BED BUGS. HELP!!

[bagelfiend]

I have been coming up in bites every now and then for months. Always wake up with them but never even considered that they could be bed bugs.

Woke up today with three huge itchy bites on my thigh. I've now done some googling, checked my bed and found what is definitely a bed bug and load of droppings

Sheets and all linen have been put on a hot wash and will put on to dry as soon as they're done. Duvet and pillows have been chucked out. What else do I need to do? I think we are going to need to call pest control first thing.

I've decided to sleep in the spare room tonight as I can't even go into our bedroom. This means that 2 beds will be affected

Has anyone had any experience with bed bugs and can you help please?!

I think I'd get professional pest control. We had to get a wasp nest sorted a couple of years ago and the operative who came out said bed bugs were their biggest element of business and massively on the increase.

Whenever I see TV programmes about hotels and people put their cases on the beds I absolutely cringe.
Horrid things. You have my sympathy.

Thanks Enrique, I am so disgusted with them. Would genuinely yo and stay with my parents if they were near but it seems that I have to disinfect myself first!

Apparently the UK was completely rid of them until about 15 years ago when people started travelling more and bringing them back here from all the cheap hostels abroad

OK here's what we did.

1. Call pest control
2. Bag up everything in the room(s) affected, looking carefully for bugs and catching them with sellotape. We used freezer bags and sealed them shut.
3. Go on a bug hunt with a large roll of sellotape and some jam jars. Catch and kill as many as you can. Under the mattress was where we found most of ours (in the bed slats) but also in stuff that was under the bed. Get rid of as many of the eggs as you can - you may need a knife.
4. Pest control come and treat the room(s). Don't vacuum that evening.
5. Sleep in the room as much as possible after the treatment, otherwise it may not be effective.
6. Unbag things as you need them, checking carefully for bugs / eggs. We also washed on a hot wash or dry cleaned all the clothes in our wardrobe, and kept them in those plastic clothing hanging bags for a long while.

This may sound OTT but we got rid of the buggers completely within 2-3 weeks. Good luck!

Arrrrgggghhh, poor you, they are EVIL. The bites itch so much more than any other insect bites I've ever had!

We met some at a hotel in Florence- we came home covered in bites. I was paranoid that we would have brought some home with us (as I'm sure you'll have read, they can easily hide on/in clothes/luggage etc). So when we got home, I put everything through a very hot wash and scrutinised our suitcases. Luckily, none had hitchhiked back with us and that was that.

But as this is in your home it may be more tricky. Pest control is a good idea, as I fear your mattress may be affected. Why do you say 2 beds will be affected? I'm assuming you mean the spare bed too- but as long as there aren't any bugs on your body or pyjamas when you go in there, that bed should be ok, I'd have thought.

Ask the pest control people for their advice. Really hope you get rid of them quickly!

Look on your local council's website for pest control and call for help, you'll have to pay but they will sort it out. You can't remove yourself from the room for a long time as they go into starve mode and will still bite anyone in the room - even a year later, best way is professional help.

Crossed posts. Much more useful advice from those posters! ^

Thank you so much everyone.

Will definitely get professional help!!

So pissed off as we spent £1500 on this mattress in November- it smelt of cannabis when we got it and in hind site, I started getting bitten straight away. I know I should've called the (well known) bed company then to complain but we weren't too bothered about the smell as it soon went and just assumed the bites were from something else.
I'm planning on calling the company in the morning to find out where the hell the mattress came from!!!

you need to replace the mattress I think. Sorry, I know its not what you want to hear.

and are you sure its not fleas?

I had some from a stray cat that kept getting in my bedroom (french windows to the garden) and they were hell to get out.

We had pest control in this morning to fumigate. He confirmed that it was bed bugs but we don't need to get rid of the mattress as it wasn't a severe case. Thank goodness!

Thank goodness, but also you absolutely did the right thing getting in the professionals.

I had a similar awful experience at the end of last year. We had bed bugs (fortunately just in our bedroom, my daughter was safe). My husband and I didn't how to deal with the problem on our own so he called a company for bed bugs extermination. The operator scheduled a visit for the next day and gave us instructions on what to do before the treatment.
We had to wash our sheets and clothes with hot water, take out all suitcases and bags which were under the bed and hoover the whole room.
On the next day the exterminator came and treated our bedroom. He then said something which terrified me: we had do sleep in the bed the same night to lure the bed bugs! There was no way I was doing that, so my husband sacrificed himself. He had only one or two new bites on the morning after. We cleaned our bed again and the problem was over.
Overall, I think we managed to deal with the problem pretty fast - we were lucky to choose a reliable company.
If you haven't called an exterminator yet, give these guys a try: www.fantasticpestcontrol.co.uk/bed-bug-control/

By the way, they also asked us if we wanted them to send a non-branded van and we agreed. The last thing I want is to give a topic for gossips to my neighbours.

Good luck!

We got rid of them ourselves, successfully. They were in two rooms. I sacrificed by DS's mattress, but otherwise we just sprayed, dusted and fumigated and hoovered everything in sight with a kit we got online. They are hideous.

I got rid of all pillows and duvets by throwing them out the window, then vacuumed like crazy. I even put dh's shoes in the freezer overnight.
Still didn't sleep in the bed for ages and vacuumed everywhere regularly. I think it may have been a few bedbugs having being brought in and found before they had managed to breed.
I'm itching just thinking about it .
My sympathies OP

Is this a bedbug??