with our war. Will keep you posted on our progress.
Can’t Sleep in Va., I am happy to know that my inputs are helping you out through this tough situation. This certainly was a learning experience for me too and I never want to go through this again, of course. This website helped me tremendously simply because so many people on here bothered to help out and share stories, including Bed Bug Girl. I hope you get through this quickly and keep us posted!
Jim, thank you for the nice comment. You made my day! I certainly hope I have been helpful to others who are trying to get rid of these bugs. I have finally posted my prized bed bug photo on my mattress I promised you guys as a special bonus!
The other ones are confirmed bite marks that occurred on my wife and my Son so you know what they look like.
I think my husband was originally embarrassed, but I have been up front about the bugs since we discovered them. We were attending a wedding that day and since it was outside everyone kept asking if our daughter needed bug spray, and when I explained the situation I saw some people with the “omg ewwwww” face but mostly there was just sympathy.
Just remember that if you’re willing to admit you have bed bugs, someone else might admit it too and ask you for help or suggest what worked for them!
Well, it’s coming up on 4 weeks since we realized we had bedbugs. Two weeks ago my father came to help with the heavy lifting & kid occupying and we:
****** Yes, we laid a barrier of d/s tape on the mattress, which gave us some respite from waking up at the slightest touch of hair on the arm but created new stress with not being able to stretch out without wrecking the tape, or if the sheets shifted it stuck to the head/foot boards.
We are slowly making our way through all of our misc laundry now that the dryer is working again.
This has been so exhausting and stressful, and I just keep crossing my fingers that it is over.
I do think we got very lucky and actually caught them before they traveled anywhere. We have caught a couple since our original attempt at cleaning, and my husband even caught a couple trying to sneak back inside on the box springs when we did this major cleaning. Fortunately they stuck out pretty well against the white encasement. >:D
In the first couple of days we changed the sheets every other day just to check, and I think our grand total has been 2 bugs (1 nymph & 1 small but not tiny – so hopefully just eggs that we missed and NOT capable of laying any more) and a couple of things that my paranoia says are husks that made it through the wash, but my husband thinks were probably just dirt.
John G, you have been the biggest help for us, bar none. Thank you SO much for all your advice!
I have been fighting bed bugs since May. I spray once a week and I am hoping I am close to being free on them. I can not find any at this point but still have a bite or two when I wake up. I am very nervous about letting people come to my home because I don’t want them to know and tell other people.
I don’t want my grandkids to come to visit in fear that they will get bit or take one home. Your body becomes hypertensive to any movement and every itch is inspected. I have been spraying my body down with body spay (I use Moonlight Path from Bath &Body) because it does have alcohol in it. I am not saying this is safe but I will tell you that I have NOT had one bite on me since I have done this.
I will continue to spray, I truly believe I have them under control and with a few more treatments, I will be done since I cant find any when I search. I use Hot Shot and spay every every crevice on my couch, bed and surrounding areas. Don’t get discouraged, it is a HARD battle but you can beat them if you stay on it and keep clutter to a minimum.
Don’t feel like you are a dirty person because you are not, bed bugs don’t discriminate. Good luck to everyone.
It’s been a little while since I posted and I also just read a number of posts to catch up with you guys. I am happy to say that we haven’t seen any bugs for a while and I still believe we are bug free.
I always assumed my boys would get bitten again at their Mom’s house but they haven’t for a while. It’s hard for me to believe I eradicated the bugs there because I only had time to steam the bottom mattress of their bunk bed and I only saw one baby nymph. At the time of my battle I took a photo of a bug on my mattress and I may post this photo later because I finally managed to get it on my computer.
I’m sorry some of you are suffering and I hope my previous suggestions are helpful.
Hi Folks:
I’m joining the ranks of the army here. We got these nasty buggers at a camp ground cabin. The info. here is good. I don’t see many discussions on heat. Will heat treatments kill the eggs? Does heat treating need to be repeated?
Thanks,
LS
I have a softside waterbed also. I ended up getting the tubes for it so I can move it when I need to. I have the tubes for it and I also ordered a zippered mattress encasement because it zips up all around the bed on 3 sides, not as much as the top of my softside mattress, but enough so I can get the tubes into it, zip the top of the mattress and then zip the encasement around it.
I haven’t gotten it yet, but I’m hoping that it will help my problems. I found several in my box spring so I steamed it really good. I’ve only seen one since then. I sprayed the mattress and box spring really well with Bedlam and haven’t seen any since that. I used drione dust around my headboard and around the edges of my box springs. I have used the steam and Bedlam and the dust mostly.
I’m hoping that when I get the mattress/box spring encased, and keep up with the spray/dust, I will be done with these suckers. I hated to get rid of my bladder in my bed, but the tubes are actually very comfortable. I did put a memory foam insert above the tubes, inside the mattress before I zipped it up. I can’t tell much of a difference. Hope some of this helps!
You’re not mentioning Diatomaceous Earth Jone, there are a ton of testimonials that prove this an extremely cost effective and all natural bed bug treatment that anyone can do themselves. The pest control companies would like you to believe otherwise so they can continue to profit from expensive heat treatments.
@ Mohammad
I’m not sure that alcohol will do any good. There is some information that indicates heat or cold are pretty much the only two proven things that a homeowner can do to kill bed bugs. You might be doing more damage to your stuff, not to mention risking a fire hazard with vaporizing alcohol all over the place.
Goo luck.
-Jone
I stayed at a hotel in Valdosta, GA last weekend. A few days later I had two bites on my hip. I thought it was odd, but didn’t think bed bugs. Until this morning! I woke up with a cluster of bites on my shoulder blade!! I’m freaking out!
I have a soft-side waterbed, which is a waterbed with foam around the edge and a foam top. How can I go about treating this bed? I cannot easily move it to dust under and around or to steam. I searched the mattress cracks this AM and did not find any bugs. It has only been a week.
What should I do?
Hello all,
I just discovered that I have a bb problem (YIKES) and they are eating me alive! I have checked soooooooo many sites, but none seem to promising with info. Finally, I came across this site and I am soooooooooo THANKFUL! Not only did I find the DE, but the guy at the plant nursery told me about this bed bug spray that contains PERMACIDE (P-1). I was a bit skeptical at first because none of the sprays I’ve used work…….NONE! At this point I’m desperate and took his word for it. So, after applying the DE all over my house (looks like a white Christmas in there) I start to spray the bb spay (with permacide) in the corners of the walls and baseboards ….they started to come out and go DOWN! With just one squirt of this stuff they stop dead (literally DEAD) in their tracks, so you know I went spray crazy right?
I’m gonna keep this routine up for about two weeks and hopefully I will get rid of these blood sucking invaders! By the way I got bb from my neighbor! I live in a condo and the bb’s are coming through the outlet that’s adjacent to my neighbor unit. I taped that outlet up and it will never be use again!!!! Yesterday was my first day using the DE and bb spray, but I will update you all with the progress of my extermination.
First of all, thank you so much to everyone posting what worked for them. This has been the absolutely most helpful site I’ve found! Our investment so far has been just over $300 and my husband had to take a day off to help steam. If you’re reading this because you haven’t seen any and don’t want to – BAG YOUR MATTRESS NOW. It’s a $60 – $100 investment per bed, because you have to bag the box spring too. Get a $10 bottle of DE from amazon and a $2 paint brush to lightly dust every surface of your bed. It’s a helluva lot cheaper than everything you need to fight them off.
We discovered our bedbugs almost 2 weeks ago (8/20), having previously assumed that there was a mosquito or something flying in the room at night. Our main cause of concern is b/c our daughter sleeps in our bed, and she is the number one victim at night. 8/20 she had about 8 bites, on her face. I started really inspecting the bed, and there they were.
We have had this bed for less than 6 months, I don’t remember exactly when it came into our house.
Someone my mom works occasionally works with was “redecorating” and sold her the entire set (K bed & mattress, large dresser w/mirror, end table) for $500. I actually asked about bugs and my mom assured me otherwise. We are pretty sure the bed had been treated for bedbugs before from the condition of the end caps when we cleaned it, but whether it had them when she sold it to my mom, for not warning us? Karma’s a pain.
We got a wagner steamer off of amazon (thanks to advice here!) and dragged the mattress and box springs outside (on a tarp) and steamed them – it was DISGUSTING. I don’t know what I was thinking, but since we only ever saw a couple of bites, I did not expect the colonies we found.
***New victims, follow the advice! TAKE OFF THE PLASTIC CAPS!***
We put the box springs in aller-ease bags, and unfortunately started with a vinyl bag on the mattress. Have an aller-ease one for that now, we are going to try and put it on tonight.
When we had it all outside I dusted around the 4 edges of the bed with DE (also from amazon) but stupidly we didn’t check the metal frame.
Total investment so far –
$30 x2 – twin bags for box springs
$45 – king bag for mattress (all 3 at walmart)
$14 – 2 rolls of carpet tape (amazon and walmart)
$10 – DE shaker bottle
$23 – 10lb bag of DE
$13 – DE puffer bottle (all 3 off amazon)
$85 – wagner steamer (the yellow one, also amazon)
$75 – new white sheets, for spotting signs (walmart)
So, we have so far invested $325, my husband’s day off of work to do the steaming (it was the only 95 + sunny day before Irene) and that’s where we are now. Tape around the fitted sheet gives us a sense of security, so we only wake up 2-3 times at night vs 5-6. We’ve seen bedbugs, but they could have come through a spot where the frame pulled the tape off when we slept or from the cat. Killing one or two nymphs (and not every night) is still a lot better than 5 or 6 full grown bites. Hopefully as the eggs keep hatching we can keep on killing them.
My father is coming on Saturday to help us tackle the bed frame b/c we are still getting bugs, we are going to move big furniture outside, steam crevices, dust inside floorboards, plates & outlets, and rip up the last of our crappy carpet because I’m paranoid like that. The only time I’ve seen them outside of our bedroom was yesterday – 2 in my daughter’s room, although one was directly under the cat and the other was another spot where the cat always sits. I’ve been dusting her and her food bowl with DE now.
Oh, and on top of it all? Yesterday our dryer broke. Hoping we can just replace the belt and get back to doing a house-load of laundry.
Me and my husband moved in to this house in June…. and a week after I found bites on my leg and I saw couple funny looking bugs. I Told my husband maybe we have bedbugs. He immediately said I am crazy. There is no such thing. And he convinced me that my bites were from the yard and I only saw beetles.
To help with my bites, I have been putting on baby oil on me before I go to bed. Since I haven’t got any bites and we forgot the whole thing.
Til, last month, he started getting bites. And this time he freaked out (LOL) and worse than me. I also started seeing bugs running across my pillows and I crashed them. He actually has couple running on his face and woke him up at night.
And of course, I was woken up with his freaking out. And it was 4am. I then remember I saw Vaseline somewhere on internet and I started putting on the headboard. He also found lots of them running along the headboard. Due to we both had to get up at 8am for work, we only put vaseline on the headboard and turn to sleep on the bed end. And both of us just wear socks so the bugs just can’t go inside to bit us.
we finally able to get couple hours to sleep. The end of the work day, we went to home depot and got a cheap heat gun and used it to treat the bed fame. As he found the bugs living inside the bed fame (we have wooden bed fame… yuk). When he was doing it, we saw bugs just dropped and instant dead. We had the heat gun set to 250-300 degree.
I also put all the pillows in the dryer on high for an hour. I washed all the sheets and blankets. When we pull the mattress out, we saw some running around. I spray 91% rubbing alcohol on the mattress and let it dry.
We also put DE on bed fame underneath the mattress.
I am not sure when the end of the war. But we are fighting til the end and I believe that we will win!!! :)
It’s 4:54AM, raining heavily outside, I live in NYC yes, we’re experiencing a thunderstorm… I was sleeping but kept tossing and turning I turned on the light and boom! there was an adult bed bug on my pillow… it scared me cus I find those things to be hideous… now this isn’t the first time I am coming in contact with bedbugs or discovering the bugs, I live in an apartment and have lived here going on to 11 years in December. We first discovered the bugs summer of 2009 when my cousin was visiting and kept complaining about being bitten by “something” her sister who had experienced it before told her maybe its bed bugs, so she came over and we were in for a big surprise… bugs bugs everywhere… My mom came home and when we told her she became frantic and started blaming me for the crowd of clothes in the room… I was already under stress at this point couldn’t believe what was happening. Her sis told us to empty out all of out clothes and take them to the laundromat which took literally 6 hours to get completed it probably was a little more than that. We looked like fools with all them clothes. We vacuumed and bought storage containers to put the clothes in that were washed…
I have always heard of bedbugs but never researched it to know its causes… after our thorough cleaning we kind of figured they went away. They didn’t, early last year we started discovering them again, this time they weren’t only in the bedroom on our beds, they were in the couches… we had to throw away the couches. My mom kept saying to keep the place tidy which we always did and I was confused like why if the place is clean these buggers are still here feeding on our poor little souls. Well I didn’t want to research it because I was stressed. Having to once again empty out all of our clothes and take them to the laundromat which takes hours to wash all those clothes. We discussed the matter with our landlord and he brought exterminators.
Now I think that this apartment was infested before we moved in here, like I mentioned we’ve lived here for close to 11 years, not in this apartment… we used to live on another floor and never experienced this problem until we moved in here in Nov of 2008. Well we didn’t really discover the bugs until 2009.
Before we moved in here two other tenants lived in here for very short periods. One lived in here for about little over a year and the other less than a year, i am not saying the bugs were the causes of them moving but maybe it was. As I am writing this I am becoming annoyed and itching all paranoid.
As a matter of fact I believe this entire building might be infested by bedbugs… I can’t wait to have a talk with the landlord, and the time he brought the exterminators he should have brought them back three more times.
This is the first time I really took the time to read up on it, and I came across this website. Thanks for all the information. At the moment I use Ammonia diluted with water to spray the cracks and crevices of the floor, the mattress and bed spring, and the sofa. I honestly don’t think its working because I’m still seeing signs of them, or maybe the eggs are somewhere I can’t locate them. Now I don’t even know if i can go to sleep because I know whats coming in the next couple of days, packing up clothes to take to the laundromat, a discussion with my landlord that seems to not give a damn about the building but his money, and some more stress… I am trying to de-stress as I type, I think this is helping me in some kind of a way. My mom is sleeping and she will wake up frantic once again. I kind of don’t even want to live here anymore.
by the way am I the only one that feels a little ashamed to talk about this to others, that finds it embarrassing?
Hot Shot Bombs do not work unless sprayed on them directly….trust me….my name is Sean and I’m from new England and recently had an injury a few months ago and been laid up outta work….due to having my injury I’ve been forced to sleep on a couch for three months with which I see and believe to be bed bugs.
I’ve been there roommate for legit 3 months…….I know these little pests patterns like the back of my hand….I know their cycles….I know there breeding habits and what they do to hide…..and a simple bomb will not work!
For at least a month now I’ve spent well over a hundred bucks on chemicals and foggers and it comes up short every time and they go dormant until the mist clears…..they love to hide in the seams of couches beds and there personal favorite over in my neck of the woods is in your clothes so they can easily travel.
I can not express how much these bed bugs have effected me……I can’t even walk into my own house without “skeeving” out! You’ve gotta have a super strong mentality to get all these pests yourself…..take it from someone whose been battling these apocalyptic little buggers for a solid 3 months now….they’re not a walk in the park….and definitely aren’t something to take for granted because before you know it there crawling outta clothes, and at that point it may be too late.
No one believed me for months and that’s what I was afraid of….because now there all up inside my couch and being carried by my dog everywhere…….such a mentally and physically draining infestation……..I mean not for nothing but I just watched something on tv about bedbugs and the infestation rate in the u.s. Has gone up 500% in the past few years….and I’ve even heard of people throwing away tens of thousands of dollars all the way down to spending whole college savings accounts to wipe them out and still with no results!
Pretty scared for my household folks….it has been three months and we can definitely not afford any kind of half backed extermination……..so I’m on this fight alone and don’t know how much more I can take without going stir crazy being outta work and chilling with these blood suckers all day.
Any insights or feedback on here has helped me gain more knowledge so everyone keep posting and keep up the good fight….any help from anyone will turn up useful……so everyone sleep tight…….or try to any who…….letting this just build for months is turning out to be pretty tragic to my household considering we recently just last summer remodeled the entire house…..so moving out is not an option…..I don’t know what to do……need some ideas
I was doing thorough reading of this site today. Already I have done a lot of things wrong.
First, I just found out I had these creeps about 1 week ago. Nothing on bed, sheets but just a couple of really red itchy bites. Washed and dried sheets and put back on. Daughter and I sleep in same bed. Roommate gone for couple months. 2 dogs and 1 cat. That night, sprayed everything down with alcohol and daughter still no bites, but me only one or two new ones. So next day decided to look between mattress and box spring. They were on the bed skirt speckled stuff. Feces, skin, etc. not very many actual live bugs that I saw. I sprayed with alcohol. Then I took skirt through the house to laundry room.
Then I went to buy fogger. Came home and sprayed fogger buy not before I pulled mattress and box spring into adjacent hall to get to fogger.
Then I sprayed again with alcohol – the mattress and box spring. Slept somewhere else with clean clothes.
Took mattress and bs to the drive way in the sun. Next day put them on the covered porch.
Bought de, but not before I sort of carted throw away stuff through the house to the outside trash.
I swept up in the bedroom where there is only frame, but not a good job. sprayed the wood frame with alcohol and it got the fogger.
When I brought the de home, I swpt it into the floor and frame and sprinkled it on mattress and bxsp. Even gently rubbed into cat and dogs. srpinkled couch chairs etc.
I have a clothes steamer I am going to try to use tomorrow for the mattress and bxsp. Then I bought some thick plastic mattress covers I thought I would seal up mattress bs futon couch and chairs. I put pillows in dryer for forever.
My question is do you think since I dusted the walls and floors in the wrong order and tracked a bunch of stuff through the house, is this impossible?
Can I still go along with the plan of de and steam even though messed up already, and do you think it would work to seal up the mattresses for about a month with the plastic covers? I bought them from uhall for under 4 dollars. They can be taped up. Let me know what you think.
Thanks
I’m wanting to use DE preemptively on an apartment I’m about to move into since I had noticed a complaint about bedbugs online from a year ago and I have two questions. One I’m wondering if I decide to use it again after I move all of my stuff in should I be worried about it getting in the vents of my computer? From the sounds of it this stuff gets everywhere. My other question is about a mixture of water and de I’ve seen some people mention. Does this work? Since the point of de is to dehydrate them won’t mixing it with water quench the powder and make it ineffective?
I have a home and rent out the one half of my house, my tenants informed me after they moved in that the reason they left their prior apartment was because it was a row house and the landlord refused to treat the whole house and they could never get rid of the bed bugs. I informed her that I’ve never had bed bugs and if I get them I’ll know where they came from. I guess I hadn’t realized how bad a problem they were and I wish I had said to make sure she tells me asap if they get them again. They hid the fact that they had them until I found one on my side and confronted them about it and they told me they were infested. But they were having Orken come the following day to spray. That was Feb 2011. They said they had a 6 month contract with them so I started treating my side myslef (with lambda & Bedlam). Come to find out after I had them evicted from the premises for various other reasons, that orken did not have a 6 month contract with them, they would not guarantee anything because they refused to get the encasements for their beds. They left their infested beds when they moved out, thanks!
I bought the encasements (at Walmart) for all my beds and boxsprings back in February when I first heard about the bed bugs. I only see a few on my side but now that we are the only food in the house I’m going a bit nuts. I have been using Lambda, Bedlam and DE, along with Steaming, decluttering (my side), and the mixture of Alcohol, water and dawn, it seems to be working.
My question is this, I bought a cedar oil and fogger to do the entire house including attic and basement. I hardly see any info online other than the people who are selling it tooting their own horns and the PCO’s who for obvious reasons are bashing it. Are there any real people out there who have tried this? I’m gonna try it no matter what seeing as I already bought it, however I won’t really be able to tell if that is what controlled them or if it was all my other efforts. I did put a bed bug in a plastic baggie and spray some in and it died pretty quickly.
Also, will the bed bugs come looking for me or just wait for new tenants to move in?? I’m hoping I won’t have a false sense of security thinking I’ve won and have a new tenant move in and have to deal with this hell.
Oh and who saw the special on Animal Planet “Bedbug Apocalypse”?? Wow, I don’t have them any where near that bad (I hope).
Don’t know how I got these little buggers but I did. Hopefully I caught them in time I can take care of it myself. Since I do gardening, I decided to experiment with stuff I had laying around, and it kills them on contact. I used an insecticidal some by the brand name of Garden Safe. Best of all, it is organic and OMRI approved.
As a home chemist, I would like to share some very toxic (especially to bugs, fish, fungus,…) concoctions that I use and are not overly toxic to humans. In particular, copper base compounds are very lethal to lower organisms. For example, a case of someone adding a brass (a copper alloy) fitting in their fish tank. With naturally occurring ammonia (from fish waste) buildup, the brass slowly dissolved adding a copper salt to the fish tank with the result all the fish are no more. So, if cleaning your bug problem using just ammonia, you may wish to create a more powerful residual mixture by first letting some copper pennies slowly dissolve over at least a day into some household ammonia (a clear ammonia solution will turn blue as the copper ion concentration increases). Please protect yourself by wearing gloves to avoid excessive copper ingestion through your skin as copper in large enough dose is also a problem for people (by the way, if you have expensive copper cookware, sell it on eBay).
Another concoction for those preferring Bleach (NaClO), trying adding some vinegar and your pennies to Bleach. It will smell of poisonous Chlorine Monoxide, so do this in the target area or outside and wear a gas mask. You have created Copper Oxygen Chloride, a known fungicide. Again gloves and I would use a gas mask.
I would place your mattress in a plastic cover after spraying and wipe down all bed and floors.
If you are a bedbug, leave now!
As a disclaimer, take care as these mixtures are toxic to people as well.
I have been dealing with this for about 4 months. The doctors first determined that I had Exzema. I was going crazy and was determined that I didnt all of sudden after 32 years of life that I would just come down with exzema.
The best remedy I have for relieving the itch is HOT water, the hotter the better. It will itch intensly for a minute but will take the itch away for hours. I have tried creams and allergy pills doctor prescribed and over the counter.
The second best remedy is drinking lots of water, again the more the better. I cant explain why but it helps alot. Maybe flushing the poison out of the skin?
The third best remedy was neem extracts…creams, essential oils, etc
As far as getting rid of them…we have cleaned and ran all of our fabrics the wash and put them in black plastic garbage bags in the sun for a day. We also spread DE all over the house and let off store bought bug bombs. Three days later we finally slept in our room and they came back. Hopefully this weekend I will be cooking the house…I will let you know what happens.
Thanks for all the good posts and ideas.
Bedbug Bite and Itch Treatment using Essential Oils
I’m still trying to get rid of the bedbugs. Thought they were gone, then the last few days realized the intense itching on the back of my left leg was from maybe almost a 100 bites from sitting in my ikea computer chair. :(
I’m very poor and have really no money to be exotic. I’m a red head, so my skin is very sensitive and bites turn into raised almost blistered welts and is extremely itchy but also excruciatingly painful. As I’ve been getting into using essential oils this last year for more natural treatments, I’ve been trying mixtures to help the itching, welts, and bites. This morning I tried a new mix that made the itching stop after about 15 min … has stopped itching for several hours now… :) might keep working, but now I’m getting sleepy because I was up all night from the itching which is now gone. :) :) :)
So here’s what I used:
5-6 drops Tea Tree Oil
4-5 drops Texas Cedarwood
3-4 drops Clary Sage
2-3 drops Lemon
2-4 drops Lavender
Applied directly to the bite areas (no other oils to dilute the potency). Rubbed in till completely absorbed ( just a couple minutes). Smells wonderful. Itching has stopped. And finally feeling sleepy again. :) :) :) Good luck All. Hope this helps someone out there. :)
Locust, I agree with you because I got rid of them on my own spraying, steaming and applying tape and puffing out DE from a baster! I like his point though about patience and bags.
Of course you’re going to say the only way to get rid of bed bugs is to call a pest control company, there is big money to be made here for you. But you are completely wrong, there are a ton of bed bug treatments that can be done yourself, that have been proven to work, without the need to spend thousands on a pest control company that doesn’t guarantee anything.
Take Diatomaceous Earth for example, there are a ton of success stories from people using this to eliminate bed bugs. But a pest control company isn’t going to suggest a $30 DIY solution when there’s thousands to be made, are they?
I’m with a pest control company. When infested with these pests,patience is the issue.First and most important, do not take anything out of the room. Most of the time bed bugs will stay where their blood meal is located. They can travel up to 100 ft though.
When removing washable materials from room use a plastic bag. Put in dryer for at least 30 min. Call a pro. Bed bugs are not guaranteed by any pest control company. They are resilient and resistant to all over the counter pesticides. And now most pesticides. Someone specializing in this is the only sure way to rid these. This is time consuming and long procedure to eliminate
I will share more info later when I have more time! I just wanted to add that the DE is available on the Amazon website! Purchase to food grade type to be safe around people and pets.
(1 of 2 tips) Stuff like Gold Bond medicated cream and a prescription topical corticosteroid called Nerisone Cream, soothes bedbug bites for several hours (I was prescribed the Nerisone Cream to treat exema).
(2 of 2 tips) One way to keep bedbugs off your bed could be to wrap a sticky tape…backwards… (duct tape?) around your bed’s legs. They might get stuck on the tape if they try to climb up onto your bed. Of course, your bed coverings must not touch the floor or the walls.
I am so grateful to the folks that have shared their knowledge/wisdom on fighting bedbugs, that I thought I would do my small bit to show my gratitude & keep the flame alive.
I’ve gotta tell ya, I spent a LOT of money on a bio green pest control company and still had problems! I used the food grade diatomaceous earth mixed with water in a spray bottle and finally got rid of them myself! Last time I hire an expensive company to do bed bug treatment!
Please help I have bed bugs and I know where they came from. My neighbors in the upstairs apt has them now they reached to my apt. I have a 1 year daughter she has gotten bitten and her reaction to bites are huge welts look swollen. I also have bites too. My landlord has pest control pest people coming tomorrow. Any suggesting to what I need to do if that doesn’t work please somebody help me and my daughter!
It has been a week since any bites and I have not seen a bed bug so I decided to steam clean everything and launder all my clothes and linens, put DE in any and all holes in the walls and floorboards and patch them up. Hopefully I caught it early enough that I won’t have any future issues with these little creepers.
Not So Sure, I would be surprised if they laid eggs on the frame as opposed to the mattress but it is possible. If the egg laying has stopped then there wont be any babies because they die soon with out a blood meal. I would take precautions. I suggest a thorough visual inspection. Check some areas at least with a magnifying glass which would clearly show you any eggs or maybe even an adult in crevices. Steam treat the entire frame or poor scalding water over it. Steaming is the more practical option.
I found bedbugs in my children’s bunkbed frame. We had just bought the bunkbed 4 months ago along with their mattress’. My oldest who slept on the top bunk was the one getting bit constantly. I found them in the cracks of the bed and in the foot and head boards. I used bedbug spray and bleach, and got a few (but know I need to kill the eggs that I can’t see) So, I looked all over the mattress’ and nothing, I washed their all their sheets and blankets and stuck the bed frame outside. It has been there for a month now, my kids have been sleeping on their mattress’ on the floor. I have not seen any bits since, so I know now that they were only in the frame. My question its…When if ever is a good time to bring back in the frames…I’m so scared to, but I just bought the beds. Is a month long enough, should I wait longer or just throw them away???
I brought home on my luggage what I think are bed bugs from a trip to Utah to see my bro-in-law. He had bed bugs he got from a used mattress while he lived in Ohio. He did his own fumigation treatment, thought all was well and later moved to Utah. A few months later I went to visit and he was kind enough to let me stay in his room. I returned home, threw my suitcase in my guest room and began to unpack slowly.
Sometime within the week I noticed bumps on my back that became irritated. I couldn’t see the bumps and didn’t worry much about it. Then, 10 days after returning from my trip, I was awoken in the middle of the night with the feeling that something bit the inside of my arm. The next morning while showering I felt bumps under my left arm. I looked in the mirror and saw 3 bumps, 1 of the bumps was really irritated and was right in the spot I felt something bite me the night before. I also noticed 3 bumps in a line along my collarbone to my neck. I wasted no time…I researched and realized my bumps looked like bed bug bites. I then had a moment of realization “My brother in law had, had bed bugs”…OH NO! I had no idea how horrible these bugs are. If I had I would have warned him that he needed to do more than fumigate once.
Worried about the bites on my back (that had became so irritated I could barely sit back in a chair) I went to the doctor. 1 of the bites on my back had become infected and I had to take antibiotics. Following the doctor appointment I called Terminix. The branch manager happened to be on call and he came to the scene. I threw my bed coverings in the wash, which now I know I should have done after the inspection rather than before. He looked over my room and didn’t see any signs of bed bugs…hmmmm.
Convinced I have bed bugs, I bought the mattress and box spring covers (pretty pricey) and put them on. I deep cleaned my room that night by vacuuming and mopping and wiping everything in my room with AJAX and hot water. I also began the dry, wash, dry process with my laundry which is going to take FOREVER! That night I found some bugs that ended up being carpet beetles, great! Apparently beetles and bed bugs don’t get along so I figure the carpet beetles can stay so long as they push the bed bugs out. I can’t believe I would say that.
I continue to deep clean and change the sheets every 2 days. I haven’t seen any bugs or anything that I know is droppings etc. I did see some blood on one of my pillows after the first set of known bites. I also haven’t been bitten but I have also been sleeping with the lights on.
My plan now is to get all my clothes into bags and do hot shot on Saturday. I bought the can hot shot to spray in the walls and on my furniture etc. and then I plan to set the foggers off. I am doing the entire house because I have animals and am afraid they have carried the bugs throughout the house. During the fogging I am going to take all my clothes, linens etc. to the laundromat and dry, wash, dry, and then put in plastic sealable bags. When I can return to my home I plan to steam clean, vacuum and wash everything and put DE in the holes of the walls and seal them. I then plan to do the same process the following weekend.
Hopefully this works for the bed bugs and carpet beetles…any other advice or thoughts? Should I do all of this without having seen any real evidence of the bugs? I think there is a dead one underneath the mattress cover but I’m not going to open it to find out. I have what I think is a recent set of bites on my scalp. Do they go in your hair and bite you? I thought they avoided hair.
We think we brought bed bugs back with us from a trip in May. I broke out in pimples the second day of our stay, thought it was heat rash. A week later i found new bites, again thought it was heat rash, since my husband and daughters showed no bites. Then we started researching since i was still seeing new bites, and going a little nuts from the itching, my dr also said it looks like bed bug bites. End of June we had terminix come out, they saw stains on sheets but no bugs, said we had bed bugs. Bagged everything, clothes, toys, gadgets, office. First treatment was July 5. We felt bites again so terminix came back July 20. Terminix said we may still get bites from eggs that may havea hatched. Its now July 27 and i still see new bites, could these be new or from a bite from days ago? Should i call terminix again? My older daughter has eczema and it started flairing up not sure if its a reaction to the bites, my younger daughter gas a few bites on her legs, face and arms. I now have bites on my face. We live in a 3200 sq ft house with unfinished basement(was not treated). We are living out of bags, kids sit on the sofa, i’m still afraid.
We also have cups under the bed legs with talc powder in them, per terminix guy. We dry the sheets on high for 60 mins everyday and check all the cups everday. Vacuum all bed mattresz and box springs, they all have protective covers, we vacuum the covers everyweek.
hi…………i got my apartment fumigated and i have de dusted everywhere so my question is…
if i wax all my hardwood floors (after washing with murphy’s oil soap and vacuuming) with pledge with it seal and kill the eggs if any are left ??
thank you
How to sleep bite free
While you work on eradicating the bed bugs from your home, you can remain bite free with an air mattress and some clear, shiny packaging tape. I purchased a double air mattress with velour-like top from Walmart for about $20. I placed it on top of an old memory foam mattress (not required) which was placed on top of particle board laid across my bed frame (no box spring or conventional mattress).
The bed bugs probably cannot climb up the slippery nylon side of the air mattress but, for added assurance, I ran a strip of tape around the side (circumference?) of the air mattress. The downside is that you must sleep in the middle and directly on top of the mattress (velour-ish) without a fitted sheet and, of course, ensure that the flat sheet and blanket do not go over the top of the air mattress.
God bless whoever originally provided these 2 suggestions because I have been bite free for weeks now. I never thought my bed would become my refuge! Sweet dreams!
I have a bad feeling that I have the beginnings of a bed bug issue. A few nights ago, I noticed a set of bites in a particularly uncomfortable region of my body, and figured that they were bed bug bites due to the unique nature of them (two sets of 3) and their particular orientation (roughly linear). Please note that I learned all of this information from the site!
Since that time, these are the following steps I have taken:
Could anyone suggest appropriate next steps to try to avoid an infestation? I am not sure that I can put down this DE stuff, as I have to live in this room on a daily basis (I live with roommates), and I would be walking in and out of the room every day. I am also hesitant to buy a steamer because I inspected the entire room and couldn’t find anything.
Thanks for any help / advice you can give! I hope I can avoid a major problem.
I been having this bed bug problems for about 2 years now my uncle is an exterminator and he sprayed they will go away for about a month then come back we tired the bombs for the bedbugs and nothing happens never had this problem before and the bedbugs are only in my room I kill about 7 of them everyday my family is coming up to stay and I don’t want them getting bit I don’t know what to do please help me :-(
Well me and my family just stayed at a motel recently, and after much research, confirmed we have bed bugs. I am covered in bites. We are kind of low income young couple and we do our best to pay rent, so needless to say I cant afford an exterminator. But thanks to your site, I am well informed and I am ready to take this fight head on, Ill make those suckers pay! Thanks for the info and wish me luck!
I’m seventeen, and just moved into a new house. It’s kind of like a townhouse (and my father claims that there is a firewall separating the houses over but I think otherwise)…anyway, we’ve had problems with bedbugs since we came. They’re mainly in my room, which would be “connected” to the house beside us. I thought at first, after a trip to the hospital, that I had scabies…I kind of wish I did now, anything instead of these bed bugs.
We’ve been visited by exterminators twice (technically three, but the first time they lied about spraying anything). The second time, we were giving the heat treatment (applied only to our house and neither house on the side of us was touched). This past Saturday, our house was given a ‘follow-up’ spray. During this time, and a few days after (until today to be exact) I stayed at my Mother’s place with my sister.
I come back, and lo and behold! A bedbug, lounging on the wall at the steps. Another, in my room. This one was a nymph. I found a few clinging to my ceiling as well. What to do now? We’ve sprayed, I’ve all but picked through the carpet with my fingers, I’ve peeled back what I can of our two leather couches (both with cushions that are sewn in), and change and wash clothes and sheets daily.
The funny thing? The owners before us had bedbugs, and apparently didn’t bother to tell a soul. Instead they moved, and left us with this ‘gift’. It’s gotten so bad, I can’t sleep! I always feel prickling on my skin and itching. I must look insane when I slap at the spots, even squealing sometimes when I feel it. I’ve found them on my clothing more than once, when I’m wearing it…can anyone give me any suggestions? Hopefully my parents are convinced enough to go out and buy some DE!
Elizabeth, it is normal to get frustrated. But as you see the bites go away you will feel relieved. Myself and many who write on here had anxiety about them long after they were last seen so expect that. We tend to think they will show up again even though they are gone. As for the steamer you should be able to find a garment steamer with hose and wand at a discount warehouse type store, maybe Walmart.
I found mine at a Costco where I live for under $50 and it eradicated them, glad to say!If you don’t have Costco there is costco.com and you can order. Dry your clothes and linens on high heat for at least 30 minutes as long as it doesn’t damage your linens. If it will then just bag them up airtight and store them for a month or so. The bugs could just be in your couch or bed.
If you just bought your couch I would suspect that. If not, I would suspect your bed. I have earlier posts you can read in which I describe how I got rid of them from my beds. I suggest you read those.
I think I have been bit by bugs 4 times. this last time was the worst they got me good! but I am not sure if it was on the couch or in my bed. This last time that I was bit was the first time in a long while. I bought the DE and it is spread along the baseboards of the entire apt. I just sprinkled it with a plastic spoon. the DE has been there for maybe 2mths now and I am getting to a point where I will shove it into the cracks and cover the cracks with a caulking gun. The DE has definitely helped with all bugs spiders the jumpy kind, it takes sometime for them to die though. flies, those quick moving millipedes, or whatever they are they freak me out the most. I wish and thought that this treatment would solve the problem, but I know it’s not going to happen. I might try and buy that hotshot product.
I understand that steam might really help but I am a single woman what do I know about a steamer??? where can I get one, for cheap!!! like can I find it at walmart??? is the steamer you use for getting wrinkles out of your clothes good enough??
Another Issue I have with these posts are that some people are saying that they see them crawling around, I thought they only came out between 3 and 5am? I get very confused with all the different stories you can’t see them…you can see them they dont like heat…they do like heat, this works that doesn’t…ugh!!!
Putting your clothes in the dryer.. does that apply to things that are on hangers aswell
If do this steam treatment in the bedroom and couch can I rest easy…Are they more or less in one certain area or is the entire place f**ked and need to be steamed??
I know none of you are experts, I am just venting frustration, I dont want to invite anyone over because of them. I am worried that I will spread it to their place. They are like an incurable STD
I have a problem with these little pesky little buggers. I sometimes stay with my boyfriend and i keep getting these bites and thought that it was spider or ant bites but then today i finally saw two of them. My boyfriend or nor anyone else has gotten bit but me. and they only seem to be in the one bed in the house. So is there somthing i can do to help them rid the bed of these things at a reasonably price. There are kids and pets in the house so i need somthing thats going to be safe.
Thank you, FirstTimefighter for your comments!
OnceBitten, I am very sorry you have discovered a bed bug. Based on what you wrote it is likely a mild infestation, which is good news. If the bugs are living in your mattress, box spring and bed frame as opposed to the carpet, walls, etc. you can isolate them and kill eggs (probably on box spring) and the adults with steam and the DE. I would disassemble the bed where the bug was found, inspect it while treating and steam every crevice and seem, etc. Apply double stick tape to all legs and any blocks touching floor or carpet. Remove and discard box spring dust cover located on bottom(where eggs usually are) and apply some DE to the underside of box spring. Do not plan on replacing the dust cover with a new one until you are sure they are exterminated. Remove Box spring plastic tufts on corners and again, do not replace. If you have plastic protectors on frame ends remove those also. All this is eliminating where they can hide. Steam treat. The heat kills bugs and eggs! Lastly, Hot Shot only kills bugs while it is wet if they crawl over it or get sprayed. It is a slow death so don’t expect it to die right away. Hot shot and other non-professional sprays do not kill eggs, which is a big disappointment. Chemicals used by exterminators can continue to kill bugs after drying, I believe, so you may consider this option at some point if it is not a financial hardship for you.
Last Saturday my daughter said “dad I think we have a problem”. She then shows me a strange bug she had smashed on her bed. Yeap, it was a bed bug ! Life hasn’t been the same since. I knew something was up, since both of my daughter were getting bites on their legs, that I thought were fleas (we have a dog). I started by throwing away their mattresses and wood frame beds. Then went out and purchased Hot Shot bed bug spray, and sprayed their room around the base board. Then sealed all electrical outlets and cracks between rooms. Then bagged the mattress and boxspring in my room. All clothes are being washed and dried in hot/high.
Items purchased so far:
Hot Shot bed bug spray
Vinyl Mattress covers
White sheet sets
Safer Brand 5168 Ant and Crawling Insect Killer Powder
Vapamore Primo Steam Cleaner
Eureka 3670G Mighty Mite Canister Vacuum
I purchased the new vacuum because it has bags. Our current vacuum is bag-less with a hepa filter. After vacuuming up bedbugs you need to dispose of them ASAP.
Plans for the weekend are to steam clean the carpets (not using the Vapamore), then steam base boards (Vapamore), spray hot shot and lay down DE (Safer Brand) power. Any suggestions are welcomed !
John G: I genuinely appreciate your commitment to trying to help people learn the best way to get rid of bed bugs. Please understand that there are so many posts to read through – and different sites too – prescribing one fix or another that it is difficult to keep up or know what is best. I think there is also a “learning curve” that newbies to this ordeal have to go through for themselves. I never “discounted” your tips when I read them…I think most of us are programmed to instantly think “chemicals” with any infestation, when those don’t work we are baffled, and with bed bugs we’re also suffering a weird “emotional/psychological” sort of traumatic processing (at least I did/am). Here I am, this 167 pound, 5’9″ human with great intelligence and I can’t even get rid of a tiny, embarrassing and obviously pretty-smart parasite! That’s hard to swallow.
Please do continue your efforts helping others. It really does mean a lot, and try and excuse those of us who seem a little “dense” as we learn about the process for ourselves.
Bright Blessings to you :)
Over and over I have been telling people to steam. I get the feeling they ignore me and keep posting on here that the bugs keep showing up and biting them and are frustrated. Everybody needs to realize it’s the eggs that are the source of the problem ! They hatch and the babies go in search of a blood meal right away. They are so small you can’t see these nymphs or the eggs unless you use a hand held magnifying glass with lots of light. When you feel something crawling on you at night and then you turn on a light and can’t spot any bug it was probably a baby nymph that fell off of you.
Wildabeast and John G; I had an exterminator here to do an examination and an estimate. He found nothing…kept saying “I can’t treat what I can’t see”…but no one has slept upstairs in a few days…so I showed him the ziploc baggie of “casualties”. He confirmed that is what they are (as if I didn’t know already). Anyway, I’m still choking on the estimate of $1200 to do JUST the upstairs of the house.
He was actually helpful in answering questions and giving advice, and really did take a thorough look. He said they only use steam – it is the only thing that will kill the eggs…sort of like hard-boiling a chicken egg…and you cannot see the eggs. He also said that when they are “attacked” – as in, when I took away the one bed, and the two humans living up there, they go into survival mode, hiding even deeper. Eventually they WILL come downstairs if there is no more food upstairs for them.
Long story short…he confirmed that the Borax and the Sevin dust will eventually (2-10 days or so) kill the hatched ones crawling through it, IF they crawl through it, but NOT the eggs. Each female can lay 5 eggs per day and each hatchling is ready to lay eggs in 10-14 days (I think I understood this right).
$1200 is two house payments for us and wayyy too expensive. We searched, researched, read, watched video, etc, and decided to buy this Vapamore MR-100 Professional Dry steamer for $229.
We will also buy the mattress covers (the ones that bed bugs can’t get in or out of) and keep dusting, etc. I was wrong to have the kids come down here and sleep (I guess) but how could I just leave them up there to be gnawed on? Dang, this is a HUGE house with SO many crevices…ugh. Cross your fingers for me please. I can definitely see how people suffer real emotional/mental “trauma” from having to deal with these things.
This tip has been used in the past by some people.. use sliced onions/onion juice .. somehow it just keeps them away ….
Better Tasting Half, the eggs are on the bottom of your box spring along the edges. Have you steamed this or removed this yet?
First Time Fighter, you don’t need to hire an exterminator but if you have the money, go ahead. I think there are some simple procedures to follow. We had got our infestation by bringing my boys clothing from my ex-wifes house into my home. I have my children a few days every week and I use the clothing she buys for them. I would dry the clothes before I would bring them into my home. So I had an infestation and possible source every time my boys came over. But I beat this on my own.
Wildabeast, it’s possible to get rid of them without an exterminator. Myself and others on here have.
To FirstTimeFighter:
Thank you for your sympathy. This landlord of mine…well, he could be worse. At least he isn’t medicated to the point of active insanity. He’s just cheap to the point of complete irrationality, but that’s standard. I suppose I’m just finding it unpleasant because my last landlord was reasonable, polite, honest, helpful, etc., etc. I only moved out of his place because it was a basement apartment and the lack of light and six-foot ceilings were a bit hard to deal with. I hope that what you’ve used will work at your place – bedbugs are notoriously hard to kill with standard bug killers, though. Like cockroaches, perfectly adapted – only more so.
Better-tasting Half: I know how you feel. I’m that person too. I don’t know why they love me, but they love me. I’m a walking four-star meal to them, and my girlfriend barely gets a nibble. Mind you, when the cat got fleas somehow last summer, she got eaten alive and they didn’t touch me. Still, I would totally trade!
Oh, and just a little happy tidbit of information for those of us who get chowed down on – did you know that when a bedbug bites you, it also injects you with a soporific drug that’s in their saliva, so you sleep through the biting process? Yep yep…they don’t just eat you alive, they drug you while they’re at it. It doesn’t matter in cases of light infestations, but when I had that really bad infestation six years ago, and was having 100 bites at once on me, I would wake up in the morning feeling so doped-up…a pot of coffee didn’t even help. So, I don’t know what to do about it, but be warned guys! I hadn’t seen that lovely fact mentioned in this thread so far.
Hire that exterminator!!! I know you can’t afford it but…they will NOT go away otherwise! However, do your research before you hire, even though your skin is crawling with every breath you take. Since you occupy the entire house, it ought to be possible to hire an exterminator who will give a six-month guarantee – that is, that they will come back and spray as many times as necessary inside a six-month period for the same price you originally paid, without you having to cough up again. Then make sure you get them to come twice in two weeks, since two sprayings in 10-14 days is best for messing up the life cycles of those little unprintables. Wait after spraying #2. If you see any more, get a third spray done two weeks after the second. Just keep calling them in every two weeks until you stop seeing the bugs – then wait till right before your six months runs out, and have them in to do a final strafing, whether you see any bugs or not.
This will necessitate having all your clothes in sealed double bags each time you spray…so you may just want to have everyone keep three outfits out, seal up the rest, and do a lot of laundry for the next month or so. Prepping a house for extermination is a royal pain in the gluteus maximus, but it’s the only way to get rid of an infestation. Good luck – and make sure you get a GOOD exterminator!
I’m either going to throw up or scream or cry! Tonight my stepson came downstairs with bites on his arm. Reluctantly, I took the flashlight (and all my courage) to look and see if the monsters had traveled across the expansive upstairs through the powders and sprays to reach the only person left using the upstairs. They had. I found two tiny babies just inside the zipper (it had ripped only slightly while stuffing two mattresses in it). I didn’t look further. I probably should…to see if there are any adults. I guess if there ARE then that means the poisons and Borax aren’t working…but I’m too afraid to find an adult.
We REALLY cannot afford this fiasco but I will be calling exterminators tomorrow and we will have to purchase the expensive bed-bug resistant mattress and pillow covers too. I told my BF we could just crank up the heat to over 130 degrees for an hour or two…but he reminded me our old house doesn’t even have heat vents upstairs.
Once again, I am crawly and itchy all over…and aching to build a bonfire INSIDE the house. This is SO totally disgusting, embarrassing and difficult to fix. :(
For a few nights in a row I was itching so bad at night that I couldn’t sleep. I’ve been having issues with hives (stress related) lately and figured that was the cause. However last night my husband and I were both itching and unable to sleep. We got out of bed and found bed bugs. Today I have stripped the bed, bagged the bedding and vacuumed the bed as well as the room. After reading almost every post on here I sprayed bug killer only at the entry/exit points to the room to try to contain the problem. After pulling the bed away from the wall I found the tell tale black spots, one really bad spot and other less severe. This has me wondering if my “hives” were actually the bed bugs eating off me (and not my husband) or if it really was hives. A friend of ours had bed bugs and we took some preventative measures when he told us about it.
Obviously we didn’t go all out on it but I’m hoping we did enough to keep them from spreading to the rest of the house. All of the posts I have read here have been very helpful. We don’t really have enough money to hire an exterminator and when our friend was dealing with the issue, he couldn’t find anyone that would guarantee the problem would end, even after multiple treatments. We will be getting the covers for our mattress and boxspring and we will probably move that bed to the garage after its sealed. (Luckily we have another bed)
I find that I’m kicking myself now tho… Back when our friend had bed bugs I should have done research so I would have seen the signs. After everything I’ve read today, I know I could have put a stop to this before it got crazy. So for all of you that have bed bugs, tell people! Don’t be embarrassed about it, these things happen. Make sure your friends/family know what to look for or even what they can buy to help prevent the spread to their house(s).
I don’t know for sure yet if my problem is really only in one room… My dog always sleeps with us so she might have even carried them to the rest of the house. As I said b4, we don’t have a lot of money so we will be trying to solve this problem as cheaply as possible. Thank you again to everyone that has posted advice here, I will let you know how things go for us.
Sooooo gross! I’m dealing with this for the first time, and I apparently taste better than my boyfriend or any of the 4 kids we have between us who come to visit on the weekends. I’m grateful no one else in my household is suffering, but I would like to be in their company!! This is a recent unwanted addition to our apartment, and unfortunately, an expected one.
My new neighbors began introducing themselves to me and frowning as they showed me big trophy bites. Four months into the lease and bam baby! I wanna throw out the mattress and box spring, but my boyfriend says he’d feel even more bothered by the bed bugs if he had to sleep on the floor.
We covered the box spring and mattress with vinyl zippered bags that were instantly ruined when the metal frame tore small holes in the one covering the box spring. We put rubbing alcohol in a bottle and sprayed it on the matress, around the floor boards, in the box spring, and directly on an adult we found crawling leasurely across our bedroom floor. The bed bug died, with his middle finger pointed at us, and screaming to his little hatching sons to make us suffer.
With a yawn my landlord said he would call the pest control company. They can’t be sure when they will feel like dropping by, but sometime this week or next they will try to make it. So nice of them to assure me that the problem will be dealt with. I have (in addition to rows of mosquito like bites on my legs) two bites under my arm, and if I raise that arm over my head the bites line up perfectly with the one on my face. They are evenly spaced bites and everything. My boyfriend looks at me, shudders, and begins to itch. Such an effective way to win a woman, eh? Bite her until her boyfriend is grossed out just looking at her.
Hours have been spent vaccuming, spraying alcohol, taking down window drapes, bagging up newly unpacked blankets, clothes, towels, and dabbing cotton balls wet with alcohol to stop the itching and make the welt disappear (itching goes away in a few seconds and welts take a week).
More time has been spent getting rid of all cardboard boxes (shoe boxes, the cardboard toy box, the box I threw in the corner that the new microwave came in) and plastic binning stacks of important paperwork since they have a love for paper that is only topped by material and my blood.
Even more time is spent crying about it to my supportive and completely understanding neighbors (outside because we’re all afraid we are carrying the bugs in our clothes and purses), jerking and itching for hours before falling into a fitful sleep and dreaming of having someone throw a box of bed bugs on me. How can these bugs so small as they are ruin my love life, take up the majority of my waking hours, and interrupt my normally scheduled dreams? Believe it or not, I’m taking this in stride compared to my boyfriend who as I said before can’t even look at me without feeling creepy crawly.
To be positive at least once, I’d like to end by saying that we have one old futon we are using as a couch, and were planning to buy a new bed soon before the bugs hit us. This is just going to be a fast apartment stay to save some money.
I’m hoping that was the end of them and we caught them quick enough to be done with them. I ended up getting Sevin dust (kills fleas, ticks, spiders, etc for gardens and plants) since our stores do not have the DE. I mixed it with 20 Mule Team Borax (in laundry soap section of stores). I couldn’t figure out what to put it in to “puff” it around the house – looking all through the stores though I found a cheap set of plastic ketchup and mustard dispensers in the grilling section. Those worked pretty good and the tops can be cut a bit bigger if needed.
First we put a new zippered mattress cover on, then took it downstairs to the trash. I didn’t want anyone to take it home so I wrote on the cover in big black letters, “Junk – Not Worth Taking” since pretty much our entire state is suffering financially and people DO go through trash a lot. Unfortunately, while I was busy “dusting” upstairs, someone DID take the mattresses within about an hour of me putting them out there! I feel so bad for whoever took it, but I did try and warn people not to take it. I couldn’t very well write “BioHazard” or “Do Not Take” or “Infested” because then the trash company would not have taken it either.
Anyway, I’ve dusted the entire upstairs including attic. Son is staying on first floor for about two weeks. Wrapped stepson’s mattresses (another room upstairs) in zippered plastic. No sign of anything in his room or anywhere else. Then I got the Sevin granules and small broadcast spreader (handheld) and did entire basement, garage, attic and perimeter of house outside. I’ve come away with some battle scars since I tripped over a root outside while using broadcaster, fell, scuffed up legs pretty good, jarred the deteriorating disks in my lower back (now out of place) and either broke or severely sprained my right thumb! OUCH…it sure seems to hurt worse at 43 yrs old than when I was a kid!
Hopefully I won’t be back here to discuss more “treatment”, “expenses”, “injuries” or “infestation”. Good luck to everyone fighting these awful little monsters.
Just want to add: so far no bites on anyone – my son saw them in his mattress before he slept on it and hasn’t been upstairs since except to get his few clothes for me to re-wash. Also, it cost me about $50 plus whatever a new bed will cost when we get it. (Currently son sleeps in an extra single bed downstairs). The Sevin Dust canister is less than $10, a large bag – about 15 lbs of Sevin Granules for outside is $10 – both kill ticks which look a LOT like bed bugs, the “dispensers” (catchup and mustard) were $1.88, and the 20 Mule Team Borax was $3.36 for a decent sized box. The zippered mattress covers were $10 each. The handheld broadcaster (can be used for grass seed or any amendments to outdoor soil, etc) was about $6.
Also, Sevin dust is safe enough for pets to be around. My sister and I have both used it in the past (small amounts) to “dust” barn cats and farm dogs to kill their fleas only if they have a very bad infestation…otherwise we use regular drops that go on pet’s back and back of neck. I would not recommend using it around children or letting them touch it though – and wash it off if you get any on your own skin.
I got these unwanted guests 5 yrs ago! I didn’t know what the bites on my body were until I went to the Dermatologist who kindly recommended that I get an exterminator! I was horrified when I read about bedbugs. My house is attached to others. I talked my neighbors into treating their home too and after 3 treatments, the bed bugs were gone!
Unfortunately I woke up a week ago with bites on my arms…. I know too well these kind of bites and I called right away the exterminator. After treating the house once, they were gone. I did call him back for a second treatment.
I have decided to get my entire house sprayed at least twice a year from now on, as I never expected to get them twice and I don’t want to have to deal with this again. It’s too stressful!
The quicker you will act, the better it will be as they multiply way too fast and it can be extremely overwhelming!!!
Since the first episode, I got into the habits to keep all of the clothes that I put in my dressers in plastic bags that you can get to store your clothes. Same goes for all of my bedding, this is probably why this time it was easier to get rid of them since they don’t come near plastic!
Wildabeast, what a terrible encounter! Unfortunately (here in Michigan) many Landlords are jerks like that. I recall leaving an apartment for a better place (nothing to do with bed bugs…didn’t have any) and my Landlord was so angry they broke the law, retaining my deposit without cause, ignoring my proper, legal and timely certified letters of intent to vacate and disagreement with their “assessment” of damages, etc.
They claimed that I left an infestation of fleas. I didn’t have any pets! Other tenants in the building did though and the new tenant in mine obtained furniture from wherever she could when she moved in immediately after me.
Long story short, I sued him for two and a half times the retained amount (a lawyer advised me to after looking at paperwork between us) and I LOST! The judge’s exact words were, “usually the Landlord sues the Tenant and I favor the Tenant, but since the Tenant is suing the Landlord I am going to favor the Landlord”. Can you believe that?? If I had had the money I would have continued on and tried to have the judge go before the judicial board or whoever oversees his “rulings”. What a crock…the landlord skated away with $850 of mine for NO reason.
I sure hope your situation improves and that not all L/T cases have idiot judges like I had.
Stayed up last night and inspected all furnishings, many cracks in flooring, etc. Only found one live and one dead in son’s mattress I had already sprayed but a lot of “exoskeleton casings” on the floor in corner where his bed used to be. Before we put a new bed in there I will put the dust stuff out and also have an exterminator come treat (house?). Meanwhile son is staying downstairs and I will keep looking for “signs” elsewhere. Could barely sleep last night – feeling “buggy” and “crawly” but of course didn’t have anything on me.
Hopeful this is going to be over with quickly. Luckily my son has almost nothing in his room. I’m pretty sure the “bugs” were here in that room when we moved in a couple months ago. Will update later…
I just feel the need to vent…
Six years ago, living in a *beyond* dilapidated apartment building in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood with a landlord who was no joke INSANE (he had serious bipolar disorder for which he was on incredibly heavy meds that gave him memory gaps and an extremely unpredictable temper), we got an awful, class-A bed bug infestation.
The landlord refused to spray and I didn’t know then that Toronto has this beautiful law that states that if a landlord refuses to spray, you just wait till you have rent money, hire an exterminator, pay the exterminator, retain the bill, and hand it to the landlord at rent time along with rent-minus-the-final-sum-on-the-bill, and the landlord is STUCK for it. Not a damn thing he can do.
I didn’t know that then, so we struggled along trying to solve the problem with do-it-yourself fixes for six months – and when I say bad infestation, I mean that I had about 100 bites at any given point. I was scratching myself bloody in my sleep. We threw out the bed and got an air mattress, but we had a cat…so the mattress quickly became a flat pile of rubber and the bites continued. Finally we moved, and even had to have the new place sprayed before the horror ended.
Fast forward to beginning of June 2011. We moved – and, of course, asked both landlord and superintendent about any bug history. One or two roaches here and there, they said, nothing to worry about. Roaches I can fight, roaches I can starve out through good housekeeping. Fine. Only…six days after we moved in, my girlfriend killed a big fat adult bedbug. I had been in my previous apartment for 3 years without a bug or a bite, so I was damn sure I hadn’t brought the little bastards with me when I moved.
When, after seeing 4 bugs in two weeks, I reported the problem to my landlord, his response was to call all the other tenants, tell me nobody else had complained, suggest I had brought them with me, TELL ME HE HAD HAD THE APARTMENT SPRAYED AFTER THE LAST TENANT LEFT (which he did NOT tell me before I moved in when I asked about bugs) so there could be no bugs (as I’m sure all you guys know they can live for up to 12 months without a meal *shudder*) – and then he sent his nephew to buy bug spray somewhere and gave it to the super and told the super to spray my apartment.
The super decanted about 1/4 of what the landlord gave him into a PREVIOUSLY USED DIFFERENT TYPE OF BUG SPRAY bottle (chemical reaction, anyone?), brought it to me, and told ME to spray – without mask, gloves, material safety data sheet, the name of the chemical I was supposed to use, proper ventilation (half the windows here are jammed shut), or ANYTHING. Then he quit as super over some quarrel with the landlord.
After two weeks of this farce I threw up my hands, waited till I had rent money, and hired an exterminator, knowing it would come out of rent and not my pocket (which tends to be fairly shallow), and went through the standard but enormous pain in the butt that is prepping a house for bedbug extermination.
The landlord sent yet another of his inexhaustible supply of nephews (I’ve been here a month and have seen 3) to collect rent. About an hour after I forked over rent and receipt, I got an irate phone call from the landlord, wondering if I had gotten my apartment sprayed or the whole house (how could I get the whole house sprayed when I only occupy one unit?!), screaming that if I had bedbug problems again in the next 12 months he would not pay for extermination (illegal in this city), bellowing that I should have waited for him to arrange for the whole building to be sprayed (something he never mentioned the possibility of), and simultaneously claiming that his initial cavalier attitude had been justified by the fact that nobody else had complained. I told him I could not talk to him since he was lying to my face, hung up the phone and threw it (fortunately not breaking it).
Thank GOD I have been keeping a log of all bedbug-related conversations since this disaster started, and thank God it doesn’t seem to be too brutal an infestation (I have maybe 5 bites at any one time instead of 100)…because if this keeps up I’m going to end up at the rental tribunal or involved in a lawsuit, and if that happens then by all the saints and half-forgotten-and-no-longer-worshiped gods, I am going to make sure I come out ahead. I can’t BELIEVE I have to go through this all again, after 5 gloriously bedbug-free years…it’s enough to make the angels weep.
I’m freaking out here. There are a gazillion cracks in wood flooring, around windows, just…everywhere. This is a big old farmhouse and nobody in my family thinks it’s any “big deal”. They need to read what people have gone through here.
Wonderful…if it isn’t one thing it’s another! We just moved into our own home (finally, yay) about a month and a half ago. The house is 109 years old with hardwood floors and needs lots of work to “refurbish” things. There was carpet in only two rooms that we ripped out before we moved in, leaving only 2 large and thin area rugs as the only “furnishing” left here (one upstairs and one down). Our basement is old and damp…can they live in there? My son hangs out down there sometimes (teen boy…working on bikes etc).
I have no idea WHERE these bedbugs came from! My son (in one upstairs room with one of the area rugs) found about 5 bed bugs two days ago in his bed. He has not slept in it since and caught 3 more (one baby) in a ziploc baggie to show me what he found in the bed. (I had never seen them before and only half believed him). His bed is not on a frame and sits on the floor. We are going to throw it out since it is older with some tears in it, etc. Son HAS slept over at friends homes since we moved in here, so I thought maybe one or more hitched a ride home, but wouldn’t it take a while to end up with that many adults obviously breeding in his own bed?
I sprayed a pesticide in the baggie first (to see if it kills them), then covered every inch of his floor and area rug. I also sprayed the bed in and out since we are going to throw it away and don’t want them “falling off” as we drag it downstairs to the trash. We will probably buy cheap mattress covers to zip it into before dragging it through the house to the trash.
I don’t know where they “hang out” in his room. He does have a little attic door on one side of the room that leads to a non-usable area with blown-in insulation in it. I sprayed all around that little door too. Could they be living in there? The old house we have barely has any outlets, but even so, I will remove the covers and continue the search everywhere I can think of. Where else should I look? We cannot afford much at all and definitely can’t just replace furnishings and bedding on a whim…
Is the “diatomaceous earth” the same thing as Borax (Boric Acid).I live in Michigan…where can I get it?
In thinking back, it IS possible that my son or his one bag of luggage became “contaminated” when he returned from Louisiana to Michigan in April on the Greyhound bus lines. There had been none seen until July 6th, however, and no one has appeared to have been bitten.
Nasty, mysterious, annoying creatures! I hope we are catching them in time for a quick success to ridding our lives of them.
Thank you so much for your suggestions and insight. I’ve read through some of your stories and I am a bit terrified at what we may be up against (insert sad face here).
For those of you interested in copying what I did to rid my bedroom of these bugs you can read my entry posted Dec. 08, 2010.
Hello, need some guidance. We had an infestation a year ago isolated to one room. We had Orkin come out and treat 4 times, washed and bagged all clothes and put outside, removed any clutter, encased our box spring, mattress and pillows. We slept in another room for two months. The bugs were eventually eradicated from our room. Unfortunately, the psychological impact remained for my husband.
Well our worst nightmare just came true. They are back!! What the heck!! How could this happen? Were they dormant? Did they really never leave us? What the heck do we do know? Do we do the same thing we did before? Do we throw our furniture away? I don’t know if we can go through another summer of hell with these things.
Has anyone had them return after being gone for several months? Help us!!
Help!!!!! I have moved into a infestation and I have tried so many different things. I am limited on money and the exterminator told me it would cost 500 dollars to come in and treat. I do not have that kind of money is there something I can do to kill these little blood suckers it is horrible. – Sandy
I only come back to this site to see how people are doing. If you have been battling these bugs for a while then you need to start steaming. The heat kills the bugs and the eggs.
My friend told to put my linen in the dryer for atleast an hour.
My sister said to cover my skin to minimize bites. Wear pajamas, long jones, socks, and gloves to bed.
Wash linen every week.
I also take Benadryl.
I am very happy to find this site! I moved to Qatar three months ago. My husband had rented a villa already furnished. I was very sick after moving couldn’t get new mattresses and neglected to notice that one of the mattresses had black spots and the wood frame too. Recently I checked closer and noticed dead bed bugs in the frame. I called the land lord and they removed the mattress and bed frame and I vacuumed. Here is my question: do we have live bed bugs?
None of us have seen live bugs, none of us (husband, son, me) have been bitten (that I can tell, just occ. isolated bites that could be from anything) in three months. My husband says he is very allergic to them (experience from years ago in home country) so I figured we would know. I have only seen dead bed bugs after the bed was taken out. I don’t know what to do because I don’t know where to find the things here like DE (but I am going to try) and don’t trust the pest control company. If there were eggs or live bugs wouldn’t we have see them or been bitten by now? Any advice would be welcome, I feel so depressed after finding them and have read so many awful horror stories. Thanks!
The lambda cyhalothrin seems to do something. This is the first time that I have something positive to report. I found four dead bed bugs on top of the carpet before my chair in the living room, one in the kitchen and two in my sleeping room.
Every bed bug in the other world is one less here. I have used 14 ml in total now. Still 58 ml left.
I have suspected a bed bug for about a month, waking up with non-itchy bites on arms and shoulders. I’ve read most of the instructions and posts and can’t find any info on if I need to cover my box spring as well as mattress? Any suggestions on this? Or is spraying the box spring with DE helpful? Does DE stain carpets or other surfaces you spray?
went to a wedding in nor cal and stayed at a motel 6 and that is the last time that I ever stay at a cheap hotel…..It all started with something biting me on the leg…I drove back to San Diego and I am now a week later..I am getting bit all over the place…
I can tell you that I am at a full on war with these little bastards…I am a personal chef so I am getting creative…
A lil cayene pepper around the parimater of my memory foam bed…Vacummed 5 times, washed all the sheet in hot water, 3 showers, took out anyting that I thought to be suspect..
I am about to pass out after a busy day trying to kill these pests…. I am calling it a night with lavander and eculayptas oil steam ironed on my sheets,.. I will post back soon :)
UGH! I feel the pain of everyone who is going through this mess. :( I am 9 months pregnant and have a 5 year old son my nightmare began 4 weeks ago after we moved into a new apartment trying to better our lives little did we know the place had bed bugs. As a mother I feel so horrible making my son go to bed at night because I know the poor lil guy will wake up with bites. It breaks my heart to say the least. My bf and I told the apartment complex imediately something was wrong everyone acts liek its no big deal. Obviously though you dont see them wanting to come over or stay the night in our home. LOL They agreed to send Orkin out hes done 2 sprayings now if you even call them prayings the guy is only here for 5 minutes at a time never did a full inspection just looked at the bugs I caught and said yes those are bed bugs. The whole thing is frustrating and Im going crazy! AParently the neighbors down stairs had them too and just now are getting sprayed after weve already had 2 sprayings. I sware as soon as you start to relax someone sees one or my baby gets bit. Ive spent every dollar we have (which was our baby savings!!) So now we have no money for baby things and the baby is coming I got bed covers, pillow covers, I do wash of everything every couple of days, My bf and I threw away our bed and bought an air matress. I vacuume 3 hours a day every thing I can think of!! I wipe everything down with cleaner. I sware I sit here and just feel like things are crawling on me. I rarely leave the house afraid I will pass this nightmare to someone else. Ive thrown out so much of our stuff. Thats just the tip of the iceburg. Someone please give me some advice I cantbring a newborn into this horrible apt. Please any advice!!!
Maria- Thanks for responding. But I do plan on buying an encasement for my mattress- I’m just wondering about the box springs. I don’t think those compress very much when I sleep, because the mattress absorbs most of my weight, so if I encase the box springs in duct tape, and all the openings of the box springs, will that be effective in not letting any bugs into or out of my box springs? I taped all the major holes last night after spraying the entire area and dusting DE, and as far as I can tell no new bites, but I know I have a lot more work to do. Thanks again!
I moved out of my house and allowed people to stay there while I lived with my husband in his small condo until we bought a house. Then we moved my furniture into the new house and discovered BED BUGS! It upsets me that this problem grew out of kindness for people who did not have a place to stay.
Anyway, we threw out the mattress and called in an exterminator. He had us bag everything in black trash bags and put them out in the hot sun for a few days. He sprayed the wood bunk bed and we encased the new mattresses in bed bug covers. We didn’t see them again until 6 months later. The first time we only saw 3 live bugs. This time we had a lot more.
My son was getting bit for over a week before I figured out where the rash was coming from. It looked like an alergic reaction because the patches of little spots on his skin would move around throughout the day. Around that same time I came down with a terrible cold. I didn’t see evidence of bugs on his bed, so I thought it wasn’t bedbugs. But, after looking more closely, I found the bugs. I felt like such a terrible mother! Anyway, this time I found them in every bed in our house. We have six kids, so it’s quite difficult to get rid of them.
We bagged stuff in black trash bags and put it in the yard. That didn’t work since we put too much stuff in each bag. I bought a thermometer to check the temperature inside the bags by putting it deep in the middle and pulled it out on a string. Not hot enough. Also, on the hottest Southern Florida days, our cars are only getting up to 105 degrees. Not hot enough. All of our mattresses have the bedbug covers. We took up all the carpet in the bedrooms and used a bedbug insecticide and Diotomacious Earth (both from Lowes) under the baseboards and inside the outlets (removed the covers first).
We built a heat chamber outside by using black plastic sheeting from the paint isle and putting the charcoal grill in there. We were able to get it hot enough, but the duct tape kept melting and the tent would fall apart. We tried using a portable heater in a walk in closet but it kept overheating. We all slept in the living room and family room on covered mattresses on the floor for about a week and didn’t have any bites.
We threw out our couch, love seat, and recliner, and a futon that had the mattress attached to the frame. We got a new futon with a metal frame and put a cover on the mattress. Although I treated the insides of our metal bunk bed with DE and insecticide, they were still in there and biting the kids on the bunk-bed. So, I caulked every hole in the metal frame and put duct tape over all the joints. Then I put baby oil in little dishes and put the legs of the bunk bed in them. That worked great! No bugs in that bed anymore.
We thought we were rid of them and put our master bedroom back together. Big mistake. They were either in the wood frame or the box springs (both heat treated, but unsuccessful). After two nights, I found evidence of bedbugs (forgot to mention I bought white sheets for all the beds and that’s all we’re using – no blankets, and all pillows have bed bug covers as well). The bugs were on top of the bedbug mattress cover in one corner of the bed (near my husband’s head!). So, I bought a steam cleaner (Walmart $79) and went over every crack in the bed frame.
I put the box springs in covers (I got the cheap vinyl kind and put tape over the zippers). The bed is pulled away from the wall and the feet are in dishes with baby oil (I’m hoping it won’t damage the wood). One night with that arrangement and there is no evidence of bugs. I continue to spray, wait for it to dry, then puff DE under the baseboards and in the outlets. We have a lot of electronics that we have not treated, but I figure if the beds are safe, then they can’t get to us. We still have kids sleeping in the living room since I need to treat two wooden bunk beds.
I plan to steam all the cracks with the steamer, paint with primer, then paint. I won’t be able to put all the legs into dishes of oil because the bunk beds are held up on one side by drawers or a desk (we made two bunk beds out of one). I’m thinking about putting double sided sticky tape all around the bottom of the parts of the bunkbeds that I can’t put in dishes of oil. This has been a nightmare for our family and I hope to be rid of them soon. From what I’ve read in other people’s postings, I think we can do it ourselves since the exterminators aren’t that successful.
It seems that the key to getting rid of them is to keep up on them for several weeks until they’re all gone. My little boy hasn’t been bit again since we first discovered them, so I think we are making good progress at getting rid of them. The biggest problem for us is that the kids have way too many clothes. I bought plastic bins for each of them and made them put a week’s worth of clothes in them and the rest go in plastic bags. Even though the bags have been out in the heat, we aren’t taking any chances and are laundering everything before we use it. I think we’ll get rid of them in the near future, but it’s been a lot of work! Thank goodness it’s summer time and I am a teacher and have time to get this under control.
My husband and the kids have helped a lot, but the main responsibility falls on me since I have the most time to research and take care of the problem. I have not been ashamed – I tell people about it and they are very understanding. We had to cancel my daughter’s graduation party, but we hope to have the party once we’re rid of the bugs. My best advice to people who discover bed bugs in their home is: don’t throw out your good mattresses: buy bedbug covers for them. They work extremely well, but they are expensive ($30 twin, $45 king at Walmart) and you have to be very careful not to rip them. I ripped a few of them trying to open the velcro zipper cover – I fixed it by taping it with duct tape which works fine. All white sheets is a must – that way you will know right away if you have bugs getting into the bed because you can see the black excrement (looks like mold) and blood spots from rolling over onto a bug.
They burst very easily, so unless you don’t move at all while you’re sleeping, you’ll find those spots. I haven’t found a way to get rid of the spots, but if you remember where they are, you can keep using the sheets after you launder them of course. I steamed the outside of the mattress cover that I found bugs on because you don’t want to take the covers off for at least a year.
A friend of a friend who is a bug guy gave me a puffer thing for the DE and he said you only need a small dusting of it. I’ve read about a lot of people using massive amounts of DE and I don’t think that is necessary. My husband has a terrible reaction when he breathes the dust from the air, so I am just putting it up under the baseboards and into the outlets with the puffer thing and letting the dust settle before he goes into the room. We may consider buying a large heater and piping it into the garage with all our furniture in there if we continue to have a problem. The problem is that we live in south Florida and we haven’t been able to find heaters sold here in June!
@AN: nope, that won’t work, unless the duct tape is exactly as strong as the surface of an air bed.
When you lay down, around 60 kg will press against the bed surface and the air inside the mattress will try to escape. So this will cause extreme pressure. For a while it will hold; then it will break the surface.
The same will happen with plastic. So you’d better use an air bed :) Or a kind of fabric with tiny holes and elasticity.
I’m sure John G will explain it in much better English if necessary (if he agrees with the theory).
Buggin’out: everything still fine? Here no progress yet. Cash is not the main problem here, but I won’t be able to find someone who is willing to help if there are bed bugs involved, not even if I pay a lot, out of fear for infection.
A few days ago I’ve sprayed my house with lambda cyhalothrin and since then the bites have increased. Like they are using speed. Not yet seen any dead bugs. So I sprayed once more, only on the paths where I usually walk. I hope it will help. I have still another kind of lambda cyhalothrin, but that smells so bad, that I rather have bed bugs than this terrible smell in my home. I ordered it from the internet. So that was a big disappointment, although it was not very expensive.
Hello,
My family and I never had any experiance with bed bugs until about a year and a half ago. We needed a bed and frame for my nephew and had purchased a used one. Due to not having any experiance with them, we did not check the bed and not even a day later, began finding bites on my nephew.
Within a week, our entire house was infested with bed bugs. It was beginning to get so bad that we actually were finding them in the basement on our computer desks. We cleaned everything, spent roughly 60 dollars per bed cover (some beds needed two) and even then couldn’t get rid of them.
One of my nephews, who at the time was a just a toddler, continued to get bites even after we had finally stopped getting them in some rooms, my room was the first to remain bug free due to being the top floor room and the only one without air conditioning. It turns out, the majority of the bugs were actually in my nephews playpen, hiding in the padded covers. We would have burned it if it was illegal to set fires in your yard.
I live in Canada and noticed that once it had gotten cold out, the bugs stopped showing up… until now. I have to work tomorrow and can’t sleep… cause I found two beds in our house that had bed bugs. Winter is gone and the blasted things are back… I wish the government would just order a country wide clean up and get rid of these disgusting things.
I’m going to try some… probably all… of the suggestions here. I hope something works because our last chance moment will be to rip our house apart until they are all gone… walls and all.
So We dont have a boxspring and since friday our mattress is now in a cover! We have searched all over this room for somewhere the eggs could be and we cannot find them!! We still cannot find where the bugs are still coming from. I spray my room in the morning with rubbing achole, and In a couple of hours im finding bugs out in the daylight hiding in my head board. I found 2 today!
Anyway I dont know where they are coming from i keep taking my room apart and still not sure. Im thinking of buying th fogger that scares them out.
thankyou for your help.
Question- how effective is duct tape? I don’t want to spend a lot of money on a mattress encasement for my box springs, and I don’t really care if they are ruined forever by sticky duct tape residue. If I completely wrap them in duct tape, being very careful to leave absolutely no cracks or open spaces, will that keep the bed bugs from getting out? Can I also put duct tape over outlets in my room? I’ll probably caulk the baseboards. So if I clean everything including washing and sealing all clothes in bags, caulk all gaps in floorboards/ceiling/hardwood floors, wrap my box springs in duct tape and cover outlets in duct tape, then treat the mattress and spread DE around the bed, will they be gone in a few weeks?
HelpBugs, you did an outstanding job! Your findings remind me of what my situation was, not that many and a mixture of nymphs and adults. Near the end of my fight I was getting the adults to come out during the day and they were under the mattress. usually one a day until they were gone. Nymphs were always on the box springs and in the plastic tufts. I think your next problem is eggs. The good news is that eggs don’t move and newborns have to feed right away. I strongly recommend removing the webbing material under the box spring if you haven’t done so already. They lay eggs on this for some reason. If you use a magnifying glass you can spot these along the edges of this material. Indeed, they are very small white eggs. Carefully remove this material and as I said before, consider puffing some Diat. Earth on the underside. Don’t forget to steam! Buy a garment steamer.
I can’t believe I have these in my home!!
It all started when my younger sister started to scratch herself non stop and we thought it was because her eczema was getting bad because of the weather. Then we noticed it was bites and thought they were mosquito bites. Then my other younger sister (they share the same room) started to get bites. My mom was cleaning the room and looked underneath my sisters mattress. At first we found only dead ones until we looked behind the posters in the room which was where they were all hiding. Disgusting.
I immediately went online for more information since I didn’t know what I was dealing with. Thank God I found this site! The information has been very helpful! Thank you so much!
I took out all the toys from the room and soaked them in hot water and bleach in the bathtub. I’m starting to clean out ALL their toys just in case. Anything that can’t be soaked in water was wiped down with a rag dipped in bleach and water.
All their bedsheets were immediately washed in hot water and dried in the highest heat in the dryer. We also washed all the clothes in the room using the same method. We are bagging them and storing them somewhere else.
I also got some alcohol (I didn’t dilute it) and sprayed down the mattresses and carpets. The smell is overwhelming but worth it if it’ll kill these things.
We are also repainting the room, I think this will help in covering any tiny spaces that they might be hiding in. My Dad does some construction and he has some type of blowtorch/welding machine that spits out a small flame. We used this to go around the corners of the ceiling to kill any little nest that might be out of reach. We have a “popcorn” type ceiling so it’s really hard to tell if there is a hole/space in the ceiling.
We found these guys early I think so with some luck they’ll be gone soon. We are not letting anyone in the house and we are not going to anyone’s home for a long time. We have no idea where these guys came from but until they are gone for good it’s best to stay at home.
I found that Tilex works really well to kill these things and the baking soda with water trick worked great to relieve itching.
I’m really afraid the bugs will spread to other rooms. I wouldn’t wish these on anyone. I haven’t been bitten but seeing them in your home…I can’t sleep at night. I feel like bugs are crawling all over me.
Will update on whether the methods I tried work!
Since Finding the bugs i have,
-1 taken all my clothing out in trash bags washed them dryed them placed them in thespare bedroom down stairs.
Taken my matress off the frame (which is wood :( Sprayed everything with rubbing achol and water.mixed. I Found a couple on the back of the head board. i sprayed them.. vacumed them with my little green machine.. I FOund a huge one on the matress and sprayed it and vacumed him.. i found some small ones.
Last time we had bed bug we had alot and there wad black staining everywhere.. This time only a few bugs less then 10. and only a few dark spots..like little ones too..at this point its been a month since our last treatment. Sow NOw that everything is sprayed and vacumed floors a
Anyway!! I searched my hole room took everything apart searched in every knook with a flashlight and i cannot find anymore!! there needs to be more right? It dosnt sound right to only have like under ten? Im so lost I keep going threw and going threw thinking i have missed, i looked in the vent and maybe there living under the rug?
Our next step now that all the clothing is out and its only the matress bed frame, night table and 1 dresser Is to steam the matress and floors.
We alsobought a matress inclosement cover to to use after we are sure there out of the frame.
HelpBugs, don’t bother throwing things away unless they are torn or in otherwise bad condition. Tears and holes in mattresses are a lost cause but if it is in good condition fight in place. As long as you can keep them from feeding then you will eventually break the cycle of life. They need to ingest blood to survive. If you have an animal, such a s a dog or cat you will need to consider what to do to keep this animal from being a source of nutrition for these bugs. Apply plenty of double stick tape to all legs and blocks supporting beds and any other items you are suspicious of. Keep blankets, etc. from touching walls and carpet/floor at all times. Most importantly, steam treat your bed, box spring and frame as often as you can stand to. This is most effective. Don’t rely on chemical pesticides, although they may work. Food Grade Diatemaceous Earth is very effective but you and others will breath it in and it makes a mess too. I had puffed some on the underside of my box spring, after permanently removing the webbing material and had great success at finishing them off for good! The hot steam from a garment steamer with hose attachment did wonders. There was no crack or seam they could hide in.
HELP About 4 months ago we found out we have bedbugs so we called someone to come in and spray down 2 bedrooms in our house! WE threw out our matress and got a new one. Now ther other day i found an adult and some little ones. I live in canada and need to get rid of them!! I plan to get a steamer. But I dont know what else would be good to buy its harder to find some stuff cause of living in canada if anyone can help me out that would be great!! i also have a toddler so it would need to be moslty safe for him.. but as of now there only in our bed..
I came up with inexpensive heat treatment idea, which I’m going to try next hot and sunny day.
1) Bag clothing, bedding, stuffed animals and so on, and keep them in a car.
2) Park the car in a sunny spot.
I hope this help… I wish I could do mattress too….
So frustrated……. Was having an allergic reaction to something or at least i thought. Until i found a bug in my bedroom, was not sure what it was so i came on line to find it, cuz boyfriend was telling me it was a lil roach. Just felt the need to prove him wrong, however didn’t think it was bed bug. Always heard about them, just never thought i would have to deal with them!
My question is how would i have gotten them?? I do not travel, except to work and home. The only thing new introduced to the house was feather pillows i bought at the store.. After about 2weeks after i bought the pillows is when I started noticing red like welts on my arms, it keep getting worse. That’s when i discover it was bed bugs. Honestly how do you get them???
Sad to report that bed (or chair) legs placed in bowls filled with a water/detergent solution don’t isolate you from the bed bugs.
I thought I was safe sitting in my chair, the legs placed in four tupperware boxes filled with water and a spoonful of detergent. Although I never caught anything I believed in it. But yesterday evening I noticed an orange brown thingy floating on the surface. It didn’t move, just floated around. I pushed it under water with a pen but immediately it came back to the surface.
I forgot about it and a few hours later when I looked again the thingy, probably third or fourth stage nymph, had escaped.
So what to do now. Mineral oil? Is there proof that this will work? Or shall I fill it with a lambda-cyhalothrin solution right away? Big chance that it will survive that as well…
I live in public housing where bedbugs are a serious problem. Lots of people, lots of turn-over with little resources and varying capacities to deal with getting rid of these creepy little bastards.
As a diabetic I worry about getting infections(including joints) from the bites. The housing authority can’t do a whole lot to solve the problem other than repeated spraying and if the problem in an apartment is out of control is to either remove the the occupant permanently and heat treat /spray the apt. But bugs can migrate right back in after heat treating if you live near a bug infested neighbor on your apt. floor.
Heat treating can/may ruin items that are heat sensitive. such as aerosol cans, your cd collection, art that is painted with acrylic/oil, etc. They have to be removed, and you are without a place to live for a few days
I had to be very pro-active to get rid of the bugs. I have a lingering anxiety that they could be back at any time because 300+ people live in the same building.
Anyway, what I had to do:
1. Bagged all clothes and washed them. Rebagged in new bags.
2. Got rid of my couch and area rug. Replaced with chairs with thin frames that have minimal cushions that are pleathered (fake leather) with inside seams.
3. Completely sprayed all floor baseboards/corners/ cracks with CY Kick CS prescription strength pesticide.
4. Very Important! Separate your bed from all wall surfaces. Bag your box springs/mattress. Before you zip them up, give them both a going over with ‘Hot Shot’ spray. Open up the windows while doing this! Before putting the box springs back on it’s frame completely spray the frame including the legs with ‘Hot Shot’. I put each foot of the bed frame in a tall tumbler. Each tumbler then got a small shot of Boric Acid and diatomaceous earth.
5. At least for a while, to not transfer bugs to my bed, I use or sleep on the bed in the nude.
9 times out of 10 bed bugs bite you in bed(or whatever you sleep on) in the early morning(4 am), so the priority is to make your bed bug free and keep it that way. So, unless your problem is really out of control the bugs will hang out within 5 feet of your bed and get you when you are dead asleep, so concentration on the bedroom is the highest priority. This advice applies to those who have small apartments. I’ve never dealt with de-bugging a house.
BTW, cover your body when applying or cleaning up pesticides of any kind. I accidentally rubbed my bare foot against my bed frame while it was wet with spray and got blisters from the spray, itched like hell! Use gloves. Bag the clothes after application of pesticides.
If possible apply pesticides, then open windows, leave your apt. for a few hours. Put all exposed food and kitchen stuff away before spraying. Wash kitchen surfaces when you return.
Good Luck!
I tried foggers, do not wast your money it did not work, try alcohol, this does work
Jennifer, they could be just in one room. Be sure you treat the box springs and framing also.
hello everyone..so im new to this bed bug thing..i didn’t even know that they really ex-sited..i already paid 300.00 to an exterminator that said he was 100% guaranteed..but he wasn’t ..the same night i found more crawling and biting my 3 year old son all over!!!!! so now what should i do!!!!!!!!!! im so lost and so uncomfortabe!!! and im i feel so alone!!!
we just found bedbugs…first thing we did was buy spray,bombs and a steamer…well after 2 days of bombing and spraying..we threw out the bed! I next attacked with the steamer! I looked online and found glue traps to put under feet of bed…14.00 for 4 …instead i went to walmart and bought mouse glue traps 4 for 1.99 i have found 4 small ones in the traps since steaming. I have been steaming on a daily basis and so far have found 2 live ones wich died with the steam and one more in trap. So far i have only found them in main bedroom…we just bought this mobile home in Dec. I believe the bugs came with it, as i have never had any before, Also have been washing and drying bedding in high heat every other day. will keep on steaming and plan on finding some DE tomorrow….hopefully i am getting a a bit of control over these .
Look at my bed bug dust section, there is a ton of food grade Diatomaceous Earth which is often sold as bug dust.
Hello Bed Bug Girl .
Can i use DE which is used in swimming pools because it is difficult to find Food Grade DE . Actually i live in Canada and the people even don’t have an idea what is DE . Today i went to a store they sell swimming pool stuff and i found there . I just want to make sure if i use it what will happen and it will work thanks for your help. You also mention i can find on eBay but i found nothing there may be you can help where i can find it.
I wanted to say thanks you for everything this website has offered. For the past 6 weeks i was getting bit by something and never knew what it was. went to the derm and doctor still they idnt know anything spent all kinds of money. . .SUCKED!! recently i found a bug and finally figured out it was a bed bug EWWWWW freaked me out. . so stressed to the max i found this website and to my relief found so much information. you guys are great!!! so far i vacuumed my whole house up and down, put matress zippered covers on which i found at wal-mart for really cheap (9.95) on all my beds and futon downstairs, put borox and salt all over the floors, hot shot spray everywhere and even rubbing alcohol everywhere. i went last nite with no bites . . .hopefully it worked. . . i did put ALL pillows in the dryer and bagged any clothes up that were by the bed in a bag. . the question is when can i take them out? this has been one of the worst things to happen we have kids that travel back and forth from their moms house to ours and i am scared they are going back and forth. i am freaked out this stuff sux. also i cant find that DE stuff anywhere. any suggestions i have asked home dept and cant find it at wal-mart. . . once again thanks for all the help on this site. . i sat and read every single post from the beginning. please help with this insane issue.
Thanks bed bug girl i really appreciate that :)
Hello Jaffar,
DE is short for Diatomaceous Earth (also called Bed Bug Dust) and is soft rock that when crushed into a powder, can be used to kill bed bugs. You want Food Grade DE, NOT the DE used in swimming pools! You can pick it up at your local pest control store, feed and supply store or cheap on eBay (see my page on Bed Bug Dust).
Can any one tell me what is DE how to use it and where i can get it.
i wish there was a way i could help you maria. not a fun thing to go through.i can think of lots of quick fixes but they’d all cost cash. bite the bullet and ask some family for help or see if you can pay a couple of local school kids a little bit of cash to help you move some stuff out or clean. if you can afford it give up sleeping on the bed and get yourself a temporary air mattress to rest on. even though i read it isnt smart to move your sleeping space when fighting these things my first priority is to avoid getting bit.
i’m still ultra paranoid that they may come back.
it may not be much…but try going to sleep with your lights on…in fact if you don’t have one get a really bright light bulb. it may not be the best way to go to sleep but these things hate light. if its bright ebough it may hold them back a little if they’re waiting for the lights to dim.
A remedy that works well to stop bed bugs from biting is applying dryer sheets to the skin. Just before bed, use any type of dryer sheet by lightly rubbing it on any part of exposed skin before getting into bed (do some tests before you try this to make sure you don’t have a reaction and read the label to make sure this is safe). I suggest using the type of dryer sheets that have no dyes or perfumes. Had a horrible bed bug problem a few years ago, and my mother found out through research that rubbing the dryer sheets on your skin prevents bed bug bites. My children and I tried and it worked! Thank God no more itching and unsightly scars from scratching the bed bug bites. I will also note that my children, who are allergic to laundry substances that contain dyes and perfumes did not have any skin reactions when we used the dye/perfume free dryer sheets.
All in vain. Yesterday in the middle of the night I saw a bed bug crawling over my headboard. Escaped from either my bed bottom or mattress. All day long the creatures have nothing else to do than scrutinizing the encasement for a tiny flaw and if they find one, the entire family goes through.
Then they can reach you but you can’t reach them anymore. That’s the problem.
It is useless to try to find the flaw. I’ve tried it so many times and never found it. Rolls of duct tape as reinforcement but they are laughing at you.
So for the last time I disassembled my bed. It is an Ikea like bed, four laminated planks, connected with iron hooks and four legs, connected with the same hooks to the planks. So a very simple construction to clean. The bed frame, 140×200 cm, infested with bed bugs, was wrapped 3 times in plastic, after each layer carefully sealed with duct tape. Finally it was wrapped in anti-mite cloth, sealed with construction glue, to cover the wide stitches, then once more sealed with carpet tape. The mattress is wrapped in an expensive well known encasement. To be quite quite sure that the seams were inaccessible for bed bugs (I had found something that could be bug poop halfway inside a stitch) I sealed the seams with soft-plastic glue and taped all seams, including the zipper, with carpet tape.
I powdered the ceiling and the walls once more with talc powder. Everything smells like roses now. I also caulked the electrical outlet above my bed with wall filler (well, not entirely inside) until only the wire and the hook of the lamp stuck out. The lamp is still working. :)
Every day I wipe each layer of the bed with a wallpaper brush. Lifting the mattress with one arm is heavy work for me. I assume this should be enough to wipe away any bugs and eggs.
I am still considering to cover myself during the nights in fine insect net fabric closed with zipper; at least the adult bugs can’t go through it, and they are the ones who lay the eggs. But that is my last resort, if all remedies fail.
Discarding furniture would be extremely difficult. I simply can’t lift it up and I can’t ask for help because of infection danger. So I would have to hire in a professional company which is really not cheap here and probably impossible to find.
The only way is sawing everything to pieces, but then the bed bugs will come out.. So not easy if you’re an old lady living alone.
hi john! thanks for the words. i live in new york city. i take every precaution imaginable to keep the lowest possible con ed bill~at its best my monthly average is about 140. it’s life in the big city~no space, hi utility bills and bed bugs! the cool kids life!
hopefully i am still on the tail end but i sadly seem to have developed a secondary problem that usually comes with bed bugs and it’s still a little unidentified.
about a week ago my scalp starting itching insanely out of control. i used a lice shampoo a few months back when i first starting treating for bed bugs and it seemed to make me feel better. i posted previously it took the effect of helping my bites subside and stop burning. this time it only seemed to make matters worse. googling around it seems that a lot of people treating for bed bugs go through this.
much like not being able to afford a professional exterminator i really can’t handle a random doctor bill.
one thing that i found that was common in treating almost all itchy scalp conditions ranging from mites and lice to dandruff and acne was tea tree oil so i figured to try some. one ounce of pharmaceutical grade tea tree oil was 9.99 at CVS and i really wish i tried this stuff back when i first got my bed bug bites.
after just one night whatever problem i seemed to be having has subsided by about 80%. It feels wonderful. kind of has a menthol/eucalyptus/pine scent. The out of control itching is all but gone and the bumps i was getting have shrunk.
i found many websites that explain the various uses of the stuff and for some of us who are currently dealing with bad bed bug bites and beyond this might be a very useful item to keep on hand!
i’m self diagnosing myself with “scalp acne”. seems to look like and fit what i’m going through to a tee…so the plan is to keep using the tea tree oil for the next few days and if it looks like something more i’m heading to the doctor on my next day off…
hope you guys have found some relief!
Feedup: I’m back, I did the spray bought bayer brand home bug spray that contains cyfluthrin 5%, and Martin igr 1 oz. Mixed w/ gallon of h20. When that dried I came back and used the DE food grade. So far I haven’t seen anything, but I won’t make the common mistake of letter my guard down…. I’m going to vacuum the DE and re-spray and keep doing it for 5/7 days like advised. Thanks to everyone for the guidance on handling this on your own!! I’m not sure I could have done it without your help.
Bugginout, I sort of work in the power industry and I can tell you that lights are very inexpensive. Machinery that use electricity are your big draws that raise your kilowatt usage(bill). These are refrigerators, washers and dryers, dish washers,etc . The biggest draw on powerfor a home is an air conditioning unit. Running these only for a few hours a day will raise your bill dramatically. Just be mindful of these things and don’t crowd your refrigerator with too much stuff. This causes it to turn on more often. If you are really concerned about the lights be sure you are using low wattage bulbs, such as a 30 watt bulb.
Hi everyone, I have counted around 47 bed bugs, mostly adults and some nymphs, anyways long story short I wish to deal with this infestation myself. So far i got rid of my old bed and got this new one without box springs but it has a frame. This morning i caught 2 bed bugs for the 2 new bites I got. I have put this big fat juicy bed bug coated in DE to observe how long it takes for it to take affect. Finally i coated around the legs of my bed thick coats of DE and am sleeping in the bed tonight. Will tell everyone how it goes. Planning to isolate my bed
Things haven’t gone back to 100% normal. I’ve been keeping things in check and will continue to do so for a few more weeks. I haven’t turned any of the lights off in my apartment since this started and was gifted this week with a 230 con ed bill! thank you bed bugs!
I did find another bug a few days ago. This one was on the floor back up in my spare room and dead from DE. Got to see what this stuff does first hand and it pretty much does dry them out. petrified even so if you’re going to use DE to get rid of these things use it well and wisely much in the way I described below: you don’t want to kick up dust or have it anywhere in the open. You want to get it into the seams and cracks and within the walls as deep as possible and then seal everything up with caulk. I was even thinking attaching some rubber tubing to the end of a DE bottle will allow you to really get it deep within your wall. From there you just have to give it time to work while doing all the other things you need to do (steam your mattress and clothes,vaccuum and clean, de clutter and search).
It all started when I bought my house, my son’s didn’t have beds so I opted to go cheap and bought their mattress n boxsprings from a small furniture mart that sells refurbished mattresses. Had I known then what I know now I would have waited and saved up more money and bought them from a different place. Within a few months my sons kept telling me that these bugs were on their sheets, I had never heard or seen of these nasty things in my life!! So I assumed they were coming in from outside, I would have them wash there sheet n they would be gone for a little bit but then reappear at the ends of their sheets and at the end of their boxsprings.
This went on for some weeks until I took them into home depot and salesperson said they were bedbugs!! I was so embarrassed, I used the foggers first from hot shot, doesn’t really work by the way. Went away for a little bit but they’re back!! Exterminators really dont guarantee they’ll be gone but cost a whole lot to treat. I pulled out money from 401k thought about doing it…until I read this blog, so today I planned my strategy based on what was said that worked which is 2 oz of cykicks-cs and 1oz of martins igr then I plan do go in after it dries in dust everything diatomaceous earth food grade….
Pray for me!!! I want this gone !!! I hate them!! I will give an update in a few days
John, to tell you the truth: I have no idea where they come from, but no matter what I do, they manage to bite me. It seems all so unreal. I have no answer anymore to the problem at the moment, because I don’t understand how they reach me. My strategie is isolation and starvation but they always manage to break through the barriers. I would be so relieved if I found out how!
It seems very difficult to me to fight bugs in your home while the children are bringing them in again via an infested house.
Buggin’out: congratulations! All you efforts are finally rewarded. You can live a normal life again. And thanks for your kind words.
first dealt with bed bugs about three years ago and at first made the mistake of thinking the bites were some sort of chigger bites. for a few months they only sought out for me and none of the other six people living in my home had a problem with them after researching some things here on the internet i discovered they were indeed bedbugs and by then the infestation was massive.
I brought it to the attention of my landlord and he refused to help in any way so the only thing i could do was move and take a loss on all of my furniture and possessions. once settled in my new residence i was at last able to sleep comfortably on bug free bedding and was at ease knowing my children would not be bothered, or so i thought. about six months after moving in the new place i once again discovered the evil things , tried to fight them the best i could but money really is a issue for my family and i so i moved again taking nothing with me.
now at my current residence we sit with no beds sleep on the floors and own just one couch i got this thing beat this time i thought and just when i let my guard down i discovered my couch was full of them so i threw that out yesterday and have began to launder all clothes and covers we own which i am not sure will do much good because my dryer is shot and i am hanging clothes out on the line. cant afford to move again or spend money on furniture just to have bugs get back on it. also i should mention i have a deep fear of any and all bugs and pesticides or chemicals.
Don’t know what i can do i have nightmares about these nasty lil things and feel as though this nightmare will never end. does anyone know of any government programs that will help me get rid of these things? i know dawn dish liquid kills them instantly on contact and i have been relying on that a lot here lately. somebody plz tell me what i can do considering i am on a very tight budget.
Maria, so you realize the bugs are in your couch! They are in my ex-wifes couch over at her place. I am certain. I have the key to her house because of our young boys. I took a nap on the couch one time and I got nailed. My boys often play video games while sitting on this couch and they were getting bites. When I examined their bed I only found one baby.
i have bed bugs and i have found the steamer and mothers earth works great! good luck to all
I don’t know if it’s already been suggested but i found that bedbugs can’t climb up glass. So to prevent bugs from spreading to other furnature and to trap any crawling down the leg of my bed i put jars over the legs.
Also Maria I hate to suggest it but it may be time for you to consider removing some of your furniture that seems to be housing these things. i don’t know…not an expert but i do know that getting rid of my bed seems to be what really solved my problem…
I’m at a point where I think I’m okay. Got my new bed in, haven’t seen any traces of anything, did a little repainting,finally starting to use my cabinets and dresser again…
This has definitely changed how i go about doing things. bed bugs are clearly a problem in my neighborhood so while i’m getting back to some semblance of normal i’ll always be sleeping with one eye open.
These things would be much lass a problem if the bites weren’t so bad. There is no way I’d be able to go into work if i had them anywhere visible or on my face working a sales job. Its my biggest nightmare. While my bites have pretty much all but healed away i still have several dark spots and small scabs waiting to go away and i was bit months ago.
The bugs that i caught crawling up my wall matched up with bed bugs perfectly. The first few i caught had recently fed and were blood bloated. The last one i caught was not and was paper thin.
I don’t know what to tell you Maria…it sounds like you have a serious problem if you’re finding upwards of seven dead bed bugs in one fell swoop. Thats about as many as I found over the course of three months. No clue what to tell you. At this point I would turn to family for help. try my two tricks (the plastic tarp over your floor and fogging DE deep into all your walls via electrical outlets).
I figured between having to buy a new bed, a vacuum cleaner, a steamer, the money i’ve wasted on DE and pyrethene and new clothes this has set me back about 600 bucks that could have been used better elsewhere.
I don’t want to go through this again.
I see many comments that say they have seen the BB’s climbing up the walls. Are you CERTAIN they are not carpet beetles? Our carpets are old and well infested with carpet beetles. I found a company that sells DE with pyrethrins, and lay that on the carpet and anywhere I see them. They tend to “swarm” in warm spring weather, the males fly to find a mate.
Well, this week we found we are being bitten at night. So I DE’d the mattress, washed all the linens in hot water, put the pillows and comforter in the dryer to get hot, and then vacuumed the mattress and as much as I could around the bed. Husband was still bitten. So I put more DE in the cracks of the bedframe, and will pull out the steamer and the Rainbow vacuum, whihc is stronger and has a hose attachment.
Sadly, we have a popcorn ceiling, and know that there IS asbestos in some areas of the house, so we can’t remove it easily. I will try the vacuum…
My carpet beetles are a greyish color, with little spots. There are other types, but they are teh exact same size as BB’s, and have similar life cycles. Hubby even showed me a nymph casing that sure looked like a carpet beetles on, he said it was on the edge of the bedframe.
I can’t sleep in the bed between 3am and 5am, when they are most active. I’m pretty paranoid that I will be bitten again, expecially when I CAN’T feel anything! ARG!
Sadly this turned out to be a fata morgana. Two days ago I decided to use my couch again, so I placed its legs in saucers. I only sat there for less than a minute, and 24 hours later new bite marks appeared on my ankles, back and arms. There is not the slighted doubt that these are really bite marks because of the typical pattern.
So the illusion is gone and the nightmare is back. Three weeks ago I started spraying the house with Imidacloprid, a kind of synthetic nicotine which is poisonous to bed bugs (at least one study stated that it was effective). I first tried it while using my old infested bed, sprayed every detail of the bed and the next day I found at least 7 dead bugs, some before and some after feeding. So I was really exited and I applied it three times, everywhere, on all floors, furniture, in closets, against walls, in a 2x dosis. But I never found a dead bed bug since then. If the bed bugs have to walk through the wet stuff, they die (I don’t know if they all die or only a few), but although it claims to be a residual insecticide, it doesn’t seem to kill them anymore after drying up.
Because I really want to sit on my own couch again, I consider to cover it with a bed bug safe mattress cover, and I’m still trying to find out what to do with the legs (whether I should cut holes in it for the legs or cover the legs).
All states/leases/apartment communities have different laws regarding the bed bug issue. I have worked for two different companys for 8 years and both follow the same policy. TELL US! We understand they can come from anywhere, it may not be your fault…but not telling us makes an investation your fault. Imagine if your embarresment to not tell the management company makes the infestation spread to other apartments? It is the landloards responsability to take care of the problem. Its unsafe not to and more property could be ruined. (thats e good news) HOWEVER read your lease, most smart companys now have a “bed bug addendum” that states if they are found in your apartment and the Pest control compnay can determine they were brought in by you, you wil be responsible for footing the bill. I understand how frustrating this is, and i am not trying to soud harsh. But I want you to know tell your rental managemnt companys because they HAVE to deal with it, (They just might not be the ones responsable paying for it) They will treat no matter if you have the money up front….you might just have to slowly pay it off in a payment plan.
Hmm, since about five days they seem gone. I get no new bites anymore. Sometimes I think I see a bug, but just like buggin’out it turns out to be a piece of a little seed or a plant fiber.
Interesting little story~
About a week ago as i was ready to settle in, watch a little tv and try to get to sleep i got myself a nice little bowl of trail mix… raisins, sunflower seeds, nuts etc. etc.
Watched some tv, ate my snack, went to bed and so on.
Now keep in mind since starting this whole bed bug nonesense i have been sleeping on a sealed twim bed that is in the middle of my room, resting on a 2mm plastic tarp. I have been vacuuming, steaming, cleaning and sweeping the mattress and the entire area around it. before turning in i take off the sheets and shake the off.
Few days after eating my trail mix snack i get into bed ready to turn in and freak out as i think something is crawling on my leg. i jump up and it turns out to be a sunflowwr seed.
now ha ha the laugh is on me super paranoid and going crazy from lack of sleep but the real point is if a sunflower seed could survive two or three days worth of vaccuming and sweeping a little bed determined to hide away till the moment is right to feed should have it made in the shade…
Sorry if i misread any of your posts john…could have sworn i read that somewhere.
i never bothered with using sticky tape. just doesn’t seem like it would be effective to me and its probably one of the most expensive things out there (40 bucks for a roll of bed bug fighting tape!).
Still feeling super lucky. I haven’t seen any new bed bugs since 4/19 and overall it was the only one since 4/9. I think I’m lucking out in that the problem was limited to my mattress/boxspring and since removing those i dealt with strays that have yet to nest.
This wouldn’t bother me so much if the bites weren’t so horrific.
Oh for the days of fighting cockroaches…
John G.:
Using tape to detect the presence of bed bugs is widely recommended on the internet, also by exterminators, that’s why I used it for so long. I haven’t made any of the mistakes you mentioned in your previous posts. The tape should have caught all bugs coming out of the bed frame. There are also no book shelves above my bed or a large plant hanging over my bed nor do they live in the lamp hanging above my bed. I have excluded all this over time. My entire pillow and all other bed clothes are washed every day. I have not really an explanation, that’s why I used it for so long.
BTW, in a video on the internet a guy recommended using BOPP tape because it is too slick for the bugs to climb it, they will fall down if they try. This makes sense; maybe this is a cheap way to prevent the bugs from walking over the ceiling. BOPP tape is a sellotape-like mostly transparant or brown package tape.
Anyway, since I bought a new bed my sheets stay super clean. Even the water in the saucers under the bed legs only catch fruit flies so far.
Can Raid flying insect killer(Blue bottle @ walmart)/ Hot shot spray(@ Lowe) kills Bed bugs???
Plz suggest which one is better. We’ve done PCO treatment but still we think we need one as precautionary!
I can suggest one thing if you can’t sleep on mattress and if you’re afraid to get bitten then use Air bed!
They can’t climb up on air bed. Air bed are 101% protective! We’re happy with our air bed at least we can sleep without getting bitten/scratching!
Maria, how are you certain they are breaking the barrier? That is what I am curious about. If a bug is trying to exit your bed and comes up to the tape and jumps off then that is reasonable and not a problem because thats a one way trip. There is no way a bug crawling up your bed is going to get over double stick tape! No way! A bug or animal that has slippery feet or body, such as a snail might be able to. Bed bugs have hook like feet that enable them to attach to fabric. They are able to navigate between a mattress and a box spring just based on the design of their legs, flat body and those claws. Capture a bed bug and put it in a jar or bucket. Place this tape around it and see if it travels over it. I am convinced you still have bugs hiding in your bed or frame somewhere and you can’t find them all.
The only time I saw a bed bug stuck in tape was when it jumped from my cloths accidentally in the middle on a piece of tape. But that is because of the increased impact when something falls.
John G.:
One of the tapes I used was from a very well-known German brand, Tesa. Maybe the tapes commonly used in the US are just a different fabric. I’ve spent at least 60 euros on tapes! Got extremely frustrated when the insects broke through the barrier time after time.
Bugginout, I don’t recall ever saying a bite could take 2 weeks to show up. I have actually been explaining that they show up rather fast and I have proof of that with my experience at home. Everybody agrees that people can have different reactions to the fact that some don’t show any effects at all from bites.
Maria, when you see a bug crawling over mounting tape with your own eyes you might make a believer out of me. The bed bug moult you saw could have arrived on your bed in many ways. It could have came from the laundry of your bedding! Did you do that recently? It could have came from anything you placed on your bed, such as clothing. It’s possible for bugs to drop from ceilings onto carpet,end tables and beds. You may have not cleared all the bugs from your bedding or frame. You have to be sure your bed is clear as i sated before. Heat treat your bed and frame everywhere and it has to be done thoroughly. All bedding has to be laundered at same time. You need to steam the bare pillows as well. Nothing can touch walls or carpet except bed legs and support blocks. If anything has tears or holes get rid of it. I had immediate success doing this especially after applying tape.
Hi Krystal,
What pest control company did you use?
I have been fighting with bed bugs for about a month now. A couple of weeks ago I had an exterminator come out and spray. He was a friend of my landlord, so he gave a cheap price $700. I had a lot of exterminators come out a quote me and explained to me what all had to be done and how hard it was to get rid of them. I also had done a lot of research on them, knowing it was probably going to take the exterminator several hours to do what needed to be done.
Well, he got here and i left, thinking i couldn’t come back to the house till the next day. Well an hour later he called me telling me he was done!! Mind u, i had them in all 4 rooms, to include the couch. I’m no professional but i knew there was no way on earth he treated my house like he should. He offered a 90 day warranty if any came back and they have came back but he isn’t answering the phone for me.
A couple of days after treatment i found a live one in my couch. So we tossed all the couches. Before the treatment we threw away all the beds. So we now sleep on air mattresses and sit on chairs from my dinette table.
Anyway, I’ve done a lot of exterminating myself on my house to include spraying a lot of 91% alcohol which does kill them on contact, bedlahm, nuvan strips, tempo dust 1% and I’ve now bought the DE. All these products I’ve listed are all things I’ve bought and done on my own. The infestation has gotten a lot better. I haven’t seen any in the house in the last couple of days. But i can somehow still feel there presence??
I don’t think i will ever be at peace living in this house but I’m scared if i move than they will move with me and ill have to go through all of this again. A couple of days ago i believe i had gotten bit by one in my car. I hadn’t seen any in there but i didn’t have those bites before i got in the car. I have leather seats in my car with seat warmers, my heater gets up to 90 degrees, and it was 87 degrees outside. I backed my car up in the sun and left it running for 3 hours, with everything running. The next day i went and searched my car real good and found a dead one.
Do you think that heat like this will be an effective way to kill bed bugs in my car?? If not what are some products in can use?? I’ve dusted my whole car with the DE….
buggin’out: maybe it’s the alarm pheromones making them so courageous and active. After all we are their only pray and enemy; their existence fully depend on us.
Yesterday I found another harborage: the garderobe, a combined piece of furniture in the hall next to the door where you put on your coat and shoes, look in the mirror and comb your hair before you leave. They were hidden between the clutter in a drawer, moved very slowly and didn’t attempt to run away, so I had time to fill the steamer while they were waiting for their death. I found only young ones, first, second and third stage instars. Some had blood in them.
I also bought a new cheap bed and placed the legs in saucers filled with water with a drop of detergent. Soap should break the surface tension of water so the bugs will sink helpless to the bottom and not be able to drift to the shore, theoretically.
Before assembling the new bed I disassembled the old bed and sealed the pieces in plastic. For better times.
Today finally the ultimate proof came that bed bugs have no problem walking over double sided tape. The insect had managed to cross subsequently three kinds of tape, even vertically and upside down.
I found a molted skin of bug in the last stage on my sheets. I first looked at it through a magnifier and finally through a 200x microscope and then there was no doubt anymore.
I had used three different kinds of double sided tape: mounting tape, meant to attach items to the wall, carpet tape meant to join two pieces of carpet together and another kind of carpet tape, stickier and thinner, meant to attach carpets to the floor.
To be safe I had used all three. There was no other possibility for the bed bug to enter the bed, and yet he came in. So please don’t fully rely on tape as a barrier.
There’s a tons of info here on how to look for bed bugs. I would give your mattress and box spring an inspection.
It’s a tough call to make but I think your mom yelling at you now is going to be a lot easier to handle than later if this becomes a bigger problem for you and your family. Show her this website so she can get some basic information. It’ll be a lot easier for you to handle this problem with your family then without. the sooner the better.
I don’t think bedbugs will bite when your active. Its not in their nature. They come out to feed when its dark and you’re in a deep sleep. As John G. pointed out a bb’s bite can take up to two weeks to manifest.
I’ll bet whats happening to you are reactions to bites you received while asleep. This means you to need to keep reinforcing your sleep space as off limits to these guys. If you see an insect that is nocturnal and only feeds on sleeping hosts out in broad daylight/bright light looking for a meal something is off. I wish I had something better to offer up to you Maria.
All I can say is don’t stop.
Hey everyone,I came here to know if I had bed bugs or not. I do my best to keep my room clean, but I got a line of bug bites in my….lower….region. My legs are itchy, but OK. I have a feeling it’s bed bugs because you guys posted it commonly happens in cluttered rooms. …and, boy, I ALWAYS have a messy room. But I also have a feeling my Mom’s going to flip out and scream at me.
Today I’m going to clean my room as much as I can, but I won’t have enough time because my family and I are heading to Georgetown soon. I fear that the females will drop their eggs and continues to reproduce. I will be back by night time, but we all know insects reproduce eggs preeeetty fast….
Do you guys have any cheap, cheap, CHEAP ideas and tips a young girl can do? I’m going to vacuum everyday as much as I can. The only big furniture I have in my room is a glass table, a dresser, of course I have a bed *but with no bed frame because we’re buying a new one*, a small dresser for art supplies, and my flute stand and holder. Everyone’s room is top-notch clean, but I wonder if they have to do the same thing too by using bed bug killer.
Please help me!!!
buggin’out is right; it’s not difficult to kill bed bugs, even dish water kills them, and better than EPA approved pyrethroid spray. :)
I have 10 new bites on my right arm, like tiny thin scratches, and the only thing I did was sorting laundry with my bare hands. Maybe I should wear gloves or use a stick.
I wrapped my whole bed, except the mattress (which has a cover) in vinyl shower curtains and wrapped new tape around the legs. I also taped the ceiling. I had already talcum powder puffed against it, but maybe this was not enough to prevent them from walking against the ceiling.
I had to remove most of the DE because of respiration problems, but it is still on places like baseboards (and behind them), under carpets, around legs of furniture and around the birdcage. The old canary bird is still very lively, so they haven’t found him yet. DE is a good carpet cleaner. My strategy to get rid of the bedbugs is starvation but unfortunately, I see no progress yet.
My eye sight is very poor so I’m in desperate need of an operation but I hoped to get rid of the bedbugs before the operation. This will not succeed because I need a magnifier for everything so I think I’ll make work of the operation first.
Sorry for my poor English, I’m not used to speak the language in daily life.
The problem isn”t killing the ones you see…it’s getting the ones you don’t.
In no way am I a professional exterminator…but at this point in my life I’m a pretty accomplished amateur so ladies take note this is a good way to use DE and you don’t need to spend money on a smoker:
Take a straw and tape it to the nozzle of your DE bottle.
Remove the plates to your light switches.
Carefully insert the straw into the wall. Using a flashlight could help. You want to make sure you get into the wall as far at the straw will allow…and then you want to give a few good pumps. Manipulate the straw to get a good pump or two upwards. Remove and then seal up the light switch with caulk.
If done properly you wont see so much as a puff of smoke, the DE will be exactly where it needs to work and anything that may be crawling around inside your walls will have their days numbered. Plus this creates an excellent safeguard against ALL crawling insects (roaches, ants, sliverfish etc. etc…).
I would also suggest doing this to any deep cracks you may have in your floorboards and seams around your rooms. Remember the trick is you don’t want to see any powder or dust. You want it Inside the walls.
The downside to this is that DE does take time. From what I’ve read it can take up to a few weeks. I’m attributing the fact I have only seem one baby chigger in two weeks that this is working. Sadly I only have this one experience to compare it to.
I would not play around with any plates to electrical outlets. Rather just carefully seal up the edges with a little caulk. takes Two minutes.
I made two bed bug traps last night. Both of them turned up clean this morning however I have also sealed up all the seams to my room and most of the floorboards. Sad but true that I feel lucky the dry ice store is a few minutes walk from my apartment. I’m going to make a few more…going to leave one or two out in my hallway (the only place in my apartment where there in carpeting) just to see,
good luck!
Personally, I think the best way to kill bedbugs is the bug spray called raid, it’s cheap an kills them instantly. Don’t apply to your skin and read the directions!
Still bitten here on a daily base. Yesterday before going to sleep I wrapped double sided tape around my mattress. I used a smaller sheet to lay on. When I waked up I immediately inspected the tape, but no bug was sticking on it. There were also no droppings on my sheet, so I assumed they didn’t try walking on the tape.
This afternoon I went out, it was lovely weather and I wore a trench-coat and jeans.
After dinner I noticed I had forgotten to post a letter. So again I left my house, wearing the same trench-coat and jeans.
After an hour my arm itched. I looked and it turned out to be a nymph bite, a long (5 cm) series of bites in the form of a scratch.
And then I felt soooo very tired. I have no idea when the bite occurred (was the nymph hidden in my coat or was it a late reaction on a bite in my bed?).
And then I changed my shoes. And I noticed that the bite (a really ugly 5 fold red bite) on my shin bone was partially renewed by an adult bug.
This insecurity makes me so sick. This really affects my mental health now. Because I have no idea when it happened so I can’t find the right answer.
well i am off to go buy a small chunk of dry ice. found a place close by that carries it.
going to build bed bug girls bed bug trap to see.
Fortunately all i spotted was that one little bugger on my wall. No new bites.
“Off Deep Woods” spray claims to repel bed bugs. The main ingredient is “deet”. The first time i used it i went overboard and wasted the can in one night. the second one lasted me about a week. If me not getting any new bites is an indication of the products success i would use this over rubbing alchohol. I think one alchohol evaporates it becomes ineffective.
The two products I feel that have helped me the most are JT Eatons DE and Bed Bug Spray. I got mine at my supermarket for 4.99 and 8.99 respectively. Be careful when using these. You want to get these products into your walls and seams of your home…not inside it if that makes sense. lso be careful where you buy them~I’ve seen these products cost double and triple in other stores all banking on bed bug panic.
Get yourself a nice 9×12 heavy duty plastic tarp. mine cost 3.50 at my hardware store. lay it down in your room after youve done the DE/Spray thing and rest your mattress on this in the middle of your room after giving it a sound cleaning. i think this has given me the most peace of mind since all this started. as i stated previoulsy~it keeps the DE and any bug spray your using under you without coming into contact with it and it will make the little buggers that much harder to get to you with the added benefit of being able to spot them easier.
this is my only day off this week and once again its fighting bed bugs.
Im sitting here reading and thinking and all I can think of is that this is rediculous!!! If people have charities for all sorts or things and habitat for humanity can go and and give people houses and the government dishes out welfare and foodstamps all day…looks to me like when I start school this summer for Buisness administration i will try my best to put together an organization that will help these people who cannot afford to have their house torn down just to escape the torment of a pest that could be exterminated if we just had the money.
People with money are either too proud or just like to pay for things because they can to need charity profits so there should be no problem removing the problem. It wont fully solve the world wide epidemic but damnit somebody needs to do something about this. we have children, elderly, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews, and some people have grandchildren that do not ever need to experience this right here!! I thank God that in this house that I am the only one who has to suffer, I have my son here with me and my mother and grandmother. My son sleep in my mothers room. Also when me and my husband were together(which by the way he is the one that brought in the infested mattress that has brought me to this site) he never complained or had any bits, so very jealous am I (lol). I didnt even know what in hell they were for the first 3 months they were here. until i was blessed with the internet that is!!! And I dont want to get this problem fixed and just forget about the others that are suffering. I am going to try the DE, we have some cans of fogger but I am afraid to use it since it may cause them to spread to other areas. They seem to love me the most and are confined to my little apprx 10X20 room ive used spray which works great “on contact” like the label say but really, its not a continual killer, so i see. we had the pest control give an estimate of 900 dollars and they wanted to take down our walls since we are in a trailer. HAHA yea right who has time for that, we could just go ahead and splurge on a new trailer with new furnishing for a few hundred dollars more!!
Well, anyway the HOTSHOT bedbug and flea spray has really cut down on sitings of the bed bugs to 1 grown and 1 young bed bug a day now. its the young ones i dont want to see!! along with throwing out the infested mattress. and sad for me in this small room i have a boxspring on the floor with the mattress on top in the worse place, the corner of the room. after i took out the infested mattress i waited a day to see how many i would find i saw maybe 5 or 6 then i got the spray and sprayed the mattress and outlined around the bed and each wall corner and slats. but the way i see it, one is one to damn many!!!
Is it possible, until bed bugs are controlled or exterminated, to apply rubbing alcohol to skin as a resouce for repelling the evil creatures from biting?
See…false sense of security.
After almost two weeks of no activity finally caught one crawling across my wall. this one was a little guy. this will make bed bug #7 if my math is right. The spot it was in seems to be popular. It seemed to be crawling up my wall over the door frame separating my room and my spare room towards the ceiling or it came from the smoke detector on my ceiling and was crawling down towards the door frame.
Either way or whatever I just don’t want to get bit.
This not only seems to be a problem in my neighborhood but where i work as well. today on my way into work i walked passed the entire contents of an apartment laid curbside all wrapped up tightly in plastic which would make this the third or fourth time i’ve seen that recently.
geez this blows.
Bugginout, I am very happy for you. I know how you feel because even though I cleared my place some months ago I am always worried that they will reappear. The amount of stress these infestations bring to people is outrageous. Stay on guard and use that double stick tape. Mine is still on and I won’t take it off.
funny how since this has happened to me I’ve been noticing more and more mattresses being tossed curbside. My entire block seems to be having this problem. Just this morning while running my Sunday errands I noted four. At this point over the past few months the number is in the double digits.
For me personally I am happy. I don’t want to lull myself into a false sense of security but it has been 12 days since I caught my last bed bug. No eggs, babies, husks or dead bugs anywhere, no new bites in about 3/4 weeks, bites on my feet are gone…the bad ones on my right arms are finally going away.
I have been getting sleep.
Sealing up the seams in my bedroom and floorboards is proving to be a job of work but it provides me with small sense of relief. I don’t think I’ve ever lived in an apartment where there wasn’t some sort of pest control issue at one point or another. My last apartment a family of squirrels decided to move into the wall in my back bathroom. Landlord had no problem with it. wasn’t much of an issue at first but by the time I was ready to move out the wall had been so hollowed out all you really needed to do was push against it and it felt like it would just cave in.
I really need to get my hands on a piece of dry ice to make one of those bed bug traps just to see. I’m about two weeks away from having enough cash to buy myself a nice new bed so until that happens I’m still on watch. Should it prove that I have a more serious problem at that point i’ll hold off on buying the bed and use the money on a professional service.
Hopefully my code red can now be considered a safer orange.
i used all sorts of topical anti itch creams. The gold Bonds medicated brand seemed to work best for me and I used neosporin to help with healing.
Luckily I have no new bites…but should that happen I’m going to try calamine lotion.
I haven’t read anything to the contrary but a little dab of neosporin followed by a band aid to cover the bite and leaving it alone will speed up the healing lots…buts it is going to take time.
Sadly the best course of action to take for any kind of bug bite or skin irritation it to not scratch it. the more you scratch the worse it will get.
i would love to know how to treat the bites because i recently discovered that i have been bitten by bed bugs and it have me itching like crazy. i tried medicated powder. hot water. and even scratching it to make it go away but that’s not working. i want to try the water and baking soda but i am not sure if its going to work can u please help me out?
Bugginout, you need to have a small magnifying glass. You can clearly see the small bugs even if they have lint on them. Babies are very small. I saw one on someone elses bed ( not my place) that was so small I couldn’t believe it. Maybe half the size of a small ant!! It was crawling around the mattress seem because I disturbed it. I had someone else witness it crawling around and then I killed it and then I was just wondering where all the rest were, or where the Mother was! I steamed for them and I was hoping I didn’t bring any home with me.
i believe it has now been four days since I saw my last one and no new bites or traces of anything. my bites continue to fade and would probably have healed by now had i not scratched the hell out of them.
i have been a little lazy the past few days. too tired from work and lack of sleep…tomorrow i am going to begin to caulk up between all the floor boards and room seams in my apartment. it is going to be a long tedious process and I’m still researching the “how to’s” of it and the right items i’m going to need.
One thing I did note that seemed off was while doing my laundry. I’ve kept the clothes I didn’t throw away separate and in sealed plastic bags. It may be environmentally wasteful but i did my wash in small loads using the highest water setting possible and then dried everything (also on the highest setting) for two hours. Inspecting my clothes as I was folding I noticed about six or so weird little balls of lint stuck to a few items…a couple of tee shirts, a sock and one on my bed sheet. i would say they an eighth to a quarter of an inch in diameter and hairy from lint particles stuck to it. I’ve never seen anything like that…and I’m a cat owner. I’m used to seeing cat hair ride out the laundry cycle. I’m wondering if maybe these were a few nymphs that got stuck in my laundry bag with my clothes and what they look like after being killed during the laundry cycle. they were firmly stuck to the spots where i found them and needed to be peeled off.
I’m also wondering in a case where you have a lot of carpeting to deal with what kind of effects giving it a good steam cleaning and/ or shampooing would accomplish…if it would help lessen and control things. Do pesticide carpet shampoos exist? I would definitely cover carpeting with a plastic tarp or drop cloth where you sleep!
Is there a good, comfortable way to prevent bedbugs from climbing up to you while you’re walking?
I guess desperate, very hungry bedbugs will try this?
All things I tried didn’t work out so very well. With tape around shoes they often stick together, and rat glue is dripping to the floor finally. Some material where cheap shoes are made of denaturalizes the rat glue into a kind of grease.
John G. – yes I did. Sadly this morning a new bite showed up on the top op my hand, on my wrist. The bitemarks on my tibia, a favorite place for them, are recently renewed.
The big problem with my apartment is the carpet, all rooms covered from wall to wall, with a felt underlay. It is not allowed to have wooden or stone floors here. Most of the DE sinks through to carpet to the underlay. There is still a thin dust on top of the carpet and I hope this will kill them finally.
Wondering, it only takes a few bugs to do all this to your body. Just keep killing them one at a time and you will win. There wasn’t that many biting me and my wife but it was a battle that went on for months. Have you applied the double stick mounting tape to the bed legs?
Two days ago I caulked my entire bedframe. Yesterday, to be quite sure, I painted it with primer. I’ ve inspected every cm2 of the frame. This morning I still found something that could be a piece of a skin in my bed. Also still new bitemarks are showing up; sigh.
I should remember that those are not animals with supernatural powers but that I’m missing some factors or facts here. And that bedbugs are extremely annoying but not the end of the world. I have a nice appartment and plenty food to eat.
So today I steamed the bottom part of the frame again until it was too hot to touch, then I removed the carpet tape from the legs and also the DE powder around the legs and replaced them by very sticky mounting tape, this time higher around the legs.
If this won’t help, I’ ll put an extra layer between the frame and the mattress with sticky edges that the insects need to cross to enter my bed.
The last possibility is to wrap the frame in plastic and seal it with duct tape.
I wish I could afford to get this taken care of professionally but if I had that kind of money to spare I would already be living in a nicer apartment than this one. I found out another co worker had a serious problem with these things. Cost her “thousands”. I’m trying to figure out what I’m spending “doing it myself” versus “professionally” and I just wish it was easy to get answers. Nobody will offer up a hard figure and it seems the pc industry is just as blood thirsty as the little buggers.
The JT Eaton DE powder and Pyro spray costs 4.99 and 9.99 at my super market. I’ve seen the exact same products cost double and triple in various hardware/home stores and through exterminating companies. With those kind of mark ups on products so simple you’re dealing with people eager to take advantage of you.
You’re also going to want to “double bag” your mattress. The expensive one for your bed and then the cheaper, snugger version to protect the expensive mattress covers. These things are weak.
Whats driving me crazy is the not knowing what kind of problem I’m dealing with. At this point It appears things were centered on my bed. I’ve found two live bugs over the past four days and about 6 or seven total since this all started about six weeks ago, no eggs or dead bodies. The only traces of fecal matter i have found were a few dots left behind by those few I caught (it was in the spots where i picked them off the wall with bathroom tissue). No new bites, existing bites are troubling me less and less (they still look nasty tho), cats area looks fine. No little spots of blood on my bed. I’ve experienced nothing even close to some of the videos and pictures I’ve seen. no swarms of little nymphs coming at me… i think I’ve found three in total weeks ago.
Still I need to be vigilant for a few more weeks. I’m denying them their food source, I’ve yet to turn the lights off in my place at all. it’s always that moment you let your guard down…
Bugginout, yest they are very flat. I was fascinated looking at them through a magnifying glass after they were captured. You made points that I agree with. They do resemble spiders when on the ceiling. Even to this day when I see something like that on the ceiling I say,’ Please don’t be a bed bug” and it turns out to be a spider. I never kill spiders out of respect and also maybe they will help us by snatching those bed bugs up too! By the way, during my battle after applying DE I caught one up on the ceiling. Just one though! I had the feeling it was dieing by the way it was behaving. It wasn’t responding the way one would trying to escape. I killed it anyway of course. Some people have warned of health effects of being exposed to too much DE dust. Be cautious with this stuff and wear a good respirator when vacuuming! I congratulate you on your efforts too!!
Maria, you must feel very good finding the bugs after all. This is a monumental step in my opinion. The most important thing is to kill the adults and eggs on your bed or frame, which you are. Only heat or crushing will kill eggs so be sure to steam. If you don’t have a steamer maybe you can use a clothing iron on high and iron the bed mattress, especially along all the seams. This will kill eggs. Also remove the box spring and iron the webbing material on the underside real good. Many of us are determining that this is a prime spot for nesting! The underside of the box spring where the staples are and the plastic cornered tufts! You may have found bugs on your frame but the eggs are probably on the box spring. Have you seen their eggs before? I have! You need a magnifying glass. They are ridiculously small.
Ahhh…you just made things a little more clear for me in the regards that that “things are crawling over me that aren’t there” feeling is actually delayed responses to already placed bites!
No new bites for me yet…but I did catch one crawling up my wall just as I was finally turning in around 1:30 am this morning. This one was not blood gorged and didn’t pop blood when i squished it.
I didn’t notice how flat these things can really get till last night. their bodies are like little balloons.
did my thing.
hoping to get more than 4 hours of sleep tonight!
Bed Bug Girl, the complicating ingredient seems to be the dry ice, is not easily available here, certainly not in small quantities.
bugginout – thank you. People have been so harsh and cruel to me that now someone is kind to me I nearly start to cry. Well actually tears are in my eyes.
Please continue posting, your reports are always interesting to read.
John G. – you could very well be right that there is a delay in time between the actual bites and the bite marks starting to show up. This morning, twelve hours ago I had no new bite marks and now I’m covered with new bites. At least 15 new ones. I’m not very allergic but they blood and burn a bit. Some are five of six in a row and look like scratches from a cat.
Good news, I found bugs hiding under the steel meshes between the bed frame. I had no idea that they would be hiding in such places, but to be sure I started to steam those areas. And suddenly I saw one, hiding under a mesh. He was already dead. To be quite sure that they would all be killed I threw boiling water over all the meshes. So if there won’t be new bite marks your theory is right.
Maria, I don’t think anybody can say for certain that your bite marks will show right away. People believe they can take many hours to show after being bitten. I also feel that they can be in clothes and get us then. I don’t think they can make it across mounting tape. I had excellent success after applying it. The bites stopped. But you must keep the bed away from walls, end tables or anything else. Don’t let anything touch the floor and the bed at the same time except the bed legs of course. But put the tape on the legs and any support blocks properly. Keep in mind that if you are not finding where the bugs are hiding in your bed, box spring or frame your gonna keep getting bit, sorry to say. These bugs are biting you when you are sleeping. I highly doubt they are getting you when you are awake. Are you certain you are being attacked while walking around or sitting down?
Signs of life…very sorry if im upsetting anybody by posting here so much. This site has been a big help and writing all this down really helps me keep it together.
Maria…my heart goes out to you. The idea of having to protect yourself from these things while you’re awake and active must be terrifying.
Once again I have to stress that whatever it is I am going through it seems very mild in comparison to what Maria and other posters are going through.
Since my last posting I have received no new bites, no new sighting of anything, not an adult, not a nymph, no eggs, no dead bodies or husks and no fecal matter. Of course I’ve also had almost no sleep since then as well so who knows…I may be completely mad. I have been using all that time not sleeping cleaning, inspecting, looking and treating.
I continue to fight these things diligently…
I feel much more organized now too.
Gotta tell you…the idea to drop clear plastic vinyl shower curtains to cover the DE in my bedroom has been a godsend. I’ve yet to see anyone offer up this advice on any website I’ve visited so I’m feeling extra clever I came up with this by myself. If this is a big no~no I would appreciate the warning but I think its helping lots. First of all it just makes it that much easier to be able to keep the DE down where it needs to do its thing while keeping it away from you. It makes it that much harder for the little buggers to crawl up from the floor boards onto you and your bed. I know it isn’t an airtight barrier so they can get around it but they’ll be easier to spot and as an added bonus I’m hoping to crunch a few between overlapping layers. In a couple of weeks from now when I get my new bed in and feel comfortable moving closer to the wall the mattress will not only be encased in allergen covers…the bed will be resting on a very secure thick plastic mat.
I’ve also caulked and sealed all the outlets, switches and especially light fixtures all over my place.
I firmly believe that bed bugs will attack you from above. I experienced it when I got my first bites. Like many people I thought it was spiders dropping from my ceiling. They do resemble spiders..but don’t be fooled. It makes sense. If you’re a pregnant momma and you want your babies to survive would you put them in a spot where they have to crawl miles for their first meal or would you place them in such a way that all they have to do is roll over? When you find them climbing up a wall they are doing so with the intent of positioning themselves over you.
I’m also very fortunate in that I’m quite adept at using the hand steamer. I know how to handle it to its effectiveness and I have been steaming the hell out of everything…especially my bed and clothes. O actyually love it. I’ve been wanting to get one for myself for ages…
Seeing as I’ve been denying them their food source I am expecting to experience some backlash. I’ve seen others write of a calm before the storm period. I hope this isn’t it for me. I’ve been terrified that they’ll turn to my cat to feed. I’m certain what happened to me last week was me interrupting one feeding on my cats paw. It broke contact, she bled and that was the one i found scampering up my wall. It makes sense. The only traces of fecal matter I have found in all this were three pin head sized spots left behind my kitty’s assailant…
but that also leads me to ask the question…if you encase a mattress that does have adults living in them and they try to come up to the surface to feed…they find they cant get through…you go to roll over in your sleep. Could that cause them to pop and bleed out? I ask this because it was an awful lot of blood and my cat seemed to just stop bleeding instantaneously. It was like a small blood bomb went off and then immediately stopped. Nothing of the sort has happened since and my cat seems to be fine. I should take a picture of what the mattress looks like. She doesn’t seem to mind the flea powder I dust onto her and shes getting lots of extra careful brushings and inspection. she hasnt got a scratch on her.
I really went overboard with the DE at first…i think I have a handle on it now. I’ve caked it between all the floorboards in both my rooms and theres a fine layer of dust instead of clumps of it that i initially scattered….what can i say? I was panicked. I’ll be vacuuming it up in four or five more days. I’m going to re cake in between my floor boards again..but this time I plan to seal it in with a more permanent floor board seal.
I can’t say if the spray treatments I’ve used thus far have been successful but tonight I bought “JT Eaton” bed bug spray (pyrethrin for short) and we’ll see what happens. this stuff feels powerful and it also feels easy to spray. I managed to really get it into the seams of both my rooms without getting it into them. i like that. Like I described earlier I’ve drawn my plastic floor coverings a few inches up off the floor onto the wall and taped things into place. The bed bug spray and De is under several layers of clear plastic and i’m safely atop the plastic in my encased and freshly steamed space.
the cat it locked in the bathroom.
If all goes well I plan on getting 6 whole hours of sleep tonight!
Good luck maria…hope some of this helps. I think you should try covering your floor in plastic sheets just to get you a break!
I regret tossing my mattress so hastily. I’m beginning to believe that any infestation I had was limited to my bed and the few adults i found were strays that didn’t get the chance to nest elsewhere. If this is true this means that I may have this thing beat back in a few more weeks…
Hi Maria,
See my link at the top right of this page on bed bug traps, that is what you are looking for and it costs less than $10 in materials to do it yourself!
I thought for a long time that I only needed to walk on boots with tape or glue around the ankles to prevent them from climbing up, but that proved not to be true. I don’t know what exactly happens. Can bedbugs walk through insect glue? Is double sided carpet tape not sticky enough? Wonder animals? Or do I just not understand them? Also, a thick layer of DE powder on boots doesn’t scare them off. Anyway, I never caught a bug in glue or tape.
I’ve searched for logical explanations but can’t find them. Freshly showered, with clean sterile cloths, wearing boots with double sided tape or/and glue, just doing some homework, not touching anything for a longer time and after a few hours I can count the new bites.
What we need is better understanding for what the animal is capable of, or even better, a simple detection tool; that would be all. A thing with a chip, batteries, sensors and usb, showing us with 99,9% certainty on the computer display where they’re hiding. Then we just need some steam and the job is done. And this humiliating debilitating nightmare will over.
What would keep them from inventing and selling the gadget? Maybe some geek lad in India will be my absolute hero?
Bugginout, make sure you know if your ceiling has asbestos or not. If it is the ‘pop corn’( or cottage cheese looking type)you must not create dust from it. This will be very unhealthy for you and not worth it( as long as you don’t make dust particles).It is very unlikely they are not dropping from the ceiling to your bed. Apply double stick tape to the beds legs and support blocks. Keep your sheets and comforters off the floor. This creates a barrier to your mattress and you. Ofcourse you have to kill any already on your bed too. Don’t put anything, such as laundry on your bed.
Another day spent vacuuming up then laying down fresh DE, cleaning, doing laundry and keeping it in the dryer for two hours. I threw away a ton of books and a few things i had been holding onto~was going to get rid of them anyway…now i’m glad they are out of the house.
I got a second mattress cover…this one was cheap…4.99 and i like it more than the expensive one. The expensive one is still on…the mattress is now double bagged and ever since i started using this spare twin bed of mine i finally have some bed sheets.
Things I’ve added to my arsenal:
Don’t know if it will help but I’ve read that lavender acts like a “force field” against these things…so I picked up some lavender scented fabric softener and dryer sheets.
I already threw the can out…can’t remember the brand name but i liked the topical insect repellent i sprayed on me and my bed last night…what i didn’t like is the 6.99 can ran out real fast. I’ve also taken to sprinkling flea powder under and around my cats “safe house” (the bathroom) and under her littler box.
I finally caught another one…just a few minutes ago. For the past week I’ve slept with and kept all the lights on in my place at all times. Banging on walls didn’t seem to flush any out so I decided to try to create “Dusk conditions”: I turned off my lights and no sooner than i did one started crawling up my wall…so they are still with me. this one must have been hungry. wasn’t blood gorged like the first and smaller too.
I am not going to fall asleep with the lights off.
and im going to steam the ceiling over my bed. again before i do that…
see…this is why I’m not worried I’m over reacting. So far what I’ve gone through seems very mild in comparison to what others here say they have experienced. I would much rather spend the next few weeks like this knowing in a month or so i’ll be snug as a bug in a rug in my brand new sealed-from-the-start bed than let things come to a point where i feel like i’m on the set of “slither”.
I am also beginning to question whether i brought these in via a new comforter i bought at a discount store. A co worker of mine has bug bites on his face…he’s insisting that they are mosquito bites and he’s having an allergic reaction but now I’m starting to wonder if mine came home via coat contact or vice versa. The same co worker has stated in the past his family moved from their last home due to bed bugs. If the people around me are going to avoid doing something about this what hope do i have? I’m glad I threw my coat away. The last few times I put it on I felt itching and pinching in my sleeves to a point where i had to take it off on my way home. I tried discussing this with my super and he just ran in the other direction.
Whatever it was…there has been zero activity since my horror story of two nights ago. no signs of life, no adults crawling up my walls, no nymphs, no eggs, no nesting, no fecal matter, no spots. At this point I have searched just about every nook and cranny in my apartment several times and after trying to cause as much of a stir not a thing. My bites flared very little last night. They seem to have dried out which i think is a key in getting them to heal quicker or making the itching and swelling stop. Should i get any new bites I’m going to try using a topical designed to dry the skin out.
Still…I am going to continue on with my regimen of vacuuming up the DE…then reapplying it, covering it with plastic vinyl shower curtains and applying bed bug sprays and using the lice shampoo and flea powder on me and my cat while steaming the clothes i did not throw away. Its been two days. I’m not going to let this up for a few weeks.
I’m hoping I caught things just as they were trying to spread out from my old bed and am in the process of interrupting their reprdctive cycle. from what i gather i need to interrupt several.
does anybody know if bleach is effective for killing them? havent seen anything about it.
It started more than one year ago, I was bit on the couch by a mysterious insect. I didn’t pay much attention to it. It escalated only 5 weeks ago after finding a bedbug in my bed and my following action.
My attempt to clean the spots with a steamer only caused them to run and to scatter through the entire house, but that at least made me clear what I was dealing with: tens of thousands of bedbugs. They were everywhere, especially the youngsters who are not yet clever in hiding. I even saw them crawling on the counter in the kitchen. Although I have only seen two living adults, the amount of adult dead bodies found in the first weeks was overwhelming.
When I filled the bath with hot water and threw cloths, bedclothes or curtains in it, hundreds of the insects floated dead through the water, cooked and in bits and peaces. It made me feel sick, knowing that they had all lived from my body. Through the wet partially translucent quilt I saw thousands of them in neat lines likes soldiers along the edges. I threw the quilt away and tried not to think or feel anymore.
Now I don’t see them anymore, but I am still bit on a daily base so the bedbugs are still there. I hate them intensely; they are ruining my life. I thought I had made my bed bugfree but yesterday I still discovered four hidden holes in the hollow iron tubes of my mesh frame that I must have overlooked. I sealed them with thick glue, examined every other cm2 of the frame with the help of a hand mirror and if the mattress cover does what it claims to do, at least my bed should be 100% safe now. So there is some progress, compared to 5 weeks ago. :-)
Thanks John G. I think I will try steaming my mattress and box spring again and putting my comforter in a super long super hot dry cycle and see what that does. I haven’t actually seen any live bugs, just one dead one and some black smudges, I know those guys are around somewhere!!
In the meantime I am tucking my pjs in and wearing long sleeves which is actually helpful. I also got Hotshot, which I read on here doesn’t work too well, but what can I say I am desperate. Anyone have ANY success with Hotshot?
*using a couple of large clear plastic tablecloth covers and clear vinyl shower curtains to cover all the de I’ve sprinkled turned out to be a great idea. I’ve even tailored things so that I’ve taped them a few inches up the wall as well. I feel more comfortable walking around now. only regret is i need about three or four more. wish i picked them up on the way home.
had a truly nightmarish experience last night. woke up around 3:30 am and thought I was in the clear. don’t be fooled into thinking your pets are safe. one fed on my cats paw causing her to bleed. my new 110 dollar bed bug mattress covers now have bright red paw prints all over them. I’ve been dusting her with flea powder and brushing her down with a nit brush. tried to create a safe zone in the bathroom for her and as stubborn as cats are she seems to be getting it. from 330 to 430 i found two crawling up my wall. I’ve also liberally sprinkled DE under the few pieces of furniture I did not throw away that are on the other side of my room.
bought the 35 dollar steam cleaner to go over what I’m going to wear tomorrow.
i also picked up another spray…this one is called Black jack. All my cabinets are still empty and there has been absolute zero activity in those areas..but i figured I’d spray them down too. also sprayed my walls, outlets and light fixtures.
haven’t seen any since i woke up early this morning…no signs of any nymph activity or adults. once again i tried causing a ruckus…rapping on walls and floor boards. nothing at all in my spare room…
hope that means something good is happening.
Sick of This, when we had first discovered bugs on our bed our initial thought was that they were utilizing the old comforter because I kept seeing new ones appearing on it as I was agitating it. Of course I killed each one. I think they were coming out from inside it. They were juveniles. I threw it out right away! The bugs were already well at home in our bed at the time and the battle began. So, Yes, they can be in your cushion top. Note: If your mattress or box spring has tears and shows signs of wear like that forget about battling in place. Just count your loss and discard it. If it is in great condition then all the bugs and eggs will be on the exterior and you can attack with heat and also chemical.
All of you need to remember that there is a cycle of life here. Eggs you miss will hatch and you will still see nymphs appear or see the affects of their bites. They need to feed but this makes them vulnerable to attack by you! Don’t panic. Stay vigilant and you will eventually break this cycle. Nymphs don’t lay eggs and they have to feed!!
If you’re waking up with bed bug bites it isn’t a nice mattress.
Get rid of it!!!
Part the Fifth:
I feel gypped with my mattress covers. They cost me 110 for the pair. The KMart version would have been 40. Bought a new vacuum cleaner to help with this. 60 more bucks out the window. Scoped steamers. I noted three different models each one promising to rid bed bugs and dust mites ranging in price from 25 to 40 to 90 from K Mart. Also despite the fact the expensive mattress cover is the same exact thing s the expensive box frame cover they were different prices. God bless people trying to take advantage of misfortune…
Came home and found a nymph on the wall and after much detective work a second one was also squished. Thats it. I really DE bombed my spare room despite the fact it has appeared to be “safe”…not a thing was out of sorts there. I was expecting to find maybe a few adults on the walls trying to get away from my room. I did a sweep of the walls and the ceiling…especially over my bed. I’m hoping the little nymphs I did not find are in the opening throes of dehydration preventing them from breeding.
While its been a few weeks since I received my series of bites…they are still with me and have been a pain in the ass. The hot water treatment does feel good, and like I said…Gold Bonds medicated soothes…I discovered that the best thing for them has been the lice shampoo. Last night I slathered it all over myself…waited the ten minutes and after i got out of the shower i realized its the best my skin has felt in weeks…it got rid of the itch and flaring/swelling. it calmed my skin down. First time I used a special shampoo I went the premium route…19.99…this time knowing there would be many repeat performances i got the 8.99 rite aid brand.
Also I have a few thoughts…could i cover the stuff with a clear plastic or say a plastic drop cloth to keep it from contacting bare feet?
I don’t want to sound psycho…I understand the caution and risk involved but would say getting a blowtorch and quickly sweeping you walls and the nooks and crannies of your room help…also would a sun lamp help in any way?
I have been battling them for a few weeks. I washed everything, put my mattress and box spring in special covers, sprinked DE, and steamed my mattress. Still waking up with bites. I am moving in 2 months and wasn’t planning on taking my bed with me anyway, but I don’t know if I can deal with this for two more months!!
I have a really nice mattress, it is very thick and has a special soft cover on top, it is very large. I wonder if the bugs can hide really deep down where the steam doesn’t get to them? Seriously thinking about tossing it now and just sleeping on the floor or something, I can’t handle the bites anymore.
http://www.badbedbugs.com/how-to-treat-bed-bug-bites/
I thought it would be better to carry on my rant over here from the “how to treat bed bug bite” forum.
This will be part four.
I’m not going to be naive enough to believe I have solved my problem with one day…but I do feel today has been productive with me very aggressively laying down the law.
Bought the DE/Mother Earth powder and have caked it into all the nooks and crannies in the floor boards in my room and my spare room. I’ve taken extra care in corners and the seams all around both rooms and sockets have been caked and covered.
I decided to spread some outside in my hallway. In my haste to get rid of my bed and boxspring I overlooked precautions and just dragged them out. Thought it would be wise to do the outside of my apartment. Fortunately there is no carpeting at all in my apartment.
I continued to throw things out. Also on the fortunate side I’ve never been much of a clutter bug so parting with things isn’t all that bad to me. Cleaned out the shelves in my kitchen. Threw away the toaster, a vidalia onion chopper and a hand held mixer, all of my spices. All have gotten a little old and yellowed. The shelves are completely bare now and theyve been liverally sprayed down with the Raid. I was expecting this to potentially flush a few out but so far nothing has stirred.
Also cleaned underneath my bathroom sink. Found a dead cockroach but again…no sign of bed bugs. Area was also sprayed.
Also threw away my shower curtain and got a new clear one.
I bought bed bug proof mattress covers. One for the spare box spring and one for the mattress itself. Once again I re~inspected everything. All systems go. No signs of eggs, nymphs,adults,blood,fecal matter or stains. Non the less I once again sprayed everything down with the Raid spray and then sprinkled the mother earth powder into the box spring and in the seams of the mattress before sealing them up.
I also bought a large bottle of lice killing shampoo and i feel nice and creepy crawley free.
I did not know what to expect when i woke up this morning. I was expecting to find anywhere from one or two crawling up my wall to die to night of the living creeps with dozens or hundreds swarming all over my walls. I was happy to find none of the sort…but then shocked to find one crawling in my kitchen sink. I’m guessing this one was trying to evacuate and got stuck. I have spent a good four or five hours actively trying to find them with not a one in sight.
Instead of putting my clothes into the hamper untill enough pile up to launder I am going to start throwing them away…when it comes down to me having just about nothing left ill start buying new packs of underwear and some basic items i can juggle with the intent of throwing even those away till further notice.
I am going to be doing this every day/two to three days untill further notice.
Thanks Bed Bug Girl. Today is another round. Going through the place again …. more laundry etc. A couple questions. I’m trying to be systematic about doing everything. I am bagging all my clothes, extra pillows, etc while I clean. So I’m doing some of the laundry today at a laundromat, and others in the next coupe days. If I use the dryers at the laundromat on high heat cycles, how long should I leave them? Is it possible I could infect the laundromat? I hear differing things from half an hour to two hours. Also I’m using just regular black garbage bags. Will that be enough or will they bite through that? What should I use if not them? Your help is appreciated. I will work on building a trap, probably tomorrow. Thanks for that
Hello Teemu,
Sorry to hear you are going through this, but with your attitude, I’m confident you’ll win the battle! The best way to tell if you have more is setting a bed bug trap. I’ve documented how to build one for less than $10, see the link to my page at the top right of this page.
Once you know for sure, you can continue the bed bug treatment and you’ll know if it’s working!
I have an infestation. I moved into this apartment 5 months ago. It’s just a single bachelor place. I understand now that the previous tenant had them and the building was professionally fumigated. I also realize now that I’ve had them a while but didn’t know that’s what it was. I’ve been getting bites a few months but only suspected I had a rash of some kind … didn’t see them or feel much else. Then about two weeks ago I felt something on me but still didn’t make the connection. Then I started seeing them and blood stains on my sheets. I was cleaning and washing sheets but not as aggressively as I now realize I need to be. I started looking for a nest and found a few on the mattress but not really a nest. Then I discovered it.
I have a thermarest camping mattress, thin style, plastic covered, that was between my bed and the wall, that I leaned against if I was reading in bed. I had initially looked at it but overlooked them. When I started looking more aggressively I peeled back the seam and there they were. There was about a four foot strip of bugs, egg spores, fecal matter … just gross. I cleaned it then sealed it in several layers of thick plastic, and duct taped it. Then I tossed it. I bagged most of my clothes. Yesterday I did a thorough cleaning and put down lots of diatom earth, including around the bed posts. I moved my bed away from the walls.
Someone mentioned putting double sided tape up the bed posts to see if any move that way. I put several strips of very sticky thick webbed carpet tape up the bed post but found none there today. I put a plastic lined mite mattress cover on last night, put my blankets, sheets, pillow cases, through two high heat cycles on the dryer. Then I put the pillows in covers. I was washing and changing clothes throughout the day. Before bed I showered, bagged my clothes and put on fresh ones to just walk to the bed.
I had been sleepless for days, sleeping fitfully. So last night I slept a solid ten hours but woke to feel them on me again. I had a blood stain on my pillow case. I suspect my blanket is the culprit … I’ve heard that if the dryer is not hot enough they can be insulated in the blanket?? I am on a limited disability income. Yesterday I spent about $60 on stuff not including loads of laundry. I now realize this will be an aggressive fight to get them, doing loads of frequent laundry and thoroughly combing my place.
Question: I removed the nest I found, but is it possible that there are several nests?
I am soooooo frustrated.
ok i understand that a lot of people are having this problem i woke up one night to my 4 year old crying went over to her and she seemed fine she talks in her sleep a lot so didn’t think much about it went back to sleep. A couple days later felt something got up and found them on my bed have not been able to sleep at night in my house since i sent her to go live with her dad till i can move he tells me that he is going to call cps! My question is, can i get in trouble for having them and can i move without throwing everything away?
I found that a 2:5 (less or greater) dilution of ODOBAN, found at Home Depot and Lowes, works quickly on most (possibly all) stages of bed bugs when sprayed on and around mattresses and furniture. I also put a capful in my laundry after leaving an infested home and have yet to see any at my house. Odoban is a reasonable price and cleans surfaces while you spray. It does smell fairly strong at more concentrated levels but if you open a window; focus on smaller areas, take a break, and come back; or just dilute it more there is no worry. The stronger concentrated it is the faster it kills, when I sprayed them with a 2:5 they died within 5-8 seconds of contact
Was wondering is the DE safe to use around pets? Just have seen a couple of Bugs already been cleaning and spraying is there any spray that will kill the eggs as well or when drie?
Autumn I would tell your property management asap about the bugs. If you do research on them, you will see that they multiply. Also it may have been a bad idea to drag your furniture outside, because you may have spread the bedbugs to other areas by doing that.
I just found out a few days ago that I have bed bugs and it’s because another girl in the building had bed bugs and my landlord never told me that she had them. She ended up moving out and dragged the mattress outside and put it up against the side of our building and now I have the bedbugs.
I’m not sure whether they came in through my bedroom window (which was only a few feet away from the mattress) or if they hitched a ride down the stairs in the foyer when she dragged the mattress down. Either way, I have them now and I live in a completely different unit. Chances are, one of the other units in the building have them. I would tell your property management asap.. the longer you wait, the worse it will get. Don’t waste anytime. I would think that they would have to be the ones to cover it, but I don’t know.
I recently found out the bugs i been dealing with are bed bugs and am not sure what to do. I am embarrassed to go to the management company Cause i have no clue how or when we came into contact with them. I know they have a exterminator that sprays once a month for roaches and ants so i was wondering do you think they would be able to treat for the bed bugs? An is it the management companies job to treat that apt or is it mine as the tenant? I have thrown out all my couches and chairs mattresses and we use air mattresses not to sleep. I need to get rid of these as i have two small children and they have complained about itching. What would your advice be?
PLEASE HELP ME! We moved into a doublewide mobile home about a week ago… I have never seen any sign of bed bugs in our old apartment. I woke up tonight to something biting me, I told my boyfriend to turn on the light when we saw it, a adult bed bug! We killed it, but now I cant sleep that’s why I am on here.
2 days ago I had a baby-shower for my friend, there was lots of people here with kids and diaper bags.. Do you think there is more bugs? We searched mattress and box springs and the floor under the bed. Even the creases in the floor where the carpet and walls meet… We found nothing. Is it possible just one may have traveled with someone?
i recently pick up a very nive couch set for my living room which is a bi-yearly event being military. this set, however, came complete with bed bugs, and did not spot them till the furniture was in the house!
I really liked the set and have never dealt with these type of pests before. i first pulled them out to the balcony and removed all the under fabric. i purchased some eco pest spray from a save-a-lot and soaked the couches. while the root beer scent from the spray was quite intense, it seemed to drop them on the spot.
Still not totally convinced, i left them outside and let mother nature finish them off. the cold front of Colorado that just moved threw had a low of -30 and high of -10 for three days. it seems the most natural solutions are the best if you’re in the right regions. such as the lady above using the Florida heat to cook them in there own skins. after i was sure they were dead by close inspection, not skimping on the cleaning was the best idea. get in every little nook and crannie and all up in the inside of the furniture with vacuums and cleaners. hope this can be of some help to others! fight the war on pests!
I have left the solution on this page before but some of you might not understand how effective this treatment is * NO SIGN OF BEDBUGS * CHEAP AND WORKS * YOU WILL SEE IMMEDIATE RESULTS * WHEN YOU PUT THE mix on mattress, when I did this the bed bugs started popping up out of the mattress. that’s why i recommend you leave it outside….i got rid of them and not had them since…. to be effective you have to vacuum everything, i have a shark vac and yes it gets clogged a lot faster but it works , you can’t be lazy! you thoroughly have to vacuum See 20muleteamlaundry.com/about#laundry and mortonsalt.com, all found at your nearest store
When i had these no exterminator would do it cause there was no way to get rid of them so they said.They are the demons from hell!
I tried everything you can think of spent over $200.00 on chemicals and still there. I know this worked quickly and slept so good the first night we did this. Until I am fortunate enough to have a very dear friend give me a solution of borax 20 mule team detergent and salt.
First you get an empty large hole size shaker of any kind ( i used an old garlic powder container it wasn’t empty but I sure emptied it), Then use 1/2 borax detergent & 1/2 salt
Sprinkle everywhere… All over – took mattress & box spring outside sprinkled all over
left all day…
vacuumed everything up including electrical sockets every nook and cranny…
taped up sockets and me not ever wanting these things back taped up along baseboards
washed everything in hot water..
non washables in black trash bags baking in sun for 3 days…
repeated 3 months later…
I had a couple boxes under my bed so i sprinkled in there also. very important things but anything to rid of bed bugs.
I also, to this day, vacuum my mattress. all the time
3 years later no sign of them
It’s going on three months since I first found my bedbug problem. I’ve been working on my place trying to be rid of these things and everything seems to be going well. However, I did experience new bites just the other night. So right now, I’m starting the treating process over again.
I’m not giving up hope yet! The problem with these are that they may have laid eggs who knows where. So continue treating about every two-three weeks. If you kill the adults, you will be bite free for a while until the babies hatch and continue the growth cycle. So, just keep mindful that you need to continue to treat and check things every-so-often. I’m sleeping better over-all. The extreme paranoia that I allowed myself to enter has somewhat lessened since I’ve come to terms with the fact that this will be a work in progress.
Since finding my problem December 4th, I have heard countless news stories on these things. I never realized the scope of these things until now.
Best of luck to everyone and your personal battles of trying to be free of bedbugs! Thank you for this site also! And thank you for your time, Bed Bug Girl – you have my sincere gratitude. I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t come across your site and all the helpful tips and hints. Thank you!
Jinxie, welcome to the club! At least you are facing this and attacking in place. At first it is terrifying but you will feel more at comfort as they start to disappear. They can be eradicated! Don’t worry about that. Exterminators are not 100% effective so don’t feel cheated because you can’t go that route. I have made several entries on here that explain how I got rid of them.
Sometimes I think I have a single bite on my face but I haven’t seen any bugs for months and then I am not certain it is from a bed bug anymore. They can reappear at anytime so we have to kill them right away before they start laying eggs. I wouldn’t worry about being infested from neighbors. Just keep from bringing any used items into your apartment and be watchful for any of these bugs in your restroom.
If you ever see them in your restroom then they could be trying to vacate or be entering. That will be a judgment call for you. If you see one bug then assume there are many more for each bug you see. You cant remove their feeding source because you have animals. Start steaming and applying food grade Diatemaceous Earth along edges of your rooms. Double stick tape legs of your couches, chairs and bed frames(including bed support blocks).
Myself, my husband and our 2 children moved into a large apartment in a very old building in November. A month or so ago, my 9 year old noticed she had some itchy red bites, we thought they were flea bites. (We have 2 dogs and several pet rats). The animals, especially the dogs were scratching like crazy.
We checked each and every animal over multiple times, and with me being in the veterinary care field, I know what to look for. So I was very surprised to find absolutely no sign of fleas or any other parasite on any of our pets, or in their sleeping areas. We bathed them anyway, washed all bedding in hot water, cleaned with bleach thoroughly, just to be sure.
The bites continued, but nowhere did we find a flea or anything else. We were getting perplexed and a bit frustrated, thinking some kind of allergy as only my daughter and some of the animals seemed affected. then my 9 year old brought home head lice from school, and we were caught up trying to get those out of our hair and home, and thought they may be the problem, although I wasn’t sure why my child was being bitten on her arms if it was lice, and after they were eradicated, the bites continued.
My 3 year old woke up crying a couple weeks ago, saying that a \little buddy\ (Our term for the lice) was crawling over him and biting him. I looked, saw nothing, assumed it was a nightmare and hushed him back to sleep. Then suddenly 3 days ago, we noticed he had huge red welt like marks in groups on his neck, the next morning they were on his arm and his back.
We knew we had some sort of problem then, and so set to looking online after making a doctor’s appt for him. Boom, we saw bedbug bites and knew what we were dealing with. After much shuddering and \ick, eww, yuck\ing, we began to tear the house apart. We tossed out box springs, carefully checked mattresses, and are still in the process after sending our kids to their grandparents for a few nights. (Where my mom promptly was bitten 3 times in a line on her butt). So far, we have found only 2 live adults, but many, many stains and matter and skins. I’m terrified to go to sleep!
The 20th load of laundry is in the dryer, as many cracks and crevices as I could manage so far have been sprayed with alcohol and smeared thickly with petroleum jelly. I have taken the dressers apart, sprayed them all with alcohol and set the drawers on bags outside on the balcony in minus temps. The alcohol and petroleum jelly, plus the hot washing and drying and obsessive cleaning is all that can be done at the moment due to a very limited budget.
Next payday, we are going out to get some of the products mentioned here. Professional control is not an option, and our landlord is a jerk. Moving is not even remotely an option either, no matter how necessary it may become, we just can’t afford it.
My question here is, can we control the pests and keep them out of our place if the other apartments have them? We have learned that they do, and also that the landlord KNEW about this problem and did nothing but have his \cleaning ladies\ (crack addicted prostitutes he uses as cheap labour) in to smear some cheap cleaning products and muck around. (They did such a fine job myself and my husband had to spend almost a week here cleaning before we would even consider moving our stuff and our kids in here.)
So please, if anyone can tell me how best to prevent them from getting back in here from the filthy neighbors place after we get rid of them in ours, I’d be very grateful for the advice. Sadly, not everyone can afford a professional exterminator, or to move, no matter how bad things get. And no, my landlord will do nothing.
Thanks for allowing me to vent, and for any advice you folks may have. The tips on here have been very helpful to me so far, thank you!
Hi,
I have not had bed bugs yet but I have had several flea infestations in my carpets. After months of trying everything I finally read somewhere that sprinkling the carpet with household salt and letting it sit for 48 hours before vacuuming kills the fleas and the eggs by dehydrating them on contact. I was skeptical at first but salt is cheap so I tried it. I can tell you that I saw an immediate improvement. I repeated the salt on the carpets for two weeks and then all the fleas were gone. I don’t know if this is a valid bed bug treatment, but it is worth a try. Good luck to all.
Regarding a comment about DE (diatomaceous earth)… You do NOT want to “put it all over your mattress”, for several reasons.
First, inhaling DE powder can cause microscopic cuts that can affect breathing and damage lungs or sensitive nasal membranes. Instead, put it in areas near your bed and furniture that is unlikely to be disturbed.
Next, moisture (such as sweat) can decrease the effectiveness of the DE.
Do your research before using any pest control method, and know how to use it correctly and safely.
Quit inviting people over to stay overnight or more at your house!!!! It seems that EVERY TIME you do that, the bedbugs come back.
I know this isn’t practical and even if it would work but more of a open for comment thought …But Does anyone have any idea if say you placed an infested bed or couch in a pressure chamber and increased the pressure would this be an effective way to kill all the bugs and leave the furniture still intact and if the pressure would have to be so great as to kill the bugs that the furniture would sustain damage would lowering or raising the temperature combined with pressure increase the effectivness of eradication I just want to air this for discussion as a possible solution to having to throw everything out I have seen on tv some of these pressure chambers they were quite large and could fit a whole room of belongings as well as clothing and could treat everything in one shot if this found to be viable Hello Bug Lab/ Bill Nye the science guy type people could we get some answers??? Anyway just thinking out loud Please don’t be to harsh in your response to my “what if”
We had them!! It was disgusting and we could not get rid of them. I think we brought them home from a hotel we were visiting in NY. We used a pest control service to get rid of the bed bugs when all else failed. It was worth it to us, you don’t have to throw everything away. Just leave the house for a day or two if you have kids.
Tana, the food grade DE is safer for inhalation of I believe. DE is a problem for our lungs, similar to asbestos. I heard it could possibly be a carcinogen so be sure to use food grade. I am not sure but I think food grade is probably more refined then non- food grade. Use a good dust mask.
If you had spread a non-food grade DEaround I would suggest you vacuum it up with a vacuum cleaner that uses a hepa filtration system and then reapply food grade. You could have just steamed your bed frame.
Adults crawl around and hide in dark crevices during the day. They lay their eggs in a certain spot. I also had seen adults in my wood frame. The only eggs I ever saw were on the bottom side of my box spring. They could have been on my mattress too but I steamed everything anyway. The ones you see on your ceiling are probably dieing from dehydration (DE) or chemical. Both applications are a slow death. Collect them and kill them anyway. Expect to see babies as the cycle of eggs hatch. Keep up what you are doing and they will die before they can lay eggs. That’s the idea!
We found bed bugs in my son’s room. They were in the curtain and a mattress.. we threw out the curtains and the mattress and once we took apart the wood frame we saw more so out went the frame. The room is empty except a air mattress, small book case and one night stand which has been emptied out.
The bed sheets and clothes have been washed and dried and bagged and now sit in another room, there are a few other things in the closet that will now go in the dryer. A couple of days ago I put down DE around the baseboard and in the closet and also bombed the room.
This morning my son saw two walking on the ceiling. What else can I do. We have not seen any in the other rooms but I plan on putting DE all around the house. Is the DE food Grade better than the regular one.
Thanks for any help.
Dottie, first of all, I am sorry you are going through this. If you have time you should scroll down and read some of the entries I have made and others as well. We pretty much cover everything. You can treat your bed and frame but some people who wrote on here tell us that they found the headquarters odf these bugs elsewhere, such as under an end table.
Some claim the bugs don’t like to travel more then 8 feet from their feeding spot, whether it is a couch, chair or bed. This may explain why sometimes they are bothering someone in one area of a home. Others have claimed they can wonder around much further. I have personally seen one in our bathroom along the edge of the tub. I wouldn’t know if migrated from my neighbors restroom or my bedroom.
When I distributed Diatemaceous Earth on the bed and box spring I found one a few days later on the ceiling above my bed. I think it was dieing of dehydration. I do not believe the bugs will lay eggs on anything that is movable, such as shoes or clothing. I think they prefer a stationary object that has a food source, such as a bed or couch.
Most chemicals, if not all, do not kill the egg larvae. Washing and then drying on high heat will kill eggs and bugs effectively. The best way to kill bugs hiding in areas of your box spring and bed is to use steam. I used a garment steamer from Costco ($40) that did wonders for me. It steamed up in areas I couldn’t reach with chemicals. It’s some work but so worth it. If you have a wood frame bed you HAVE to disassemble it and steam everywhere. Focus on cracks and where pieces of wood overlap each other.
I suggest you remove the screen cover of your box spring(s) and treat the underside of the box springs with DE, steam, or chemical. I suggest steam.This is the spot I feel adult bugs hide. Remove the plastic tufts at the corners of your box springs. They have staples so be careful. I find that the babies and juveniles hang here. Clean them with hot water and seal in a bag until the game is over. Just don’t give them anywhere to hide while you attack this. I found eggs and all sorts of bugs on the box spring screen so just get rid of it. Replace it later sometime.
It’s a pain but not anything compared to living in Hell. Pull your bed away from furniture and walls. Practice not letting anything, such has a blanket, touch the bed and floor at the same time. Use a smaller blanket if you have to. Finally, apply double stick (mounting tape) around ALL support blocks and legs of bed. This will keep the ones off that try to crawl up your bed. Be sure to remove the plastic peel of the tape (usually green) after you wrap it around. The tape does wonders! You HAVE to tape!! Always inspect the seams of the mattress and pillows. I don’t like the idea you cut your mattress. You should apply packing tape where the cut is to prevent them from going into or out of your mattress. Leave a light on near where you sleep. They don’t like light.
SORRY, I HAVE A LOT TO SAY: These little things started biting me the week of Christmas 2010, I noticed 3 bites and now the other night I had4 bites on one arm and 3 bites on the other. I can not afford to buy another mattress nor call an exterminator. I live with my parents but they are not taking the situation seriously.
So far, no one else has been bitten so right now the problem is in my room. I really don’t want this to spread. I am currently cleaning the room out, i have all my bedding and curtains in big trash bags. I have so much stuff and don’t know where to put the stuff at. I graduated from college in may 2010 and had to have all of my stuff and sons stuff in one room so it was kinda crowed.
QUESTION: should I throw all the old shoes and clothes out in the trash? What can I do with limited/no money? How do I prevent them from getting in other parts of the house? Should I be around other people? I killed 3 of them today but didn’t see any more, I cut open the mattress everywhere and still did not see any (I used rubber gloves). After I finished in the room I took a shower
QUESTION: Will this help prevent spreading if I shower every time I leave out the room from cleaning it? What should I do with the stuff I pack up? Should I be sleeping in the den? I washed the stuff (blanket) I used in hot water and dried it, shouldn’t that help that?
Do these things get in your hair? Should I throw the TV away? Foodlion has bombs for bedbugs and fleas, should I use that and just seal off my room with plastic so they can’t get out? I was reading that they only dwell in dark places.
QUESTION: Is it okay for me to take my books, and paper on out the room? I have boots with fer, I sprayed them with Lysol.
QUESTION: Should I still keep them in the room? Do they hide in your shoes? I am so scared and embarrassed about this situation and don’t know what to do since the people I stay with act like it’s no problem(not taking it serious), I don’t have any help.
PLEASE HELP!
You were here for me when I needed you with information and the emotional support of knowing I was not alone with my bedbugs. Thanks to you, I knew what to do and have been bedbug free for five months, so this note is a great big THANK YOU for maintaining the site and a word of encouragement to those newly infested. There is hope for those who act fast.
My problem began while attending a conference at a university where I received five bites during a lecture. Then I started waking up with more bites. After dithering for a month, thinking I couldn’t possibly have bedbugs, obsessing about the new bites every few mornings, hating to go to bed at night, I jumped out of bed in the middle of the night and put stainless steel bowls under all four legs of the bed. I poured a couple inches of mineral oil into each bowl –voila — no more bites! Then I began to wonder if I had been imagining the bed bugs. A few mornings later, I was standing near the bed after dressing and felt a bite on my leg. After a quick slap I rolled up my pantleg and out fell a bedbug. OK, no more wondering, I really did have bed bugs.
I canceled my plans for the day and headed out to buy a bag of diatomaceous earth and bed bug proof covers for all my mattresses and box springs. Came home, stripped my bed, removed the mattress, box springs and slats, vacuumed all surfaces those surfaces and the rest of the room thoroughly and dusted everything with DE. Zipped the mattress and box spring into the bags, and reassembled the room. Laundered everything washable on hot and dried it on hot. Down comforter and pillows included. I put inconspicuous little furniture coasters under the legs of the bed and filled them with DE.
And that was the end. Five months later I have not had one bite. I’m still cautious. I’ve preemptively treated the guest room and living room with DE in inconspicuous places that I think could harbor pests. And the bonus is that I put DE around the pipes under my kitchen sink and haven’t seen another ant on my kitchen counter!
I won’t stop going to conferences, or to theaters, I won’t stay away from hotels, I’ll still have guests — but now I take precautions to prevent another infestation. I learned what to do here — so again, thank you!
Marie from Florida is a GENIUS!!! A bed bug hitched a ride back home with me after I visited family in the south. I can’t afford to hire a pest control company, and don’t want to use anything toxic because I have asthma and have 3 pets in the house. When I finally found where those evil suckers were hiding, I used the Dawn dish detergent mix she posted, and it worked instantly! I’ve killed the one adult hitchhiker and a dozen or so nymphs, and I’m now working on caulking every tiny crevice in the furniture, etc. and washing all the clothes and linens in the room. Now that I know how to kill them without endangering me or my pets, I’m confident I can win this war.
Nguyen, you should compare the bites or rashes that on your son to photos of bites that are posted on this website to make sure. Go to the link on the upper right that is “bed bug bites” and scroll down. They range from red dots to severe rashes and even blister like depending on where on the body the bite occurs. If you feel they are indeed bed bug bites then you need to start treating the affected areas. There are plenty of good tips on here.
Hello, please help. My teenage son keeps complaining of bed bug bites. He has the itchy rash on his wrist, thigh, hips, ankles. We wash his clothes and bed sheets but he still has the rash. We never see any bugs or blood though.
Now he leaves his room and occupies the couch. I am afraid the bed bugs, if there are, would find their new home: the couch. However, since we never find any bugs, small or adults, I am not sure if it’s the bed bugs.
Please help me to treat this problem.
Chad, I purchased a garment steamer at Costco(if you are in U.S.A.) for about $40 and it is really hot steam with a wand and hose.
No Peter, that is not true.
The problem is that you are impatient, you posted a comment and because it didn’t appear right away, you made an incorrect assumption.
This site is an excellent resource for identifying and treating bed bugs yourself, but that is only possible because I manually check every comment to protect the site from spammers. This takes time and I do it in batches at the end of the day, if I have time, I may do it multiple times in the day. I do this all free, I don’t sell anything and any advertisements I have help offset the cost of the server this site sits on.
Your bed bug treatment was not deleted, rather not approved yet; because you didn’t see it approved immediately, you became hostile and assumed the worst. It’s unfortunate you go through life like thinking everyone is an extreme liberal, but if you look for the positive rather than the negative, you’ll be a much happier person.
Thanks for the bed bug treatment, but you can keep your hostility and ungratefulness.
I posted a real bed bug solution.
You chose to delete my post without explaination.
Most likely you did not like my post because it was a real remedy without using expensive products that are your sponsers.
If you don’t like my remedey, post your objection. Let the post stand.
You extreme liberal types really want to censor anything that you don’t like.
The fact is, bed bugs can be eliminated without steamers or freeze techniques
or by buying expensive powders or sprays.
Buy the spray Clorox Clean-Up.
It will kill the bugs on contact 100% of the time.
It is in your local supermarket.
Spray everything every 4-5 days.
Problem will disappear within a few weeks.
I found a bed bug at 5am. Sprinkled it with DE, put it in a little jar……………8 hours later ITS STILL LIVING! How long before this thing dies?
Ordered slip covers for the mattress! Hopefully the double sided tape on the bed legs and covers will help me to finally get some much needed rest! I can’t help but be paranoid at night. I haven’t had a “good” nights sleep since first finding these things. I’ve decided to also get rid of my couch and two chairs. I think it will be easier to treat my place without these extra hiding spots. Does anyone know of a good site to buy an affordable steamer? The ones I’ve looked at are ranging from about $250-$300 and that’s just not in my budget.
Lisa, you can get this under control by purchasing a garment steamer(@$50). Make sure you have a home size extension cord. Steam the seems of your mattress very closely. The hotter the better. This will roast babies and eggs you might not see.
Steam the frame and any cracks if its wood. Steam all the metal parts if its metal. Remove all plastic protectors from your steel frame and your box spring corners. Bag these up and freeze them or something if you want to keep them for later. Remove the webbing material from your box springs and get rid of it carefully. Very likely to have eggs on this. The bottom area of your box spring will be exposed now. Steam this area as best you can. It is some work.
Puff some Diatomaceous Earth (food grade) into this area as well if you have it. Wear a mask or cloth over your nose and mouth. Apply this DE on top of your box spring when reassembling. No need to apply on top of your mattress. Apply DE to areas of carpet and base boards you suspect. Apply double stick tape around legs of bed and any other support blocks for bed.
Keep comforter from touching floor. They can crawl up anything to get to your bed. The bugs can’t get by the tape in either direction. The tape is also referred to as ‘mounting tape’. Launder all your bedding and dry on high heat.
All this will knock them down big time!!
Okay…. so far so good. I have been taking pretty good steps with everything. I have been bite free for five days now. I still go over my room every day looking for any signs of these things. I believe I caught them pretty quick, however, I will not let my guard down. Too paranoid I guess, lol!
Denise, thanks so much for your advice. I will definately look these two chemicals up and see if I can use them. (Chemical Allergies here). I’ve started pretty much a “home” make over routine. Sadly most of my things I go through I am bagging up and tossing out. Living out of plastic isn’t easy but it sure beats transporting these things over someplace else. I thought of opening all of my windows and turning off the heat for about 3 days…. it’s been about 20 degrees during the day here and about 10 or 15 degrees at night. I figure it couldn’t hurt to play freeze out with these things… you think it might help? I will be staying with a friend during this period. Guess I will find out! Best of luck to everyone battling this problem!
OK I have a serious problem!!! I am living in another country and have never had this kind of problem. The other day my husband and 2 children started to complain about bumps on their arms and legs. I thought oh no they ate something and had an allergic reaction to it. Then I started to have these bumps appear.
We went to the doctor and they told us it looked like bed bug bites and to use a topical cream and spray all furniture and put our mattresses and furniture outside in the sun for the day. I did that and vacuumed the mattresses afterwords also.
After hearing about bed bugs I decided to research it on line and now I am worried that the treatment was not enough but I cant find most of these products here, I don’t know what to do!!! HELP!!!
Are there any home treatments with basic ingredients that you can find at a grocery store????
I need a fast treatment also because our 3rd child is due in 2 months!!! HELP US PLEASE!!!
I was attacked no matter where I tried to sleep in the house. Finally took my garage stored sleeping bag, taped the legs of the expanded kitchen table and have had no bed bug bites for three days of good sleep with the table as my bed. It’s giving me relief time while I deal with all this advice. I’m single so this is working out.
MUST BUY 2 products from do it your self pest control
1. CY-KICKS-CS, active ingredient is cyfluthrin 6% ask the sales person for any product that has that ingredient,
2. Martins IGR active ingredient 2-{1methyl2(4phenoxyphenoxy)ethoxy}pyridine 1.3% these 2 must be mixed together(2)oz per gallon of the cy-kicks-cs, and (1) oz of Martins IGR per gallon.
The IGR is an insect growth regulator that keeps the bugs from reach maturity (so they aren’t capable of mating) I have already told you my story re the bed bugs, no point in going over it again, however wanted to let everyone know how it’s been since we FINALLY found the RIGHT stuff to get rid of them.
For those who haven’t seen my other comments, I will start by telling you if you have bed bugs, be prepared for A LOT of work, (but without these 2 ingredients all your work will be in vain) at least mine was. I stripped all the beds in the house including the ones not infected (we thought we only had them in our main bedroom and the couch in the living room) NOT the case the little suckers (literally) like to hide in your clothes, on your body, in your hair, in your pockets, purses, diaper bags etc.
Step 1. again is stripping all the linens and every single item has to be washed in the HOTTEST water your washer allows, this includes your pillows, (even the throw pillows), stuffed animals, the mattress pad, the bed ruffle, comforters, blankets, EVERYTHING, strip them ALL to the floor. Then after you have done this your pillows should go in the dryer (highest heat until COMPLETELY dry)
2. Spray the bed, mattress, bed rails, carpet headboard, box springs, everything in the nightstands, has to be at minimum put in the dryer 60-90 min. (I washed every bit of all my clothes, however the heat seems to be the key to killing them) Don’t skimp and just dry the bed linens or pillows.
3. Spray every inch of carpet/floor, inside shoes, pull the drawers out of the dressers,armoirs,nightstands,take your couches apart and spray every inch including the metal springs (turn them upside down and spray inside every crevice you can find) and spray (BE SURE TO GET THOSE 2 ingredients and don’t skimp when mixing them) WE TRIED the DE covering every inch of our house with the nasty clay like powder, still had bedbugs.
4. 5-7 days NO MORE than 7 (5) is better because the bugs are in different stages of growth when you start, REPEAT everything you just did. Make sure to spray along the walls through out the ENTIRE house. EVERY 3rd day the pillows from the couch and my bed (16) total went into the dryer for a minimum of one hour.
YOU WILL SEE MORE BITES after the initial spraying (they DON’T want to dye, and will be more aggressive after you start getting rid of them.) I recommend you use commercial washer and dryers for this (I tore my washer up with the heavy loads of pillows, the comforter by itself was to heavy for my industrial strength washer) Make SURE you have all the clothes that go to the laundromat in tightly closed large trash bags, THEN SPRAY your car with the insecticides.
Baby car seats are also at risk so they HAVE got to be taken apart (anything that is cloth MUST GO IN THE DRYERS for a minimum of 60 min at the highest heat). We are now 8 days without a bed bug bite, HOWEVER, my husband saw a BABY so TODAY I am rewashing all my bed linens, and spraying every inch of the bed, mattress, box springs, rails, every inch of every wall,(along the floor) the couch again upside down thoroughly sprayed.
My neighbor works for a professional bug company HIS COMPANY REFUSES to accept any bedbug accounts due to the amount of work involved and all the follow up necessary to ELIMINATE them. We have an 8 lb dog that we keep outside for 2 hours while the spray is drying. None of the carpets, bedding, or couch have any stains, YOU however if are concerned about staining anything then THROW IT AWAY. IF YOU PUT ANYTHING on the curb COVER IT IN KETCHUP to deter anyone from picking anything up.
GOD BLESS, be persistent, and I can confidently say if you follow this you CAN get rid of them. I suggest that if you find ANY sign of bedbugs that you STOP reading NOW and get to the store for those 2 items. GOOD LUCK!
Denise in Orlando
I just moved into a beautiful new apartment and love it.
As I was moving in, I bought a set of couches off of Craigslist that were beautiful Victorian style seating with wood inlays.
(Can you see where I’m going with this?)
One of the first days being in the home I noticed a strange bug crawling on my mother.
We killed it.
In the next day or so I had a bite that I recognized from doing previous curious research on bed bugs.
That night we opened up the couches to find a TON of dead bed bugs…. curious.
Threw out the couches immediately hoping for the best, as they had only been in the house 3 days.
But now I keep getting bites that look more like spider bites, with only two lesions.
But I fear for the worst.
I am going to begin the treatment tonight by bagging all clothes in the bedroom, vacuuming, and using the sticky tape all around the door (trying to keep them where they are) and the bed.
I have to wait for the mattress, pillow, bedspring covers to come in the mail (WHY IN THE HECK DON’T THEY SELL THEM IN STORES!?).
Any advice on what type of pesticide/spray/dirt/whatever treatment works best?
I am terrified.
This is a fair warning to trust NO ONE on Craigslist, we got our money back, and he was very nice about it, but I do fear he was “playing dumb.”
INSPECT EVERYTHING!
Just found my bed bug problem this morning and needless to say I started ripping apart my bed…. yup, found the bedbugs (6 so far). I alerted my landlord of the problem and the company that they contacted gave an estimate of $500 to spray down the place with no guarantee…. Needless to say I a very weary of chemicals, so I believe we are going to try this on our own. I would rather battle with these bugs than battle with the effects the chemicals may have on me. Out to buy Diatomaceous Earth today, double sided sticky tape, and possibly Neem Oil. Don’t really know what will work… but I guess I have a date with laundry, plastic bags, duck tape, and find some of those pillow and bed cover things. Geez… heard about this “bed bug problem” but never figured I would be effected. I don’t visit different places often… never stay in hotels…. but I do have neighbors right next door in these apartments that I live in… maybe these things traveled over…. Didn’t want to have this problem… sigh.
ok so it is a little over a month after the pco came back for the 4th time to treat the house… not sure if we are bug free yet.. it is rather cold her at night so we bundle up pretty good.. and my face has seen either bites or.. pimples not sure considering I rarely have pimples and lately I have had quite a few.. some go away sooner than others some itch some don’t.. but I can’t help to think they are possible bites.. I don’t see any bugs.. but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.. I have encased all beds mattresses and box springs.. and have a ring of DE around all bed legs.. I still vaccum like crazy every weekend.. but am so tired.. we are still living out of bags in the garage.. so afraid to put everything back in the closets and dressers.. when will this end? I am planning to move.. but am afraid If we still have them .. I will take them with us…. what else can I do.. and how long does it take after they come in contact with the DE to die.. can they cross over crawl up and still bite?
Denise, I used DE and heat treatments along with drying the clothes. We have been bed bug free for a few weeks now. That was a lot of work you did and I hope it paid off. I am amazed that your in-laws did not let you know about the bugs. What is not alarming to some is to others. But that was rediculous. I hope you at least gave them an evil eye!
I just wanted to add one more comment about the products CY-Kick CS.These 2 products mixed together absolutely did not stain any of my furniture, linens, carpet etc. We used the DE food grade 1st and it didn’t work in my case.
I also bought a product online to use on the bug bites before we actually found the real true KILLER of these bugs from Hell, called Bite Rx (Search for it on Google Products) it was expensive but worked better than anything else we tried.
Yes I TRIED just about everything including alcohol, chiggerexplus, and even washed my hair with lice products. I am not endorsing these products for any other reason than from my experience. I do KNOW and can say earnestly that these products WORKED.
Again be diligent, make sure to treat the entire house, closets all doorways, baseboards, headboards, carpets, etc. I get “sick” with the smell of just about everything, but waited 2 hours before getting any where near the products, wore gloves, and took a shower after having any contact with the products, and did not have any ill effects. I did notice the dog drank a lot more water, so keep yourself hydrated, and make sure to keep your animals water bowls full too. Make sure that your animals food and water is put away don’t allow any of the product any where near their food, or your food, just common sense.
Hi ALL, after coming home from sharing a hotel room with my in laws for 5 days. We had bed bugs, apparently they have had them for 3 YEARS, brought 6 suit cases FULL and FILLED the hotel closet with their hanging clothes! (They neglected to tell us this when we agreed to share the cost of the room with them)
14 days after we got home I noticed a couple of bites that I was unfamiliar with. My mother in law (a nurse) spent the night at my house about 2 months after we got home to help me after having surgery. I showed her the bites she casually said “oh those are bed bug bites” I was FURIOUS! NOW the pests had really set up camp and had invaded the entire house!
My husband didn’t decide to do anything about it until HE eventually got bites (so now we were about 90 days in with them multiplying RAPIDLY) I looked up SEVERAL sites with e1 having different ideas, we started trying all the different ideas to no avail. Finally I went to an exterminator who lives across the street from us..he told me HIS PROFESSIONAL company flat refused to take any bug bite accounts because they can’t guarantee to get rid of them.
FINALLY WE FOUND THE ANSWER! THIS WORKS ABSOLUTELY…1st know it’s going to take A LOT of WORK, but if you have them you KNOW it’s worth it.
The products are CY Kick CS the active ingredient is Cyfluthrin 6% (1 pint cost us $60.00) and Martin’s IGR 4 oz. was about $15.00 (stands for insect growth regulator) which means it kills the eggs the bed bugs lay, you mix 2 oz. of CY Kick CS and 1 oz of the IGR per gallon. You will start noticing MORE bites the 1st couple of days because it really brings them out.
EVERY single day I ran all the pillows in the dryer for an hour (didn’t wash them but 2 times) because YOU MUST WITHOUT A DOUBT do the same process 5-7 days after your 1st treatment. (ALL THE LINENS, PILLOWS,MATTRESS PADS etc got the hottest water possible when I washed them and a MINIMUM of an HOUR, I recommend 90 min. in the dryer. We have been “bug free” for 4 days now (meaning 0 none zip bites) after fighting with them and buying all the other products suggested.
We only started this treatment 10 days ago, so without question I will SPRAY everything down ONE MORE time 2-3 days from now. Will put all 16 pillows in the dryer for an hour again too. I literally soaked the inside of the couches, turned them upside down sprayed all the springs, metal framing on the beds and the furniture. Pulled all the drawers out and sprayed the inside the cabinets, night stands, dressers etc.
We have a small 8 lb dog I kept him with me away from the house for 2 hours both times my husband sprayed allowed the products that we mixed together to thoroughly dry before we allowed him back into the house or on any furniture. (When I 1st found a bed bug I put it in a pill bottle with no food,water or air, it lived 10 days) SO good luck, hope you are able to find those 2 specific products.
God Bless you, because I have been through HELL and back getting rid of them. Anyone who has them can attest to that, you might not realize it but you carry them with you on your clothes, they love to hide in diaper bags, purses etc, so SPRAY your vehicles down, dump out your purses, clean out the diaper bags. (My son and daughter in law came over I insisted that they not bring anything in the house, but when we got back over to their house I INSISTED that I take apart the baby’s car seat, washed all of our clothes that we had on washed all the clothes in the diaper bag. Ran all the material from the car seat and the diaper bag in their dryer for an hour after we went to my husbands parents house for Thanksgiving) and YES I found a bed bug in the baby’s carrier (the carrier snaps into the car seat)
Well, the bed bugs moved to the living room so now i am moving everything! getting thrown out back to laundromat with clothes and linens!
Well it finally happened to me. I travel half of the year and I finally had my first confirmed run-in with these darn things. I am currently away from home and want to know exactally what I need to do to keep from bringing these home with me. I have read all of these posts and certainlly DO NOT want these things infesting my house.
Thank you for your help.
Well, I’m happy to announce we have found nothing on tape and son has no bites, my husband is away and the bed bugs love him so wont know for sure til he is home because they don’t bite me or i don’t react. I am thinking the heat did a very good job my landlord is not going to like me cause i am going to make him bring me back the heaters and do it again on his dime. i don’t pay for power, DE (Diatomaceous Earth) is under heaters and we have hot water heat…
Pipes, lights and plugs were siliconed today but still freaked out about basement as that’s where laundry is. I cringe every time i do a load that i am tracking some thing back. I put DE under base boards bought mattress encasement at Zellers for a whole $57, a lot better than the $160 on line! check out your local Walmart and Zellers stores guys! still need to paint and seal walls and continue to vacuum and work our way through the rest of the house doing all of the above …we are tired! we are putting things we don’t want to lose in unheated storage and its like -17c that’s 1.4F here as a high all week.
I will keep you posted. I hate the bag thing :) thanks for listening!
Hello, Everybody! I hope you guys are making progress. Two nights ago I had a bite mark on my left arm and initially I got very upset. Apparently raccoons that hang out near my complex and travel through our back patios are bringing fleas.
My landlord has advised us to spray for fleas outside at this time. I remember getting flea bites as a youngster so I observed this bite on my arm and later in the day I determined that is much more likely a flea bite then from a Bed Bug because it looked a little different and went away rather fast.
Still no concrete sign of a bed bug or bite here since the one I captured on the ceiling a while ago. But we are constantly looking. Our next plan is to purchase white sheets and pillow cases to easily spot these bugs or the fleas that may be showing up.
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and stay in touch. I am really hoping you beat this!
Patricia, a few days ago I elected to put my clothes back into the drawers but I inspect them before I put them on. I haven’t seen a bug since the one we saw on the ceiling about a week ago or so. Sometimes in bed or on the couch I feel like something is biting me but it could just be “nerves”! We never see a bug when we think one is on us.
So, until I see another bug or very obvious bite marks I am not going to pull out all the ammo again. We are practicing good house keeping and keeping the bedding off the floor. I still feel the double stick tape was most effective in at least giving us good sleep. I still haven’t applied any sticky product to the walls and I regret not doing this. I really need to get something and do this. If you have a wood frame bed you have to take it apart and steam everywhere on it. Fill in holes and deep cracks of the frame with caulking. I did!
Keep in touch and let me know how you do.
i used a brown tick and flea spray that worked right away….but i still wanna kill larvae and eggs.
John are you still living out of plastic bags ? we bought a 3 in one steam mop we used as a hand held steamer and steamed walls and base boards let dry (DE) Diatomaceous Earth all cracks and crevices land lord brought in heaters we ran at temp of 60 Celsius 140 Fahrenheit in both bed rooms so far so good now we need to steam all base boards in rest of house steam walls than DE every where we are all so going to seal every window floor board etc with invisible caulking as well its cold here now not to many Vacancy’s here so might have to rid it out here for winter will keep you posted tape on floors tonight see what it catches
Patricia, don’t panic. You will see results as you attack this. Just remember that there is a cycle of the eggs hatching and you will see baby nymphs, so don’t get frustrated. The DE is very fine and goes airborne very easily. Wear a high quality respirator mask. Not a droplet mask, such as the surgical type. These will be ineffective. I have applied DE to my bedroom and just returned to it to sleep after about a week.
My girlfriend noticed a bug above us on the ceiling near the edge. I got close to it and realized it was an adult Bed Bug motionless. I was hoping it was dead. It wasn’t, much to my disappointment. It was certainly possible it was dieing from the DE because it was strange that it was up on the ceiling. I killed it and flushed it.
The Double stick around the bed lags works very well so I am considering applying it around the walls near the ceiling to keep them off. There is real the potential of them crawling up and dropping onto the bed. An earlier post on here suggested this and I wasn’t worried about it. I am now.
I have several co-workers that have bedbugs. One is slowly winning the battle via professional exterminators. Another is floundering. They just don’t know how to deal with it and it’s getting worse. The other day I noticed that I had received ‘the gift that keeps giving.’ (cue sarcasm)
On a good note, I have spray bottles of rubbing alcohol all around my house, as I use it as a sanitizer. When the little pest crawled over my arm, I grabbed a bottle that was close to hand and zapped it. It died instantly. I’ve also noticed that creepy-itchy feeling and have been combating it with alcohol. Anywhere I itch, I spray. Including my hair. Doesn’t do a lot of good for the texture, but the itchy-crawly feeling goes away.
And I’ve been spraying down my favorite chair every day. Granted it only kills the bugs that crawl through it, but it keeps me from getting bit. Wet, cold rump is a small price to pay…
2 notes of caution:
1) Be careful not to spray it near the eyes. It Stings!!
2) This should be a no-brainer, but not everyone knows how flammable rubbing alcohol is. Don’t spray it near open flames and Don’t smoke in rooms where you can still smell the alcohol vapor.
I still have some diatomaceous earth from a previous battle with fleas. (I won!) So today, I’m off to the store for:
a magnifying glass (easier to spot the little !@*&%s)
cedar oil
double sided tape
More alcohol!
possibly a steamer if I can find one I can afford
The Plan:
Extreme tidying & vacuuming, possible steam cleaning
‘Blocking up’ my couch and wrapping double sided tape around the blocks, diatomaceous earth under the cushions,
possibly cedar oil on the outside (will have to check label first – if not, will continue with aggressive alcohol treatment)
Diatomaceous earth all around perimeter, double sided tape around all outlets & cracks, & even covering outlets I don’t use
Laundry while tidying – ashamed to say I have a couple of piles of laundry on floor – I’ve been keeping clean laundry in bins since the ‘flea war’, and will be adding some double sided tape to the outside of those bins
I might even pick up some of those storage bags that you vacuum the air out of & put all my summer clothes in them. Along with some D-earth.
So far, the cats seem unaffected. They’re not doing the panicked climbing to get away, that they did during the flea episode. Does anyone out there have suggestions on keeping it that way, or are the bed bugs likely to just come after me?
Books: It seems to me that a way to treat infested books would be to bag them up & throw them in the freezer for a week or so, leaving them bagged after treatment until all the bugs are gone. Does this sound feasible?
Will post again with results & if it works, will be helping the co-worker who is still struggling.
Well, we discovered bed bugs a few days ago, notified land lord and he is bring in a steamer which i know is not 100% effective. i know they came from another unit as i heard pct tell land lord he could not do a complete spray and she told me she had them all summer grrr…
After a lot of reading we have decided 1 to move asap and to to use a routine of Dawn for Dishes Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth and and barax and salt treatment. I have also gotten rid of all wood furniture in bed rooms and removed clothes for washing and bagging sealed beds in plastic witch I will replace for piece of mind or buy mattress encasement for removed all clutter and completely emptied closet.
Once under control rooms will be strictly for sleeping no storing things in closets except clothes going to try no dressers hang all clothes and sealed tubs for rest. will make a rumpus room in basement of new place for sleep overs etc. Wish me luck! going to dust every box with DE as we pack and seal with duct tape in hopes of not taking with us.
W will be having steam cleaner fixed as not working right now and buy a new steam mop to add to our daily cleaning 32 day til move wish me luck will keep you posted. Oh, and so every one knows, son has 3 bites, hubby bit also and myself none; only found 3 bed bugs.
Frustrated in Phoenix,
I forgot to mention that professional exterminators probably use chemicals that will continue to kill even after drying but I have read from earlier posts that sometimes these exterminators have to return to same residence multiple times and the cost can be hundreds to a couple thousand dollars. Try ridding them yourself.
Frustrated in Phoenix,
The chemical treatments that we purchase over the counter here in the states apparently only is effective while the product is wet, that is if you get a direct hit on the bug or it crawls over the damp surface and it does nothing to the eggs. A person with United Industries (Hot Shot) told me they have a product coming out that will kill eggs and bugs even when it dries! This will be monumental.
I have never paid anyone to do heat treatment but I purchase a garment steamer from Costco that i enjoyed using and I am sure it roasted every egg and bug it came in contact with. It was a good purchase and I love having it because it is chemical free. I am having real good success and almost ready to stake the flag and declare that I have my place back.
I have some earlier comments below that I suggest you read on what I have done since I discovered bed bugs. By the way, I always thought they came from my Ex-Wifes house after her trip to Cancun, Mexico. My boys must have brought them over with there laundry and things.
The other day I fell asleep on her couch for about a half hour and I got nailed. Fresh bites. I told her about it via text but never got a reply. I have my proof finally.
We saw a very tiny nymph 2 nights ago on my pillow when we were in bed. It must have just hatched and went hunting. It got us I have to admit. We remained calm and since then I steamed the bed frame one more time and today I replaced those wood blocks and thin wood planks that go under the King box springs. I replaced them with planks that are 2″ thick to remove the need for blocks.
The fewer things touching the carpet, the better! I still believe the double stick tape around the legs of the frame is worth it’s weight in gold. I used a baster to apply the Diatomaceous Earth in areas of the room and between the box spring and mattress. The fine dust was not pleasant at all. I used a cheap mask.
I would recommend a high quality mask if you choose to do this. I think I am rounding the corner on beating this.
is chemical treatment better than heat treatment for bed bugs- what should the cost be for each?
This was weird. Two nights ago my fiance puts on a T-shirt before climbing into bed. I didn’t think much of it but she got bit real bad on her left arm down to her wrist within some minutes.
I had just fallen asleep and she woke me in a panic. She had went to the restroom because of the stress and discomfort from the bites that just occurred and spotted the adult Bed Bug on her shirt between her chest and shoulder. She was able to kill it.
These little bugs are hungry because we are doing everything we can to keep from getting bit. This bug pounced and didn’t waste anytime. We came to the conclusion that it got on her shirt when the shirt was on a soft foot rest next to the wall for many hours prior to her putting it on.
I think I have done an excellent job of removing them from the bed and positioning the tape. She has hampered my efforts to apply Diatomaceous Earth but she is on board now.
JoAnn, I would have to assume you can bring home the bugs from a school infestation quite easily. I am thinking a lot of that school is carpeted as well. Look for the tiny red / brown or black mold looking poops they leave in seems and tufts. Look for fresh bites after sleeping. Then you will know, unless you are lucky enough to catch one.
Well glad and not so glad to see that other people have problems with bed bugs.
My daughter’s school (High School) found bed bugs in classrooms last week. The administration tried to hide it until they received tons of angry calls from parents wondering why an announcement wasn’t made. The school is almost all lynolium and wood except for the auditorium. I am thinking a student brought in the bed bug on their clothing.
I read that the bugs can live in electrical outlets, molding, basically anyplace dark.
What are the chances of the entire school being infested and our children bringing the bugs home? It’s big school with lots of children, And in dealing with high school students they don’t want to go to school to begin with, this is the perfect excuse!
Megan,
I doubt he brought any bugs back with the clothes he was wearing. I cannot say that for any bagged clothes or other items. The bites will itch for a few days and probably have subsided by now but will leave a bright red mark in some cases. I have seen these kind on my feet stay there for a week.
My boyfriend wound up w/ several bites after spending the nite at his parents’ house; is there any way that he could’ve brought them into our home via his clothes, etc.? He’s really itchy and the bites are classic bed-bug bites, but I’m going crazy wondering if those suckers could’ve hitched a ride to our home! Any suggestions/comments are welcome; thanks to all for your previous posts/info. on this topic :)
Here I am again…4 treatments later and a carpet cleaning company that treated the carpets as well.. and I think we still have a problem.. I have encased our mattresses with plastic covers.. and my box spring as well.. I will be purchasing 2 more for my daughter’s box-springs tomorrow.. I vacuum every week like a bad woman.. and wash the kitchen and dinning room tile floor with a mix of pinesol and water.. (mostly pinesol)..
Tonight I surrounded our bed wheels with a wide thin layer of DE.. I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this…. The bites have gotten less.. But still notice small ones with an occasional big one here and there. Why is it so hard to get ride of them?
When the exterminator came for the fourth time 10 days ago he left useless traps that look like a folded piece of cardboard and stuck them in between the carpet and baseboard near my bed.. ( only in my room and only 2)..why isn’t there a trap that can attract them and catch them so I would have proof..
I can’t see any.. but am sure we still have some.can’t afford to move or throw the rest of my furniture away.. already threw out my sofas.. ya they were in there too. I can’t afford the hire another PCO…and the one I did hire.. thinks it is psychological now.. What a jerk..
was sitting at my dinning room table earlier and think I was bit on the front part of my ankle at it stings some now and then but no visible bite mark yet.. Is there anything that works….? CAN’T KEEP LIVING LIKE THIS…
First let me say, I’m glad I found this site. I often heard, ” Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” I’m almost 50 yo, I never heard of bed bugs being this bad. I haven’t been face with this problem yet. Thank goodness
My daughter moved out of our house about a year ago and now she’s face with the problem of trying to get rid of bed bugs. She lives in a low income housing complex so I’m sure the problem is huge. As there all townhouses the bugs are crawling from one house to another. She has a exterminator coming in to spray the place. But the thing is, This is her second time dealing with bed bugs in one year. Whatever the exterminator is spraying sure isn’t working at all.
The Housing Authority made her get rid of her mattress and box spring, couch, chair. This is the second time she was told to trash these items. I read where you could have them hot steam that would kill the bed bugs. I was going to have that done but now I’m back to looking for more furniture. My daughter can’t afford to keep replacing furniture. Right now, my daughter is sleeping on a blow up mattress. I made it very clear to the Housing Authority that she didn’t have bed bugs before she move in.
Once again I need to go over there and help her out. I’m going to use some of the tips that I have read on here.
The hot water, the DE, Alcohol, 20Mule Borax & Salt and the Dawn.
Question — I do have a “Heating Gun” I’m wondering if that would be safe to use? Cause this is war.
Diatomaceous Earth works!
Bed bugs were just discovered in my apartment building, but I haven’t seen any in my apartment yet. Is it just a matter of time?
Hey, Guys! I am happy to say that we are not getting bit. I am not going to suggest they are all gone but the double stick tape is keeping them off the bed from the carpet. I purchased a roll of heavy duty mounting tape at the hardware store for about $10. It is much more then I need. Probably enough for 5 or more wood frame beds. I purchased the Diatomaceous Earth today. I got a large bag for about $12. I plan on using it soon.
Brittany, have you figured out how you got them in the first place? Do any traveling, bring a used item into your place, have guests stay over or maybe an adjoining apartment has them? This is important because if your neighbors have bed bugs you must eradicated your place and the neighbor has to as well. I live in an apartment and I don’t know yet if the bugs are migrating from the unit next door or above me.
It’s very frustrating. My ex-wife went to Cancun last year and my boys bring their laundry over on weekends. They had these bites before we did so I am just figuring they came back in her luggage. But definitely attack the problem now as you say you are. I would suggest purchasing the Hot Shot 1 gallon jug from your local hardware store and begin spraying everywhere you can with this hand held pump sprayer. It’s a contact killer and wet killer so they have to crawl over it when it is still wet. So don’t be afraid to really dampen in areas.
Spray your bed frame, up underneath the box spring. Everywhere you can.They usually start out in the box spring and later move to the mattress seems. You may not find them in the seems just yet. Important: remove your box spring webbing that covers the bottom side (just rip it off and carefully place in a bag) and also the PLASTIC TUFTS that protect the 4 corners. You can replace these items later when you are comfortable about it.
This is an excellent hiding place and breeding ground for the bed bugs, especially the tufts. I personally saw this at my place. Don’t bother getting a new bed. Attack them in place. Use the DE in conjunction with the chemical. Put double stick tape around the bed legs to stop them from crawling up it at night. others have suggested petroleum jelly as well. Pull bed away from wall. Nothing to touch ground. use tiny blanket if you have to. I used comforter last night and awoke to being bit and saw it touching the floor.
Leave a reading light on. this helps to some degree because they prefer darkness. Also, if you are alert and you feel one the light will already be on if you can spot it. I kill baby nymphs by crushing them between my 2 thumb nails. It’s gross but better then it growing up to be an adult. You can catch the adults with toilet paper and then use the tip of a sharp knife to poke it .
ALCOHOL, Rubbing Alcohol in a cheap spray bottle safe for kids, pets. SEE the Big Bad Bed Bugs lift their tales and die. Look for bottles on sale and refill your own spray bottle over and over. I did this twice three times a week and it has worked thus far along with all the other stuff…Caulking walls and rug, door intersects. Vaccuum in the night time at least a few times
I have been dealing with bedbug infestation since May and have finally found something that kills them but you must be diligent about it. Rubbing Alcohol!
I sprayed until wet all areas where they are them go back in 3 days and spray again for the new ones just hatching. Then I spray again on the 7th day and thereafter every 7 days until there are no more outbreaks. I have sprayed them directly with alcohol and they die within a few minutes. I think its the properties that cause them to dry up.
I have checked back after a few days and the bugs and their droppings can be vacuumed up. The alcohol in dollar stores is 70% and good to start with if you can’t afford the 100%. The higher content leads to better results of course. Also you can use this same alcohol for the bites as its soothes the skin and takes away the itching. Please use a mask and ventilate as the fumes are overpowering. This works!
So I’ve never had an issue with bed bugs, until today.. I think. My legs were really itchy so I was itchin the crap out of them. I turn on the light and they are covered with red bumps! I looked everywhere on my mattress underneath it and did not see anything. I’m going to try the borax/salt, the dawn/water, and the food grade DE. I can’t live like this! I’m sittin’ here freakin out that there are bugs all over me!
I used some double stick tape around metal frame legs and also checked the bedding real good before going to sleep. I moved the bed away from the walls and made sure blanket wouldn’t touch carpet. Happy to say we had a good night sleep! talking to the person at the company that makes Hot Shot (United Industries) was very helpful.
These little tricks are working and I am going to keep at it. Next is the DE (Diatomaceous Earth) and I might use petro jelly as well. I guess we are fortunate because in my opinion the infestation I have appears to be slight. From what I am reading on here it is obvious you guys are getting bit a lot and also see many around and they are very active too.
I spoke to government agencies today and got nowhere except a helpful link to my county vector program. I spoke to United Industries also and an employee told me the Hot Shot Spray can take up to 24 hours to terminate the bed bug from a direct hit or if it walked over damp surfaces. She said if the spray dries it has no killing effect and it will never kill eggs. She did advise me that they have a product coming out that will kill eggs and also continue to kill even after it dries. I can’t wait to get that!!
I caught another bed bug after work and have it in my container for the pest control guy when he comes over. I also told my apartment manager about my bug situation and he was sort of helpful. I was asking him for help. At first he said he would get an exterminator but later deferred the idea of the cost to me. Gee! Thanks!
I double stick taped the legs of the bed with the metal frame and looked it over as best I could. I found a very tiny bug that is hairy and grey in color. To me it looks like another specie of bed bug so I am keeping it as well. we are not sleeping on the wood frame bed. We keep finding them on it.
Next for us is a steam cleaner and the DE. We will keep at it.
It’s been at least 7 hours since my large bed bug specimen was sprayed with the Hot Shot and it is alive and well. I had also let it crawl on an end of a Q-Tip wet with the “pesticide” . This is absolutely ridiculous. How do we expect these bugs to die by merely crawling over something that has been sprayed, such as a mattress when it doesn’t kill them if they are sprayed directly?
I have sseen wasps die instantly from wasp products and roaches die quickly from those pesticides. What a joke. I think a governing agency isn’t allowing for high enough concentrations of the active ingredients. I read the Canadians post and noticed he had great results with .5% pyerythin. It seems like Canada allows for higher concentrations.
Also, my girlfriend and I are trying to figure out if the source is a neighboring apartment. I have seen the manager spraying around the complex but I always thought it was for roaches. I am going to have to bite the bullet and talk to him.
My girlfriend is sold on the Borax method. She wants to try it. A Doctor told me that encasing your bed in plastic suffocates them. He said you can get this plastic from moving companies.
We were itching a lot and having bite marks after getting up in the morning. A friend of mine mentioned bed bugs were in San Fransisco and New York. I am in Orange County, California. I realized we were likely infested with bed bugs. It made sense to me. My girlfriend found two after I text her and asked her to look around the bed.
It has been over a month and we are in a battle here. We have two large beds in an apartment. I have some ideas where they came from but it doesn’t really matter. First thing I did was fog. I did it twice and maybe 3 times. It was Hot Shot fogger available at The Home Depot. Even though the store is large and has a massive pesticide aisle it only offers the one brand that lists bed bugs for the stores here in California.
I purchased the aerosal can of the bud killing product and that wasn’t fun spraying and I think did very little for the fight. I purchased a hand held spray product from Ace Hardware that is for bed bugs. It was very strong in odor. I think it worked better then the Hot Shot but the room was not habital for almost a week due to the chemical odor.
At one point in the battle I removed the webbing material that covers the bottom of box springs because I found them hanging out there and also spotted some eggs there along the edge of this material. Removing the webbing also allowed for me to spray the underside of the box springs thoroughly and limit where they can hide. They seemed to prefer this material! Around this time I had purchased the 1 gallon Hot Shot Hand Sprayer for Bed Bugs. It is very easy to use, covers a lot of area and doesn’t smell bad after an hour or so.
We still get bit to this day and I go on the attack again. We are finding them in the mattress seams along the edge now. I could be mistaken but my reasoning for this is because I have been spraying so much in the box spring. We were finding nymphs lately and that was a good sign because nymphs don’t lay eggs. We want to kill them before they lay eggs of course. But unfortunately I found a massive sized adult hiding in the mattress seam today. This was disappointing for me because I didn’t want to see an adult. I am hoping this was the matriarc and I flushed him or her from under the box spring.
I went ahead and sprayed this adult directly with the Hot Shot Sprayer twice and did chose not kill it with my tool. Instead I collected this specimen to watch the death process. Much to my disappointment this bug is still active and it has been almost 3 hours!! It’s confusing because I feel the bed bugs are dieing off but this one isn’t dieing as fast as I thought it should. I still have hope that it will die. Earlier I complained to an employee at The Home Depot and told him about my experience. He was all ears but said I should throw in the towel and purchase new beds. He also said the California stores don’t have products that the east coast stores have and I should purchase something offered from the internet. I told him his company is doing a disservice to the the community offering a product that is ineffective.
Hope this was helpful to you.
Well, they’re here in full force in Regina. I live in a seniors high-rise and the landlord started inspections in the summer. The exterminators came September 15th with chemicals and killed most of them. After they left I found about 20 dead ones and 2-3 live ones on the mattress and box spring. I had to leave the apartment for 2 days, because the chemicals stink (perfume!) and I have asthma. Thank goodness the bites stopped, they were driving me insane.
I had two kinds of bites – little hard white ones, particularly on my hands, and big red puffy ones on arms and legs. They itched like crazy. After the chemical treatment I lived with all my clothes, towels, blankets etc. in glad bags and slept on the couch for two weeks. Since the fumigation I haven’t noticed any bites but I found a large adult tonight., full of blood. YUCK!!!!
The exterminator is coming again Wednesday the 27th with a heat treatment. I have to remove all my paintings, and anything that would melt like candles and toiletries from the apartment before they come. All medicines and vitamins have to go in the fridge. The exterminator said the heat won’t hurt photographs, but I’m removing them anyway.
The landlord has become more aggressive lately and is inspecting all 155 apartments in the building for bedbugs. The residents here like to go to value village and other places and drag junk home. I’m moving as soon as I can afford to, and throwing my bed away before I move. Thanks for the tip about Dawn. I’ll try it on the next one I see, I’m going to Walmart tomorrow to buy a steamer.
So here I am with a follow up….another one.
It has been just shy of a month since the 3rd treatment for our bed bugs with the exterminator.. I still get bites.. and I think my daughters do to.. these bites are so tiny..little red dots at first kinda sting..and get a little bigger after a day or so.. don’t itch terribly like the bigger ones.. but I am pretty sure they are from nymphs that may have hatches.. going crazy..
I called the owner of the exterminator co.,,, he is coming out himself with the guy that treated this Sat to inspect.. treat again (with a different chemical) and to leave traps designed to lour those little bed bugs, hopefully .. I don’t know what to do.. still haven’t put the clothes back in the rooms yet.. living out of storage containers and trash bags in the garage sucks..
Why are these things so hard to get rid of? I even had a carpet guy out to treat the carpets almost 2 weeks ago to steam them and treat for these buggers.. also steamed the mattresses and box springs.. have caulked all baseboards and window sills … am waiting on mattress / box spring and pillow covers to come up.. they are poleypropelyne ones designed to keep out dust mites..bed bugs etc… does anyone know how well they will work… willing to do anything at this point..tires of the bites.. even the little ones scar like you wouldn’t believe…. going insane!
I recently have been invaded by bugs and at the point that it is bed bugs by similar experience as those posted!! I am about to use the Borax and salt treatment. I got rid of my mattress and box spring. Clothes all to the dryer in black bags. But my question is I share a room with my 1 and a half year old so we have many books and toys that are electrical how do i clean those because you say everything needs to be sprinkled and sprayed????? PLEASE HELP
THIS IS MY LAST TIME POSTING A SIMPLE SOLUTION FOR BED BUG TREATMENT – STOP WASTING YOUR TIME AND JUST DO IT. IT IS A LOT OF WORK BUT ITS WORTH IT!
When i had these no exterminator would do it because there was no way to get rid of them so they said. The bed bugs are the demons from hell.
I tried everything you can think of, spent over $200.00 on chemicals and still there. I know this worked quickly and slept so good the first night we did this. Until I am fortunate enough to have a very dear friend give me a solution of borax 20 mule team detergent and salt.
First you get an empty large hole size shaker of any kind ( i used an old garlic powder container it wasn’t empty but I sure emptied it)
Then use 1/2 borax detergent & 1/2 salt and sprinkle everywhere… All over, I took mattress & box spring outside sprinkled all over left all day.
vacuum everything up including electrical sockets, every nook and cranny the bed bugs hide; I taped up sockets and me not ever wanting these things back taped up along baseboards.
wash everything in hot water.
non washables in black trash bags baking in sun for 3 days
repeat 3 months later
I had a couple boxes under my bed so i sprinkled in there also. very important things but anything to rid of bed bugs. I also, to this day, vacuum my mattress. all the time
3 years later no sign of them!
20muleteamlaundry.com/about#laundry
mortonsalt.com
All treatment products can be found at your nearest store such as Walmart.
** VERY IMPORTANT TO SPRINKLE EVERYWHERE…. YOU CAN’T BE LAZY. YOU HAVE TO VACUUM EVERYTHING AS WELL!
This works! Good luck!
This is our second time – first was an expensive trip using professional pest control and three visits to get rid of the bed bugs. We washed, dried and bagged everything in our bedrooms. This time one female adult was found Sept 9. 2010 full of blood, running across a pillow in the middle of the night. No obvious bites. No other signs of bed bugs. Since then only one possible bite about two weeks after the first sighting in another bedroom. Then nothing.
I used the internet to try to find a trap that would attract the bugs, which are very hard to find. Found one you can make at home, tested in conjunction with Rutgers U in NJ. Use a stainless steel dish with Diatomacious Earth in the bottom and place an insulated jug in it, with dry ice inside. Open the spout a little. It emits carbon dioxide and attracts the bed bugs. Place a paper towel from the floor to the top of the dish and over the lip so that the bed bugs can climb into the dish. Leave for 12 hours. Use about 2 pounds of dry ice. I didn’t have any DE at the time and used talcum powder in the dish. I also put two sided tape around the inside of the dish so that any live ones couldn’t climb out. This worked. It showed me that even though no more bites, there were several tiny nymphs and one larger bug dead in the powder and/or stuck to the tape. Then I ordered DE and followed with treating the door sills, baseboards, and other places in both rooms. I haven’t really emptied the closets or the dressers in the second room.
By the way, I used Benedryl to relieve the sensitivity to the bite I had. The itch was gone very soon and didn’t return. I’m not sure the bite I had was from a bed bug. It could have been a spider bite. By the next day the welt was gone and the site had a tiny center which looked white and like pus. Even thought the welt disappeared, the site itched when it was washed but didn’t itch if not touched.
I’m following the instructions that came with the DE. It’s time for another round of dry ice to determine whether there are any living bed bugs around. They might just be in hiding or trapped by a DE barrier, just waiting for a chance to feed again.
I’m also quite concerned that no one seems to know whether these things can get a blood meal and the person not get a reaction. It seems unlikely that no one in our household has visible bites, even when the first living one was found.
Time for another test with dry ice. Dry Ice, at this time of year, is difficult to find and a little costly. I had to pay a minimum charge of $15 for the few pounds I bought. Still better than paying for exterminators.
We have also put vaseline on the legs of the beds, and tape, sticky side out, around the legs of chairs and beds wherever possible.
Note to readers:
Diatomaceous Earth is harmful if inhaled. Commonly available at pool stores as a filter medium for “DE” Filters. This is NOT the stuff you want to use! Look for FOOD GRADE Diatomaceous Earth!
As with anything, be careful with any product you are using. Always read the label, and be informed.
Me, my brother, my mother, my brothers girlfriend have been battling bed bugs for the past few months or so. We try so much and it isn’t seeming to work. We cleaned up clutter. Put all our clothes in garbage bags. Took all our blankets to the laundromat and washed with hot water and dried.
I have read a lot of solutions for killing bed bugs and we are now going to try the dawn solution and also steamers, ect-. We do not know where these hideous bugs came from, as well as we don’t know how long it takes for them to fester and populate.
My brothers girlfriend came back from Israel a few months back. we are starting to think maybe the bed bugs came from there because the news , ect- is mostly saying travelers are picking them up and bringing them back. Also a few people and their children stayed with us. They have left and fortunately have not brought these pests to their new home.
We have just called a pest control company and are already seeing a difference. All the big bugs are mostly gone. and here and there we see a few babies. To give you a hint or an example of ways to keep from getting so many bites is you could wear pajama pants, tucked in long socks. a tight shirt and then a tight long sleeved shirt-turtle neck. whatever you would like. and also then gloves with the shirt sleeves tucked in.
Does ANYONE have any remedies to keep from them biting you? Or from getting worse? And i think I’m doing a great job considering i am 15. thank you
Brandi A
OK, so now I’ve joined “the group.” Question – has anyone tried a hot hair dryer on the mattress/box springs instead of a steamer? Don’t have a steamer, and since I’ve read that the water vapor itself doesn’t do anything positive, and I’m thinking it can cause other damage, I’m wondering. Thanks. I’m at the beginning of this adventure, so…
Yesterday we found bed bugs, on our mattress’, & furniture. There is 5 people that live here and only 2 of the 5 had bites. But I know all of us have been bit, just didn’t show up on everyone.
So we started thinking of ways we could get rid of them without hiring an exterminator (we don’t have the money to do that). I looked on the internet and it said that heat would kill them (120 degrees and higher). Since there is a baby living here, we knew chemicals was out of the discussion.
Then I remembered the commercials for the SHARK STEAM MOP. So we went to Wal-Mart, got the cheapest one ($59.95 it was on sale) one sided, and it wasn’t the vaccum and mop, just the steam MOP. And it seems to be working, only time will tell, and its a hell of a lot cheaper than an exterminator. We can ALREADY SEE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!
I just bought RID spray its used for head lice. it has Phenothrin in it. Its safe for mattresses as well. I have sprayed my entire mattress, and put all my linens in the washer and dryer. When I was putting my comforter in there was a male bedbug literally starting walking towards me. So gross. I also moved my mattress away from the wall and saw what I thought were baby spiders with little dark pinned shaped bodies and clear legs. After doing some reading I now know they were nymphs. (I killed them immediatly). I am having pest control come buy and search my house as well with me today. I got my first bite 8 days ago. I am hoping to catch this in time. Will keep you all posted.
I fought this battle for over a year in Edmonton. It didn’t matter what I tried, they came back. What a nightmare. I found out later that my 95 year old widow neighbor had a massive infestation and her son was treating it with sprays that caused them to migrate to my apartment. I had beaten them hands down with a steam machine and lots of hard work, only to have a new group move in. The infestation was discovered when a my neighbor went in to hospital. When I found out about it I promptly sealed off all access points to the adjacent apartments and had my apartment professionally treated. Probably not required as I have developed a very thorough regime for executing these little buggers.
So, I move to Vancouver where my wife’s aged parents live. They are old and bored, they spend their days buying junk from Value Village and the like. No big surprise then that they have a pretty good infestation. The building manager hired some local goof to come in and spray, what a joke. The main infestation was entirely missed, on the back of the headboard! How much more obvious could they be? I have been treating the apt with steam and pyro dust. Lots of clutter, informed residents and still bringing crap in from the junk stores. I am doing one more round of treatment, paying a respectable licensed company to come in and treat after I prep everything. I will do regular followups, however the first time I see them bring any junk in to the place, I am out of it.
I found one crawling across my bed a week ago. Brought it home with me from the in-laws. Multiple bites. My wife freaked. Here we go again.
So here is my follow up.. exterminator came saturday.. finished the 3rd treatment 3 in just under a month.. I have found dead bed bugs hera and there.. but the worst part is htere must still be live ones because at least me and 1 of my daughters have gotten bit.. I think my other daughter too.. but she is in denial.. 2 of us even slept on the living room floor last night seeing as our bedrooms are upstairs and it was way too hot to sleep in our beds.. we got bit.. not a lot but a few 3 to 4 bites at least.. does anyone know how long after treatment it takes before we don’t have any bites.. haven’t seen any live ones.. but have killed 3 live spiders.. 1 each after every treatment and they were are all the living room floor.. did I mention the whole entire house was treated for bedbugs.. fumagant.. grow inhibitor..and dusting.. I am soo tired still don’t get much sleep and emotionally drained.. starting to effect work.. this is terrible.. does anyone have any suggestions.. also how much longer before be are bit free?
I have been dealing with bed bugs now for at least 3 to 4 months. Not knowing it was bed bugs at first. My oldest daughter was getting bit and had a bad reaction to the bites on her arms.. I inspected her mattress and saw nothing.. she went to the doctors and they said she had blocked pores.. ya right..
A week later she came into my room late at night saying she was itchy and saw a brown bug on her.. I went to her room, started to take her bedding off to wash it.. and there they were, several bugs crawling.. The next day I went to the store .. bought products to spray.. specifically labeled for bed bugs.. steam cleaned her carpet took all clothes out and washed them all.. threw out her wood frame bed.. bought box spring and metal frame and encased her new box spring and mattress..
Within days my youngest and me started to see bites.. so the following weekend I started to spray everywhere.. removing clothes out of the rooms as well.. for 4 weekends straight that was my life..cleaning spraying..vacuuming.. we still had them.. had no choice but to hire an exterminator..
Two treatments into a 3 treatment process.. still having bites.. don”t know what to do.. exterminator says it is nearly impossible for anything to survive his treatments..and that maybe it is psychosomatic.. really? anyway so for the long post.. I am just sick over this .. in 2 months I have lost nearly 20lbs.. and have gotten less that that in sleep.. I am emotionally, physically, and financially exhausted!
Another easy way to get rid of bed bugs is one that worked extremely well for fleas years ago. It’s called 20 Mule Team Borax and it’s sold as a laundry additive in your supermarket. It also dehydrates the eggs killing the cycle of fleas and any other insect through dehydration. It smells nice and doesn’t have harmful insecticides in it. Years ago, after dozens of pesticide treatments, a friend from Miami read an article about pest control. The big pesticide companies won’t tell you about this. But it works. You just sprinkle it around any area which might breed an unwanted pest — roaches included. It may take a few days to work. Because you are not only suffocating the living pests, but you are also dehydrating the eggs.
Why must we get so complicated when this is a wonderful solution?
Hey guys, a couple of days later and so far completely bed bug free :D that stuff works great! I sprayed it on every window sill, the door frame, under the wall heater (which isn’t on, so it won’t explode XD), on our mattress, box spring, corners of walls, and anything else i saw that could have been a haven for bed bugs.
We left the apartment for the weekend and came back after spraying, there were about 15 dead bugs on the floor and in our mattress. We sprayed again that night and slept on the couch. No bites from the couch :D And when we slept in our bed last night, absolutely no bites and one hell of a good sleep :D The landlord told me that if they come back, he will deal with them by calling an exterminator, so at least we have him on our side =) But once again, the spray that i used is called “PRO Aerosol Insecticide” it has 0.5% Pyrethrins, and 4.0% Piperonyl Butoxide.
Here are the details:
pro aerosol insecticide
pro aerosol safety
pro aerosol label
You can purchase it at any Home Hardware that sells insecticides, and I’m sure Canadian Tire would have it too. Its $16.00/can, but when it comes to not getting sleep and waking up with red welts on you that look disguising that itch like crazy, its most likely the cheapest way to go. I just have to remember to spray in 2 or 3 days so that if there were any eggs, the spray will kill the nymphs!
Thanks again for you help guys!
Tony. S
we didn’t have any problem until new people moved next door..we also had some of my sons friends spend much of the summer with us..we have found 3 bugs in my bed..have been bitten at night..since i am disabled and don’t feel one leg i really didn’t know what was going on..i need help in cleaning the room..no other room in the house has any..and since i cleaned he carpet in there with hot water i haven’t seen any more..did i clean them out or do i need to do more to make it stop..it takes forever or me to clean anything because of my bumb leg but i try..
as an add on i bought a new mattress that is special for my bad back..will be getting plastic cover for the mattress and will take all bedding to laundromat for washing in hot water and drying..with the dawn solution do i spray the furniture an then wash it down..or leave it to dry..on fixed income and can afford exterminators..have a bissell steam cleaner with heat and used that in bedroom..have not seen anymore since..do i need to do it again..
Ok I KNOW I there is a bed bug problem where I am staying. My fiance and I are staying with friends who have noticed many bed bugs in their bed. They sprayed some sort of can at their doorway and around their bed but nothing more. Their house is extremely cluttered with books and clothing surrounding their bed and throughout their room. We stay in the living room on an air mattress covered with many layers of blankets (we have a kitten that uses his claws to climb and run all the time). We have unfortunately had a few bad turns within the last three months. I am pregnant, we don’t have orientation to our new part-time jobs until Wednesday, our “friends” want us out by the end of the month, we do food stamps and Medicaid, and have just managed to borrow enough money from family to get a new place this week.
Now our better named roommates don’t seem to be doing much about this infestation (perhaps they want to wait until we leave or something I don’t know). We don’t have a whole lot of money and we were very frightened of getting them. At the time the best we could think to do is spray a barrier around their doorway with 100% deet (it was all we had). So we crossed our fingers hoping we could treat our things when we left. Not a chance. I noticed the cat pounce at something on the bed and quickly eat it. I asked him if I even wanted to know what that was…. he stared at me silently as if to answer that I did not. The next time he pounced the bed I caught him and stashed him away while I examined it. I determined it was a bug and quickly scooped it into an airtight, clear plastic container. Upon close inspection I am 99.9% certain it is a beg bug. It does not appear to be engorged by blood but when looking closely at where I found it I found several tiny black dots that I, with my previous paranoid searching with a flashlight over several days, could have sworn were not there yesterday.
So here is the deal…. we cannot cure this apartment. Most of the clutter is not ours and our roommates seem in no rush. They certainly don’t seem to care about the prospect that we now have these bugs as well this which is highly foolish. We would never have their permission to sort/clean any of their room or anything in it. EVER. Our best bet is to make certain our new place has no bugs and properly treat everything (including ourselves and our young cat) before it goes to the new place.
-So we have an air mattress (how would you treat that exactly? That dawn stuff sounds like a good idea).
-Several blankets and a large pile of clothes (would simply washing and drying them in the apartment complex’s units work? Speed Queen brand dryer I think does 45 minutes).
-We also have a few vacuum sealed bags of clothing that were sealed long before we got here but have puffed back out though there is no visible rip anywhere that are stashed in the food pantry (could bed bugs get into that? They are not stored anywhere near our bed but were a few weeks ago).
-A pair of caterpillar with some fabric on the inside but rubber and leather on the out (even if the dryer thing would work I seriously doubt the poor dryer would appreciate these heavy weighted and seriously heavy-duty boots with metal buttons and metal hooks for laces).
-We also have a tower computer and monitor not plugged in next to the clothes which are next to the bed (do they need cleaned? How would we clean delicate computer equipment without possibly damaging it? -We brought these with us because they were our most prized and expensive pieces of computer equipment and we would like to keep them that way).
-Two books as well (one hardback one paperback).
-Some cat things including a scratching post, plush toy mouse, cat carrier made mostly of cloth (can that go in the dryer too if dryers work?), and of course the cat dishes and litter box (worry not that is getting a scrub down anyway).
-Finally we have the cat and ourselves (we have to fight with him regularly to keep him out of their room. More so lately possibly because he wants to chase the bugs :( We do not always win this battle and must frequently fetch him from their room as quickly as possible).
All of these things are close around our bed other than the vacuum sealed clothing. I may have only seen two (if that was what he swallowed… probably) but common sense says where you see two multiply them by a hundred so you can underestimate them properly. I have no bite marks and neither does he plus still no bits of blood on the sheets but that isn’t complete evidence of anything. I do know I have a bed bug infestation. How bad it is and all of what it is in I do not know nor do I see that it really matters. I need to make certain they don’t come with us to the next apartment. We don’t have alot of money (make that almost no money) so penny saver ideas that have worked for you are much appreciated. Good solid advice (knowing full well we cannot afford hundreds of dollars of equipment or exterminators) would be a boon. Please help me and thank you so much in advance for even trying.
i have just experenced the whole bed bug thing i have to say EEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!! i’m not sure what i am doing but i say throw your old bed in a bond fire and buy a new one. treet ur house, if that dosent get rid of them i dont know what im gonna do
Good afternoon. I have finally beat the bugs!! These are relentless little creatures! I’ve been battling with them night and day for about a month. I start my day at 5 am and found an adult cruisin across my bed one morning. I thought it was just a regular bug and tossed it out the window without a second thought. Two days later, another one. I heard all the hoopla about them on the news and decided to look at a pic on the web. Sure enough, bed bugs. Mental note: No matter how cool, don’t take tables from the alley into your home.
I looked at my bed, found a small huddle of them against the slats and killed them (so I thought). Two days later they were back. I went out and bought a cover for my mattress and pillows, tore my bed down and vacuumed everything. Washed all my bedding and thought they were gone, nope. I had put white sheets on my bed so I could spot them easier (just in case) and the next morning I had over twenty little blood splatters on my pillow and surrounding areas. Eeewww and unbelievable!!
I did some more research and read about the eggs. Oh, I forgot to mention that my discoveries were made while performing sneak attacks during the night or early morning , lights off with a flashlight. Yeah I felt like a weirdo. Anyway, I noticed little white things in the cracks of my bed frame. That weekend I tore my bed apart again and scrubbed every inch with soap and a brush, vacuumed, sprayed “Hot Shot”, washed my bedding and then put it all back together, AGAIN. Two days later they were back and laughing at me.
At this point I’m starting to act like Howard Hughes. Not sleeping, sneak attacks, washing, filling in the cracks of my bed slats, the flashlight, paranoia and becoming a recluse. I decided to buy a hand held steam machine because I have cats and didn’t want to spray anymore.
I bought a Shark portable steamer with attachments for 70$ at Walmart and it’s the best thing I ever bought. I used the brush to steam and dislodge the eggs from around my frame. I also have old untreated wood ammo cases and crates in my room (where I found an arsenal of eggs). I went against the recommendations for the steamer and used the brush on those also. No damage. I steamed my mattress, pillows and washed the protected covers. I steamed my rug, the base boards and the hardwoods. The cloth on the attachment for the floor picks up the dead bugs as you go along so you can monitor your progress and it’s very satisfying. I bought new slats for the bed and filled the knot holes with wood filler and left the room. That night I performed more sneak attacks and found nothing. The next morning, still nothing. I steamed the floor again for piece of mind and the cloth was free of bugs. It took a weekend to get all this done but a week later I’m still bug free and crossing my fingers!!!!
Good luck and thanks for reading.
It’s important to treat bed bug infestations the day you discover them or you run the risk of them multiplying and infesting the entire house!
Bed bug bites themselves can not only be irritating but can become infected and cause serious problems in some cases. At first, the bed bugs bite may not even be noticed, bit over time, people become sensitive to the insects’ saliva which can result in a allergic reaction leading to red, itchy, welts!
The best defense is a product called Diatomaceous Earth (Food Grade) that you spread around and will kill bed bugs dead!
Thank you very much! I talked to a guy i work with and he said he had them Everywhere. He told me to go to a home hardware and buy this $16.00 can of insecticide. He told me he bought everything trying to avoid asking the landlord to get it done for him because he knew that it wouldn’t get done. He said he finally tried this and it worked. I just sprayed everything i have that bugs could be living in, all i need now is the matress cover! Maybe a couch cover too because i believe i’ve gotten bitten from there. I turned up my boxspring and found 3 bedbugs crawling on the bottom side of it and i sprayed he bugs right away. They all dropped dead within 5 minutes. Lets hope it kills them all! Thank you Very much for all the help! If this stuff works, then I’ll write back and let you know the name of the product, etc.
Tony. S.
Tony S.
I would suggest renting a steam cleaner or borrowing one of those shark like hand held steamers and steaming everything you can’t throw in the dryer. The rest.. throw in the dryer. We also boiled water on the stove then poured it over baseboards ( used towel below to avoid any major mess then tossed the towels!) then when the wood dried ( a couple hours) we caulked every meeting.. wall to floorboard, wall to window, floorboard to floor we used clear caulk and the added benefit is we have used air conditioning less. :)
Bed bugs are easy to kill. But hard to find. Get a mattress cover for this and use it. We found our bedbugs in the couch.. not a ton of them but WOW what feisty eaters they were. We got lucky and only had them in the living room.. But we treated the WHOLE house in order to be sure. We aren’t sorry.. we haven’t had one sign of any bugs since. Word of advice.. be very proactive.. leave no stone unturned.
So, I’ve been getting bitten for the past couple of nights now. I just moved into an apartment in Toronto for about 2 weeks now and i’m almost 100% sure that they’re bed bug bites. I have the “grouped” bites on my arm and my back, but i have yet to see any sign of bed bugs or anything else. The “grouped bites” are few and small but they have the hard white welt on them. My girlfriend has bites all over her without hard white welts, but they are insanely puffy and swollen. Can anybody help me with this? If they are bedbugs, how would i get rid of them without knowing where they are or how many there is? I’ve checked literally EVERYWHERE. Well the only thing i haven’t checked is behind the floor board heaters, but my landlord won’t let me rip them off so i can kill those blood-suckers. I don’t care if i have to kill them all by hand, i NEED them gone because i haven’t slept for 2 days now and I’m going insane. I just can’t bear the thought of having things crawling on me and sucking my blood whenever they want without me knowing. Well like i said, Any help would be Greatly Appreciated!
Thanks.
Tony. S
Will putting my suitcases (that have all my vacation clothing in them ) in plastic bags and leaving them in the car work? And if so, how long do I need to do this for? What about bottles of shampoo, all the items you use daily? Will that work for them too? We were in the hotel room for 3 nights total when I found them. I will check mattresses before moving into a hotel room again. Is that good enough? I hope I don’t have to fumigate my home because of this. I am new to all of this. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks
2 weeks later and not one sign of the monsters. No new bites, all crevices and beds rechecked ( we have 6 of them) we finally are ready to bring furniture back in the living room. I really feel it was a combination of cleaning, boiling water, removing the trim boards and window sills to identify infection, then treating the whole area with not only insecticide but actually physically pouring the boiling water on everything. Then after the trim, sills are replaced, caulking around them. Very grateful for all the information on this site!
Diatomaceous earth (DE) can be found at a pool store also BUT MAKE SURE it is FOOD GRADE DE!
if you were to look at DE under a microscope, it would look like tiny razor blades. Since insects have an “Exo” skeleton, skeletons on the outsides of their bodies. Covering their exo-skeleton is a waxy layer that holds moisture in the insects body. If the insect was to come in contact with the DE, it would cut the waxy layer, and therefore, the insect would dehydrate, to the point of dying. This is also a great treatment for flea infestations.
James H,
I am anxiously awaiting a follow-up on your Aug 24th post where you were bed bug free two days after heating your home to 120 degrees. Now that it has been two more weeks, how are your results?
Tim M.
Its beginning to be physiological with me the least little twinge and I jump out of my skin and my clothes not a pretty site. because of this infestation I sleep during the day and stay up all night.
Tonight I was being bitten by nymphs I think are living in my leather chair unbelievable the changes that are happening I have not seen an adult BB in days only bugs about the size of the dots on this page. tonight like I said I was being eaten alive my only recourse was to spray this product which seemed to work. I have ordered the stuff that was banned in Ohio tomorrow I’ll get more DE and do a thorough vacuum then get rid of the bag. I’m making plans on what pieces of furniture I’ll get rid and what I’ll keep. I have a studio apt my heart goes out the people with multiple rooms .
I am renting an apartment and have told the manager about bed bugs that have recently come out. He said that he is not going to spend $500 (on this small studio) for bed bugs extermination. Can’t a renter force the apartment management to call and pay for pest control?
To me, bedbugs are like a cross between Mao Tse-tung and Satan. Mao writes, “The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue.” I dare you, tell me bedbugs haven’t been studying with Mao. (I know, I know, Taoists studied animals.)
I sleep during the day so I’m up all night . I think the DE is working I killed a lot of large individual bugs who look dried up, but bad news is I’m starting to see small bugs what I guess would be called nymphs that means eggs are hatching.
I get paid once a month so anything I want to do has to be within this time frame. My apt manager has me over a barrel she says she cant spray my unit until I move out all my furniture I think this is BS why move out untreated stuff that’s coming back in.
Please note DE should not be put in open spaces and floors, etc. Many people talk about spreading it around.
Can bedbug nymphs _INFEST_ an apartment with only 7 full adults and no nest with blotchy spots? There are black bedbugs in my apartment, why do I never see pictures of those? They are slow and look spider like and fat in the middle. I have vacuumed, bagged stuff, sprayed the floors by the walls, and the infestation of nymphs keeps coming. I don’t think they’re book mites. Any suggestions?
Longer story:
I’ve had bedbugs twice since ’03, and this makes the third time. They were gone for a while and came back. I think they were gone for a couple of years at a time different times. They seem to come back in warm weather. The kind in my apartment weren’t red, they were black with fat bodies when they are full.
They don’t seem to be fitting what I know of bedbugs. The last two times I got rid of my bed and sprayed and it seemed OK. This last time, I felt like something was biting me, but I showed no marks on my body, and there were no signs of bugs in my bed. However, every six months or year, etc, I would find a bedbug. I found one in my kitchen, one in the bathtub, and one in my bedroom. I thought they were coming in from somewhere else but my land lord says I am the only one with them. I did bring an almost new couch from the alley about a year before they started the first time so this could have happened. And how can they be gone for 2 years and come back? It sounds like they can only live 18 months without food and I don’t think eggs can lay dormant that long.
This last infestation I was in graduate school and had books on my floor as I had tons of books for my thesis work. I found a bedbug under the books. As it was only one bug I underestimated it. The bugs are now everywhere. I also later found one grown adult across the room by another pile of books, one in my bookshelves in a spider’s web, and two in my bedroom. I have only found about 7 large bedbugs, and did not see dead bugs after I sprayed by the corners of the walls and floor.
***What I don’t understand is how they have infested my whole apartment!!!! Not the big bedbugs, but the tiny nymphs. With finding 7 grown adults, I have had my dresser, book shelves, chair, closet, desk, night stand, etc., TOTALLY infested with Nymphs. I have thrown out much of what I own, yoga matt, luggage, meditation cushion, etc., etc. From the books that were on the floor if I opened one there would be 5 or 6 nymphs on the first and last couple pages, and ALL over my closet, and many, many other ones throughout my bookshelves. How can 7 bugs produce all those nymphs? I found one in my desk as I was recently getting rid of it, and for years before this infestation I would occasionally see nymphs on my paperwork, but didn’t think they were bed bug nymphs as I had seen no adult infestation.
How can *1* bed bug hang out in my desk for years churning out occasional nymphs and not infest my couch? And I only found adult in the closet, and everything on the ground was infested. I thought I might have book lice, but they are not in most of the kitchen or on the walls (I just found some in my silverware drawer yesterday and cleaned it immediately.) They still seem to be on my floor when I leave something down like my Birkenstocks, and yet I have thrown away most of my stuff, have plastic trays with pesticides under my bed and couch (I think that is how they have not gotten a foothold on those. I have seen NO bedbugs on my bed or couch), and have vacuumed thoroughly.
How is it that I have not found the standard blotchy blood spots with nests, and have all these nymphs????? Also, I have chemical sensitivities and will not spray something and sit on it. I was reticent to spray my apartment but as the infestation grows I spray more and more. My landlord had an exterminator in who knew nothing of bedbugs and less of chemical sensitivities. He sprayed something incredibly toxic I had to carefully clean up to stop my headaches.
And one last thing, even when I was infested I didn’t show bite marks or had small marks. Just recently I had my Birks on and I think I was bitten repeatedly, I saw tiny red marks, but they went away shortly. I am afraid to set anything down in my apartment for fear of cross-contamination and have many things in bags.
I forgot to add, the guy in the apartment below me is a hoarder. His apartment smells absolutely disgusting, like open cans of garbage. My landlord tells me the guy below me has no bugs, but I find that hard to believe as my apartment is clean and absolutely infested. I am looking to move.
HELP PLEASE, Jeff
I own a store in nyc and lookibng to buy bed bug treatments wholesale…Do you sell wholesale to stores?
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I’ve lived in a student apartment with roommates for a year now. I all of a sudden started noticing bites, after research I am certain that it is bedbugs that are biting me! The bites are horrible and leaves a scar. Surprisingly my roommates are not getting bit.
I got a new mattress, washed my sheets, declutered my room and left baby powder along with carpet powder around the legs of my bed. I also pulled my bed from my wall so that it wouldn’t touch the wall preventing the bedbugs from crawling up the wall and onto my bed, basically I tried creating a barrier so that bedbugs could not get to my mattress again. This worked for a month…now the bedbugs are back! HELP!
Also is there any repellent that I can use to keep them from biting? Or how can I prevent the bites from scarring and turning into noticeable spots?
Had a daycare kid spend the night 3 weeks ago, went swimming, ( saw nothing) a few hours later mom calls and says “what bit my kid” she had TONS of bites.. it was horrible.
We thought it was fleas and got rid of all pets, treated and sprayed as if for fleas.
Fast forward 2 1/2 weeks.. hubby and I get in an argument and I sleep on the couch.. I wake just fine, then by 3am I am covered with TONS of bites.. Fleas are back I think?
so we start treating again.. in the process… we discover on our couch bed bugs.. like 15 or so.. Aughhh!! we toss couch out. go crazy cleaning and running the vac. 2 days later ( a weekend) hubby goes to get commercial grade spray, we bag up the whole house, processing anything cloth ( toys bedding ,clothes, towels, sheets, EVERYTHING) and ran it through the dryer on HOT. Hand washed and inspected everything else. Basically packed it up like we were moving. Kids and I left and took refuge with family while hubby sprayed everything.. floor boards, bed frames, dressers, behind appliances EVERYWHERE. We came home next day, cleaned again ( small children won’t due to have posion on the ground) and unpacked..
Was getting ready to get a couch brought in when i saw a small movement by the window sill.. I went over to investigate and just so slightly was a movement again.. It was a bed bug.. AGUHHHHHHHH called hubby banished kids to the far room and we removed EACH piece of trim board..Window sills, tops bottoms EVERY piece of removable wood.. Poured boiling water on each piece and then re-sprayed one board at a time.( to prevent spreading them) . Re attached the boards and caulked around each piece as we attached. awhhh.. I really hate these guys.
Never did see them in any area other than the couch, and window sill ( in living room by the couch) any chance we have gotten rid of them in 18 hours since beginning to treat them I would really like to start working again.
So far, night two, at staying in the house, since I have bi-passed my thermostat to heat the house over 120 degrees and so far no bed bug bites as of yet,will keep ya’ll informed as days go on…
well I bypassed my heater and it got well above 120 degrees, I found a couple of bed bugs dead and when I picked it up, it just crumbled under my fingers. I did buy mattress covers that is bed bug certified, I will let ya’ll know how everything goes in the next couple of days to couple of weeks…
Very cool James! If this works for you, I’ll do that myself! Please let me know if it works and also the info on how to modify the thermostat will you?
Ok, tomorrow is the day that I by-pass my electric thermostat to heat my house up to 150 degrees. I have talked to a licensed electrician/a.c. & heating expert and he said, that i could by-pass my thermostat so it would stay on and heat my inside of my house to 150 degrees, in which the mattresses and everything else would be over 115 degrees that is needed to kill the bed bugs.
If this does work I will let everyone know, so as they would not have to pay up to $1,000 dollars for pest control to come and put heaters in their home to heat there house up to 150 degrees, when you can do it yourself, but am just wondering if anyone has ever tried this or knows anyone how has tried this technique before???
I understand that bed bugs can hide,but they would not be in my attic or where there it hot already,I know they hide in cracks and crevices and in matresses,ect,but if I wire my thermostate and it reaches over 120 degrees for a few hours then they should bake to death so to speak,115 degrees is what it needs to kill them and it takes 30 minutes of 115 degrees,but at 120 or more my chance of killing all of them is very good,just wondering if anyone else has ever tried this technic,or heard of anyone doing this???
I can wire my thermostat to keep on heating my house up to 150 degrees, I know that it would be an increase in my electric bill, but better than $1,200 dollars for an exterminator or $100 plus dollars on chemicals ,I also have a thermometer that will read my house and I can carry it to each room to gauge how hot it is…Do you know if this would probably help my situation…
Hi James,
The places that these bed bugs hide can sometimes be protected from heat depending on where they are hiding. It may be 115 inside a room, but what is it behind the insulation of the wall or inside the mattress? Personally, I don’t think that’s going to work, but if you do it, find a way to measure the temperature at multiple spots.
it is 105 degrees outside, I was told by an exterminator that if i turned my heat on all day and covered the attic vents from outside that i would essentially bake them. it takes 115 degrees for 30 minutes to kill them, but if i left my heat on at 105 outside all day, that would kill them as well don’t you think?
I come here and read the post , I thought I was the only one .I’m going crazy . these bugs are in my office chair even after I took it apart and dusted with DE they were eating the back of my thighs (I’m wearing shorts) I just killed one 15 minutes ago. I’m feeling things all the time now. this does affect you mentally. I sleep during the day. I’m about ready to splurge and get that spray that’s advertise here $23. that steamer sounds good also I just hate having to move all my furniture
To Lys, Not sure you will get this, but thought I’d offer a helping hand to your situation.
I’ve been dealing with bed bugs for over 5 months now and through extensive research have found a regimen that works in slowly eliminating the bugs while keeping them under control through this time. It does take more than once or twice of course, like any pest control has to do a follow-up and/or multiple sessions to eliminate the bed bugs.
Here is what you need:
With all of this, clear all clutter off of floors and make sure to bag all clothing, linen and any other fabric on floors in infested areas (that means if room is infested, everything on floor is to be bagged) seal it up, I used 2 garbage bags a piece counter facing each other to make sure nothing got out, but that may be over kill just a bit. Bag up all pillows and covers/linens of beds and wash/dry all linens off of floors and beds in dryer on high heat for at least 30 minutes at a time.
Vacuum all floors, take attachments/hoses and run it along the sides of beds and furniture, may sure to look for cracks, move all furniture out piece by piece as you vacuum it. Dressers,night stands, etc all need to have the drawers pulled out and tipped over to look underneath for nests.
Once all furniture except for bed is out of room start steaming mattress, go over at least 4 times all sides running steamer slowly across surface, you want to make sure steamer is touching surface for top and bottom of mattress to get all eggs as bed bugs burrow inside of mattress (that is the reason it takes more than once or twice). Once done, move on to box springs, make sure to pull covering off back of them and use pressure attachment on hand held steamer to get in between springs and wood frame.
Once mattress and box springs are steamed move out of room and steam floors. Run over floors at least 2 times if not 3. Take hand held steamer and run along borders of wall and doorways, make sure to run close to carpet edges for deep penetration into carpet for best results. Once floors are dry move furniture back in room and sprinkle DE powder on top of box springs before laying down mattress, once mattress is down cover top and creases along edges (and buttons if you have them on top of mattress) along the edges of box springs, along carpet edge entire room and in and around furniture to create a barrier.
For the following 2 to 3 weeks you will need to vacuum once a day including hoses/attachments ran along sides of mattress and box springs to catch the babies and any left over adults as they come out of bed. If you have mattress and box springs covers on already I would suggest still checking and running vacuum along edges to make sure none escape. Remember, ONE ROOM AT A TIME, they travel fast, it also would be advantageous to tape over outlets in rooms to prevent them moving out of that room to the next or back to the one already treated, don’t want to back step your progress.
Just steam edges of room along carpet edge once every other day or once a day if you have the time for the next 2 to 3 weeks on top of vacuuming to ensure they are taken care of. If you mattress/box spring covers tear/rip/stretch or come apart in any fashion you will need to do this over again, though you may be able to skip the complete floor steaming and just vacuum those areas very well, but you will have to steam with hand held steamer and lay down DE (if DE gets wet it is no longer effective).
And that’s it! Not fool proof, no guarantee they wont come back again, but will definitely put a HUGE dent in the infestation and in some cases (if not too severe) will work after 1 time. In moderate to heavy infestations this will be an ongoing battle between you and the bugs, if you continue this regimen, which i know is both time consuming and tedious, but is completely worth it and WAY CHEAPER than calling a pest control company, you will eventually be rid of these pests, but nothing good ever comes easy.
So, if you want a solution and willing to roll up your sleeves and work for your home and welfare of you and your families help this may be the right choice for you. Its helped me, though I still have scars and I can sleep in my bed again. Hope it helps a person in need, I know the desperate feeling :).
Almost six months ago, my family and I moved into a new apartment. We brought all our old furniture with us, and had no problem with bedbugs before moving in. Within days of moving in, I began to get little bug bites that had us puzzled.
After two months of getting the bites, I went to the doctor, thinking they were spider bites and worried about staff infection. My bedroom was the only one not sprayed for spiders when the landlord called in an exterminator, so it seemed logical.
My doctor told me that my bites looked like scabies and prescribed a cream to cover myself in before going to bed. The morning after doing so, several bedbug bodies were found in my bedclothes. The poison in what doctors prescribe for scabies does kill any bug that crawls on you. Also, boric acid powder, a common bug treatment, dehydrates them.
When we told our landlord, we were told that the bed bug infestation was our fault, and we would have to pay for the exterminator. We hadn’t the money, so we are still trying home treatments. Nothing seems to work conclusively, but a combination of treatments at the very least, keep them under control.
These seem to have worked:
What makes our situation with the landlord worse is the fact that we have friends who knew the previous resident of the apartment, and know for a fact that the previous owner had a horrible infestation of bedbugs.
The only thing standing between us and a professional is the landlord forcing us to pay for it. Does anyone have any idea how to get the apartment complex to deal with the problem at their cost?
hey, I’m sorry for the late followup on my story, I was helping a friend with bed bug problem. DE is more like a deodorant, it will keep them away. But if they cross it they will dry out within 12-13 days. tested this myself. follow those step i posted. do a border of the DE, no need to go crazy with it. vacuum everyday and repeat with DE. after a week you will see less of them. if your local home depot doesn’t have the hand held steamer you could rent the commercial one. also keep your clothes bag if you want.
I am currently bagging everything I own into plastic bags. I just moved into this apt. 2 weeks ago. Bought all new furniture, including a brand new mattress, with the exception of one chair from salvation army. Well guess what? That chair has created an entire infestation. Luckily, I figured out it was bed bugs very quickly.
Since I live in an apartment building, I called maintenance and they had pest control come over. Let me tell you guys what the PCO told me. He told me that this is not a problem that you should try and fix on your own. If you spray chemicals on them, it will kill the ones you see on contact but it will scatter the rest into other places, like your walls. What he is going to do to treat it is with a chemical in the mattress, then sealing it with a special cover. You can’t take this cover off for at least a year and a half. I am probably going to get rid of it when I leave here. Then he is going to spray into the crevices of my furniture, the walls, floor, outlets, any space they can be hiding. Then he is going to use a freeze treatment on the entire place and on my personal items.
What I am having to do now is bag all my clothes and I have to take them to be washed tomorrow. Then every other object that I have I must put into plastic bags. I have to go through every single book and flip through them to make sure that there aren’t any in between the pages or binding. Those will go into a bag too. Any bug that I miss, he is going to freeze to death.
This problem has caused me so much anxiety. I’m having problems eating and sleeping(obviously) but you mustn’t let them win. For those who live in an apartment complex, you need to be tough with your landlords. They need to understand that the problem will be the whole building’s problem if they don’t treat right away. I had to stress that many times and the sooner it is taken care of, the better.
This is a horrible epidemic and my heart goes out to all of you who are dealing with this. I never thought in my life I would have to deal with something like this. I will never look at public places or used furniture the same again.
Who is Keith Gordon and is he for hire? I live in NYC
I spent the night at someones house and woke with 3 welps on one arm, a big welt on my jaw line, 3 welts on my temple and a big welt on the corner of my eye in addition my ear is turning purple and extremely swollen-all of these itch and are huge I look like an ulgar!! they didn’t tell me they had bed bugs ! When I woke and moved the sheet there were 2 black bugs. I woke them up they came in and saw the bugs on the couch–well one of them the other ran I must admit they are pretty fast.
Ammonia works best for the itching, yes ammonia. I am scared because my head itches can they nest here even though I washed my hair? I’m such a scary cat i brought one of those traveling bed bug bags, work long Pj’s put the legs in sweat socks and had on a long sleeve stuff and scarf and they still got me. i plan on some of these items below just to be sure I didn’t bring anything home. (Although I had the bed bug bag I put my clothes in plastic and put on the terrace spray my bag bed bug bag and the plastic bag holding my clothes with hot shot bed bug and Flea spray. (9.95 for a gallon with a spary nozzle from home depot) I also sprayed my house (all the rooms ) and around my bed.
A dog come to my job today to check for bed bugs all was clear including my area bags etc. I jump at noices and check everything. Feel itchy and jump at the feeling of air touching the hair on my airs. Do you think I am taking this to far!!
Diatomaceous Earth JT Eaton bedbug spray, (label says it lasts for up to 16 weeks)
Deltamethrin .03% and the Diatomaceous Earth bottle (Safer Brand)
Paint brush borax and salt Chinese Chalk IGR and Pyrethrins Bonide for bedbugs
Goodnite sleep and 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.
‘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. citrus or citronella cleansing solutions mixed with rubbing alcohol,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.
I have a neighbor that had bed bugs…most likely brought them home during recent travel…as she is really clean. She was freaked out, as she did not want her kids bitten. She borrowed my Hahn Steam cleaner and used a new product I gave her….manufactured by the Airosol company..Bed Bug treatment. She sprayed her mattress, luggage, and surrounding area. She is so relieved ….she hasn’t seen any since.
Here I sit unable to lay down and sleep . The stress is over whelming .I have missed Doctors appointments because of my sleep pattern. Today I took apart my leather office chair I was being eaten alive .I found seven large bed bugs and maybe eggs and after all that I did get bit once tonight . Tomorrow I going to stock up on rubbing alcohol and petroleum jelly . Another solution I came up with is to seal all crevices with Elmer’s wood glue . I had to do this when I took out my mattress and box springs, the air mattress I replace them with required I use wood slats where the wood overlaps I sealed with wood glue .I notice I have cracks where baseboards and electrical outlets meet the wall . I think the DE works but gaps are in my defense .
Since last November I’ve been dealing with a bed bug problem. I kept waking up with my feet feeling like they were on fire till one night I threw back the covers and there it was a bed bug full of blood. I couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night. I don’t have roaches or ants. I’m a fairly clean bachelor so I don’t feel bad about having this infestation. I notice my neighbors will get strange looks when I ask if they have them as if only the unkempt would.
Don’t waste your money on the regular sprays these little suckers are tough. I have family staying with me now which is why I’m limited in the action I can take. I did get rid of the mattress and box springs and put everyone on a air mattress including myself but since mine is on the floor I don’t dare sleep at night even in the daylight one or two will creep.
I found the Diatomaceaous Earth by calling around and good thing I did Home depot does not carry it but OSH garden and supply does and its cheap and it works though rather slowly because I’m still get bitten. This stuff does not puff out but comes out in clumps so I used a new paint brush to help spread it. I went around the base boards and under the dresser. I know there are other areas because I found a bug in the wheel of my office chair. My apt manager said if i take out all my furniture, yes move out, she will have the whole place treated but I’m unable to do that so she has an excuse to pass me over.
Like I said I have not found a quick knock down spray which I thought I had when I bought Hot Shot bed bug and flea spray it does NOT work! For what I spent on that I could have gotten more D E. I’ll be back to post updates on what works and what doesn’t.
do bedbugs bite dogs? my little dog is itching terribly, and she has advantix on.i’ve heard both yes and no
HI ! I would like to ask if anybody has used Shirley’s formula and I would like to ask what type of salt do you use. Is it table salt , kosher salt, Iodized salt or coarse salt.
I ask this because , I have been told to not use a vacuum to pick up the salt and borax , because it will ruin a good vacuum.
I would like to also, know if anybody knows , how long would use leave this solution on. And if instead of a vacuum, you can steam vac this solution up.
Help ! inquiring minds want to know.
my son started getting bit we thought they were spiders we had just moved in .while gathering dirty clothes to wash we seen one just appear on the heap of clothes these things are a nightmare! we fogged with bonide total release fogger they live in the carpet. we killed a lot, even pulled the carpet back and found dead and alive ones sprayed alcohol. the fogger worked and killed a lot of bed bugs, but it also chased some off now everyone in the building is gonna bomb because they came back after like 4 months so hopefully this time we can send them right out the building!
I recently discover that we have bed bugs we have tried everything from sprays, fogers and even threw away the bed and all wood in my room, nothing seems to kill or get rid of those sob’s I am tired of waking up every morning to the cry’s of my two year old baby. Going to bed has become a nightmare.
I never thought this could happened to me. I am so desperate and like many of us am living paycheck to paycheck and already having to spend money we don’t have. I have been reading everything I am able to get my hands on, including this site.
So I have ordered the neem oil and diatomaceous earth once I try it and if they work and I pray that they do I will post my update. I was unable to find either of them on any of the local stores so I had order them online. This is out of control.
Hi R,
Comment clearly state that DE (Diatomaceous Earth) is by far the best solution – I’ve seen the borax and salt mentioned, but not sure how well this works. Not sure on the rental price of the steam cleaner but I doubt that one cleaning would be good enough, more like three over a few week period but here I’m guessing.
If your neighbors have them (as in apartment neighbor) then chances are real good you’ll get them again. They love the electric sockets and other tunnels that connect rooms. You could always do the DE on your place, steam cleaning, etc and when they are gone, then do a DE Perimeter ever week, but what a pain that would be when the management should be taking care of the neighbor (if they know and are not doing anything about it).
Do us all a favor will you? Whatever you end up doing, let us know what and how it works. There are a LOT of people who would be very appreciative!
Best regards,
Jim
James, I found your post and read your suggestions. Other than putting DE down, there’s nothing else I should use? Someone suggested borax and salt, does that work? How much does Home Depot charge to rent a steamer? Is steaming once enough? I’m pretty sure my neighbors have them, does that mean I’ll never get rid of them?
hey r read my post don’t give up these things are hard to get rid of but if you follow those steps it should work. get yourself a portable steam gun. not sure where you live but home depot have them for rent. another thing i notice home defense by orthon kills them. Also vac everyday and empty the bag outside seal it if you can. keep your clothes bagged. only the clothes that are by your night stand or around your bed.
To that other person who said fogger will work, it won’t, they will just run in the walls. R, I posted the steps a few months so you back you should be able to see it. Good luck buddy don’t give up follow those step and you should be free these bed bugs. haven’t had a problem since. also read up on them no need to spend money on these crazy products. let me know if you need further help i could email the list to you or post my email.
I have had bed bugs for a few weeks also and found a powder that I just sprayed around my house, bed mattress and other places that they may be. its the same as diatomaceous earth but this powder is for inside and out and gets rid of all crawling bugs. it was really cheap for a big bottle. i have heard many suggestions on how to get rid of them but am hoping this helps. does anyone have any other suggestions? that is also safe for young children?
okay guys i too have been battling these spawns of Satan for 4 months now. (long story short) I’ve done everything i can to get rid of them but there’s always one that comes back for me.
Well the reason why I’m posting this is because i found a link from random net surfing and i found a bed bug fogger for $450.
its supposed to be a recent addition to the do-it-yourself arsenal against bed bugs. the site seems credible enough to try it out as i and many of you guys are desperate for a fast an inexpensive remedy. i bought mine today and i should be receiving it on Friday. so I’m going to go nuts with this thing and pray that they die as advertised. i will also post my results of the product each day after. i hope I’ve helped someone take that step towards riding themselves and others of bed bugs.
…lets all pray that it works because if it does, it will be the best product for combating bed bugs without question.
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
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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.