Bedbugs! Argh

[Juddog]

Ok so for at least a couple of months now me and my wife have been getting bit while we sleep. It's usually my wife that gets attacked. My first thought was it was spiders. So we set up spider traps all over, killed any spider we saw. The bites continued.

Next step I thought "ok well maybe it's fleas", since all of the bites started happening after we had visited her family's house on Thanksgiving. So I started setting up flea traps, glue traps, and even the warm bowl of water with soap which has worked great in the past in at least seeing if there are fleas, they jump in the bowl and drown because the soap breaks the water tension. Nothing, no sign of any bug in the bowls.

So the bites continue, night after night. I'm starting to get freaked out. I almost never get bit, but one day she shows me her bites and she has literally like 30-40 bites all up and down the side of her body! I couldn't believe she was getting bit so much yet we hadn't seen one single flea. I stumble across this article about detecting bed bugs, then realize every single symptom we've had so far has been of bed bugs.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/12/diy-bed-bug-detector/

Now I'm totally freaked out. The thought of little bugs coming out of the walls when you sleep to come drink your blood just freaks me out. I'm going to be trying this out over the next several days and see if it works. If it does, I am not sure what to do next.

I think the landlord should be responsible for removing the infestation if there is one, and that from what I have read the bugs can lie dormant for quite some time until a person comes along when they wake up. Anybody else have experience with these little nasty critters, and if so, what did it take to get rid of them? I have found a couple of the really small ones in the insect trap we set up (basically a big strip of glue on cardboard) but it's not effective at catching them since it just sits there and you basically have to hope that the insect crawls on top of it.

 

[Ultralight]

I know of at least two people who have had to deal with bed bugs this year and they had to spray on three separate occasions to have them removed. They are nasty and have made a come back in several parts of the country.

 

[edro]

I heard a story on NPR about bed bugs.
They said they are on the rise throughout the US.

The expert said they are NOT linked to income level, cleanliness or how often you change your sheets.

I don't believe the expert...

Good luck in getting rid of your bugs!

BTW, here is a 1/3 gallon jug

 

[Iron Woode]

Next step I thought "ok well maybe it's fleas", since all of the bites started happening after we had visited her family's house on Thanksgiving.

How is this the Landlord's responsibility?

You brought them home. You deal with them before they migrate and attack other tenants.

Foisting this on to the Landlord is unfair.

 

[Juddog]

I just had a really messed up realization. I had drilled holes in the wall this summer in order to run CAT6 from one end of the apartment to the other. Is it feasible they were living inside the walls and came out through the microscopic opening around the CAT6 cable? If so, what can I do to seal it up, as far as caulk, etc.?

The whole thing is freaking me out, the more I research about it the more disgusting and creepy the whole thing feels.

 

[Juddog]

How is this the Landlord's responsibility?

You brought them home. You deal with them before they migrate and attack other tenants.

Foisting this on to the Landlord is unfair.

I'm not saying for certain that it's the landlord's fault, but I am coming to think that the bedbugs were just in hiding / dormant. My wife and I have visited her parents many times in the past without any replication of what has been going on.

 

[Iron Woode]

I'm not saying for certain that it's the landlord's fault, but I am coming to think that the bedbugs were just in hiding / dormant. My wife and I have visited her parents many times in the past without any replication of what has been going on.

If the Landlord feels that you brought them (whether you did or not) he could hold you responsible for their extermination.

call an exterminator and ask about your options for killing them.

 

[lxskllr]

I just had a really messed up realization. I had drilled holes in the wall this summer in order to run CAT6 from one end of the apartment to the other. Is it feasible they were living inside the walls and came out through the microscopic opening around the CAT6 cable? If so, what can I do to seal it up, as far as caulk, etc.?

The whole thing is freaking me out, the more I research about it the more disgusting and creepy the whole thing feels.

I think they crawl up walls, not through them :^D

I imagine it's just a new infestation. They have to eat. They weren't just hanging out inside the walls starving to death, and hoping someone would set them free :^D

 

[Juddog]

I think they crawl up walls, not through them :^D

I imagine it's just a new infestation. They have to eat. They weren't just hanging out inside the walls starving to death, and hoping someone would set them free :^D

Ok whew... I'm going to apply caulking to the hole around the cabling just in case. You are right though, they feed off of animal blood so what you say is probably true.

 

[Juddog]

If the Landlord feels that you brought them (whether you did or not) he could hold you responsible for their extermination.

call an exterminator and ask about your options for killing them.

I can't verify for certain that we brought them. I just moved into the apartment about 6 months ago, and we had noticed some bites in the past but thought they were spider bites. So it's probable that they were there before we moved in.

 

[nick1985]

ewwwwwwwwww

 

[OutHouse]

Ok whew... I'm going to apply caulking to the hole around the cabling just in case. You are right though, they feed off of animal blood so what you say is probably true.

that will do no good what so ever. call an exterminator and be prepared to buy a new bed.

 

[Juddog]

that will do no good what so ever. call an exterminator and be prepared to buy a new bed.

I just bought a new bed 5 months ago.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

I just bought a new bed 5 months ago.

hah you'll be buying another.... sorry dude


fyi, while imo this is worthy of a new thread there are other posts like yours... might want to take a look..


Good luck!!!

 

[GlacierFreeze]

I watched a show called "Monsters Inside Me" on Discovery Channel a few weeks ago.

They had a lady that had a bed bug problem. She called an exterminator and they brought a dog specially trained to sniff them out. Dog found some in her suit case. She said she probably got them from a hotel room she had visited a while back and they were probably in there ever since then. The show said they are hard to kill and aren't really many (any?) chemicals that work very well, but they die when they are exposed to freezing temperatures. Exterminator had to use some kind of "freeze spray" device to kill them. Seemed like a big canister that sprayed freezing oxygen or something. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[spidey07]

I just bought a new bed 5 months ago.

You need to get rid of it.

 

[lxskllr]

The show said they are hard to kill and aren't really many (any?) chemicals that work very well, but they die when they are exposed to freezing temperatures. Exterminator had to use some kind of "freeze spray" device to kill them. Seemed like a big canister that sprayed freezing oxygen or something. Let us know how it turns out.

I wonder if a January vacation, with the windows left open would work....

 

[keird]

I had this occur when I was renting a room above a bar. At first I thought the irritation on my skin was a reaction to poison ivy from a sleeping bag. But it seemed to worsen after I woke every morning. One morning I awoke at 2am from the sensation of insects on my skin. I turned on the lights and tried to focus my bleary eyes on tiny insects scattering.

The only solution was an aerosol can of Lysol and a lighter. I woke every morning at 2am during their feeding time and killed every last one of them with fire. The bar should have paid me for my diligence and dutiful work of using a flamethrower to exterminate their infestation in that tenement while all the other low-lifes were safely asleep in their beds. I could never be considered a low life, then.

I joined the active duty Army a couple of months later and exterminate insects around the world. I fucking hate them all (except the praying mantis, lightning bugs, dragonflies, damselflies, butterflies and those fuzzy cow ants that scream when you squeeze them – those are pretty fun.)

 

[GlacierFreeze]

I watched a show called "Monsters Inside Me" on Discovery Channel a few weeks ago.

They had a lady that had a bed bug problem. She called an exterminator and they brought a dog specially trained to sniff them out. Dog found some in her suit case. She said she probably got them from a hotel room she had visited a while back and they were probably in there ever since then. The show said they are hard to kill and aren't really many (any?) chemicals that work very well, but they die when they are exposed to freezing temperatures. Exterminator had to use some kind of "freeze spray" device to kill them. Seemed like a big canister that sprayed freezing oxygen or something. Let us know how it turns out.

Here's a link. A little info.

http://animal.discovery.com/invertebrates/monsters-inside-me/common-bedbug-cimex-lectularius/

 

[GlacierFreeze]

I wonder if a January vacation, with the windows left open would work....

I wondered the same thing. No idea.

 

[Juddog]

I had this occur when I was renting a room above a bar. At first I thought the irritation on my skin was a reaction to poison ivy from a sleeping bag. But it seemed to worsen after I woke every morning. One morning I awoke at 2am from the sensation of insects on my skin. I turned on the lights and tried to focus my bleary eyes on tiny insects scattering.

The only solution was an aerosol can of Lysol and a lighter. I woke every morning at 2am during their feeding time and killed every last one of them with fire. The bar should have paid me for my diligence and dutiful work of using a flamethrower to exterminate their infestation in that tenement while all the other low-lifes were safely asleep in their beds. I could never be considered a low life, then.

I joined the active duty Army a couple of months later and exterminate insects around the world. I fucking hate them all (except the praying mantis, lightning bugs, dragonflies, damselflies, butterflies and those fuzzy cow ants that scream when you squeeze them – those are pretty fun.)

Holy sh!t that's a creepy thought.... ewwwww.

That's the crazy part about them from what I was reading, they have an aversion to light and can squeeze in such a small crevice that you simply won't see them with the lights on.

 

[FelixDeCat]

While your at it, if you havent opened a window in a very long time expect to see dust mites. You can see them if you stare very carefully moving around by the hundreds.

 

[goobernoodles]

 

[0roo0roo]

sit down on the wrong chair and you'll carry these things home, no way the land lord is responsible unless he spends time in your bed

but yes they suck, u got a lotta work ahead of u getting rid of em and washing all your stuff again.

 

[GlacierFreeze]

sit down on the wrong chair and you'll carry these things home, no way the land lord is responsible unless he spends time in your bed

So no way they were already there then?