Bed bug issues

Coffeegirl1994

Hi all,

Apologies this may get long. I live in a 2 bed house with my 2 kids and husband. A few months a go I started getting bites on the back sides of my arms up to elbow only. Not always but every so often. At the time I put it down to hives. I also looked for all the tell tale bed bug signs and the bites were more like welches and not in 3 line series. There was absolutely no sign of bed bugs, no poop, no eggs or shedding or any live sign of any. 

Admittedly I have a large heavy king size bed with the largest headboard, crushed velvet with diamante buttons. Only I seemed to be getting bitten, my husband who sleeps more naked then me hasn't had them. Kids have not had them and I rarely use our downstairs apart from the kitchen ( just not enough time to chill due to busy schedule) so no obvious signs anywhere. 

Just as I had given up and forgotten about the bites as they seemed to be getting less frequent, I woke up one night and had to put a towel in the washing basket. Fabric washing basket and there is the damn bed bug crawling on the rim. This immediately put me into panic and high alert mode. Btw I also have a UV torch which I used but didn't find any signs of live bugs in the night. I threw the basket out and put the contents on a 90° wash and dried high heat for long time then sealed in black plastic bag. The basket is in the hallway next to the bathroom. After that in the night I got my torch out again and looked and found another one hiding in the crease of my headboard near to me. I got that and the one in the laundry and wrapped in lots of tissue paper and flushed in down the toilet. 


Needless to say I didn't sleep well that night. Paranoia kept waking me up and I kept checking but didn't find anything else. I also checked as much of the buttoned creases as I could but didn't see anything. I was going to sleep in my kids room but the thought of transferring was more terrifying then sleeping in the bed. 

The bed is a ottoman bed and I assumed that the bugs must have come with someone under the bed. There is bedding, electronics and all sorts under the bed. So the next day I stripped the bed and re-checked the mattress ( clear again just like before), checked each of the bed corners inside out, each fabric seam and each slat, metal part etc. The only thing I found was one live very tiny babyish bug. 

Then I went through all the belongings and chucked things away and put the rest into black bags and hoovered every part of bed inside out. I also did a check of the carpet electrical sockets and nightstand etc. unfortunately there was no sign and trust me, I have a pretty minimal room in terms of furniture and it's just impossible to not seem them on cream carpets and lightweight furniture with no cracks etc.

Fast forward, I started isolating the laundry and changed the bedsheets and checked again and again. Hoovered every inch of the room. The only thing I didn't check and I don't doubt is my large 3 door sliding wardrobe which has lots of stuff and clothes hanging, in baskets etc. 

I called a few exterminators who were happy to do the treatment for about £350 for the whole house. But no one is willing to come and identify where the problem is coming from.

In the meantime I ordered a steamer and some bug spray. The problem getting the exterminators in was that they wanted all the textiles and clothes to be washed and put into bags. Now there is a LOT of clothes in all out cupboards. Kids rooms, mine, my husbands, coats, towels, bedding, curtains. Due to working, having 2 small kids and other commitments - I said to the exterminators I need some to do the washing and bagging and hoovering and cleaning. They got a bit funny about that I suppose because they just wanted to come and treat. I know physically that I won't be able to do in a day or 2. 

Anyway whilst I was hoovering my bed during the day, I went through each button crease on the headboard and lo and behold I found a little cluster of them with one live bug and shells and some eggs. I immediately hoovered thoroughly and got rid of the hoover contents and boiled the containers after. I haven't seen any more bugs and no blood signs on our bedding. 

Also the bugs never seem to crawl over me, just at my arms which are usually folded towards the headboard. 

Since then I have rechecked the kids rooms, their beds wardrobes, toys, chest of drawers, behind the bed, in the mattresses and there is nothing there.

My questions are as below:

Is it possible to get rid of bugs yourself using the steam method and hoovering and some sprays and bombs or should I just pay for the professional treatment. I can't really afford it until payday anyway.

Also do bugs have lot's of different cluster areas or just one or 2? I feel like one may have been the lundray basket and the other my headboard. My bed is an inch away from the wall and too heavy to move but I don't think they are behind there because there is only on sheet of fabric on headboard meaning nowhere for them to hide. 

I have checked all headboard and footboard creases and have no found any more nests.

Is it necessary for me to wash ALL the clothes from my cupboard included things that are dry clean only? Most have already been washed and put away on high heat settings. Doing a quick check of my cupboards, there doesn't appear to be any bed bug activity.

Is it possible that I can do the steamer treatment and just keep an eye on them and keep doing that regularly until they go away?

How do you tell if an infestation is mild or severe?

Is it possible that there were only a few and I have caught them before they go wild?

Also under my bed, only one duvet had a bed bug skull which I binned. 

I'm so confused as to what to do. Please any help would be appreciated? I've also lifted carpet in hallway and bedroom and found no sign..nothing on skirting either. 

Basically I suppose my biggest question is do I really need to empty the wardrobes out and wash everything even though it's clean and has been through heat cycles being put away. I will be doing anything that has been out hanging in the room but closed cupboards drawers etc?

Keep_pedalling

How did you identify the offending creature as a bed bug? There are thousands of possible bugs it could have been and only a handful of bugs feed on blood.

I don’t suppose you got a photograph of it did you?

Coffeegirl1994

Defo a bed bug. Picture attached 

Coffeegirl1994

Underneath my mattress 

Coffeegirl1994

More pictures of the cracks under bed 

Coffeegirl1994

A few more 

elsien

I’m sorry, I didn’t read all your post as it’s far too long. I did see that they were only biting you up to your elbows, which seems very odd asyou’d expect them to biting the whole body .
But if you genuinely think it is bed bugs I would be getting proper pest control in.

Keep_pedalling

Yes, that is definitely a bedbug. Not easy to get rid of yourself. Apart from washing you can kill any that are in your bedding or clothing by bagging it up and put in a freezer for a few days. 

HampshireH

It's the eggs you need to get at which is why pest control is always recommended.

Also they can get into cracks so small. For example the joins of the bed etc

Have you been bitten since you feel you exterminated them?

Coffeegirl1994

HampshireH said:

It's the eggs you need to get at which is why pest control is always recommended.

Also they can get into cracks so small. For example the joins of the bed etc

Have you been bitten since you feel you exterminated them?

It's too early to say yet 

twopenny

It's unusual to only be bitten on the upper arms

Perhaps you got to them in time.

Congratulations on getting such a good photo to identify. Though I'm thinking it's one that will be deleted sharpish once dealt with.