Bed bugs :(

Accomodation, House and Garden
21
I had some experience with bed bugs recently and attended a seminar...

Heating above 55c for a significant period kills the bugs but not the eggs- they need a higher temperature.

UV light does not kill bed bugs or the eggs.

There are pesticides that kill the beg bugs but again the eggs remain in most cases.

One of the most effective is Permithrin at a .5 or 1% solution. Its nasty stuff but VERY effective.

22
Buy a waterbed.

23
.... but not from Wales.

24
So we basically need to pack up the things from the wardrobes and cupboards + under the bed (all clothes, books etc.) and send them off to be frozen for 3 days OR wash at 60 and dry with high heat (as there's no place to put them out in the Sun, not that we'll have any Sun in Geneva until next year).

Then when the apartment is "ready to be fumigated" - we can schedule them to come and they'll spray everything for a day leaving all windows open. Then they'll wait 10 days and spray again, then wait about another 10 days to check with the dog.

So technically, we basically need to move out for 3 weeks...

I put some double sided scotch around the door frames into the kitchen and entrance (studio place) - as I don't want the buggers to go out of the room - even though they said they won't go where they can't find blood :/ Ended up catching 1 bug that looked like an oriental cockroach - we seem to have them downstairs so I was surprised to find it on 3rd floor, especially as they just put some liquid down in each apartment to prevent/kill them (maybe this one escaped and wanted to hide somewhere before returning to feast on some water). Sent pictures back to A+A Desinfection to check what it was but I guess whatever they use to kill the bed bugs should kill these other things too?

Where's a KickStarter project for homing drones that go in search of bugs and kill them via lasers?

25
How much is this procedure going to cost?

26
Freezing things in Carouge (they are linked with the company that basically lets you use industrial sized freezers for 3 days), is about 200 CHF for 14 bags of 60L (normal black plastic 60 L bags). It's then 100 CHF more for the next 14 bags, so 15-28 bags = 300 CHF.

They can collect and return your things, 100 CHF to collect, and 100 CHF to return so I assume if we just bag everything, we might be just over 14 bags, so I guess 300 CHF unless we can't find someone to help transport, then 500 CHF.

As for the fumigation, the Regie pays - at least a friend of mine had the same thing happen to her last year with the same Regie (in slightly different area of Geneva).

For the call out with the dog, I'm unsure who pays that or how much it'll be :/ he technically didn't need the dog as I showed him the picture we took of the shell and the bites on my girlfriends' arm, then we just "got lucky" that by lifting the bed, we were able to find one just under on the wooden rack system...

27

They have natural enemies, it seems:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduvius_personatus

Don't know how realistic it is to enlist their services, though.

I also read that cockroaches seem to feast on them, too, but couldn't really find any reference to it elsewhere.

28
Before you rush off and spend Fr 300,- try and get some independent advice.

So far you have only found one bug, and he might have wandered in from next door!

http://bedbugfoundation.org/ <<-- read all the information.

Vaccuum clean carefully. You can wash bedding and clothes at 60 deg C, use a tumble drier, then tumble hot for 30 minutes.

Use a good steam cleaner on hot steam & low flow, and use the vacuum cleaner.

send insect photos here: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

they state on page 24 there is widespread resistance to normal insecticides, pyrethroids and carbamates,

and multiple visits with professional spraying maybe required!

.

29
Yeah I wanted to say that it's possible (if not normal) that people wash at 90°C bed sheets and the mattress "protector" (the thing you put between the mattress and the sheet, this is washed less often but it's made to be washable at 95°C), towels and such. Maybe not your own bed sheets but if you have guests and you don't know if they "disseminated" fluids, ill or incontinent people, animal urine or vomit, i would do it for sure, sometimes even sweat stains need some hot washing.

Of course for normal washing 60°C and a good modern-day detergent full of enzymes probably is enough. If i go to an hotel or a motel i would like the stuff washed at 90°C though.

For UV light i meant that you can use a blacklight to spot urine stains and such.

30
These bugs are truly annoying. I overheard their conversation this morning and whole plan for rest of the day.

31
Well they did say we can freeze or wash things at 60C (or higher if possible), and they mentioned to freeze things is the last resort and not usually needed. My friend did it because she technically had bugs from January until May before they realized - as one of her daughters kept getting bitten but they assumed it was an allergic reaction to something... once they knew what it was, they tried to defeat them with spray but after coming back their daughter was bitten again (she was sleeping in another room) and since they have a 4 bedroom apartment with 3 kids they had a lot of things to go through - definitely easier to just freeze things instead of spending 20+ hours washing and drying bags and bags of clothes.

My girlfriend works in a hotel where they had bed bugs about 2 months ago (and they tried to get rid of them with just spray products)... and I take the train to work - the guy said it's quite possible either of us could have taken them in.

32
You can read, the bugs are active at night, and hide in cracks in the building or in the bed frame during the day, somewhere dark. The first area to attend should be the bed frame and the wall and floor near the bed. Using the vacuum machine is a good start, and maybe the lone bug you found was a male!

33
Bed bugs feed on you when you sleep, so what you can do at an early stage is to smear vaseline on the bed legs - then the f-ckers can't get into your bed. Vacuum everything, the bugs live inside power outlets, everywhere. Wash everything real hot.

If you're lucky they either die or move on to your neighbour.

Is all this covered by your home insurance btw?

34
Unsure if the lone one we found was a male, it looked slightly more circular then oval but it wasn't yet a full adult, however he didn't try to capture it or get rid of it... only confirmed that we had it :/ and it had moved after that. We haven't found it since then and we've picked up the bed frame to check around.

I think I was bitten too now but I don't have any reaction or itch (it's been about 2 days now), the bite area feels tighter / solid and red, slightly raised but nothing like my girlfriends' bites and I had only noticed it in the morning (on my left foot), so I think I'm "immune".

Insurance is with Helvetica I believe, and with the basic standard insurance that you need to have for any place you rent here. No idea if they cover this but the Regie would pay for the fumigation.

Already put double-side tape around the 6 bed legs and also around the door frames leading into the kitchen / entrance area (studio place). Haven't checked if we caught anything yet on the bed legs... However I did see an article that they can even climb onto the ceiling and fall from there onto the bed?!

35
In Asia I have seen the bed legs stood in a plate or bowl of water, or even beds hung from the ceiling to avoid bugs, rats, or cobras dining on rats.

36
Or a ring of talcum powder surrounding the bed.

37
So each day since Monday, I've been trying to find a bed bug under the bed. We didn't find any signs but tonight when I got back from work, I lifted the bed up again and found one. It looked like the same size as the one we saw on Monday and it was in the same place, same rack, about 4 racks from the bottom part of the bed.

As I was using my phone camera flash, it tried to hide under the rack. Well we have a clear white Ikea box so I just tapped hard on the rack and it dropped. Then moved the Ikea box out and used an old jaw to catch the little bugger. After taking these pics, I added some hot water and left it sealed for a few hours. It seems dead but I'll be sure to dispose of the jaw later. Wanted to use it and put it under the bed as a lesson to any others waiting around, that they'll be next. We have the fumigation guys coming on Tuesday, they're booked for multiple apartments every day...

38
It looks like it's a male one. But the white area on it's underside looks like it could be eggs?

39
So my girlfriend just said another client at the hotel has bites. I'm guessing the spray they used only made the bugs move to another room / floor.

How can we prevent her taking anything back home? It looks the hotel isn't going to close for a few days to "debug" the whole hotel...

I've read that steamers (can cause mold) along with using DE white powered earth (can be dangerous to lungs though) can help with the fight against the bugs. Does anyone have any recommendations for a steamer? Apparently I should look for dry steam option feature to help prevent mold...

Thanks all for your responses so far

40
Strip naked in front of the door and leave all bags etc. outside the flat?

;-)

Bad reviews on trip advisor and holidaycheck will probably help for the hotel to take the problem more serious....