Quote:
Originally Posted by duecesful
I had them once in an apartment building and it was a NIGHTMARE!
My suggestion would be to get bed bug covers for all of your beds and put them on both the box springs and mattresses. they run about $50-$80 a piece and can be bought at stores like Bed Bath and Beyond. I would then take all of your clothes and draperies out of your house. I mean everything and get them dry cleaned or wash them all in hot water. (this is avery imoportant step)
I wouldnt take anything back to the house until its been extermintated and you no longer have bites. I remember the bites being so ridiculously ithching and swelling up. I would go to bed and wake up covered in them.
I also threw away all of my furniture. If this isnt an option maybe you can store it in a storage unit for a year or more. Apparently they can live for up to a year with no food.
I wish you the best of luck. After you are bed bug free be sure to check all hotels you stay at as soon as you check in.(Check under the mattresses and the drawers). As soon as I got rid of them I got bites from a Las Vegas hotel. After returning home I threw everything in the garage and waited to go to the laundry mat to wash those clothes before bringing anything back into my house.
Were you advised by your exterminator on an action plan once it was determined you have bed bugs? The above jibes with what I've read on the optimal preparation (not exactly, but really damn close) - and was wondering if you did your own research or got a prep sheet / action plan from your exterminator. (My understanding is the good exterminator's help you out here, as there's alot of work to be done on the resident's part.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by the_main
I had bedbugs when I moved in to my new place in Vancouver about 18mos ago. (apparently vancouver has become infested since the olympics)
Anyhow I actually used bed-bug smelling dogs to eliminate them. The dog comes in and sniffs them out, and then they treated those areas specifically. 2weeks later the dog comes back and confirms whether you are rid of them or not (we were after only 1 treatment).
We had to wait a week or so before we got the treatment though and it was really stressful. My g/f had a bad reaction to the bite (lots of swelling, redness, itching).
When we slept we just kept the lights on, as apparently they don't like light very much. This worked really well and we didn't get many(if any) bites during that that time.
Not doubting what you are saying is true - but in the spirit of keeping to "facts" and not rumor about bed bugs and treatment - I was told by the bed bug dog/trainer at Isotech that if your house has been treated with chemicals, the dog can not reinspect until after about a month wait, because the residual scent of chemical treatment will screw with the dog's nose and make for potential false positives/negatives.
This information was repeated by the bed bug dog team my ex-gf used on the East Coast as well.
Oh - and as I'm sure you know - Vancouver is one of the oft-cited "hotspots" of bed bug activity (along with Sydney, NYC specifically Brooklyn/Queens).