Does anybody have any experience of getting rid of them? We seem to have managed to bring some back with us from a recent holiday and the web seems full of snake oil salesmen selling 90€ bottles of ‘organic’ spray.

On a side note we do have a nearly new matress going very cheap – if anybody’s interesed?

anyone else involuntarily scratch themselves just then? 😉

they don’t like air. just take the sheets off.

OK, I have done some intensive research into bug bites for last few months because I was bitten by some wee beasties … probably mites or something naked eyes cold not detect. But before I arrived at that conclusion I went through whole loads of insect bites information including bed bugs.

Mechanically killing bugs can be done using non-toxi diatomaceous-earth as it cracks the insects’ exoskeleton and dry them out which takes about 3 to 5 days depending. I bought 1kg of them thinking it was going to be a war with bedbugs …

The eggs will be the major headache so you might need pest control to spray some chemical on them.

As for the bedbugs you might want to buy a duster and fill it up with diatom earth and spray them in all crevices you can find. Wear a must so that you will not inhale the dust … bad for lungs.

Using Diatom to kill bed bugs but not eggs

Bought mine, food grade, from Diatomx

You need to do it quick before they start to multiple.

🙁

Alright mrfart

Being a pest controller I can only give you bad news I am afraid
Bed bugs is one of the worst pests to have in your house and not easy to get rid off. I would not attempt
Doing it yourself I would say u should phone a good pest control company to come out and treat them as
Your problem is going to get worse before it gets any better plus there is a great chance that people who come
Visit u will take them home also. It’s not cheap to do ether it could cost between £ 200 to£ 500 to treat but well worth it as the last thing u want is to share your house with bed bugs. If u need any other advice drop me a line

Brian

If you can afford £200 to £500 then do it immediately. Don’t wait as the stress caused by the wee beasties can be difficult to bear if not careful. i.e. no sleep and physical exhaustion. My worst case scenario was when I could feel them beasties crawling on my skin! But yet I could not see them. Then in the morning I could find a pin prick or two on my skin, usually rather itchy. I though it was bedbugs, then fleas and then mites. My conclusion was mite, perhaps some sort bird mites, because I have a big tree outside my flat and usually the birds roost there at night.

I had my flat chemically sprayed but I still get the bites occasionally yet I/we could not find the little buggers. I/we could only assume it was caused by some sort of mites (not the STD type) however we know someone whose room was infested by bed bugs and after two chemical spray they disappeared. Try to wash your all your clothing with some borax/diatom added if you can.

Heat treatment will kill them too but very expensive.

You need to be away from your house for at least 1 day if you are chemically treating your house. I went back to my flat after 3 hours and I could taste/feel the chemical burning in my throat and eyes. Nasty.

Also if you come back from abroad try to wash all your clothing immediately with a bit of borax or keep them in the bath tub to see if any beasties crawl out.

p/s: Brian2510, have you treated a house with mites?

Thanks for your responses guys, am going to contact pest control Tommie.

Now for copious amounts of beer so I can sleep…

Hi, We bought them back from Canada a few years ago. Quick call to council environmental health and they came round and sorted it out for free. They didn’t re-appear after 2 rounds of spraying. For good measure they did next door as well, so I hope you get on well with the neighbours!!!

HTH

Hi chewkw

Ye have treated for mites you can get 100s of difrent mites tho so hard
To say what mites you could have best way is to find the sorce and what they are breeding on.

Then you can eliminate sorce then treat your house with
A residual insecticide best ones would be ether a deltamethrin around cracks and crevices or bendicarb Wich
Is a bit stronger but deadly to animals especially cats and fish. Ur best bet would to b go online
And purchase some sticy insect pads place them around ur home insects will b attached to these and hopefully then
It will be easy to I’d insects.

Agree with above. A colleague at work had a very very bad time with them. I would get the professionals in immediately!!

Missus came back from a hotel in Rome and we got the usual semi – circular pattern bites etc. We binned EVERYTHING on the bed (it was probably new matress time anyway) and touch wood – 8 weeks later no problems. We were probably lucky.

I honestly wouldnt mess with them – they do your head in.

can heat kill them ? what about a steam cleaner…

elaine anne – Member

can heat kill them ? what about a steam cleaner…

Yes, but must be very hot i.e. near boiling otherwise some will survive. It is the eggs that you want to get rid off and they breed like no tomorrow.

brian2510 – Member

Ye have treated for mites you can get 100s of difrent mites tho so hard
To say what mites you could have best way is to find the sorce and what they are breeding on.

Brian, we could not find the source. I still get bites now and then but few months ago I got bitten almost everyday (at least 5 bites) and almost everywhere on my body. i.e. expose skin. Even when I felt the bite I could not see anything. Bloody buggers feeding on me … arrghhh … we search everywhere for bedbugs but nothing turn up but the bites kept coming.

The bite has slight very small pin red dot in the middle with slight swell but unlike the the “breakfast, lunch and dinner” bites (three consecutive bites) like those of bedbugs (greedy buggers) and this is doing my head in really … they are invisible!

But since I have no pet that rules out fleas and no sign of bedbugs since there is no trace of blood drops so bloody wee beasties are using hit and run tactics. The guy who got his room infested could actually see bedbugs all over an his mattress was full of blood drop or bedbugs faeces.

At the peak I was kept awake almost every night and could not sleep at all. The moment I felt something crawling on my skin I switched on the light and checked everywhere but no sign … damn!

Bedbugs infestation is coming back big time so be prepared especially if you stay in hotel. I would strip clean the moment I get back from a trip abroad and clean the clothing immediately with high temperature.

p/s: my bites are random all over, one bite here and one bite there with maximum 5 bites during the worst period. All with a pin prick spot in the middle. Extremely itchy after few days. I scratched a few spots and now I look like spotted leopard on my butt.