Bed bugs - desperate for help

[goldengoddess]

I am at my wits end. I have had a problem with bed bugs for nearly two years now and am so stressed about it.
We have been using a professional company who claim to be world experts in the problem, and rather than using harsh chemicals, they use a deep cleaning strategy combined with that white earth stuff which slowly kills the bugs. However, I have spent thousands of pounds on treatment and the problem just doesn't go away. I cannot now sleep with the stress of it, and just as I am drifting off wake with a start imagining that I can feel bed bugs crawling on me. I am sorely tempted to get another company in who will blitz the place with some hard core chemicals, which the first company stress is not the best strategy as apparently that just drives the buggers underground/deep into the skirting boards/floorboards, and only kills those bugs immediately in the vicinity.

I feel like burning all the beds and moving house to get away from them, but then would be terrified of taking the bugs with me. HELP!! If anyone has managed to succesfully eradicate them I would love to know how they did it as I am now really desperate

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XQ15GX5/ref=dp_prsubs_2?tag=mumsnetforu03-21 Not the one I bought, but identical. I bought the spray shown with it & it was good, not too toxic, & used it on & around my headboard.

And this is the spray I got (not for near my head). If you spray it on the slats down the bits they hide in if you miss one when it comes out it will DIE.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0170LZ812/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

@Vodkacranberryplease I agree with OP, you are very lucky to have got rid of your bugs in one go using a steamer - except that's not what you did, is it?

You refer to 'bedbug spray', 'smoke bombs' and a 'special mattress cover' and are weirdly non-specific about what any of these are, while being very specific about the brand of steamer you recommend. You also say you used DE and bug interceptors. It sounds like you threw everything at it all at once so it's difficult to say what worked.

OP has been dealing with bugs for 2 years now and has had at least 6 treatments from a professional company that uses steam and DE. She says, in the past two weeks I have caught and killed about 30 live bed bugs on my son's bed (this is despite buying a brand new bed three months ago), and about 10 on my own bed. (though haven't found any for over a week now, though am still getting bitten)

So steam and DE don't appear to be working very well.

They cant hide very deep

They absolutely can! This is the biggest reason not to use 'bug spray' or smoke bombs. They are increasingly immune to all licenced pesticides these days. These products are far more likely to just piss them off and cause them to scatter - behind the skirting boards, into nearby furniture, electronic items, under the edge of the carpet, behind electrical sockets, into other rooms ... this is much less likely to happen with steam but they will still run away from heat if they get the chance.

OP, it's surprising you are still dealing with so many bugs after all this time - could they be coming in from a neighbouring property?

Steam is definitely useful for killing lots of them very quickly. If you don't have a steamer you can lay a wet towel over the mattress seams and press with a hot iron. You only have to heat them to 60 or above. Hot soapy water and a scrubbing brush is effective on hard surfaces like bed slats.

As for Cimexa heres what Google says
Like diatomaceous earth, CimeXa is a residual powder that clings to bed bugs that come in contact with it.

Yes this is true, I already said this. As I outlined above, the difference is cimexa kills them in 2 days instead of 10. You don't have to get it deep into the mattress seams, you don't even need to know exactly where they are living. You just need to put it where they will have to walk through it because as you say, it clings to them.

Never mind what google says, here are the results of lab and field trials of cimexa:

www.pctonline.com/article/pct0814-silica-gel-research-bed-bugs/

I see you have specified the bug spray, sorry I missed that. the active ingredient is cypermethrin which is a pyrethroid pesticide. Bed bugs have shown increasing resistance to this group of chemicals for at least the last 15 years.

No, I'm not saying you have made it up, I am saying you got lucky.

I'm not in pest control, I think OP can get rid of the bugs herself, as I did, using cimexa.

I have reported both of your most recent posts.

Report away! I think it's complete nuts that you are so caught up in it and accusing me of lying
*I agree with OP, you are very lucky to have got rid of your bugs in one go using a steamer - except that's not what you did, is it?

You refer to 'bedbug spray', 'smoke bombs' and a 'special mattress cover' and are weirdly non-specific about what any of these are, while being very specific about the brand of steamer you recommend*

Maybe I e we irk for the steamer company 😂😂👍👍

Maybe I work for the steamer company 🤣🤣

Poirot has nothing on you @LangClegsInSpace you are a real life (bedbug) sleuth! How fabulous, I feel so privileged to be able to read your incredible bedbug wisdom but of course also a little worried that your superior detective abilities have exposed me!

Sound horrific! I would bin all the mattresses, pillows and bedding and fumigate the bed frames and the rooms they were in for a week (could you stay with friends or parents?) then order new ones to arrive after that.

Well this thread took a strange turn. I am team vodka , LangClegs I think you have been at vodka!
Op I hope you get rid of them, I used the council recommended people with chemicals but it was 15 years ago. I threw out the mattresses , was a horrible time.

OP I feel for you. We had them for about 6 months and it was a nightmare. You have to fully go to war on them. We had chemicals spray, then bagged everything and boil washed (ruined so many clothes), waited a couple of weeks and them dismantled the bed and steam cleaned everything. Every screw hole, the whole carpet, skirting boards. Threw out all pictures from walls (they get into the frames). Once the bed was back together we painted it (partly to seal and partly to cover marks, it was a cheap shit ikea bare wood thing). It was hell.

If it’s been two years and the organic approach isn’t working, you probably want to give the hard core approach a go, but the steam cleaning works really well too as long as you’re brutal with it. Prepare to warp stuff.

Oh please people don't be falling out about bed bugs. Night night OP, don't let the Mumsnet posters bite! Wishing you luck with it tomorrow

@AldiAisleofCrap thank you (great name btw)

@enjoyingscience it is indeed war! I have a hand made pocket sprung mattress and expensive upholstered storage bed so was not about to throw them out! Plus I think that the steamers these days have the power needed to get the job done. But it's every. Fucking. Crevice. Must have taken me a day! I took the view that more was better as long as the thing I was doing wasn't expensive (the steamer was the most expensive thing but I kind of wanted one anyway). So got the sprays etc. But I didn't even think of pictures!!! I read that they have tiny legs and can't fly and thought why would they bother when they can hang out in my mattress and just be a short scuttle to my legs. SO GROSS. I thought they were mosquito bites at first. God so awful!!!!

Oh and I carefully put bedding in sealed bin bags, washed the bedding on hot, and threw the bin bags out. I do wash my pillows etc anyway which is good practice. Ugh.

We had them and had a pest control company come and use the toxic chemicals. At first it seemed to work but then we started seeing them again. Pest controller refused to come out again and said they were coming from our neighbours and nothing could be done. We bought a steam cleaner and did the same as previous poster and steamed methodically. Got rid of them. I reckon the chemicals got rid of 80% and steam 20%. Definitely worth trying a steam cleaner.

Wow, thanks so much for all the great advice everyone, and please let's not fall out about it!

. I wanted to buy a steamer anyway, so thanks to Vodka for the recommendation, and I googled it and it is a top buy according to Which. Vodka, having successfully got rid of bed bugs do you still steam your mattress/bed on a regular basis as a kind of preventative measure? That must help if the odd bug does make it into your house - though I pray I never have to go through this again.

Sorry for being a bit dim but I don't actually understand the logic of the mattress bag/cover things. I get that if you cover it up, no bugs can get in, and that bugs lurking in the seams will eventually die as they can't get to their source of food, but if there are still bugs in the headboard/bed frame, you are still not going to resolve the problem.

Always Latte - getting rid of the mattress/bed is not necessarily the solution. I chucked out my son's old bed and mattress three months ago, bought a cheap Ikea job as a replacement, and we still have a problem. Clearly there were still bugs hiding somewhere else in the room, the fuckers.

Jewel 1968 - yes, our next door neighbours have had an infestation too and this is part of the problemm, made worse by the fact that it is a tenanted house and it was empty for a few months while the landlord refurbished it, meaning that the fuckers migrated in search of fresh blood. Fortunately the house is now rented out again and as far as I know the new tenants haven't complained to the landlord about a problem, but as I know from bitter experience you can have an infestation for months without necessarily being aware of it, especially, if like my son, you don't react to bites.

As for using Cimexa, when the latest round of treatment is over, I am going to invest in some and use that and combine with the steaming and see how I get on.

oh, meant to say, got the Bed bug company coming out again on Friday and they are going to inspect the next door neighbours to determine whether there is any sign of bug activity, and they will treat accordingly.

Also suggest only having white bedding helps identify the telltale black spots (their fecal matter) and helps you keep on top of it.

Good luck but at least you know that it can be dealt with. Have to say it took us years to relax.

Ok so the mattress cover is so that any left on the mattress die. I'd say 90% of mine were on my mattress. The spreads were more of an insurance for if I missed one snd it came out later.

A year on almost, and no bed bugs have appeared. I don't steam my mattress because it's covered and the cover doesn't need steaming as it's made of stuff they can't live in.

I have clothes moths (discovered they are in the carpet behind the wardrobe so taking that out) so have used spray a few times, steamed my carpet to clean it and washed my duvet/pillows reasonably regularly (I use feather and trying to kill dust mites too). In fact I have just hung my pillows out to steam!

I've not bothered with the Diachotomos (sp) Earth since. I took ages to choose that cleaner and read up thoroughly. I subscribe to which too but didn't know it was a Best Buy. It's pretty good though.

there's a YouTube of a couple of American guys cleaning carpet with it and I do NOT get the same result even though I went and bought fabuloso (as rec by them).

As for them coming from next door? Hm. The stuff I read (maybe a link I put) seems to indicate that they can't travel that far! I would steam the fuck out of that wood floor personally,

@jewel1968

Also suggest only having white bedding helps identify the telltale black spots (their fecal matter) and helps you keep on top of it.

Good luck but at least you know that it can be dealt with. Have to say it took us years to relax.

Oh no no no. I NEVER want to see their faecal matter ever again! I went for 100% elimination. God by the time they have faecal matter it's too late for me!

Just re read and maybe they did come from next for I suppose if they were really desperate. There's a reason the little fuckers survived as long as they did. They can go up to TWO YEARS without food I think!

Placemarking! I have an awful phobia of these, I’ve never actually had them but thought I did a few years ago and it nearly destroyed me. Always really anxious when I go to hotels or new places, I never sit down in tubes etc. Ugh.