To be shitting bricks about this bed bug invasion?

[KnackeredMami]

I know it's probably alarmist media but I'm terrified it's true or if it's going to become true! We'll pick them up on public transport, but if we don't go on public transport they'll still get us in hotels, or from other people who do go to hotels, or from our kids in school. I'm reading they sneak in clothes and bags, hide in wardrobes, beds, behind photo frames, in the carpet, in the sofa, I mean basically everywhere? So how the fuckety fuck would you check if there are any? Check every inch of my house everyday? How would I get rid of them if they did arrive? If they could literally be anywhere and everywhere.

This actually makes my blood run cold!

They're more likely to hide in the suitcase than your clothes

I thought we might have brought bed bugs back from France in the summer. It turned out to be fleas (which may have hitched a ride from France; there was a cat at the last place we stayed). But it took a while to work out.

I had quite a bad reaction to the bites. DC1 was unaffected. Couldn't even see any bites. DC2 was itchy. I looked awful and was so itchy. DC2 was really distressed, couldn't sleep, really uncomfortable.

It was incredibly stressful. Washing everything and cleaning the house from top to bottom took me ages. I couldn't sleep for worrying about what might be crawling over me in the night. I avoided going out in public because I was covered in huge red hives.

Between flea spray and a 60 degree wash on everything, I was confident they were gone by about ten days after the first bite. But I would never make light of fleas or bed bugs or mites. When I looked into the cost of fumigating, I felt sick because it was going to be upwards of a thousand pounds (which I didn't have) and no guarantee of working.

I actually had a nightmare about it after reading all the bed bug reports.

I will be extremely careful in future (we're going to Paris next summer and I hope they fumigate the whole city by then). I think the people saying it's nothing and that it's silly to worry about are wrong. An infestation is actually pretty horrific. I felt lucky in the end that it was fleas not bed bugs.

I've got to go in to London later. I'll be tucking my trousers into my socks and avoiding sitting down in the tube

When you travel keep your suitcase in the bath or shower

@MustTryHarderAndHarder it's worse than bad. I'm pretty sure I've got ptsd from it 😬

With the Dia what's it earth, what do you do, just sprinkle it everywhere, leave it a bit then hoover it up?
I'm convinced we've got fleas in the house-we are so itchy, but none of us have visible bites and I can't see any fleas on the dogs. So if not fleas we have something-but what?? Unless I'm just causing hysterical itching because of all the talk of bed bugs and fleas 😫

You can buy mattress steam cleaners and a mattress protector against bedbugs ( and other bugs I guess). The protector zips the whole mattress up so you would see if anything is on outside.
We have holiday rental. Never had bedbugs so far, but I always wash all bedding on 60 degrees then hot tumble dry so it’s clean clean. Have fully zipped mattress protector then another topper protector ontop. I Hoover mattress between every guest, and steam clean it also regularly.
Hopefully this is help prevent spread of anything if there was.

It’s worse in places where people only stay 1 night as then you potentially have 7 different guests every week with higher spread rate. Places with minimum 5-7 night stay will have lower turnover of guests.

The problem is they hide under skirting boards and in wooden bed frames and behind plug socket plates. Literally anywhere.

Hoovering the mattress will not get rid of them if you have an infestation at all.

All you can do is know the signs and make sure you check the beds regularly for their poo and larvae and call an pest controller as soon as possible.

This is useful:

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/bedbugs/bed-bugs-travel.pdf

@MustTryHarderAndHarder - yes, but by regular hooking and steaming mattress, most people would then thoroughly be able to see if there was any sign of bugs. And deal with it after.

ExH moved into a rented house with bedbugs a few years back. My kids came home from staying at his absolutely covered in bites.

He found out that his next door neighbours (which was a HMO), had been having bed bugs for years, treated repeatedly to no avail. His landlord was a dick about it, tried to blame ExH and said they hadn't had issues before, therefore ExH should pay for extermination. We had to send multiple reports to show that the next door neighbours had issues for years and that bed bugs can live in walls, so it was unlikely it was caused from ExH moving in.

I just washed all the kids clothes & teddies on 60degrees when they came back, we never got them in our house. And when ExH moved out, the bugs never moved with them into his house, despite him bringing all his clothes etc with him too.

So I don't feel it's that much of a panic, unless you end up with a total infestation, which takes years of ignoring it.

How did you prove that the neighbour had had them for years? Where did you get the reports from?

@MustTryHarderAndHarder The neighbour passed on the details for the exterminator they had been using, who confirmed he had made 6 visits over the past two years. Exterminator was a lovely guy who was really good to ExH, but basically said "if you can move, do, it's going to be impossible to get rid of them from this house because it's a HMO (so multiple different occupants on short tenancies), frequent travel abroad, and there was no attempt at washing/hoovering from those tenants, so it will keep reoccurring here, and will pass to you through the walls".

ExH moved after his house was treated twice and the bedbugs were still there, and his new house had no problems at all luckily!

I've had them once (not in the UK) - I only noticed because I woke up with bites. Found them in our mattress and there were loads so I got us a new mattress. A few days later I then found a couple on our sons bed frame. I bought a spray and they were gone after a few days of the treatment. Like a PP said they're just like life once you've killed the eggs then they're gone. Not a nice experience though.

I boil washed all bedding and bought new pillows too just to add. I always wash bedding and towels on 60 anyway as my son had asthma when he was younger and was todo to do so

Bed bug bites tend to be in a line - I had 4 in a row on both my left arm and leg

I found 2 blood marks on my pillow yesterday and streaks on my duvet cover today. I'm now officially freaking out.

I isolate everything that comes into the house and we've not been anywhere so the likelihood it is bed bugs is low but I just can't explain those marks? I've inspected the mattress and bed really thoroughly and not found anything. No bites either.

Raaaah am I going to be this panicky for the rest of my life 😓

@MustTryHarderAndHarder blocks of flats are renowned for having them where I live and reinfect each other as it takes several cycles to get rid of them.
The council uses the same exterminations and its cheaper to book it through them and they talk about the places they visit regularly.

Aside from the eye watering cost of getting professional in, it's the added worry of chemicals in the house I worry about.

Well, being alert to the danger is the most important thing.

If it is caught early then it is so much easier to treat.

I have been worried about bed bugs since when I first read about them so I know exactly how you feel.

But knowledge is power.

*first read about them in 2012.

Yes, exactly.

Heat treatment is the safest method but is much more expensive.