They will usually feed every 3-4 days if they have a regular source of food. They prefer to come out at night when its pitch black, they find you by detecting your body warmth and carbon dioxide, they will bite as soon as they come in contact with your skin so this is usually a good indicator as to the whereabouts of its lair (they let off pheromones as they leave their base of operations to ensure they can find there way back to it after they feed) so if most of your bites are on your face, arms you have an idea of where they are hiding (not always but its a start, bare in mind they are masters of sneak missions think metal gear meets splinter cell) a lot of the time you will find 2-3 bites all in the same general area, this is usually the same one bed bug that got startled and has come back another bite.

Heres some tips on how to beat them. Good you have a steamer, but remember that steam doesn't travel that far before cooling down, make sure to get all-around your bed, in any small cracks, I mean seriously small, due to them being flat, they can fit in surprisingly small spaces, look out for any blood and poo stains (black spots) near entrances as they will excrete any excess fluids to fit inside. Think about using expanding foam to seal any cracks you may have.

check you sheets everyday for any you may have squashed in the night, Very important to wash your sheets (everyday if possible) at least 60 degrees (90 to be sure) gently fold the sheets getting all covers to the middle and rolled before transferring DIRECTLY into washing machine if this option is eating too much money I would suggest to use your bathtub and fill with just enough hot water to the amount you need to cover the sheets (get medieval on their arses)

mattress protectors are good, but it's an attrition thing, remember that a bed bug can last over a year without food so your gonna have to keep that protector on without taking it off ONCE for over a year and a half to be sure. I personally would steam the shit outta the mattress beforehand, make sure there are no holes in the protector also, that's like leaving one gate open for the enemy to storm your keep.

As wuagbe said, food-grade diatomaceous earth is a MUST, its a great and safe way to battle the little shits. using a pesticide powder duster to spray along to skirting boards and inside cracks that steam would not be able to reach (little tip, you want an even, fine layer of diatomaceous earth (DE) so try not to puff too hard. I would suggest that after you steam the shit outta your mattress zip up your protector and leave a tiny hole for the puffer to go inside, give it a few generous puffs in different directions and then seal it up and leave for a year and a half.

If you have a divan bed then your gonna want to puff diatomaceous earth inside the two halves also, If its a sealed divan make a small hole, just big enough to fit the nozzle of the applicator inside and puff DE in all directions. Always ensure that you wear a mask when using DE, food grade is safe to use but can really irritate your breathing if inhaled, also ensure that any pets are out of the room and that the door to the room is shut and stays shut for around 30 minutes after applying to allow the dust to settle.

I would seriously recommend not allowing pets to sleep in the same room as you, they are great ways for bed bugs to spread around your house and you may not know it but your dog is most likely getting bit too, they prefer human blood but will just as likely bite pets and whats worse, they have been known to take up residence in the pet's fur.

Hopefully, they are contained to just your bedroom but eliminate the chances of them spreading into other rooms and keep an eye open, you will most likely find them close to where you rest such as bed boards, divans mattresses, sofas, pillows, check ALL folds and cracks especially along the headboard and mattress.

Get ready for a war mate, it won't be easy and itll haunt your thoughts for years to come even after winning, and whatever you do, don't squash the little fukers and then smell em, that smell still haunts me wherever I go.

Hope this helps.

PS. If you use DE then make sure its FOOD grade DE... Filter grade DE is very harmful to your health.

Also, Isomething would recommend this or somthing like this to apply it.. https://www.amazon.co.uk/iLOT-Control-Sprayer-Pesticide-outdoor/dp/B0154OTOUS/ref=pd_sbs_325_img_2/257-2910331-1699701?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0154OTOUS&pd_rd_r=51d31d7e-28f7-4682-a460-853f6afadf68&pd_rd_w=ojmTw&pd_rd_wg=FPzut&pf_rd_p=e44592b5-e56d-44c2-a4f9-dbdc09b29395&pf_rd_r=KNED6RV4Z2X3YP6APC14&psc=1&refRID=KNED6RV4Z2X3YP6APC14

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I am so sorry that you're going through such a painful and traumatizing time. I really feel very deeply for you and hope you are able to get some relief. Have you called you local health department? That may be one option to push for an actual exterminator. I know where I live it is actually illegal for them to spray inside apartments without a pesticide applicator certification. I'm not totally sure but it looks like that may be the case in your area too ( https://www.agriculture.pa.gov/Plants_Land_Water/PlantIndustry/health-safety/pesticide-programs/PesticideCART/Documents/007_0128.pdf ). Over the counter stuff will not work in getting rid of them, it just makes them disperse. They really need to treat the entire building because infestations spread from unit to unit. Start with the health department and they may be able to direct you elsewhere.

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Another option could be reaching out to pro bono legal services to explore options. It looks like this is a program in your area that you may be able to reach out to: https://www.westbar.org/probono-program If moving is an option for you that you'd like to explore, they might be able to help you with that. You have the right to safe housing and you are not being provided that.

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In the meantime, to help get some relief there are a few things you can try. If you haven't already, isolate your bed away from the wall and any furniture. You can place your mattress into a mattress cover specifically for bedbugs (you can get them at Walmart pretty cheap). It will trap them in there and prevent others from setting up camp. If your bed is on a frame, dust it with Cimexa (or diatomaceous earth) and place the frame legs into interceptors ( https://www.amazon.com/Bed-Bug-Interceptors-Interceptor-Pesticides/dp/B07MG8BD7X/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1YRMAVFZWHB1T&keywords=bed+bug+interceptors&qid=1556465968&s=gateway&sprefix=bed+bug%2Caps%2C174&sr=8-3 ). This will help prevent them from getting into your bed at night. You can dust Cimexa lightly around the room/baseboards/etc to help kill some of them off. Make sure that none of your bedding touches the ground. You can even dust Cimexa/DE around your bed to make a perimeter. It's not guaranteed, but it can at the very least deter them/catch some of them.

​

I really hope you are able to get some advocacy and solutions. I'll try to think of other options and look up resources for you as I can in the meantime. Very best of luck and remember they are not unbeatable, and you are not alone in this. If you have rapport with your neighbors, it may be worth it to discuss with them and see if you can come up with any options or ideas, or ways to get people to report. There is strength in numbers and self-advocacy, and it is your right to do so!

First of all, do you rent or own the place you are residing at?

If you rent and if you have bedbugs then this responsibility falls on the landlord.

If you own a home then you have to cover the expenses.

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What type of evidence did you seek out? Bedbugs usually hand around at your mattress inside of the folds. Other forms of evidence include blood stains on your mattress and brownish stains that are their fecal matter.

If your mattress is off of the floor consider investing into some bedbug traps. The bedbugs will try and feed off of you during the night. The only way they can get to you is by climbing up your bedframe. They will try to climb up the bedframe and fall into these interceptors where they will be unable to climb out. NOTE: make sure that you bed is not touching the walls. The bedbugs will be able to climb their way to your mattress if that's the case. Mattress off the floor and away from the walls. https://www.amazon.com/ClimbUp-Interceptors-pack-passive-traps/dp/B0028Z0LDQ

There are some exterminators who would be happy to come into your home and provide a free inspection. This does depend on where you live and what companies you have to turn to. You have absolutely nothing to lose by talking to them however.

To answer your question, it really does depend. Heat is very effective at killing bedbugs but the process is very difficult to properly setup. You have to basically clear any form of clutter and ensure that there are 0 cold spots in your home whilst the process is running its course. A cold spot is anywhere bedbugs can escape to during the heat treatment process that will avoid them dying due to the heat. Trust me, if theres any spot in your house bedbugs would be able to escape to avoid death by heat, they will take full advantage of it. If it is done be a competent exterminator and the process is done almost perfectly it is regarded as one of the best ways to get rid of bedbugs.

With that being said, this process is very expensive. You are looking at a couple of grand or even more to do this just once, and even then there is no guarantee. Please make sure that you find a company that offers a 90 day guarantee or something similar and get to know that policy incase things do not work out.

Regardless of what you do, I highly recommend the climbup interceptors for a peace of mind. That is assuming your mattress is not on the floor.

Okay, I'm going to try and keep it manageable.

If you live in an apartment, you need to tell the super if only because you risk them going into other places and reinfesting.

There are kits you can buy, though just be sure anything you buy also has a sprayer of some kind if it's mixed

If a kit doesn't have encasements you should order those on amazon.

That said, here are some steps:

Wash and machine dry everything you own, and put them in these or these. Don't be stingy on this, buy 2-3 of them. Make outfits for work and home and organize them bag by bag. Lets call this 25 dollars.

Do this with your linens, pillow cases, and pillows. If your bedsheets are not light colored and plain, then buy some light colored plain ones. White is good, a little off white is best as nymphs can appear white if they haven't eaten, eggs too. Wash your linens every 4 days or so.

Buy mattress encasements for your bed AND your box spring. Measure both to make sure you don't buy one that's too big, the snugger the fit the better. Do not go too cheap on this, look at the reviews. A good one will have not only a zipper but a folding flap to secure it. Lets call this 60 bucks. Once on, never remove the encasement without a PCO telling you to. Do not try to make your own, it never works out well. Important note, do NOT under any circumstance have any kind of bed skirt or blanket that's so large it touches the floor easily. You're going to want to make it so the bugs have to crawl up the legs so they die on the cimexa.

If you do not have an iron/steel bed frame, I recommend getting the cheapest one you can find.

Clean everything off the floor, make sure no furniture is touching any other furniture or the wall. If you can't do that, you need to lose some stuff. Believe me it's worth it.

Vacuum daily if you can, and immediately toss out whatever you vacuum up in whatever trash is outside. Do not keep it inside. I wouldn't recommend vacuuming less than every other day. Vacuum early in the morning if at all possible.

Buy interceptors. These babies are pricey unfortunately. but a 12 pack should be good for a bed and something else. That's about 40. Make sure whatever bed post you have will fit in them, they're not the widest.

Buy two cans of bedlam plus. Spray it along each joint and crevice in all the furniture after you've emptied it out. Do not use over the counter sprays, they're almost always things bed bugs are already resistant to.

Buy two bottles of Cimexa and a bellows. Apply the cimexa on the perimeter of every piece of furniture that is on the floor as well as along the wall of the room. Unscrew every outlet and switch cover and put it there as well. Don't go overboard, less is more. This will be about 40 total for the set. I recommend spraying the legs of your chairs. Make sure to cover your face while you're doing this. Cimexa will kill them if they crawl over it, however if it's clumped up in big piles they'll walk around it because they don't like it.

Do NOT switch where you sleep. They'll follow you and spread to other parts of where you live. You're live bait. It sucks, but having them come to where you're sleeping is the best way to kill them. You want them feeling safe and secure as they walk over the poisons and cimexa you've laid out.

You'll be living out of bags for a long long time, so get used to it. I recommend scheduling something you enjoy every week to keep your sanity and have something to look forward to.

Whatever you do, do NOT buy a bed bug bomb. It will scatter them and make them harder to clear.

Nothing goes on the bed unless it's sterile, and nothing leaves the bed without being washed and dried ASAP.

Oh boy. That's a blessing and a curse, I suppose - there is still action you can take to prevent a home infestation.

The best way to prevent bringing them home is heat. Immediately take pretty much any article of clothing you think might have come into contact with him (or any others), head on over to the nearest industrial laundromat, and toss your stuff into the largest dryer they have and let it run on high for a long time. Also, DON'T take your suitcase into your car with you. Put all of your clothes in plastic trash bags first, and tie them. Assume that your suitcase has been infiltrated, so placing it in your car could release them in there.


Periodically, once you get home, go do a thorough search of your bedroom. The first thing to look for are dark stains on your mattress. These are usually blood stains (since bedbugs are easily squished if you roll over). Also, check every crack & crevice on the mattress for small black objects like these, which are bedbug p00p. Also, keep an eye out for any shed skin remnants which'll look translucent like those.

If you do have any of those visible signs on your mattress, you'll need to call an exterminator. Seriously, it's pretty much impossible to deal with an infestation by yourself since they hide EVERYWHERE. Including in your walls.

Also, please inform your college's residential services department. They're liable for this sort of stuff.

If you'd like an additional safety measure, just to be safe, get some of this stuff and apply it to your bedframe at home. It's kinda like post exposure prophylaxis to ensure that none have the opportunity to set up shop once you get home should they still successfully hitchhike. It's a desiccating agent that isn't toxic to you.

>If I place the dust everywhere, should I try to refrain from vacuuming? Or just reapply after vacuuming?

I'd vacuum, then apply, then re-apply after any future vacuuming.

>Can you possibly link me to the pump/sprayer?

Here's 2 options, we used this one ourselves, but this one seems to be promoted by Amazon right now. Looking at that yellow one... eh, I'd personally recommend going with the first one. THe extra $6 is worth it for higher quality.

>How much is needed for a ~800 sq. Ft. Apartment?

Per their Amazon link, 2 ounces covers 100 ft^2, large bottles are 4 ounce, so you'd want 4 large bottles

Oh, and as a safety given the high chance other apartments are infested, you probably want this XFasten double sided tape, you will want to make squares around every power/cable/telephone/airvent/etc. outlet, and a large square above your bed, slightly larger than your bed. Yes, they are known to crawl along the ceiling then drop down onto beds.

They will spread everywhere fast. I bought these last month when i had a scare. Really recommend. Will help you sleep better knowing they cant get up to you in your bed and also help you monitor if they have actually spread to your room. Best of luck.

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https://www.amazon.com/Bed-Bug-Interceptors-Interceptor-Pesticides/dp/B07MG8BD7X/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=bed+bug+trap&qid=1557147105&s=gateway&sr=8-7

Several years ago I had a bed bug problem. Not nearly as bad as some others I've seen, but a regular problem. I got rid of it myself with about six months of work.

Because bed bugs are attracted to your breath while you sleep, most of your work will be in and around your bed.

First you have to wash your sheets every week. Strip the bed and put the sheets in a plastic garbage bag to prevent spreading the bugs or eggs around your house or apartment, then throw the bags away once you get the sheets in the wash.

While the bed is stripped, inspect the box spring and bed frame for bugs and eggs. I used strips of scotch tape to gently lift any bugs I found without crushing them and spilling their blood all over my walls.

Twice a week, move the bed out from wherever it sits and clean the area under it. If it's carpeted, use a handheld steam cleaner to slowly blast steam all over the carpet to kill any eggs that may be buried there, then vacuum the entire area. Then spray the carpet with a bed bug spray.

Examine the ceiling, walls, and baseboards around the bed. Bed bugs love to hide in any little crack in your paint, or dent in your wall, or crevice between your baseboard and the dry wall. Again, use the scotch tape to lift any visible bugs off and throw them away. Run a vacuum cleaner hose attachment over the baseboards and the point at which two walls meet, or the wall and ceiling meet. Spray the bed bug spray on these areas.

Carefully examine any electrical outlets near your bed. This is where I found quite a few bugs hiding. Unscrew the outlet cover and look on the back side of it for any bugs there, and look in the outlet wall cavity for bugs. Don't stick metal back there or try to spray liquid. Instead, I used a powder twice a week.

Buy a bed bug mattress cover and one for your box spring if you have one.

While you're doing all this it's important to not change where you sleep, even though you may be getting devoured at night by bed bugs. They're attracted to your breath so if you try sleeping in another area of your home they may just follow you there and infest other furniture.

These are the steps that worked for me. Again, I did them once or twice a week for a solid six months. I never called an exterminator. My landlord tried to use some "bug bombs" from Home Depot but I found they did not work.

Well, the drying/bagging (make sure they're sealed, completely airtight!) is kind of a low-cost basic step, while starting to buy stuff like mattress covers and anti-BB traps gets more expensive. If you truly think the bug's appearance was an isolated event then maybe you'll want to take a wait-and-see approach before investing much more?

FWIW this is the mattress cover I got. Worked well enough. Looks like it's on sale atm.

The other major bed accessory, assuming your bed's on four legs and can be otherwise isolated, is interceptor traps. If you've got bedbugs these are important because they let you see if you still have bugs; at night you act as bait (they attracted to CO2), and the traps catch them as they try to crawl up bed legs.

A steamer will be your best friend for the next couple of weeks- as well as DE dust/Cimexa. Get some spacebags too after you’ve dried your washed/hot dryer clothes and linens and keep them all in there for the time being. A lack of oxegyn won’t kill them but it’s more effective than garbage bags that can break open.

If you can, don’t throw out your mattress/boxspring unless it’s to the point of no return. I’ve had a positive experience of a quality boxspring and mattress cover, make sure you get both- and dust the insides of them with DE/Cimexa so whatever is trapped in there will die.

Get off the living room couch too. Dust DE/Cimexa on under the cushions and within the frame. If you can, just get a new couch, as couches are harder to control,

Get everything off the walls, wash your curtains and space bag them, put books in bags, start packing up things in plastic bins and dust the bottoms with DE.

When you get to the new apartment, the first thing you should do before moving stuff in is to spray down the perimeter of each room with a lasting pesticide, any crack, open space and in front of each doorway. Spray on hard furniture cracks, under the fridge, along window sills, etc. keep everything away from the walls while you spray if you don’t have time as you’re moving in.

A great DIY extermination spray I’ve had was with CrossFire Spray in a hose and pump- my landlord gave this stuff to me, he uses it in all his hotels he owns and swears by it- and it’s been 3 months now with no sign of them, it’s a bit more expensive than the stuff you can buy at Walmart but it’s so much more effective, and fast too. I would spray it, leave it for about an hour with adequate ventilation, and done- it will continuously kills bed bugs hat come in contact with these areas. You can also safely spray this on mattresses directly. I did this for about a month every week. Just keep it away from pets!

Also I had the hard truth of adopting minimalism into my life after my I infestation- I threw out so much useless crap that I realized I don’t need, and not only is my life “lighter,” but i also don’t have extra hiding places for them, and it’s great.

There's some good news and bad news. The positive is that the product did perform well in an independent lab test. LINK to LAB TEST. The negative part is that products like this (e.g., nightwatch) which do well in lab tests don't perform all that well in the real world. Speculation is that the bugs don't pay attention to them since the human in the room is way more attractive to them. They tend to do better in residences which are unoccupied for an extended period of time. If you look at US reviews, only one of them specifically states they found a bed bug in it. LINK to REVIEWS

Your landlord may not have been aware of an infestation. They could have been deep within the box spring, he could have been immune to their bites.

Have you CONFIRMED that these bugs are bedbugs, by visual comparison?

Follow this protocol:

• Use a minimal frame that has little to no spots for bedbugs to hide in, such as a lightweight metal frame
  
  
• Purchase interceptors to put under the legs of the bed frame
  
  
• Move the bed away from the wall, and away from other furniture (isolate it)
  
  
• Wrap both box spring and top mattress in bedbug-proof mattress encasements - the zippered kind that SEAL/ZIP CLOSE.
  
  
• Purchase CimeXa dust and a handheld bellows for application of the CimeXa. Dust this LIGHTLY (do NOT make piles of it) around the baseboards of the rooms in the house, in/on window sills, on the bed frame, inside of dressers/desks/bookshelves, around the bed itself, on the mattress and box spring (before you put on the encasements), and behind/inside of electrical outlets/faceplates. This will dry your skin out so be careful not to touch it a lot, or breathe it in - use gloves/a mask when applying. Your goal is to "puff" it where you're applying it and let it settle in a fine layer. If you vacuum after application, you will need to reapply it
  
  
• You can use Diatomaceous earth too, but CimeXa is much more effective, it lasts much longer, and it's safer to use as DE is harmful if it is breathed in.
  
  
• Wash all clothing and linens on HOT and dry on HIGH HEAT for at least 60 minutes. Store in AIRTIGHT plastic containers or plastic bags that SEAL to prevent hitchhikers and re-infestation. Store away from the bedroom if possible.
  
  
• Look into buying Nuvan ProStrips for items that cannot be laundered - including books, records, shoes, sensitive clothing, etc.
  
  
• All other items that you do not readily need can be stored in AIRTIGHT plastic containers, preferably in a garage or away from the possible infested areas. Adult bedbugs can survive for almost a year without food, so "starving" them is not a reliable method of eradication on its own.
  
  
• Treat the WHOLE HOUSE - NOT just your bedroom, as bedbugs will absolutely move from room to room. Couches and chairs can be treated with CimeXa too.
  
  
• Have diligence and patience - worst case scenario, contact an exterminator, but you can eradicate the bedbugs (if this is what you're dealing with for sure) through DIY methods as long as you are thorough.
  
  

Again, thank you for your help. I tossed my mattress, box spring and bed frame (it was time for a new one anyways. I had a professional come and treat my entire place.

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I haven't seen or felt any bed bugs since when they treated on 9/17. I also live in a condo, so I've called my HOA to notify my neighbors. For my new mattress and bed frame, I've purchased interceptors and protectors for both the [mattress](r/https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004BAEF7E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and [pillows](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003PWNHSC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Any more precautions I should take? I'm trying not to be too paranoid.

I ended up buying these. Wish me luck!

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https://www.amazon.com/Interceptors-Pesticides-additional-products-RELIABLE/dp/B0743564NB/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1NS449W8V1CQ7&keywords=bed+bug+interceptors&qid=1563807353&s=gateway&sprefix=bed+bug+inter%2Caps%2C162&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

hey its been a bit but, if your interceptors are like this: https://www.amazon.com/Bed-Bug-Interceptors-Interceptor-Pesticides/dp/B07MG8BD7X/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=bed+bug+trap&qid=1557025170&s=gateway&sr=8-7 and you're still dealing with them, putting a 1/4 inch of water in the capture part of the interceptor will keep them from bypassing it

Hot Shot Pest Strips- same exact thing, friend.

https://www.amazon.com/Hot-Shot-No-Pest-Crawling-Penetrating/dp/B0019BK8AG

Thoughts if I flipped the touch and after inspection sprayed this? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UVZXL2I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A345UQKI91GF54

Thanks again for your help.

here is a guide that will help tell you where to check for bedbugs

this is what your looking for

you can buy bedbug intercepters to place under your bedframe, if you have bedbugs, they will fall into these and wont be able to get out

To add to what airhighfive is saying, you should use Cimexa. This sub is always recommending it. This is a study about the effectiveness of Cimexa over DE. Here is an amazon link to but the stuff.

You'd think the frequency you're getting bit, that you'd see one somewhere by now.. kinda sounds like there's a few fleas still lingering. My brother had a flea issue and bought this trap and said it started catching fleas within 15 min. Can't hurt to get one or 2 to use in the rooms you're noticing bites in.

He was also dealing with a bedbug problem at the time and used this CimeXa Powder and it helped a ton also. He used a 1" angled paint brush to apply the powder to the cracks and crevices and a powder duster to dust larger areas.

cheap diy indicators and treatments;
simple double sided tape along bed legs.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002O16SHW
use this powder as directed
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085HRWI8

it may be fleas not bb.
fleas leave fewer indicators behind.
for fleas wash everything around bed with borax.
https://www.amazon.com//dp/B000R4LONQ
including floors walls in:outsides of furniture.

https://www.amazon.com/CimeXa-Insecticide-ounces-bottle-Rockwell/dp/B0085HRWI8

this is the one i bought and it worked wonders

https://www.amazon.com/CimeXa-Insecticide-ounces-bottle-Rockwell/dp/B0085HRWI8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1543032378&sr=8-2&keywords=cimexa+bedbug+dust

As of now my plan was to wash and dry on high heat all the bedding, buy mattress and box-spring bed bug covers, and get some CimeXa and put it all over the room. Especially in the doorway so they don't infest other areas of the house (is this being naive? will they just go through the walls?)

How does this sound to you guys?

Ziploc XL HD Big Bag (4 Bags) Packaging may vary https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CAOG198/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_yq2NBb8DZR2DD

I used this mattress cover

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MRH4AMI?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

First, the bedbug covers need to stay ON your bed and boxspring, so that any bugs trapped within will be isolated and eventually die from starvation.

Second, do you have bedbug traps on your bed? If not, I can recommend these. They can be used to determine the extent of the infestation, as well as isolate your bed from the bugs.

Hope that works. Let us know if you continue to have problems!