r/Bedbugadvice

So I live in a smaller multi-unit building (4 unit). The tenants below me moved out, a few weeks ago, and they couldn't take their furniture. They had one of those "boneless" Temu sectionals. Being that I didn't have a proper couch, and they couldn't take it, I took it and brought it up to my unit. I've been here about a year, no carpeting in my unit, and have never seen any bugs or had an issue.

Well, since having the couch for a couple weeks I am noticing that I am getting really bitten up!! It only seems to happen when I'm on that couch!

A couple things to note:

A couple of my windows screens had holes in them, being that it's been summer where I'm at I was thinking mosquitos are getting in. There is also a huge hanging tree directly in front of one of my living rm windows. Also, I have a balcony off my living rm, no screen door, where at times I have had it open for extra air (didn't have an air conditioner for a while)

Still, I call property management and a bed bug exterminator is coming this Friday. I am not messing around bcz I had Bed bugs almost 10 years ago and it was absolute hell!

The thing is I am very low-income, and I was extremely happy to finally get a couch! I realize, if there is an infestation in the couch it's simply not worth it tho, and should toss it.

However, I discovered that the entirety of the upholstery on the couch unzips and I can take it all off, exposing the entire foam structure of it. I plan to do that tonight, and bag-up the upholstery with the rest of everything else I have bagged and prepped pre exterminator scheduling.

My question is:

Has anyone else had bed bugs along with the "boneless" Temu couch? Do you think the professional spray the Exterminators will use will penetrate the foam deep enough? Should I just toss it?

I should also note that the exterminator will be doing a 3 part, over the course of 3 weeks, spray job.

Any advice is helpful!

I’m fairly certain that we have bedbugs. I’ve tried to treat it myself, but was unsuccessful. I’m looking for a reasonably priced company to get rid of them. The price is out there seem to be really high. Does anyone have reasonably priced recommendations?

**Symptoms:** I’m getting bitten 1-2 times a day (a few of them are clustered, most are not) only on my lower legs and only when I’m in bed. It’s not just at night or when I’m sleeping - it can happen in the morning or afternoon too, even when I’m awake. My room is very bright btw

**When it started:** I changed my bedsheets (washed them and then stored them in the closet for a while), and I started getting bitten on the same day.

**What I’ve tried:** I cleaned the floor of the whole room and washed and tumble-dried all my bedsheets and blankets. I also looked for any bugs around the bed but didn’t find anything. Not even a dot

**Note:**
I haven’t gone anywhere in the past few weeks.
I don’t have any pets.
My family often works in the yard, but they don’t get bitten.
I’m the only one getting bitten.
I wear short sleeves and long, loose sweatpants. They just roll up when I lie down, so I think the bites are happening on the exposed area.
We’ve been seeing ants around the house here and there, although not much in my room.

I thought I was being paranoid, but I can clearly see that they’re bites, not hives. (I’ve always been more sensitive to bug bites than my family members and tend to swell more from them.)

We stayed at a hotel Friday night and upon arriving home Saturday afternoon, my daughter said her arm was itchy. Sure enough, five or so little bites of some sort, but based on the location, appearance, and hotel stay, I’m guessing bed bugs. I slept in the same bed with her and don’t have any bites that I can tell, though I know some people don’t have a reaction.

The problem is that A. I can’t examine the mattress/bedding at the hotel for evidence of bed bugs (or whatever bit her) because we are now several hours away and the bites were not apparent while we were still there and B. When the bites were discovered we’d already brought our suitcase in and thrown some laundry in with clothes in hampers. The stuff was in the house several hours before we saw the bites. So we ran bedding and clothes in the dryer, vacuumed the rug the suitcase had been sitting on, and put the suitcase in a garbage bag and put it out in our detached garage for now (will probably just throw it away tbh). How many alarm bells should I be ringing right now and what else should I be doing?

Hello, Advisors and helpful people,

I discovered I had bedbugs upon returning from a 12 day trip. I think they were brought in with a borrowed suitcase I had a few weeks prior to leaving, as I noticed some unusual bites on my ankles and the Dermatologist did not know what they were.  Upon returning, I looked through the internet and realized they were bedbug bites. There is need to declutter ( which I am in the midst of) before asking anyone in to treat. There are papers and belongings from a couple of relatives for a while and my own papers, books, stuff from job shut down, and from living here nearly 30 years.  

The situation is definitely challenging with the bites and awareness of bug presence, and the need to declutter quickly as possible, as many others have experienced and explain. Vacuuming, washing, drying, sealing washed and heated clothes in plastic bags, sealing books and papers, decluttering and trying to treat some areas with Diatomaceous Earth all take time, and all need to be done, of course.  Unfortunately, (or not,) I am not able to be at it every day, and progress is slow. I wonder if there may be suggestions for a good “plan of attack” ?

Or would my trying to spray something like Bedlam interfere with later exterminator work? I have used some Diatomaceous Earth, and find it very messy and easily kicking up in the air, although I did not have a proper diffuser when I first applied it.

Much appreciation for any suggestions or experiences of how to approach such dilemma.  It would be nice to effectively treat and reduce the bug problem down, while decluttering. 

Thank you for your help. 

About two months ago I told my parents that I had bed bugs and they did not listen. I’ve been living out of my car/at my boyfriend’s parent’s house the past two months, because they were convinced that it was carpet beetles (because chatgpt told them, they never did a thorough check). well last night my mom called me and told me that she saw one of them on my mattress whenever she walked by my room. so now they’re freaking out because yeah having bed bugs fucking sucks.

here’s the thing about my room, it is basically a broom closet. a harry potter closet. i can only fit a bed in there, i can’t even really stand up all the way, there’s no windows, i can’t even shut the door all the way. there are shelves built into the walls, and i have hella books, records, art supplies, cds, and dvds in my room. what do i do with all of that stuff? i really don’t want to throw it away, however i am moving out on thursday and i am terrified of bringing bed bugs into our brand new apartment.

any advice is appreciated

I tried a little experiment by using the same duvet cover (after washing n whatnot) but changing the sheets to see if I still develop new bites. I am not fully sold on bbs because while i did see specks on the previous sheets, they’re old so i was too sure if they were there already or not. Theres 0 chance for the bbs to actually be inside of my mattress thank god cuz it already has two protective covers around it and my search (i have been looking every day) has come up negative so for any eggs, shedding or live bug. Tho i know that they are tricky to catch

It had been 3 nights/4 days since I made up my bed again and I have yet to discover new bites or specks of blood on my sheets. The reason why Im suspecting a different type of problem with my duvet cover is because that was the only “new”thing that has entered my room (given by my dad as hes never used them and they were just sitting in his closet). The bumps popped up only after i started sleeping under it and I haven’t really changed my routine otherwise. I have been inside for a while so if the bugs were here before I brought the duvet cover home and put it on, the bumps would’ve showed up sooner. So as a test I washed and started sleeping with my legs more exposed.

Could I have been paranoid about bbs? It just that the pattern of the bumps/bites seem suspiciously close to that of what bbs cause.