[idealist]

My boyfriend had bedbugs at his apartment in Prospect Heights and I think he's brought them over to my apartment. It could just be paranoia, but I am analyzing every black/brown piece of dust, etc. on my bed.

I stayed at his place before he realized he had bedbugs, and I got bitten really badly. 3-4 big welts that hurt for days. Yesterday I woke up with a tiny welt on my arm, and freaked out. The welt that I got yesterday went away by lunchtime and didnt hurt. Maybe it could have been cause by something else?

My boyfriend's exterminator said that there had been a lot of bed bug incidents on 8th ave. So I thought maybe people here wold have some tips.

Any recommendations for an exterminating company? Ideally I'd like someone to come to my house and do a free or relatively cheap inspection just to see if I actually do have bedbugs or if I'm just being paranoid. I figure that these guys will know what to look for...

And I'd like a good exterminating company who really knows what they're doing so I wont have to go through this again...

[steve]

USA Exterminators on 3rd Avenue is a client. They're good people but I never used them because I don't have bedbugs which are supposed to be awful.

(718) 832-0900

[vanilla]

eeep! bring those bed bugs back to williamsburg where they belong!

[erikka]

From what I've read they strongly recommend cleaning baseboards and cracks/nooks in furniture. They often hide there and then reinfest. Did your boyfriend buy a new bed? Probably a good idea--the black spots they leave on the mattress is feces.

[homeowner]

There was an article in the Times a couple of days ago about a guy who specialized in bedbug extermination in Harlem. You should go on line and see if you can find it. One of the things he mentioned was putting your mattress in a vinyl bag to suffocate the bedbugs and wrapping duct tape sticky side up around the boxspring to trap bugs trying to climb up to the matress.

[idealist]

Its funny because everyone has their own theory on how to treat bedbugs. I'm having an inspector come tomorrow morning just to see if I really have them or not.

I'm hoping I dont.

[idealist]

i had an inspector come and he couldnt find any trace of them... but i'm going to have my apartment partially treated just in case...

[armchair_warrior]

ot sorta. bed bugs destory my used mattress cliental. i used to get like 10 calls a week for used mattress every day. this started to stop during summer.

[steve]

I think they are talking about making selling used mattresses much more difficult now that the bedbugs are back

[JoanJettofArc]

it's feces? that's so gross.
thank god i haven't had this problem.

[Boygabriel]

bedbugs are one of my ny-apartment-nightmares
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[armchair_warrior]

[erikka]

HOLY SHIT I SAW ONE ON MY PILLOW!

I was getting into bed tonight and there it was on my pillow. Killed it and looked it up online, definitely a bed bug. FUCK! Is it "where there's one there's more" philosophy? Should I start spraying? Get rid of the mattress? OH MY GOD I am beside myself in horror right now. I was sick at the thought of having bugs on me in my sleep.

What do I do? I am fucking losing my mind here. Idealist, what did you do?

[street shooter]

[Drano]

Oh, for crying out loud. You guys are about to make my life difficult - my wife saw some random bug in the bed the other night and flipped out even though:

a) She had to admit it didn't look anything like the pictures.

b) A further inspection revealed nothing alarming.

c) Ain't nobody been bit by anything.

From what I've heard, if you've got these things, you know it, but now it's front page news! I'll be hearing about this for sure. Anyhow, let me know how it goes, just in case.[/i]

[armchair_warrior]

[WhyFi]

[Drano]

[Anotherdayinbkln]

new york city's official bed bug fact sheet:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/vector/vector-faq1.shtml

the gothamists take on it with more info:
http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2006/10/16/bedbugs_and_you.php


andddddd bed bug stuffed animals:

edit:
apparently they can even hide in phones, alarm clocks, and of course pillow cases and the box springs.
from Gothamist:::

[erikka]

[Anotherdayinbkln]

there is never only one.

someone in your building is probably infested and they are moving through the floors and walls-- finally getting into other places.

i don't want to scare you, but listen--- first thing's first-- call your landlord!!
tell him/her you have an inspector coming to check it out and then its the landlord's lawful responsibility from there.
"- Landlords are required to get rid of bedbugs within 30 days of an inspection from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (call 311) "

read those links and get the right information!

better safe than sorry, right?

[Drano]

If we get them, my plan is to get drunk every night before turning in. They will drink my blood and the alcohol will poison them, or at least make them stagger around a bit for my amusement.

[pilusoc]

I actually do think that you can have just one. If you are lucky. I have battled them 3 times in the last 2 years - 2 different apartments. I never saw them just hanging out in the middle of my bed or my pillow, although last week I squashed one on my forehead. (I win for most disgusting!) I had been bit 11 times before I killed him. I havent been bit since, after laundering all my bedding and vacuuming. I really would try to wait until you get bit before you panic. Trust me, I KNOW this is easier said than done. But you'll make yourself crazy if you panic for no reason. It's important to not just look on the surfaces of your mattresses. Look in the seams. I went 3 months not finding anything cause I wasnt looking in the right place. Vacuum your mattress and box spring. It'll really help at least contain them, if not get rid of them. (Throw out vacuum bag after vacuuming)
good luck.

[Christina]

Lol, like the tabasco ad with the exploding mosquito. Good plan.


I had bed bugs earlier this year. Well... I must have had them for a while actually and I took them with me to my new apartment. I remember re-assembling the Ikea bedframe and wondering what the black dots were.
I only got bitten twice (or I never saw other bites) but my bed was infested - when I got back from vacation after 3 weeks of leaving my apartment in the boiling NYC humidity (perfect egg hatching conditions) I saw not one but at least 20 bugs crawling around in my first night.
Needless to say that I freaked out.
My landlord paid for the exterminator, but I still got a new bed, mattress, and washed ALL my clothes. I'm still a little paranoid but at least so far the problems' been taken care of. Now I can only hope that none of the little buggers is lying dormant in the brick wall.

[WhyFi]

You could do like the old days - put each foot of your bed in a bucket or jar of kerosene... just don't smoke in bed.

[Drano]

[erikka]

This is my punishment for living next to hippies (as if that wasn't iteself punishment enough).

[Fast]

Get rid of any mattress and box spring that has bugs in it. Get on ebay and buy a can of Bedlam (safe insecticide). They sell it for 40 bucks in exterminator shops but you can buy it on ebay for 19 bucks.

[raw]

The days of seizing neighbors’ hand-me-down cashmere sweaters and silk pillowcases are over.
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[Local]

Yeah, they are around the Park Slope area for sure! Same thing happened to my hole brownstone (all floors). Dirty little bastards too. They burrow through drywall, fabric .. you name it. They make little pin mark holes in your walls. Kinda like you have been using small push pins in the wall. But it's just them, and they leave that gross brown red blood feces behind.

Find some professionals, make sure they do follow up treatments even if they have seemed to disappear. Toss all mattresses and get rid of sofas if you can. Fill in all wall holes and cracks in floor boards, walls, closets. They love little cracks in your panels and closets! Even between the joints in your bed frames and couches. Thoroughly, spray all joints where the floor meets the walls with PERMAKIL-25, permethrin spray, or something like it.

Spray the same stuff on closet edges and walls. Empty out all your dressers, closets and other areas where things you wear are around (hampers). Dry clean everything and/or wash in hot water with tons of detergent. Even the clothes you have stored away. They will only go away if every egg and bug is out of all your stuff.

Like they said, the eggs can be around for a long time and you won't know it. They can be in your winter coats just waiting for the time to hatch next spring. They get everywhere. Best thing is to do a total clean sweep of your whole place.

It's worth it after all right?

[/b]

[idealist]

i hadnt checked the message boards in a while. i had an inspector come and he couldnt find anything, but i still had them do a half treatment of just my bedroom. i figured that if i had a couple, then a minor treatment would at least get rid of the couple that were there...

but i didnt wash all my clothes, i just washed my bed linens.

so that was about a week ago...

now im paranoid that i didnt get rid of them. so im dry cleaning all my sweaters and thinking a/b just washing all my clothes too. i'm worried b/c im going home (down south) and i dont want to take these things with me to my parents house. it'd be a bitch to get rid of them in our house. sigh.

i wish i had more answers, but i dont. ;(

[idealist]

Oh wow. So on your suggestion, I called USA Exterminators just to talk things out and the guy was really rude. Dont use them.

I used the people from www.thebedbugsite.com and I wasn't impressed with them either. If anyone had a good experience from an exterminator, please share.

[Harley]

Before you do ANYTHING (including cleaning baseboards, throwing out your mattress, etc.), have a good exterminator in. Call Rodney at My Private Exterminator (866) 835-8263. He KNOWS what he's doing. Not all exterminators know how to handle bedbugs. Chances are, the bugs will stay in a pretty centralized area, e.g. your bed. If you start moving stuff around there's a good chance you'll shake them loose and they'll either infest your other furniture or move to another apartment in the building, and you don't want that. You might end up getting rid of them in your apartment, but if you give them to a neighbor, they could come right back to you. Our exterminator sprayed our bed with this poison (not toxic to humans or pets in the small quantities produced by the spray), and then carefully encased it in a vinyl mattress cover. He said that after a month we could take off the cover and still use the mattress, or use it at any point with the cover on it, but, for our own piece of mind, we tossed it. And since it was encased in the vinyl mattress cover, we were not risking infesting anyone else. We really trust Rodney at My Private Exterminator. Have used him for other business. When he came to take care of our bedbugs, he spent 4 laborious hours here, making sure he covered all his bases. The cost for the 4 hours, including supplies was $250, and it was worth EVERY penny! He’ll do it right the first time (as long as you hold up your part of the bargain – washing/drying on high heat all of your clothing, etc.). You don’t want to have to go through this process twice. Trust me. Good luck! You can get through this!

[doctorj]

Of course, if all inspections, sprays and deinfestation cycles fail, one might want to check for signs of formication.
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[nobugs]

City Council woman Gail Brewer's office is working on the bed bug problem. She recommends Broadway OR Pest Away. Both have a good reputation with Bed Bugs and both have gotten lots of press.

Keep in mind that you may have bed bugs and never see them. Also a LOT of people don't react to the bites. Women are more likely to be allergic to and therefore suffer from the bites than men. But some men are also allergic, and some women aren't. Those who aren't allergic and live alone sometimes don't notice the problem until they have a major infestation with bugs running all over. Those who are allergic will often notice months and months before they actually see anything.

If you need support or information about bedbugs go to the Bedbugger yaho grouphttp://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/bedbugger/ and the Bedbugger bloghttp://bedbugger.wordpress.com.

[djparis]

Hi, a newbie here from Park Sloper. I hate to resurrect this thread, but I saw a bedbug on my comforter two days ago. UGH!

I discovered mosquito-like bites on my upper arm a few weeks ago, but figured it was either from a tropical cruise I took in January or an allergic reaction to the cold. After killing the bug (bright red blood came out), discarding it (BIG MISTAKE -- "keep it for evidence" is what people recommend) and some Wikipedia research, I identified it as a bedbug.

I have vacuumed everywhere and washed everything in hot. Even sprayed rubbing alcohol everywhere. But I'd really like to get an exterminator. Any new recommendations?

Any

[Oiseau]

I heard a crazy story of like some guy who slept nude on a stainless steel table and he would oil the legs on the table so that the bugs couldn't crawl up them but they still bit him because they would just climb up the walls and over the ceiling and then drop down on him.

My friend in PH has had bed bugs for years. He exterminates like every 2 months. They keep coming back. If you really want to get rid of them, everything you own and move.

[dailyheights]

Is it bedbug season already?? Global warming is going to be a lot tougher than people think. Especially with Manhattan being underwater and all.
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[Bed Bug]

Hello,

My name is Sean and I am a former pest control technician and now Quality Assurance Manager and Technical Advisor for one of North America’s largest pest control companies.

I have spent the better part of the past five years studying and researching bed bugs. It has literally become a hobby.

I have created a website geared toward providing the public with a place to go to get unbiased information and allow industry professionals to communicate with each other on this issue.

The site is called The Bed Bug Resource (www.thebedbugresource.com). At the top of the page there is a Forum button that will take you to the message boards.

If you find this to be a useful resource please feel free to post a link to it, or pass the information on to colleagues and the general public.

If you reference the site or use any of its material I ask that a copy of the article be sent to me.

Sincerely,

Sean
Entomologist / Pest Professional
www.thebedbugresource.com

[DBG345]

it is possible to have one bed bug. i moved out of an apartment in Prospect Heights 3 years ago, and 2 weeks later they were over run...my silly roomate threw out tons of stuff, and even thought it necessary to dry clean his entire wardrobe...idiot.

anyway, i would get a few bites every couple weeks, and when i finally got fed up, i flipped the mattress, searched everywhere, and found 1 lone bed bug hiding n the wooden frame of my bed. haven't seen them since. they like wooden bedframes better than plastic or metal.

if you think you have them, and don't wanna call an exterminator right away, make sure you search thoroughly. and preferably at night, because they spend most of the day hiding. also, not everyone gets a reaction to the bites. some get no reaction, others get really intense reactions. you can only tell if they're bedbugs if you find the bugs themselves.

good luck!

[Mpmav1]

Talk about digging an old thread out of the grave!
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Did Someone Say Walk?

[scarlett]

Srsly, DBG345 slash Sean, you created an account to tell us about three years ago?

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

Who the hell is Sean?
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Babies aren't meat! They're not even people!

[scarlett]

"My name is Sean and I am a former pest"

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

Oh. I don't read.
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Babies aren't meat! They're not even people!