To just fucking burn my house down!

[sheskilledmyplant]

Ok so that's a little dramatic..but that's how I feel lately because of these fucking pests!!

So we have lived here 4 years. We ripped the old bathroom out and replaced (downstairs bathroom) after 3 months of it being done I started hearing moving around Underneath the bath panel..yep we had mice! 4 years on we can still hear them from time to time even though dh has been around the house 10,000 time to block up any holes.

Last year our kitten got fleas and infested the whole house it was absolutely hideous! What with the heatwave and being bitten a zillion times a day it was torture. We got some indorex, took the cat back to the vets and he prescribed him some better flea treatment and we haven't seen a flea since.

Then last November I noticed I kept getting bitten in bed but my husband wasn't, turns out it was bed bugs! We had to throw the bed and mattress out just before Xmas and replace it. Also found one on the sofa!

Then last week I noticed my two year old was being bitten. After a thorough examination of the bedroom I found a bedbug on the frame of her bed with lots of little black dots on the wood frame. After more inspection I found what I think are carpet beetles 😩
I've blocked up any holes and crevices and sprayed.

I'm so fed up, I can't take much more of this! I've lived in 2 other houses and not had one of these problems let alone all 4!

Home emergency if you have it - on most home insurance's cover pest control.

i dunno if these things work but i have carpet, a cat and a bed and never had these issues
i spray my carpet with white vinegar to take out smells and wipe down doors ect with it im assuming bugs wont like it either

Blocking up holes to prevent mice is next to impossible. If a biro cap can fit through the hole, a mouse can get through it (any hole a mouse can get it's head through, the rest of the body can follow). At some times of year (particularly Autumn) they're going to be trying to find a nice warm building to move into.

For the mice you need to either bait or use traps. And you'll probably need to check every Autumn for fresh signs and wage an annual campaign for a week or two when they're moving in from outside.

Aerosol sprays for fleas and bugs are ok where you spray, but expensive and difficult to use thoroughly without missing bits. Insecticidal smoke bombs from Fortefog (can be ought on Amazon) are easier to use properly and will penetrate into nooks and crannies, and the soft furnishings.

Contact your local council (environmental health dept) if you think the bed bugs and mice have come from next door. If you just treat your house, they will come back from manky neighbours next door.

They will investigate and hopefully get the homeowner to deal with it.

I had a similar problem a few years ago. I rang the council and they came round and fumigated. There was a fee but it wasn’t too expensive and worked immediately

@CoolJule43

Bed bugs will probably be in every bed and fabric sofa in the country.

They are not in every house or bed.

Mice have no vertebrae so need the tiniest of openings to get in. Check again.

Yes please do check again, mice are mammals, all mammals have a spine.

Blackcatsleeping Thankyou

I'm just at the tail end of treating my home for bed bugs. You have my utmost sympathy OP

Bed bugs are becoming increasingly common, especially in London, and are becoming immune to just about every pesticide that is legal to use, even the ones the professionals use.

Don't try DIY pesticide treatment, the likelihood is they'll just scatter and infest every room. For the same reason, don't start moving furniture around or dragging it through the house to get rid of it. It's quite likely this is the same infestation you had before Christmas that has spread.

If you're in the London area, I can recommend this company:

www.bed-bugs.co.uk/

There's also a lot of useful info on their website.

We had a mice problem at our old house. Pest control suggested stuffing holes with wire wool if we found any. He couldn't find how they were getting in but we were in a terrace and suspect another neighbour also had mice which were just travelling through.

I’m paranoid about bed bugs. My young adult kids are always off back packing in dodgy hostels. I have strict rules about any clothes and stuff we take on holiday going straight in the downstairs laundry before it goes in our rooms and returning kids have to have a shower before going to bed.

Laundry is sensible, Tinkly - wash stuff at 60.

Showers won't make a difference because they have an aversion to walking on your actual body. Even when they bite you in bed, they'll walk on the sheet and avoid walking across your skin because unlike fleas and lice they're really easy to squish (sorry if TMI!)

Unfortunately it's not just dodgy hostels you have to beware of. It's worth learning how to spot the signs and teach your DC how to as well.

Tips for travel -

• Always inspect the bed in a hotel or holiday let before unpacking anything, sitting or lying on the bed

• keep your suitcase on the metal stand if there is one. If not, keep it in the bathroom, preferably in the bath. Never under or near the bed.

• keep dirty laundry in a sealed plastic bag away from the bed

Tips for at home -

• don't sit down on public transport in London if you can help it

• change your clothes when you get in

• never sit or lie on your bed in outdoor clothes

• inspect your bed and hoover under the mattress at least once a month

London is now going through an epidemic similar to New York in 2010. They've been found on buses, trains, planes, hospital wards, GP waiting rooms, schools, universities, cinemas, libraries, cafes, all grades of hotel ... basically anywhere people sit or lie down. There was a huge outbreak in the houses of parliament last year and lots of staff took them home with them - via public transport!

You could drive yourself insane trying to avoid all contact so it's best to learn to recognise the signs, check beds regularly and deal with anything you find promptly.

We have a plug in thing for mice and other bugs it seems to be working xx

Carpet Beetles need food. Crumbs down the back of the washing machine or under the fridge make ideal locations. As does bits of cat food or children's beds where they've had snacks and not cleaned up - you'll usually find them in the gap between the carpet and under the skirting boards - a crevice tool on your vacuum cleaner really helps.

Bed Bugs - have you been on holiday at all? It's very easy to bring them back from a hotel without realising it.

Mice, well, you get them everywhere. Blocking the holes only stops them coming into the kitchen. it doesn't stop them living under the floorboards. Unless you have concrete floors, you're likely to have them, more so if there's food around - and the odds are if you don't have them in the house, they're under the shed anyway. The key is to congratulate the cat on any kills but not let bring her victims inside in case they escape under the sink.

Sorry to ask what could be a silly question but do you only get bed bugs from other bed bugs- Ie your belongings coming into contact with another infestation?

Sorry to ask what could be a silly question but do you only get bed bugs from other bed bugs- Ie your belongings coming into contact with another infestation?

Yes, you or your belongings need to physically come into contact with bedbugs in order to get them. They can't jump or fly but they can walk fairly fast for a bug.

However you might come into contact with a single bug that's dropped off someone onto a seat and get them that way, so not necessarily an infestation as such.

PencilsInSpace thank you....makes me shudder.

Fog bomb worked for our smallish flat for two years,we then needed another as we started getting bitten again.
It worked again for the same amount of time.

Each time you use a fog bomb or any other chemical pesticide you are killing the most susceptible bugs and leaving the ones with more immunity to the pesticide to breed and pass on their immunity. So the pesticide stops working. It's the same problem we see with pet flea treatments and antibiotics. It's an arms race and we are running out of weapons.

Not only do chemical treatments not work much any more, but they piss the bugs off and spread them around your home, driving them deeper into crevices where they're harder to find and kill.

There are ways of dealing with a small localised infestation yourself and I'll come back tomorrow and talk about how I've been tackling this if people are interested.

If you have a bigger infestation or especially if you've previously used pesticides, you need to get professionals in.

makes me shudder

Yes, it's horrible.

We need to become OK with talking about bedbugs though in the same way we've had to become OK talking about headlice.

Well after another night of my 2 year old being bitten to death I've ordered lots of stuff to hopefully get rid of the bastards. I think I'm going to have to throw her bed out and get her a new one though. I've inspected it and there's loads hiding in the cracks of the wooden frame. 😢

Look at the state of her hand 😔

Poor little thing. Yes, yes, you definitely need to get her a new bed and mattress/bedding. Use the time it's not in there to nuke the fuckers.

And whilst I wouldn't put one on a cat, a flea collar in the vacuum cleaner should kill off any of the bastards that get sucked up as you clean before letting chemical warfare commence.

Seriously, get the professionals in urgently and don't attempt DIY pesticide treatment. You're highly unlikely to be able to kill them all, they'll just scatter and spread through the house and possibly adjoining houses too.

This is very likely to be the same infestation you had before christmas, they've simply relocated, maybe by falling off the last bed you disposed of when you were carrying it through the house. You also saw one on your sofa - did you investigate that room any further?

Anything you dispose of from that room needs to be triple wrapped in three layers of sealed plastic before taking it out of the room or you run a very high risk of spreading them further.

TBH, it's not a great idea to get rid of the bed, at least until you are sure the bugs have gone. This is because the room will need to be occupied until the bugs are eliminated or they will just move and set up house in another room.

You can give the bed, mattress and floor under and around the bed a very thorough hoover, getting into all the crevices. Remove slats and hoover underneath them if you can. If possible turn the whole bedframe on its side to get underneath. This will make a huge difference to the number of bugs and the number of bites.

A cat flea collar in the hoover will not kill the bugs. They will just crawl out again and if they crawl out in a different room you'll then have another room to treat.

Change the hoover bag straight away in the same room - make sure the used bag is completely sealed in plastic (bags or cling film) - 2-3 sealed layers - before you carry it through the house and straight to the outside bin.

Any clothes you wear while debugging are likely to get bugs on them so before you start, take a complete clean set in there in a bag and leave it well away from the bed. When you have finished hoovering and have safely wrapped the hoover bag, change into the clean clothes before leaving the room. leave the dirty clothes in a sealed bag in the room for now

Assuming this is a localised infestation they will be on the bed, possibly in places within 3 feet of the bed and nowhere else in the room.

The trick is to keep them there until they are eradicated. This means keeping the room occupied at night so they don't wander off looking for dinner elsewhere, and not allowing anything out of the room that could have bugs on and so could spread them through the house.

Get some heavy duty black sacks, some pallet wrap and some dissolving laundry bags (Amazon or ebay sell these). Also get extra hoover bags.

CAREFULLY clear any items from around and under the bed. Wrap anything you want to keep in three sealed layers of pallet wrap. Once you've done that the items are safe and can be decontaminated at a later date.

Any rubbish, double bag in a black sack, twisting and tying the top so it's completely sealed.

All dirty laundry should go in a dissolving laundry bag. Again, twist and tie the top so it's completely sealed. These bags are great, you can carry them through the house safely and put the whole sealed bag in the washing machine. The seams of the bag dissolve in water so you just fish out the soggy bag at the end of the cycle. You need to wash everything at 60 degrees.

If there are curtains next to the bed they will need washing too. Keep the bed a few inches away from walls or other furniture for the time being.

There's no need to wash all DD's clean clothes unless they are in drawers under the bed.

She needs to change out of her night clothes before leaving the room in the mornings, although I realise this may be a challenge with a 2 year old!

Oh I didn't think that the room had to be occupied. I'll put dh in there with the bastards and keep the girls in with me. What a fucking nightmare! It's so damn stressful

Oh and the bed will be going straight out of the window so no chance of them falling off the bed.

It's the dirty skanks next door I'm sure if it! 4 years I've been here and never once heard a hoover on the go 🙈