Bedbugs :(

[Dreamcatcher]

Hello everyone,

It looks like we have bedbugs. I started getting bitten 6 weeks ago and tried everything (change laundry detergent, bath products), I boiled all my bed linens and washed all my clothes, I even was treated for scabies. But on closer inspection today I think I need to face the truth: we have bedbugs.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience of this and/or could recommend pest control?

I'm really distressed by this.

Thanksgiving advance to anyone who replies

[holloway]

get a new mattress??

[hpsaucey]

Absolutely do NOT do what holloway said - the bedbugs will just migrate and you might end up spreading them. You'll be very lucky (or will have caught them v. early )if they're just in the mattress.

There used to be a thread on the forum but I can't find it now.

Call these folks. The BEST: http://www.bed-bugs.co.uk/

(I say this as someone who had the same problem around 7 years ago. This company were brilliant. Followed their advice and treatment and didn't need any repeat visit!

[MsRial]

Are you sure it's bed bugs???

Only saying that as i was getting bite every night for the past 2 weeks around my feet at first but then found more on my legs, back & stomach as the time went on. It was drving me crazy & some of the bites were very big. Someone suggested i might have carpet fleas (i know that sounds awful) although my house is very clean. I was recommeneded to buy StayKill & Acclaim sprays. I hoovered, sprayed everwhere in my place left for 30 mins & then hoovered again. I continued to do this for 3 days in a row & now 2 weeks later no bites!

I have heard of a few people who are suffering from the same problem over the last few months.

[Grok]

Think you need to determine how you got infested with the filthy parasites. Then wash and boil and disinfect all clothing, bed linen and soft furnishings. If you can throw stuff out that would help. Be careful not to spread the infeststion. Good luck.

Dreamcatcher Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hello everyone,

> It looks like we have bedbugs. I started getting

> bitten 6 weeks ago and tried everything (change

> laundry detergent, bath products), I boiled all my

> bed linens and washed all my clothes, I even was

> treated for scabies. But on closer inspection

> today I think I need to face the truth: we have

> bedbugs.

> I was wondering if anyone had any experience of

> this and/or could recommend pest control?

> I'm really distressed by this.

> Thanksgiving advance to anyone who replies

[hpsaucey]

Grok Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Think you need to determine how you got infested

> with the filthy parasites. Then wash and boil and

> disinfect all clothing, bed linen and soft

> furnishings. If you can throw stuff out that would

> help. Be careful not to spread the infeststion.

> Good luck.

>

> Dreamcatcher Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Hello everyone,

> > It looks like we have bedbugs. I started

> getting

> > bitten 6 weeks ago and tried everything (change

> > laundry detergent, bath products), I boiled all

> my

> > bed linens and washed all my clothes, I even

> was

> > treated for scabies. But on closer inspection

> > today I think I need to face the truth: we have

> > bedbugs.

> > I was wondering if anyone had any experience of

> > this and/or could recommend pest control?

> > I'm really distressed by this.

> > Thanksgiving advance to anyone who replies

Eeeek - and for the benefit of others - don't follow this advice. If you get proper treatment no need to expensively throw anything away and the danger is you spread it by trying to chuck things out and don't get to the roots of the infestation. Washing and boiling won't always work either.. Read that website above for more sensible info...

Speaking as a past bedbug infestation 'survivior'

HP

[apod]

You definitely need to get in touch with pest control, washing and constant cleaning does not solve the problem. K&O was recommended here on the forum many times, and it seems as they always get very positive feedback.

I used to have bedbugs in one of the previous properties. I could not believe once I was told its bedbugs, I end up in hospital with really bad alergic reaction to the bites. It was awful time and despite cleaning and washing, using bleech, detol and all possible cleaning products I failed. It took me a while to find their nests - in my case it was a audio speaker and small gaps between carpet and skirting boards, nothing on the mattress though.

The pest control usually will offer you 3 visits and will fumigate the property - thats the only way to go in my opinion.

Good luck! And act fast on it.

[Otta]

Yep, my parents had this recently, and had 3 visits (each a week apart) for full fumigation. Total pain, but the only way to be sure they're deaslt with.

[Grok]

How do clean people actually get these parasites? Seriously how is one infected?

[Saffron]

They can live for ages with no food, and they can travel within buildings. They're not attracted to dirt, so not a sign of clean/dirty house.

Bedbugs can soon spread within a building by getting through holes in walls or pipes, and can potentially invade blocks of flats, hotels or hospitals. On average, it takes around seven weeks before bedbugs are discovered in another room of a property.

The bugs can also be transported in luggage, clothing, furniture and bedding from one building to the next. This makes it easy for tourists and commuters to unknowingly spread bedbugs.

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bed-bugs/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Tough little blighters!

[hpsaucey]

The guys we got in - ONE visit only - brilliant!

Anyway - they told us - but this was a few years ago that SE15/22 etc were partly bad being on main transport routes.

They're also on London transport methods - buses/ underground etc.

And yes, NOTHING to do with dirt.

More here ( and try here for a real pre-Halloween frightener - http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/feb/09/bed-bug-extermination )

"Call a professional extermination firm, and check its credentials. Many pest-control companies have diversified into bedbug control without any expertise. Following the advice of one company's website, we put grease-lined tins around our bed legs (to prevent bugs crawling up them). The exterminator guffawed at our stupidity. Don't try to kill the bugs yourself: last year an American woman blew up her home by lighting several insecticide "foggers" simultaneously: the propellant caused her gas supply to ignite. Don't use an aerosol-based insecticide, either: you'll kill some, but the fit ones will simply flee to another room.

? Don't throw away your furniture. The chances are that you will spread the bugs through your home.

? Don't flee the infested room. The bedbugs want food and warmth: if you go, they'll follow.

? Talk to your neighbours. It's possible your bugs have come from them, or that you have given them yours. One of David Cain's customers reported a recurring infestation. He was being reinfested by a neighbour, whose property was home to an estimated 150,000 bedbugs (the average infestation is around 100)."

[Grok]

I was told that bedbugs can live and nest in beards. I don't know if it's true.

[Mick Mac]

Grok Wrote:

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> I was told that bedbugs can live and nest in

> beards. I don't know if it's true.

Yes it's true, I had a beard a few months ago and found I had so many new friends. Mostly female. The nesting type.

[natty01295]

Does your Bed have black traces droppings /feaces on your bed

- look all around your bed check your sheets and electric plug areas they seem to like areas of electricity plugs etc

[JohnL]

Sorry but I'd get DDT - I couldn't live with them.

http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/ddt-is-ok-with-me

if only it worked :( -- but something must - I remember my parents putting DDT everywhere.

[Blah Blah]

Bedbugs some times need a couple of treatments to get rid of completely because of the breeding cycle.