Question by Nefe:
These bedbugs won’t go away.?
My family and I fumigated our apartment after finding bedbugs. We used Bedlam, diatomaceous earth, and a few other products in the problem areas. At first, it looked like everything was ok, but then I woke up this morning with 4 bug bites scattered across my body.
What am I doing wrong? Please help, this is driving me nuts!
Best answer:
Answer by M
You must get a professional and as far as I know you cannot get them out of your mattress, so you gotta get a new one AFTER a professional has disinfected your place.
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After the pro. has disc infected your house drag your mattress outside and sprinkle baking soda all over it. Wash it in straight ammonia. The hot sun will hopefully kill the bed beds and you need to go and get zippered bed covers. Wipe the covers w/ bleach/vinegar every week as a precaution tho’. That way you can save your mattress. Also I heard great things about Borax.
Couple of good sites that will give you some more specific instructions on what you can do.
http://doyourownpestcontrol.com/bed-bugs.htm
http://www.howtodothings.com/home-and-garden/a3973-how-to-get-rid-of-bed-bugs.html
Some of the vids in the 2nd link helps you understand them a bit better.
Good luck.
I’m going through the same thing right now. I got zippered mattress covers for my sons mattress and box spring ($ 10. ea @ walmart), and zippered pillow covers (vinyl, 2 for $ 3. @ walmart). They will get on the pillows also. Get rid of the bed skirt as they will nest in the creases. Leave the covers on permanently, as bedbugs can go for up to 1 yr without feeding. Wash sheets and clothes in hot water and dry in a hot dryer. Vacuum well especially under and around the bed, and keep nothing under the bed as they like wood and paper. Seal the vacuum bag in a trash bag and remove from the house immed. Steam clean the carpets, this helps a lot. It will take several times doing this, as it is a recurring problem. Try a weekly schedule of spraying the room; around baseboards, bed frame (especially wood frames), and check behind outlet covers and under nightstands. Wash sheets every week in hot water. This should help. Also, watch for any holes occuring in the mattress covers, tape them immed, and put tape over the zipper where it closes to seal the small opening there. Good luck, I’ve never been through this before myself.
Our infestation showed up in one of my children’s bedrooms. It was first visible in an upper corner of the ceiling and began spreading around the room. The more we looked (under valences, window frames) the more bugs we found. Here’s what we did:
1.After vaccuuming and washing everything in sight (and throwing away old bedding), we bought SteriFab from our local pest control guy. This is expensive stuff ($ 60/gallon) but we felt it was worth it because it provides a sure kill without leaving compounds around that might poison our kids later. BTW, the pest control guy was already up to his ears in bedbug eradication and didn’t pressure us.
2.I used a hand-pumped garden sprayer to treat the obvious bugs. Treated the mattress, springs and frame that were infested. Sprayed around the baseboards as well. All the picture frames in the room had infestations in them.
3.As others have already mentioned, we covered the mattress and frame. BTW, even though we opted for the more expensive covers they still ripped easily in contact with the frame. Duct tape works well in patching them.
4.After a couple of days of inspection/spraying, the big guys were gone but little guys kept showing up. I bought diatomaceous earth and treated the areas in front and under the baseboard. You have to get the dust under the baseboard as much as possible. This brought the population of the hatchlings down dramatically. The pest control guy suggested tearing up the carpet at the edges but I wasn’t willing to do that.
5.Kept seeing smaller guys above the doorways and realized that they were coming from cracks above the doorframes. These cracks are not visible from the ground. Sprayed and then caulked those cracks. Problem solved.
At this point (2 weeks out) the diatomaceous earth appears to be taking care of the really little ones, the ones that are still hatching out of eggs likely trapped in the carpeting or behind the walls. From what I’ve read, baby bedbugs can continue hatching for up to a year so constant vigilance is the name of the game. My son’s bed is separated from the walls by about 6 inches. We bought plastic plates, put a thin layer of diatomaceous earth on them and slid them under the wheels of his bed. We’ll keep inspecting and washing his sheets regularly.
Diatomaceous earth as an insect barrier seems like the best long-term solution especially if you are living in an apartment complex without (god help you) control over your neighbors.