bed bugs argh!

[bookworm0550]

about a year ago before i moved into my new place, i was informed that the building had a case of bed bugs because someone brought home a bed w/ bed bugs, but that they have been taking care of the problem and there hasn't been any sight of them. plus they would come in twice a month, then once a month, and now every other month.

ok, fine, i sign my lease, got rid of my bed, and have been sleeping on an air mattress for over a year now. i hated it at first, but have gotten use to the air bed (gone through like several of them, thanks to milo and sharp objects). i figured i would be the one that would find a bed bug so i best just not have a real mattress to encourage that sort of thing. it's been a year and not a sight of bugs or itchiness.

sunday....it's morning, i'm cleaning up my bedroom and i look at my pillow. there is a bed bug on it!!!!!! well, at first, i just thought it was gross looking tick, and it was alive. i wrapped it up in a piece of toilet paper. never seen this kind of bug. so i googled bed bug and it matched!

though i wasn't too sure so i went to my caretaker and his wife answered. she confirmed that it was a bed bug and was not very nice to me about it or anytime i knock on their door, which is not that often. she always gives me an attitude whenever i ask for help (like when i blew my fuse and didn't know where the fusebox was or when my neighbor's cat jumped out their window and was running around the front yard and of course she gave me an earful about it. "next time you see that, don't ask my husband ok? call the cops instead" gee lady, call the cops and say what? their cat busted through their screen and can't get back in? what a B*^*%

anyway, now i'm worried. are the bugs gonna feed off my birds? and rabbit? i'm worried about milo the most cuz he's so fat and cute. and evie is just screaming blood w/ her picking and all. argh. i'm so tired, but too scared to go to sleep. i stayed up til 3 last night playing video games and work up early. so far, i dont see anything red and bumpy except for the zit on my face. i would sleep on the couch, but not sure that is safe either. am i just being overly worried about the bed bugs sucking at my babies?

i'm tempted to put milo on top of the kitchen table or on two chairs or something high off the ground.

[Pips mom]

Geez, I've never had any experiences with this kind of thing before. I know about fleas! Yeah, my very first apartment, had another apartment next to it and the lady had a little yippy dog and the dog ran into our apartment just once for about three seconds and that was it.....we had fleas in our rugs, it was terrible because we didn't have any pets and the fleas were going after ME!
I'm not sure if bed bugs go after animals either, but you should research this and find out all about them. That is what I did when we got infested here with fruit flies. Good luck!

[bookworm0550]

i'm gonna go all out and tape up my electrical outlets .

i found this online: Bed bugs feed on the blood of human beings but can suck blood from other animals as well. Birds and mice are the most common animals.

YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bookworm0550]

at times like this, i wish i didn't have my babies. then they wouldn't have to suffer and i would not have so much anxiety about their safety.

[linda040899]

If you have a steam cleaner, it will make short work of the bed bugs and steam can be safely used on furniture. You can also vacuum your mattresses and any other furniture that you suspect of housing the bugs.

The very worst infestation I've ever had was German Roaches and they came here in the stand for Georgia's cage when I brought her and cage home from the pet shop! It took 2 years to completely get rid of them and I'm now very, very careful about anything and everything that comes into my house. Heaven knows that I don't ever want to go through anything like that ever again!!!!!

[linda040899]

i'm gonna go all out and tape up my electrical outlets .

i found this online: Bed bugs feed on the blood of human beings but can suck blood from other animals as well. Birds and mice are the most common animals.

YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get yourself some uncooked Diatomaceous Earth and sprinkle it under the cages. DE is ground up ecktoskeletons of sea creatures and the ground edges are sharp. As bugs crawl across it (or attempt to do so), those sharp edges lacerate their undersides and they die from loss of body fluid. DE is not harmful to birds or other animals once it's in place. Just be careful not to inhale the dust. It will work wet or dry.

[bookworm0550]

linda, where can i get those? i'm gonna call an exterminator and ask a million questions tomorrow.

[linda040899]

You can check with a pool supply store but I'm not sure they carry uncooked DE. My next choice would be a feed supply store. If not, try an online search for uncooked DE. DE can even be rubbed into feathering of birds and fur of cats, dogs and other animals. It's harmless if swallowed. Just not good to inhale the dust into lungs.

[bookworm0550]

linda, like from this site: http://wolfcreekranch1.tripod.com/defaq.html

[bookworm0550]

and then i can just vacuum this stuff right?

[linda040899]

Yes and yes! :)

[CompassionAk]

I started working at Home Depot and last week a guy came in and bought a bunch of roach poison and I jokingly asked him if he had a bug problem. Turns out that he is an exterminator and he started telling me about bed bugs and how most are immune to sprays and the best method to get rid of them was like Linda said to use very hot steam and vacuum.

The guy said most steam cleaners don't get hot enough to kill them unless you hold them on the surface for a while. He said most people just brush a steamer over a surface thinking that will work but it doesn't. I hope you are able to get rid of those icky bugs! If I see that exterminator I'll have to ask him about that DE if I remember.

[linda040899]

The guy said most steam cleaners don't get hot enough to kill them unless you hold them on the surface for a while. He said most people just brush a steamer over a surface thinking that will work but it doesn't.
The McCullough 275 gets hot enough and it's got a big water tank so that I can use it for up to almost an hour without adding more water to it. I've found that cleaning with steam is easy but it takes longer than the ads suggest on TV!

DE will kill bed bugs but it can take a few days. DE also works well if you put it down in front of baseboards, outside doors and even outside window sills. That keeps unwanted pests out before they can manage to find their way inside!

[LauraO]

Yeah. Bed bugs are almost impossible to get rid or. The problem is the eggs are what's immune to sprays and can lay dorment up to a year. My fear with steam or vacuuming is that eggs and bugs will be hard to remove from the machine and will eventually hatch........Your landlords need to have exterminators come into your apartment and spray. They then need to come back like two weeks later and spray again then once every quarter or as needed. If your apartment really had a plan in place, they should have an open account with an exterminator who should be available. I would not be nice about this or give your apartment manager any leeway, because these bugs are worse the roaches and harder to get rid of.

Another safe way to keep some of the bugs away from your birds and bed is to spray rubbing alcohol around. the area you want them to stay away from.

[Pips mom]

........Your landlords need to have exterminators come into your apartment and spray.

But what about the birds?? geez, I'd be afraid of bringing them back to a place that had been sprayed! I think at some point in everyone's life, they end up having to deal with bugs! but these sound aweful! and the roaches hitching a ride inside the cage stand??? Who would ever think?? Boy, do I feel lucky now that we don't have any real bad insect problems here! I sure hope it stays that way! You guys always seem to have such great advice and suggestions on EVERYthing! not just birds!

[linda040899]

You guys always seem to have such great advice and suggestions on EVERYthing! not just birds!
I'm definitely going to speak for myself here, but it's due to age related first hand experience in my case..... :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Chickobee]

Ditto! There aren't too many pluses to being older, but this is one. :blush: :rofl:

[Dodo]

Oh wow...bed bugs are horrible! About two years ago the place my boyfriend was living in (before we moved in together) got infested when someone moved in next door and brought them with her-it was awful. Those things can get into your clothes and other belongings- we ended up washing all of his clothing in very hot water and putting it through the hot cycle in the drier, then we sealed it all in plastic bags; it's a hassle to get your stuff out of plastic bags to get dressed in the morning, but it helped cut down on hiding places and the possibility of spreading them. We also got some sealant and tried to ensure any cracks/openings along the baseboards were plugged up, and put things that couldn't be washed in hot water in the freezer for a couple of weeks- very hot and very cold temps will usually kill them. Every other week the landlord had the exterminator come in to spray, so all pets had to be moved out of the building for the day- also a hassle and a worry, but they're really tough to kill, especially since they're so good at hiding in even the tiniest of cracks (inside light switches, between the pages of books- we ended up getting really paranoid). I wouldn't suggest moving onto the couch to sleep, as they will probably follow; he tried that and his couch got infested. There's lots of sites on the net (I found out) with tips for dealing with these terrible pests and surviving in as much comfort as possible while the problem's being dealt with. Good luck, and lots of empathy- I hope this gets sorted out soon for you and your pets!

[bookworm0550]

thanks, yes, the manager called me back and told me to look at my sofa, but it's too heavy for me lift to really take a look at it. milo will just have to be in the kitchen. the only thing i can of to do right now is to use double sided tape on the legs of the bird stands and around milo's cage.

they do spray and the spray's pet friendly. the spray they use is just wet spray, not aerosol or anything. i've been home when they've done it, and was asked to keep the pets and myself off the wet areas. but i asked her to ask the exterminator about pets just in case they need to do something heavier than normal, that way i can move them to my bf and my good friend's place. i'll keep you guys posted on what is gonna happen.

bugs are just gross to begin with. i saw a spider earlier and my reaction was to kill it, but i figure, mr. spider most likely eats other bugs so why not let him live? hopefully i didn't vacuum him 30 mins later.

though, i am super paranoid. every little itch, i'm checking it out. you know how when you hear about bugs, you feel more itchy than normal? that's me.

[CompassionAk]

This post is making me itchy!

[thebubbleking]

Lo,heres something i learned recently theres a new thing where pest control seals the room(s) and turns it into a sauna dry heat drys and kills all bedbugs and eggs and doesnt effect household items and uses nothing but heat so no residue etc..wish worked on german roaches as well hate them buggers on going battle mabey i should just get a familey of jackson chameleons lol

[bookworm0550]

the exterminator is coming tomorrow and so i'll be here for all of that and then they are coming back next week for the whole building. as long as the pets are off the floor and no direct contact, they should be fine i was told.

[CompassionAk]

What kind of spray are they using?

[bookworm0550]

i don't know what kind of spray it is.

[Enko_chan]

I'm not sure about the animals, so I am sorry about that... but as for bed bugs, and I am very very sorry about this, but they are nearly impossible to get rid of unless you are willing to follow instructions on how to get rid of them to the letter. My heart goes out to you, what a horrible pain!

One of the dorms in college had them and I researched them at the time because I thought they were being ridiculous about it- they actually made everyone get rid of ALL their things, replacing all of it with cash or items, and moving them to a different dorm and treating the area. They said no one new could move in for 18 months! They not only live in beds, but also appliances- anywhere warm- computers, heaters, video game consoles, outlets, you name it! Not only can the EGGS survive for a long time, the actual bugs themselves can survive for a very long time, without a meal (blood).

In a way, they are like head lice- it doesn't matter if you are the dirtiest bum or the cleanest neat freak, you can still get them, but unlike lice they are darned near impossible to get rid of. If you have homeowners'/renter's insurance I would look into what they have to say about the situation.


I've tried to look up whether the bugs are a danger to pets or not, and all I've been able to find is a few websites that claim that bedbugs feed from many different warm blooded creatures which can involve birds and other pets, but there's nothing concrete or hard to go on. I would be very very careful if there is anyone spraying or putting out anything to kill the bugs, that the birds are out of the home for that.

In the meantime, I would watch out for bites on the birds. Bedbug bites look like tick bites- they contain enzymes like tick bites that keep the blood flowing (EDIT: its won't be actively bleeding, but the spot may stay wet for a long time after the bite rather than scabbing over normally). There are many claims that bedbugs do not carry diseases like ticks and mosquitos, but none of these websites are science journals or anything I would call reputable sources, so I do not know how much stock to put in them (in fact, if you look closely, several of them are linked to exterminator sites and give what I am pretty sure is very terrible advice). Also, you can keep an eye out for bug excrement around the birds.

[CompassionAk]

I've been thinking about you guys today and hoping everything went ok with no problems!

[bookworm0550]

yeah, they came and just did my bedroom. the guy was laughing at me after he came out cuz i taped paper over all the outlets in my bedroom. "you're gonna let one bug do that to you?" LOL, heck yes. he was understanding about my birds cuz he had a parakeet when he was younger and was talking to me about birds. they're gonna come back next week and treat the entire building so i'm gonna make sure i'm home for that. he said the birds should be fine so long as there is no direct contact. so far for as long as they've been doing this here, my birds have always been fine, but i still worry.