Sleep Tight and Don't Let the.... Oh Boy!

I debated posting this on a public forum given the stigma attached to this issue, but in the hope of finding some adviceand peace of mind, I'll give it a go.This morning my girlfriend and I identified bedbugs in our apartment and we are scared out of our wits on what to do. We contacted the landlord who called an exterminator, but he had to leave a message as it was Sunday.Everything I have found about these pests has told me that the only foolproof method of getting rid of the bugs is to completely rid ourselves of everything we own and move to a bug-free place with just the clothes on our backs (to be discarded upon passing the threshold).But giving up this world of mammon is hard to do, and it would be a double blow to find the problem coming with us despite all our efforts to leave behind what we have.Anyway, we're wondering if anyone has ever dealt with this problem and might have advice... The Internet is full of horror stories and little else; it's not encouraging. If anyone wants to offer their two cents privately, they can send me a PM. I know the stigma of this problem and I would not betray the confidence of anyone who offers advice or help.Gonna sleep on the couch now... Edited by Jon, : No reason given.

Jon writes: That's how I got to get married........

a few years ago, Mom was getting bit at night and saw the bite marks on her body...she was scratching the itch and going nuts trying to find out what was biting her. One night she saw one of the little bastards and captured him in a glass jar. I came over and examined her bed...we found around 4 total...hiding in all manners of spots. We ended up buying some cedar oil online...
Best Yet well...it worked! she no longer has bites and the bugs appear to be gone. She was spooked though, and threw her bed away. I think her experience involved her bringing in clothes from a flea market which had the critters...no other apartments were affected.

Phat,This is encouraging news. Though I am discouraged regarding the use of cedar oil as I see the FTC filing lawsuits against the companies that market this as bedbug remedy. It seems the claims made by the product are less than proven.My research has shown that a few bedbugs spotted with your eyes means at least a dozen or so swarming around somewhere. The worst part of the situation here is that the bugs seem to be in different stages of development and we have found moulted exoskeletons. It's hard to believe what we have found is isolated.Better news, though, is that we have only seen the critters on the bedding and around/in the headboard.It's good to know that your mother is now bug free. I see that Denver is one of the worst cities for bedbugs. We will be disposing of our mattress, boxspring, and headboard, and heating all the clothes and bedding in a drier to kill any bugs present. Hopefully this plus the exterminator will solve the problem...... then it's time to move!Jon

It's Satan's fault. Before he tricked Eve into eating the banana that caused The Fall, bedbugs ate grass. They were called grassbugs because there were no beds.

I am sorry to hear about this awful situation.I would think that washing all your linens and cothing in hot water with a good disinfectant would be a good start.Spray your bed and carpet with the most potent stuff you can find. Then bomb the living shit out of the house with bug bombs.Go to the movies or something .See what happens.

As best as I can glean from the internet, the most important factor in getting rid of these things is getting professional help. Amateur attempts to get rid of bed bugs seem to be long, drawn out, and to require more discipline and rigor than is humanly possible to muster.One thing that I did see repeated mention of was that sleeping in new places (i.e. the couch) without taking other steps seems to lead to new bed bug infestations because the bugs like you and not just your abandoned bedding.I think most people do manage to salvage their bed. I'd do some more searches before committing to throwing out the bed if it were even the least bit expensive.

Thank you.I don't think a night on the couch hurt; at least I hope not. The landlord has an exterminator coming tomorrow, but I fear that their main concern is keeping the problem from spreading and not necessarily in getting rid of our plight.Some good news though is that MN law requires the landlords to get rid of the bedbugs whenever they are found. Some landlords have tried to then pass the charge on to tenants, but I've heard this doesn't always work unless the landlord can clearly establish a chain of willfully negligent activities we engaged in that led to the bugs entering the building. Absent that, it seems unlikely we can be charged.We are scared more than anything... just really really scared.

I'm curious to know if anyone here in addition to Phat's mom has had these before and if/how they beat the critters.We zipped our mattress to hopefully trap any inside; we aren't sure about throwing it out, though. We are hoping the exterminator will be helpful tomorrow...

I have no direct help.Is it a house or an apartment?A buddy of mine bought an old house, full of bugs, and got an exterminator to seal off the entire house with plastic. Then they pumped in some noxious gas or something that killed everything inside. Something about getting into all the cracks and spaces between walls and all that.I believe the plastic/gas stuff went on for 3 days or something like that.
(Although, the extra days may just be for letting the gas get out so that you don't enter a noxious house yourself...)He said it was amazing. Not only killed all bugs, but also completely removed cigarette/cigar odours (and the smell was really bad before).
He did say it was kinda gross... first time back in there was dead bugs all over the place...I've also heard of some shitty landlords billing people for stuff they're not allowed to bill for anyway. Stay strong!

Looks difficult.....How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs: The Ultimate Guide

My dad talked of placing the (metal) legs of the beds in cans with kerosene inside, and always, always keeping the bedlinens from touching the floor. That was China in the 1920's, but bedbugs do still think the same.

We are looking to rent again now that our lives have recovered from the bugs. However, we are now faced with this black mark from our renting past. I have over six years of exceptional rental history prior to this place and my credit is in pristine condition. My girlfriend has three years of rental history, but her credit is not as good as mine due to heavy student loan debt.We left the bug house at the end of the lease, but did not give a full notice, and so the landlord kept our deposit and charged us $70. This was a questionable move according to state law as the lease did not contain a provision allowing him to keep the deposit for this reason and the statutes are very clear on the allowable reasons for withholding a security deposit: damage, unpaid rent, other reasons spelt out in the lease. After trying to contact a lawyer but getting just a game of phone tag, we decided to leave things be, comfortable that the landlord would never take any legal action to collect on the $70.Now, though, we have a black spot on our rental history and it is difficult to know how to address the problem as we look for new rental opportunities. We are worried that the money we "owe" will lock us out of many apartments, or that even if we more or less explain the situation to any new landlord, the old landlord may tell them we brought bugs into his place and that will be the end of our chance getting in.Should we just leave him off our history, include him but request they not contact him and let our report rest on the glowing references from other landlords, or put him on the report and cross our fingers?Has anyone here ever had to recover from a slumlord? Is there any advice you can offer?Thanks,
Jon

Are renters really that picky? When I went to get an apartment, it was pretty much:-Show us that you can afford this place,
---Here ya go
-Sweet, here's the lease.Its different than that? Weird...

I suppose it could vary by region, but a decent history with past landlords is usually preferred, and at the very least an absence off black marks. And I don't know if I would want to live at a place that rents to anyone and everyone.I also don't want the landlords to see me as an "anyone and everyone". I do appreciate their desire to have tenants with a proven record of reliability; I used to manage an apartment complex, and can see my situation from the landlord's perspective--and maybe that's what has me most concerned...Jon