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Bedbugs...

  • Thread starter Wire Man
  • Start date

Wire Man

Sphagnum Guru
Well, I just found bedbugs in my apartment. This explains why my body is covered in itchy bites from foot to face.

If they decide to fumigate the place will my CPs be able to tolerate it, or will they have to be moved?
 
That sucks, dude. I think I would err on the side of caution and move them, but I really don't know for sure. Just seems to me like that level of exposure to some pretty noxious stuff couldn't do them any good.
 
They'll most definitely need to be moved out.
 
Aaww, that sucks. Good luck getting rid of them, and I would move the plants.
 
I would check the plants for bug-hideouts just in case :( to be on the safe side.
 
I'll be moving them to the girlfriend's apartment on Thursday before they treat the place then. Hopefully this doesn't set the Neps back too far. Her windows face North, so there will be very little light.

I found out who brought the bugs in..... The guy who lived here before me came back to visit a few weeks ago, he's the opposite of hygienic, and he slept here without permission. He should stay as far away from me as possible. I'm covered in bites from my face to my feet. You could probably play connect the dots on my body.
 
I'll be moving them to the girlfriend's apartment on Thursday before they treat the place then. Hopefully this doesn't set the Neps back too far. Her windows face North, so there will be very little light.

I found out who brought the bugs in..... The guy who lived here before me came back to visit a few weeks ago, he's the opposite of hygienic, and he slept here without permission. He should stay as far away from me as possible. I'm covered in bites from my face to my feet. You could probably play connect the dots on my body.

Wow... That's more than rude.

Good luck.
 
  • #10
I'll be moving them to the girlfriend's apartment on Thursday before they treat the place then. Hopefully this doesn't set the Neps back too far.

Hopefully you don't spread the critters so her apartment.
 
  • #11
I have no where else to stay, so we can only hope that they don't spread.
 
  • #12
I have no where else to stay, so we can only hope that they don't spread.

Wire Man,

My old folks went on vacation to NJ during summer and to their surprise found little critters in the place they were renting. They found another apartment through the realtor but were told to not bring in any of the clothing that they took with them to their house back. They had to dry clean everything that was with them. And leave any other items outside in the sun for several days to cook properly :). They themselves had to be almost "quarantined" upon arrival home. Bed bugs spread very easily. Be very careful. In addition they have been recently developing immunity to commonly used pesticides.

I am not trying to scare you, but keep this in mind. It will not be pleasant if you accidentally spread them to your significant other's apartment (if you haven't done so yet) and will most likely result in you bringing them back.

So... yeah... Sorry to hear that mate.
 
  • #13
Hello, bedbugs are horrid critters... I work at an apartment complex and we have now twice had to deal with people bringing bedbugs in.

#1 they are HARD to get rid of! If you are going to pack stuff to take to her house (clothes) wash and dry them all on hot and let run in the dryer for longer than it takes for them to dry. We have done extensive research on this since we've had to deal with it and bottom line.... You're not going to kill them with pesticides. Some places will say they can in a treatment. But, they can't. Other places know a little bit better and will say they can with treatments every few weeks or month... for about a year. From what I've heard you cannot get them that way either. They can go well over a year without eating and so can stay in hiding well past the time that the pesticides are active... not to mention their resistance to that stuff.

If it is your apartment complex maintenance guy going to do the treatment, I would recommend you DENY it and request an expert... Just let them know that you've done your research and know how difficult it is to get rid of them etc. Now, I don't know how your apartment complex works- but we know each of our apartments is clean of bedbugs when we rent (we have them certified bedbug and other pest free) so we pass the extermination fee on to them. And the way to get rid of them, is pricy!

So... How to get rid of them? I have heard about the freezing method, but again.. You're surely going to miss some doing spot treatments. The way to do it is HEAT. They bring in electric heaters powered by a huge generator that runs outside (the power cords are amazing to see due to their size!) and they heat your house to... 160 I think it is... for like an hour and a half. This allows the heat to penetrate into everything, and into every corner of the house and make sure they are all dead. The company will then come in a while later (our guys come in twice I think) and do inspections to make sure they're gone. I don't know who in your area does it, but we use Arizona exterminating co. and you can call Steven McCarthy to ask any questions about the heat method or why chemicals don't work ETC at 520-661-7648.

All that said, I would like to point out something that people may be questioning... "Wire man must be NASTY to have bed bugs!!" This seems to be a popular statement when someone hears that someone else has bedbugs and it just isn't necessarily the case. They spread so easily and do not feed on filth, in fact it has been proven many times that some of the nicest motel/hotel etc chains have them... the very expensive ones... And you can bring just one home in your suit case and then you're infected... There are "do not" and "do" lists all over on how to use a hotel room to prevent bringing some home... it's work. but worth it imo seeing how much the heat treatment is.

Speaking of cost.. for a 2 bed room 2 bath apartment (approx 900 sq ft or so) $1500

A tiny bit of information on why chemicals don't work is on their site: http://azext.com/services-bedbugcontrol.html

Good luck!
Andrew
 
  • #14
Thanks for the info, Andrew! We are having a professional do the job. I'm making sure to prevent spreading by keeping my clothes in sealed bags. We haven't seen an sign of them over here.

I'm throwing away the mattress, pillows and cases, fabric covered furniture, most of my bags, leather coat, etc. I'm surprised this guy didn't bring anything else in with him, he never cleans, ever. His car has mold growing in it....

I have the 10 gallon terrarium and purp seedlings moved out. My parents will be taking the orchids back home, and the rest will be coming on Thursday. I'm probably going to have to move all of my artwork, too, even the exoskeleton and cat skeleton.
 
  • #15
Good luck, dude. Hope the process goes as smoothly as it can.
 
  • #16
will also move form unit to unit via crawl spaces, electrical conduits, etc. Easy to move from place to place. Can survive for years without eating (2-3) so sealing up belongings in plastic containers if infested will not work.

ditto on the heat treatment. Best way to go. but if other units in apartment building infested might just come back.

Even 5 star hotels in Hawaii have got them so very possible for anyone to bring them back when visiting on vacation. apparently even theaters are getting to be infested....

Also many are pesticide resistant. So insecticides wont work...
 
  • #17
Just when I thought my work couldn't get any worse I have $500 charged to my credit card for and order that was $40 and isn't even being shipped, and my brand new car that I've had for a month is wrecked on I-64 while going to work, which is the last weekend of the season. Why can't I have nice things?! I'm now homeless, carless, and moneyless..... At least I have a supporting girlfriend who's letting me keep the plants in her living room while my apartment is quarantined and treated, which may take between 2-14 days.
 
  • #18
I'm throwing away the mattress, pillows and cases, fabric covered furniture, most of my bags, leather coat, etc.

Thats probably completely unnecessary..the heat treatment will treat all of those things too..
no need to make this any harder on yourself than it already is..

although I suppose having *dead* bedbugs inside your mattress could still be disconcerting..
so I can see the point about getting rid of big things like that..

although they dont really live *in* the mattress do they? they live *on* it..so a good cleaning, post heat treatment, could remove all the remains..but maybe im wrong about that.

Andrew? what say you?

Scot
 
  • #19
Thats probably completely unnecessary..the heat treatment will treat all of those things too..
I'm not so sure that his apartment will actually be heat-treated ...:scratch:
Thanks for the info, Andrew! We are having a professional do the job.
Andrew mentioned heat but WireMan didn't confirm that's what he's getting - did he? (or did I just miss it?) His 'Professional' may be the spray-chemicals-kind-of-guy ...
 
  • #20
I think they're steaming the apartment. I have no idea, since I haven't been able to get back to the apartment due to the wrecked car....
 
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