I'm freaking out...

My worst nightmares have been realized. Last week we were on a short much needed vacation to the TN mountains and apparently brought back some very unwanted guests to the house. Wednesday morning my wife commented that the mosquitoes must be getting bad because she had several bites that were itching. We didn't think anything of it. Thursday morning she wakes me up screaming that we have bed bugs. When she got up, one was still attached to her leg. OMG... just the sight of a tick causes me to start itching and feeling like they're crawling all over me. Now I can add bed bugs to that phobia. My wife used to work in hotel mgmt so knew what they were. I'm now ready to move out of the house. Nothing freaks me out worse than the though of something sucking the blood out of me while I'm asleep. I'm itching just typing this.

Since we drove, we both took our pillows with us (already in the garbage) which is probably how they immediately found their way upstairs to our bed. I can't imagine we brought home too many, so this weekend I'm going over our bedroom with a magnifying glass and have the exterminator coming first of the week.

Any of your guys ever had to deal with them? From the internet I understand they are very hard to get rid of, but hopefully I'm attacking them before they take over.

I'm itching....

wash everything in hot water is all i have read. Sorry to hear it man.

Sorry to hear that. If it were me I would be vacuuming the place as much as I could. Run the vacuum in every nook and cranny you can get it into. Move furniture so you can vacuum under it as well. I hear they can't take heat so put all of your sheets, pillow covers and bedspreads into the dryer. Place any other loose clothing, cloths or curtains into the dryer as well. Rent a carpet steam cleaner and steam them out. Since they were in your vehicle, park it in the sun and roll the windows up on a very hot day. The exterminator may be the one to ask about the plan of attack. Good luck.

I cranked up the temperature control on the water heater yesterday and started running everything that would fit through a hot cycle in the clothes washer and then a long cycle in the dryer. I read somewhere that anything over 105 degrees will kill them.

We did make use of the heat wave we're having in Atlanta by tossing the luggage in the car and parking it outside. Temps have been in the mid to upper 90's every day so the inside of the car should be darn hot.

I guess on the bright side, the bedroom will be spotless when we get finished.

Theres some stuff called tempo you can pick up at just about any farm supply store. I found a generic brand rhis year withe same active ingredients called viper but havent used any yet. Mix it up in a small sprayer and spray all the baseboards window frams and door ways. Then do the same outside if you want. This stuff gets rid of any crawling buggs and is safe around people and pets. Just keep pets and kids away for long enough for it to dry. wash you bedding with a chlorox detergent and use something similar on the mattress. Any kind of lysol spray should too with bleaching the fabric. Had a friend who got them and this got rid of them. Spray with the tempo twice a year for all other bugs. I normally do one in spring and one in the fall. Rember to wear rubber gloves and just lightly hit the baseboards. Be sure an get in all easy to get to places like under the sinks. Dont neef to get to crazy with moving furniture. any where plumbing leaves is always a place for them to get in. Wish i had caught the post before you got a bug sprayer. They always charge too much and use low doses so they get to return and charge again. Hope this helps.

PS imporant to do the whole house because they do spread fast. Good luck and sorry to hear about the buggs

Man that stinks and is one of my worst fears as well, its a good example for people though. After vacation the first stop for your luggage (even if clean) should be the washer (including the cloths your wearing). And for good measure always bath/shower before spending that first night back in your own bed!!

As much traveling as I do I'm always about bringing home bed bugs but so far I never have (knock on wood). Everything I've read says that they're very hard to get rid of completely unless a professional exterminator is used and even then it often takes several applications.

The exterminator came by yesterday and spend about an hour poking around the concluded that the actions we took when we first noticed the bed bugs must have worked. He was unable to find any signs of the little vampires. I'm not convinced we're out of the woods yet, but looking good so far. [-o<

Good to hear. Apparently you caught them in the early stages before they got too bad.