Bedbugs!

[Anonymous]

Have you thrown all bedding and pillows into the dryer? Put them in on high for 20 minutes. Then strip the bed and look at the mattress and box springs. I had a friend with a bed bug problem and he said that they were on the FRAME of his bed -- so make sure to look there. If you see them then spray them with Raid.

But heat treatment is the best. My DH and I stayed at an expensive hotel in Copenhagen and woke up one morning with bed bug bites. When we returned home we put all our stuff (including the clothes we were wearing) into our car. It was the middle of summer -- we started up the car and the heater and let it idle in the middle of the day. We put a remote thermometer in there and made sure it reached crazy hot levels for an hour. We had no issues once we returned home.

Now, whenever I travel I make sure to heat treat all of my belongings before they enter my home again.

[Anonymous]

While bites on your leg could indicate bedbugs, they could also be caused by other things. Bedbug bites actually take days or weeks to start itching and become noticeable, so if you do have bed bugs, you have probably had them for a while. Did anyone else in the house have bites? If not, it may be an allergic reaction to something like carpet beetles which are frequently confused with bedbugs but aren't nearly as difficult to eliminate. Not everyone is allergic to carpet beetles so some people in the house may react with welts that look like bites but others will not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While bites on your leg could indicate bedbugs, they could also be caused by other things. Bedbug bites actually take days or weeks to start itching and become noticeable, so if you do have bed bugs, you have probably had them for a while. Did anyone else in the house have bites? If not, it may be an allergic reaction to something like carpet beetles which are frequently confused with bedbugs but aren't nearly as difficult to eliminate. Not everyone is allergic to carpet beetles so some people in the house may react with welts that look like bites but others will not.

OP here. No one else in the house has bites. When I stripped the bed, I didn't find any bugs. What I did find was what the internet told me was evidence - small black dots (their poop) and several small rush colored stains on the mattress (from them getting smooshed.) I had both. The thing that made me suspicious of the bites what that they were all in a row down my leg - apparently this is an indicator of bedbugs. But I thought the same thing - what if they're not?

I figured I would treat it as bedbugs. I have washed all bedding (even the kids on the off chance there was a problem even though I found no evidence) on the hot steam cycle in the wash and dried everything on the highest setting for an hour. I took everything out of my nightstand and put it all in the freezer. Sprinkled the dresser with diatomaceous earth and laid it all around the baseboards. Have bedbug interceptors on all feet of the bed. Luckily we don't have a headboard (which I heard is a real booger to treat), we just have a metal frame. Encased the mattress and box spring in a bedbug proof cases.

In the back of my mind, PP, I'm still hoping you're right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While bites on your leg could indicate bedbugs, they could also be caused by other things. Bedbug bites actually take days or weeks to start itching and become noticeable, so if you do have bed bugs, you have probably had them for a while. Did anyone else in the house have bites? If not, it may be an allergic reaction to something like carpet beetles which are frequently confused with bedbugs but aren't nearly as difficult to eliminate. Not everyone is allergic to carpet beetles so some people in the house may react with welts that look like bites but others will not.

OP here. No one else in the house has bites. When I stripped the bed, I didn't find any bugs. What I did find was what the internet told me was evidence - small black dots (their poop) and several small rush colored stains on the mattress (from them getting smooshed.) I had both. The thing that made me suspicious of the bites what that they were all in a row down my leg - apparently this is an indicator of bedbugs. But I thought the same thing - what if they're not?

I figured I would treat it as bedbugs. I have washed all bedding (even the kids on the off chance there was a problem even though I found no evidence) on the hot steam cycle in the wash and dried everything on the highest setting for an hour. I took everything out of my nightstand and put it all in the freezer. Sprinkled the dresser with diatomaceous earth and laid it all around the baseboards. Have bedbug interceptors on all feet of the bed. Luckily we don't have a headboard (which I heard is a real booger to treat), we just have a metal frame. Encased the mattress and box spring in a bedbug proof cases.

In the back of my mind, PP, I'm still hoping you're right.

That is bed bugs, sorry.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, my mother just got the heat treatment a few weeks ago. I am so apprehensive about staying with her for the holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, my mother just got the heat treatment a few weeks ago. I am so apprehensive about staying with her for the holidays.

If she got the heat treatment, i wouldn't worry at all. Any other kind of treatment, you couldn't pay me to stay there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While bites on your leg could indicate bedbugs, they could also be caused by other things. Bedbug bites actually take days or weeks to start itching and become noticeable, so if you do have bed bugs, you have probably had them for a while. Did anyone else in the house have bites? If not, it may be an allergic reaction to something like carpet beetles which are frequently confused with bedbugs but aren't nearly as difficult to eliminate. Not everyone is allergic to carpet beetles so some people in the house may react with welts that look like bites but others will not.

OP here. No one else in the house has bites. When I stripped the bed, I didn't find any bugs. What I did find was what the internet told me was evidence - small black dots (their poop) and several small rush colored stains on the mattress (from them getting smooshed.) I had both. The thing that made me suspicious of the bites what that they were all in a row down my leg - apparently this is an indicator of bedbugs. But I thought the same thing - what if they're not?

I figured I would treat it as bedbugs. I have washed all bedding (even the kids on the off chance there was a problem even though I found no evidence) on the hot steam cycle in the wash and dried everything on the highest setting for an hour. I took everything out of my nightstand and put it all in the freezer. Sprinkled the dresser with diatomaceous earth and laid it all around the baseboards. Have bedbug interceptors on all feet of the bed. Luckily we don't have a headboard (which I heard is a real booger to treat), we just have a metal frame. Encased the mattress and box spring in a bedbug proof cases.

In the back of my mind, PP, I'm still hoping you're right.

That is bed bugs, sorry.

Yes, that sounds like bedbugs. And if you have enough of them that you are seeing that kind of evidence, you will probably need a professionals help to get rid of them. I'd call one of the companies PPs have recommended.