Yikes! Bedbugs!

[Packratona!]

Got attacked at a hotel in NY, hotel admitted it, now afraid we brought them back in spite of taking a lot of precautions not to. Haven't seen any signs, and we have looked thoroughly every day. Just bitten up, huge welts and terrible itching.

[razz]

Oh dear, that is so distressing. Sorry that you are going through this.

[CathyA]

Oh Bummer!! My daughter has them in her apartment. She has tried so very hard to get rid of them, but can't. Just when she thinks they're gone, they show up again. They can live a year without a blood meal.
Look up Bedbugger.com. (I think that's the site I liked). Lots of good info on them. The best thing to do is to wash and dry all your linens and clothing on really hot settings.
There are alot of things you can do to decrease them, but it sounds like they are very hard to get rid of. Some people have their homes heated to a high temp, but it seems to me that that would hurt alot of things.

My daughter is going to move out of this apartment in a couple months. I'm considering buying a good steamer for her, that can heat things up to the point that kills them, so she doesn't take them to her next apartment.
You can put things in the freezer for a few days, and that will kill them.
You can vacuum things well (window sills, electrical outlets, etc.) and hopefully get alot of them. Just do a google search and you'll learn lots.

I have the feeling that everyone in the U.S. will eventually get bedbugs. I think we've upset the balance of nature, and things like this are going to happen.

DD bought one of those bedbug covers for both mattresses and her pillows. Bedbugs can't get in or out of it. Yuk. Make sure your linens don't touch the floor and your bed doesn't touch the wall.
You can buy some food grade diatomaceous earth and sprinkle it around your bed legs.

They really like to congregate around the seams on the edge of the box springs........so always check there for signs of them. They go through several morphs, so you'll probably find carcases and poop.
You'll find blood on your sheets from them getting squished at night.
Sorry to sound like this...........but its all the unfortunate truth.
They hide in just about anything in your bedroom..........so try to really simplify the area.
When DD comes home to visit, she brings the minimum amount of stuff. We meet her at the door and take her clothes and put them in the washer. We keep her purse, shoes, etc. in a big sealed rubbermaid container.
She takes a shower and puts on clothes from our house, while I wash and dry her stuff. So far, so good.
Good luck to you..........
Check out that site I mentioned.

[Zoebird]

diatomaceous earth is a great thing to use on these buggers.

The real issue with bed bugs is that they can cram themselves into the smallest crevices and then chill out for several months and then pop out again. DE is a fine powder that can fit into many small crevices and kill the bugs as they fit into those spaces.

You can also run it through the linens first, then wash them -- it kills eggs, too, which is important.

Anyway, do your research. :)

(I've never had them, but we thought we had them and so I did a lot of research. I called in a local exterminator, and she did a full eval of our place. She said "you hardly even have dust mites, which is weird." But that would be on account of my daily vacuuming at the time. :) Now I just do it once a week. Still, daily was nice. So, no bed bugs, turns out we were just being bitten by sand flies, which happens in late summer around here apparently. So, this year we put the bug repellent on our ankles, and no bug bites. :) nice.)

[peggy]

You know, this is a case where I'd call in the big guns. i could never live with just 'controlling' them. I'd want them dead and gone, period. I'd throw every chemical I could at them until they were truly dead. Do you really want to live with bed bugs for the rest of your life? Think about it. Get rid of those suckers! Call a professional.

[CathyA]

From what I've heard, chemicals don't work on them. Heat does. I think if I had them, I'd buy an industrial steamer and steam them to death. Some places heat the house to about 115. But that costs at least $1,000 and seems like it would ruin alot of stuff.
Its amazing how DD has at least learned to tolerate them. She went for a month or so without a sign of them, then she let up on her constant washing and drying of things, and they came back. She also has a cat.......which is another warm body to attract them.
I'm not sure I could get accustomed to them either............

[bunnys]

That sounds horrible. I had no clue they were this bad.

[axis9313]

If you get your house heated, they will have you remove things that might get ruined by heat first (or put them in the fridge), such as medicines, computers, etc.

I was thinking about this in case we ever got them. I don't tolerate chemicals, so that's out. Heat sounds the best and safest, but there was a house around here that caught on fire from doing that. So steam might be the best.

In the old days, they put the legs of the bed in buckets of kerosene.

[Packratona!]

We are having the house heated by a pest control company this week. So this whole thing is ending up costing us probably $2,500.