Bedbugs - move over roaches and rats? (Hamlin: hotel, landlord)

[gaia227]

The apartment building I live in is infested with them, which means we have them. Although I know it has nothing to do with being clean I just thought because of keeping my apartment clean I never thought I would have bedbugs but I do. It sucks and they are a ***** to get rid of. I have to board my cats to get my apt sprayed which is of course a pain in the ass and have already done it twice to no avail.
My boyfriend is much more sensitive to them than I am. I have bites but he has them ALL over his body and they swell into these huge welts. They don't look like disgusting puussy bites or anything...they just look like a bug bite, like a flea or something.
If I were rich I would just throw the mattress, the linens, etc away and buy everything new.

[KRaZy]

Originally Posted by SeventhFloor

I was watching the news the other night and they said that bedbugs are the city's new epidemic....they said that they infest anywhere from high-rise condo apts to hotels, to pre-war apt bldgs.....anybody ever dealt with this?

Yes, when I used to live in a crappy house in Mt. Vernon. It's hard to get rid of them. U basicly have to buy a new mattress, blankets and sheets.


Good luck.

[Wild Style]

you can keep the linen, just get rid of your bead (matress, and bed frame). We had them in the homeless shelter I worked in. Those residents wold look like they contracted the chicken pox after a nights sleep int hat place. My God, bed bugs are absolutely disgusting.


PS

they usualy live on the underside of your bed frame. Then they come out at night when they sense the heat and feed on you

Originally Posted by gaia227

The apartment building I live in is infested with them, which means we have them. Although I know it has nothing to do with being clean I just thought because of keeping my apartment clean I never thought I would have bedbugs but I do. It sucks and they are a ***** to get rid of. I have to board my cats to get my apt sprayed which is of course a pain in the ass and have already done it twice to no avail.
My boyfriend is much more sensitive to them than I am. I have bites but he has them ALL over his body and they swell into these huge welts. They don't look like disgusting puussy bites or anything...they just look like a bug bite, like a flea or something.
If I were rich I would just throw the mattress, the linens, etc away and buy everything new.

[Henna]

Disposing of the mattress and boxspring is not going to get rid of them. They can live anywhere and they won't just restrict themselves to your bed. They can be in your nightstand, your closets, the cracks between your floors, your picture frames ETC.

So disposing of your mattress and boxspring might seem like a good idea initially but since they are going to be elsewhere in your apartment if you have an infestation, this will obviously not solve the problem. They will just come live in your new bed once you get a new mattress.

What you really need is to educate yourself (try bed bugs bedbugs bedbugger) and also to get a good exterminator and make sure your neighbors do the same, as they love to travel via electric systems (through the wall sockets) and via pipes.

I had a good friend who had them. She decided to follow the protocols and move (don't move without ridding your belongings of them as they will just take up in your new place). My friend decided to move because she felt the neighbors in her building were not taking the problem seriously, and even if she could rid her own unit of them that they would just come back under the mouldings, through the floorboards etc. from the neighboring units.

This is a HUGE problem in every major city worldwide and even many other non-urban places. There is not alot of publcity about them because it's not in many people's best financial and social interests to disclose that there's this kind of problem going on. Best to be as educated as you can about them as getting rid of them is easier if you catch them early.

[anhinga]

I have also read that these bugs are really hard to get rid of once get them in your home. Very expensive, too. The news stories all report on how travellers can easily pick them up in hotels (many in NYC).

Has anyone tried BEDBUGBAGS? I'll be meeting a friend in NYC in a couple of weeks and staying at a midtown hotel. Bedbugbags is supposed to protect your luggage while you travel so that you don't end up with bed bugs in your home. Thanks for any info.

[Tumbler13]

Oh, God, my old place had them. I was sleeping on a sofabed at the time, and for several days after coming back from a trip home to visit the folks, I kept waking up with bug bites on my legs and arms that were about the same size as mosquito bites. After a few days of bites, while I was cleaning up the place, I went to clean between the cushioned padding on the sofabed's back frame. As I spread the padding apart, I hear this awful ripping noise, and notice some flaky brownish-black crud that wasn't there before between the padding; it looked a bit like charcoal. I ran some Google searches and found out what it was-- bedbug poop. Those evil little bastards were pooping in my bed!

Ultimately, the woman I lived with bought some bedbug spray (exterminators in the area wanted $9000 to do the whole house), and we both sprayed the room faithfully every time I got bites. Took a couple months, but eventually the bites ceased. From what I've read, it's best to hire an exterminator rather than try to get rid of them yourself, though.

[drkman]

I had them once in my apartment. Even though I found out it wasn't a bad infestation, it caused me all kinds of worry because I was waking up with these bites that were turning into dark blotches (I guess I was real sensitive to them). As I was laying in bed, depressed due to the bites and contemplating going to a dermatologist to find out what was going on, I turned over and lo and behold, a bed bug was crawling on the bed. Once I saw that, I checked all over the mattress, between the seams etc, to see if I could find evidence of more. Lo and behold I did. I think that I took bleach and went over the bed completely and vacumed it. Also, I looked for them in the baseboards of the bedroom, as they harbor in wood. Luckily, my bed was metal and there were no more to be found anywhere in the room. My blotches went away and I got no more bites. I think I was lucky because the bugs were at a minimum but I hope that I will not have to deal with them again.

[cjma79]

Gaiga I am sorry but if the building is infested, you will always have them.. They can travel 100 feet to find food (blood).

[Henna]

Originally Posted by cjma79

Gaiga I am sorry but if the building is infested, you will always have them.. They can travel 100 feet to find food (blood).

It may be true that they can travel 100 feet to find food, but it's also possible for buildings to eradicate infestations. It may require alot of effort, money and cooperation but it can be done and has been done. There was a recent example of this building-wide eradication of a coop building on Riverside Drive. Check here - you will see this building spent $11,000 on exterminator services in 2006 or 7 while the year before the total was only about $800. This was due to bedbugs http://fowlercourttenants.org/Docume...%2008%2007.doc

This building should be commended for dealing with the infestation and not letting it sprial out of control!!

Of course, bedbugs can be re-introduced at any time. The key is for residents to recognize the signs early, get exterminated right away and follow all the protocols. Once the infestations really get bad of course it's harder to get rid of.

[cjma79]

Yes I know...
But Gaiga has a problem...
Is her landlord doing anything??? If not, she has only 2 options, live with it or leave.