95% sure. Just crawling around on the couch, as brazen as can be, in early evening. Had blood in it too.
I’ve contacted my apartment maintenance department for forwarding as appropriate. I don’t see any other bugs or droppings yet, but I know that doesn’t mean anything. My mattress is latex; I don’t know if that means anything in terms of whether they can burrow in there or what. I haven’t had any bites I’ve found unusual or anything.
I’m fucked, aren’t I?
Wash all sheets etc in HOT water.
Then, if possible vacate for a few days, use those No-Pest strips and several other OTC controls. If caught very early, you may be okay.
Your apt company has a duty to control them.
Most people, but not all, react to bedbug bites. A friend of mine only discovered a horrific infestation when she happened to closely inspect her bed frame and saw them nestled in the corners. Turns out they had been feasting on her at night for a while, most likely, but she was one of those people who don’t react, so she had no idea those @#$#@!-ing little bloodsuckers were having their way with her.
Good luck. A few years ago I battled a severe flea infestation that I could not control by fumigating due to the fact my tropical, open house couldn’t be sealed up. It was a bitch but I finally won. Similarly, the friend I mentioned above beat her bedbug infestation too. I forget all the details but I’m sure endless amounts of scrubbing, bleach, and other bug-unfriendly substances were involved.
TLDR version: you may have an unpleasant time of it ahead, but you CAN win this war.
Wouldn’t that potentially spread them to wherever I went?
I’m gonna start washing stuff tomorrow, though, I’ve already started trying to reduce paper and other clutter around. And here I was trying to motivate myself to clean…
They can live for something like a year without eating, so vacating for a few days does nothing, unless you use that time to fumigate or bake the house. (They can be killed by heat that isn’t so hot it damages the furniture.)
There are professionals, often with trained dogs, who can help find and eradicate the things. I’d look for one of them.
Hopefully my apartment management is competent and cares!
Yes, so that is why I said to use some pretty nasty stuff.
They likely won’t be on you, but sure, go to a hotel, take a hot shower, put on new clothes, and wash what you were wearing at a laundromat.
I’ve stripped my bed, put all my then current clothes with the bedding and mattress protector in a garbage bag for hot washing tomorrow. I’ve put on clean sheets and isolated my backpack and bag, which were close to the couch, for overnight. Tomorrow after work is a lot of laundry (I had a backlog anyway)
Whatever means is used to eliminate bedbugs, it should be arranged with management, which would seem to eliminate pyrethrin foggers that have been used in homes for control, since fumes could spread into adjoining apartments (people need to vacate during the period the fogging is active). The earlier suggestion of no-pest strips is dubious based on safety issues, if not effectiveness.
you reminded me about the scene in “the office” where jim does an impression of a bold as brass bedbug.
I have been told by maintenance that “Pest control will be in Thursday to address situation”. Given how brief this is, I’m going to assume it’s some kind of spraying and probably does not involve any dogs (which I did like the idea of).
What, if anything, should I be doing on my own? I’m obviously not going to use the couch for a while, and I’m going to be doing a lot of laundry tonight as I said. One suggestion I saw online is to run tape over the carpet in my bedroom doorway, at the least as a warning? Another is getting a steam cleaner, since my couch is from Ikea, and thus has wood in its frame.
Google using diatomaceous earth to combat bed bugs. I lived in an apartment building that had regular infestations and my apartment was the only one in the building that never got bed bugs because I made a barrier of diatomaceous earth along every floor.
I’ve done so casually! At least one source, though, said that they didn’t recommend it, because it’s somewhat toxic (or whatever the word was) and expires. But definitely something I’ll consider.
Renter’s insurance and fire! Just kidding, a little.
Or you remove everything, everything you own, and have professionals come in and treat the place with whatever they do. I think they use minimal insecticides and use high heat instead. They crank up the heat short of burning the place down, add more heat and that kills the bugs.
With any luck, that one simply hitched a ride home on you.
One of our neighbors was infested so we’d get bedbugs scouting for new territory every few months. With diatomaceous earth, anti-bedbug mattress covers, and tossing out every bedbug hiding spot we possibly could, they never got much of a foothold here. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen any.
Elderly mom (mid-90s) had them just last month in her apartment. She didn’t know, as one of those people who don’t react.
Good excuse for her kids to come over and do a Deep De-Clutter (in hazmat suits)!
Everything got washed in hot water, then dried on the Damn, That’s Hot! setting (120ºf).
Management probably won’t pay for that. I guess I’ll see what I think when I find out what the pest control actually does tomorrow.
Yep. You should not be in the apartment with a no-pest strip, like I said.
A total of 20 (65%) of the 31 cases involved label¶ violations, mostly use of DDVP pest strips in areas occupied by persons ≥4 hours/day. For the remaining 11 cases, information was not sufficient to determine if whether usage of DDVP pest strips resulted in a label violation
Use per label.
My evil twin wants to suggest to my ex to plant a few bedbugs in his hoarder mom’s house which will forcer her to get rid of 50 years of Good Housekeeping magazines because it’ll need to be cleaned up. Apparently Walmart sells a joke product called fake bedbugs.
So sorry, OP, I’m not making light of your predicament.
If you’re at all unsure, the smell is very distinctive. It’s sort of like homemade play-dough, but nauseating. Though being full of blood is a pretty clear sign that even if it’s not a bedbug, it’s something you very much don’t want.