posted October 07, 2014 03:13 AM            

please, can you answer:
is it bedbugs or fleas? how to get my parents to believe me and treat ASAP? where to get the money?

posted October 07, 2014 04:35 AM            

Hi melodymelody... omg, our apartment building had gone through this! It IS curable, but you NEED to be aggressive about learning and reading what you can. There are utube vids on it. Some people have homeremedies, but I say 'get a pro' or a relative who knows. Its going to takes A great deal of time, and LOT of detail-work. You MUST find the source of the infestation quickly. And TOSS IT!!

Find a pro. It can be expensive!! And the fumes very toxic if you're within in. Have a professional look to determine. You MUST MUST MUST handle it right away.

Even the 'cleanest' people can get an infestation. The BBs are hitchhikers. Mattresses (in the seams) and old sofas are some of their hiding places.

They are hard to grab. Very very quick. If I saw a stray, I would use a piece of clear transparent tape (scotch-tape), and use the sticky part to capture, then fold the tape (so BB looks like a fossil), then with thumbnail pinch it really hard and you'll hear it crack, or see it crack. Sometimes (depending on age cycle) they will have fed on blood from the body. They are like little vampires... certain stages leave their hickeys on a body without a trace of a 'bite'... It's like they suck the blood without piercing the skin somehow. ewwwww, I know.

And the bites are very particular. At first they'll disappear by end of day. Then stay. Then can look like a very allergic rash.

Be REALLY wary of furniture you find near recycle bins, and second hand thrift stores. But experience will be your teacher.

I've heard that there are people who can walk into a room and 'smell' them.

After you've had an infestation you'll be able to spot 'em from very far away.... at least I did.

Even some of the high-end hotels have these. Why are some room prices so cheap???? ASK them if it's had bedbugs. Their (supposed to) be obliged to tell you. You'll be able to do bed-checks after this experience.... a whole new meaning to familiar vocabulary words.

There's a lot more I could say.... but I gotta get to bed and get some sleep.

Good luck!

posted October 07, 2014 04:46 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by mirage29:
http://bedbugger.com/photos-of-bed-bugs-and-signs-of-bed-bugs/

Hi melodymelody... omg, our apartment building had gone through this! It IS curable, but you NEED to be aggressive about learning and reading what you can. There are utube vids on it. Some people have homeremedies, but I say 'get a pro' or a relative who knows. Its going to takes A great deal of time, and LOT of detail-work. You MUST find the source of the infestation quickly. And TOSS IT!!

Find a pro. It can be expensive!! And the fumes very toxic if you're within in. Have a professional look to determine. You MUST MUST MUST handle it right away.

Even the 'cleanest' people can get an infestation. The BBs are hitchhikers. [b]Mattresses (in the seams) and old sofas are some of their hiding places.

They are hard to grab. Very very quick. If I saw a stray, I would use a piece of clear transparent tape (scotch-tape), and use the sticky part to capture, then fold the tape (so BB looks like a fossil), then with thumbnail pinch it really hard and you'll hear it crack, or see it crack. Sometimes (depending on age cycle) they will have fed on blood from the body. They are like little vampires... certain stages leave their hickeys on a body without a trace of a 'bite'... It's like they suck the blood without piercing the skin somehow. ewwwww, I know.

And the bites are very particular. At first they'll disappear by end of day. Then stay. Then can look like a very allergic rash.

Be REALLY wary of furniture you find near recycle bins, and second hand thrift stores. But experience will be your teacher.

I've heard that there are people who can walk into a room and 'smell' them.

After you've had an infestation you'll be able to spot 'em from very far away.... at least I did.

Even some of the high-end hotels have these. Why are some room prices so cheap???? ASK them if it's had bedbugs. Their (supposed to) be obliged to tell you. You'll be able to do bed-checks after this experience.... a whole new meaning to familiar vocabulary words.

There's a lot more I could say.... but I gotta get to bed and get some sleep.

Good luck!

I Hope it's FLEAS!! [/B]

---

thank youuuu!

yeah, i feel so guilty...i slept at my exboyfriends two weeks ago (who gave me bedbugs last year, we both had our apartments treated. i was fine for months) and now i got bitten, but its weird because its not welts or big spots like before. I used to have crazy reactions, and my cat has been going outside a lot so perhaps it is fleas.

ill steam the **** out of everything, dry everything for hours, get D. earth, ill set up a trap to see if i can attract some to show th exterminator and tell my parents. we need to act...holy moly they will kill me. my only worry is the financial aspect, i need a huge miracle ASAP. I need money take care of this.

(my cat just started scatching himself, please please I hope to God its just fleas. I`d give anything for fleas right now)

thank you for all your advice!!!

(i`ve travelled to cuba in May got bitten as we stayed in a small village, i love thrift stores, so i couldve brought something in. but it all strangely coincides with me sleeping over at my boyfriends)

posted October 07, 2014 06:57 PM            

They like body heat (I'm sure its cold where you live right now), and love the carbon dioxide you produce with each exhaling out your mouth. So!, When you wake up in the morning, lift your pillow and look for any 'oil-spot' or brown-freckle. Check your pajamas. Wash your pillowcases and sheets with HOTTEST water, and dry in HOT dryer. Keep these in plastic clear bags. BBs love seams. BBs love that satiny binding on your blankets.

Bag EVERYTHING on your bed, any suspected place, EVERY morning without fail, until professional exterminator treats the place. Leave that mattress bare. Inspect the metal-joints on frames. (Mattress may need to get tossed! Use cots.) (Wash these down with hot water / detergent of choice.) (I used to bag each set of items separately, in CLEAR garbage bags. This will help you SEE them.... inspect all items before putting them back on your bed, and then before you re-bag it in the morning.

Make sure you vacuum, vacuum, vacuum! I had one with a visible hand-empty clear cup. Inspect it. Keep all possibly-infected items together in same room. You COULD have to throw the vacuum cleaner away afterwards.

ANY suspect-bug you find? Use that clear scotch-tape and pinch that critter bug open and keep it a written log of when and where you found this.... Me? I was tacking them onto my refrigerator door. JeeZ looked like a Science Fair!! haha Really amazing to follow the "biology" of their breeding size and lifecycles.

I had a VERY lackadaisical irresponsible rm (he was lease holder). It took heaven and earth to urge him that he needs to TALK to the apartment manager (sheeesh!!). Ostrich with head in the ground all the time... and me there getting exhausted from big routine-ritual performed every single day, panicking that they were proliferating the LONGER he waited to SAY anything. Jerk! (ugh, I'm soooo ready for moving away from situ with him. If your rm/ or bf is NOT cooperating, that can be a nightmare.) This BB-situ takes a "team" shared responsibility and attitude of cooperation. AND, in the Mean Time, these things are having orgies and proliferating logarithmically!!!

Get CLEAR BAGs, and seal your stuff!!! Your parent's stuff. Get rid of any corrugated boxes (another place they like to hide). Use those hard plastic storage bins.

Another trick (with embroidered mattress, and mattress fabric) is to put isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle, and squirt the more 'suspicious' seams, embroideries, etc. All of a sudden, the soaked spot can almost seem to explode a brown oozie-spot. yehhh, ya got one! haha It can be a cool game, surprising yourself with your intuitive+logical guesses!

Gently, Mel.... Stop a moment and realize, You're Gonna Be Okay!.... "So what" if your parents may feel initially angry? They might display anger~~? But really, it will be more about the BB's THAN about blaming "YOU" for it, in the end. Maybe 'you' are punishing you for this, when it actually WASN'T your initial "fault"..... These sorts of things 'happen'`` it's a part of Life! and it's Okay.... So be nice to yourself, un-cringe as much as you can, and let your parents know what you are afraid of. Grin and Bear it. ---- Where things WOULD be "your fault" is IF you neglect to 'report' a potentially wide spreading problem. Better to put out a tiny little fire than a raging forest later, right?! What would be wrong is to let those bugs proliferate and then the job gets SOOO ENORMOUS that it overwhelms everything!... Right now, things CAN be salvaged. IF you wait too long, then later, many things your parents (self, bf) had can get ruined and have to be tossed in garbage collection. You can do this.... Have Courage. Be Brave.

If you are able to deal with the BB problem 'while it's little'.... then those tiny little rolley-ball specks of speedy pepper (as babies) won't harvest into the crabs of creepy-bloodsucking nightmare. Their little BB feet and arms hold onto things like the tightest VELCRO I'd ever seen. You can't 'flick' it. It must be individually captured IMMEDIATELY, then crushed (use that tape suggestion). Oh, and they float like their bodies are little parachutes if you 'think' about using an aerosol BB killer spray on them. (nope, using a personal spray is just a bandaid over a serious problem. Use a Pro!!!)

Ziplock bags (huge) are your Friends. Saranwrap (plastic food wrap) too.

It's like you have to ISOLATE each item in turn. Inspect the heck out of it. If it's cloth, it probably is infected with eggs between the weaves. You MUST be hardcore about this.

D.Earth--- be really careful around this stuff. It's VERY bad for your lungs if you inhale it! Can be especially HARMful to children and toddlers (small lungs).... so, I also would wonder how that would apply to your little pets' lungs. They're low to the ground.

Again.... awwwww, I'm so sorry you're in this dilemma, but 'do the right thing now' Okay?

Be Diligent. Be Truthful with your parents. .... All of this may turn out to be MUCH EASIER than what it looks like now. But you MUST 'make sure'....

Maybe your boyfriend can help support you when you speak to the parents. Be Bold! You can do this!!

Sending a Hug! To you AND the kitty! {{ }} Now, DO it!

posted October 14, 2014 11:18 PM            

I really appreciate..the problem is I caught bedbugs two years ago from that stupid exboyfriend (he's not such a great person)..
and now I slept with him again a month ago and I guess their apartment got reinfested or something...

thank you, I washed everything, steamed matteras and all but for some reason am not getting bitten. Maybe I caught this early on (got infested 3 weeks ago, so it cant spread that quick)...

thank you!