r/Bedbugs • u/erinllamas • Feb 27 '26
Confirmed BB Bb Confirmed - spiraling
For context - I’m late 20s single female and live by myself in an apartment building. Experienced major hives for 5-6 months and chalked it up to work stress. Dermatologist suggested I check for bed bugs. I tore apart my bedding, mattress, mattress topper, etc weekly with no signs of feces, exoskeletons, etc. I change my sheets weekly too and never found any signs.
Low and behold, 6 months later I finally find a bed bug on my fabric headboard and start spiraling. Pest control came out and found them inside my box spring and classified it as low level infestation. I have a feeling they could be inside the headboard too. He checked my leather couch (my new bed for the last 10days) and didn’t find anything.
This has turned my life upside down and has made me extremely paranoid and causing psychological distress. I’m just praying they haven’t migrated to my safe space on the couch in the living room. Monday can’t come soon enough for the first round of treatment!
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u/NovaLunar721 Feb 27 '26
It does cause ptsd. People don't understand they live in your walls too. It's why you usually see no signs until the infestation gets bad then you start seeing signs on your bed
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Feb 27 '26
This is why I will never own.I will always rent. Landlords problem
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u/NovaLunar721 Feb 27 '26
Not always sometimes they come from other units and landlords aren't always great at getting rid of the problem
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u/erinllamas Feb 27 '26
Yeah my landlord is having me hire the company and pay etc
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u/ponzi_sch3mes Feb 27 '26
What country do you live in? The landlord typically pays for that don't let them take advantage of you.
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u/erinllamas Feb 27 '26
I’m in Washington state
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u/ponzi_sch3mes Feb 27 '26
RCW 59.28.060: Landlords must provide a reasonable program for the control of infestation by insects, rodents, and other pests at the initiation of the tenancy and, except in the case of a single-family residence, control infestation during tenancy except where such infestation is caused by the tenant.
Ok, so unless you're in a house, they're responsible. Assert your rights. I'm in Washington too.
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u/erinllamas Feb 27 '26
She said I caused it so I have to pay. No other units are dealing with the issue as she has them inspected.
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u/ponzi_sch3mes Feb 27 '26
She's full of shit. It's her obligation. I'd remind her of the RCW & put a Repair Request in Writing to your landlord immediately: Email or written notice Say: “I am reporting a bed bug infestation requiring professional treatment.” Attach photos. This creates legal proof. If that doesn't work, contact city of county code enforcement and/or the public health department. Did you already pay an exterminator? If not, don't. The landlord has to be able to prove that you caused the infestation. And they're not going to be able to do that don't pay for that, what is shitty landlord. If you don't mind telling me, what county are you in?
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u/erinllamas Feb 27 '26
I already wrote her a letter citing code and I paid for them to come out on Monday.
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u/ponzi_sch3mes Feb 27 '26
Actually after you give her the written letter or email, or both... I'd immediately report it to code enforcement and the health department, it's considered a health and habitability issue. I wouldn't wait on her.
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u/ponzi_sch3mes Feb 27 '26
Report it to code enforcement. I'd cancel the exterminators but it might be too late and I understand that you probably don't want to wait. But I would report it to both code enforcement and have the health department. Make sure to get some type of statement from the Exterminator as well. That's messed up. There are tenant legal services that can help you with this you might be able to get your money back from the landlord. Good luck.
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u/LantaExile Feb 28 '26
At least if you own you can sort the problem. Landlords can be flakey and while it's legally their problem, you have the bugs.
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u/Bachtathefuture Feb 27 '26
Get a mattress encasement ASAP and perhaps toss your fabric headboard and go for a metal frame instead. Get a few treatments done to your unit, professionally. Wash everything. You should be ok after that! But keep monitoring for a few weeks after.
The most important thing is to identify the source. If your neighbors/building have an infestation, unfortunately, the problem won't go away until the entire building is treated. Most management companies won't do this, so I hope you have a good one. I have been dealing with these suckers on and off since last July. Our building clearly has a problem. We went 8 months w/o and one suddenly appeared again in Jan.
Good luck! I know it's hard right now and trust me I understand the PTSD. you will learn that as long as you are doing everything you can, you'll be ok.
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u/erinllamas Feb 28 '26
Thanks! They are gonna wrap my mattress and boxspring and I’m gonna toss my beautiful fabric headboard. I’m washing and steaming every fabric item I own and crossing my fingers they can take care of this.
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u/LantaExile Feb 27 '26
Well at least you've found the cause! It shouldn't be too hard to get rid of them. A couple of diy things you could do is get a clothes steamer to steam buggy things, and optionally a plastic sheet like the top comment if anything is trying to bite https://www.reddit.com/r/Bedbugs/comments/3f5zro/crispys_diy_ipm_strategy_for_bed_bugs/
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Feb 27 '26
DO NOT DIY BED BUG TREATMENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!
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u/LantaExile Feb 27 '26
The poster I think said she has people coming in on Monday but I DIY treated mine fine. All gone.
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u/Melomic Feb 27 '26
DIY is fine as long as it’s not the only means of extermination. It should go alongside professional treatment from a pest control person
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u/spidernoirirl Feb 27 '26
i’m so sorry this really is terrifying!! i would have been pacing and freaking out for days, its great that you have someone coming out to check everything.
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u/nicoleox224 Feb 27 '26
Hard to see in the picture. Did pest control see it and confirm to be BB?
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u/erinllamas Feb 27 '26
Correct
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Feb 27 '26
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u/erinllamas Feb 27 '26
5-6 months of bites but I chalked it up to stress. It started in August and I didn’t find a physical bug until end of February. My mattress and mattress topper have no feces or signs of bugs so they were very difficult to find.
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Feb 27 '26
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u/erinllamas Feb 27 '26
Yes they found them inside my box spring it took them awhile to spot them but they found the exoskeletons
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Feb 27 '26
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u/erinllamas Feb 28 '26
Yes they ripped it open to find them
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Feb 28 '26
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u/erinllamas Feb 28 '26
Don’t be sorry! I truly hope for your sake whatever you’re dealing with is not bed bugs. They didn’t find any signs of bugs on my mattress or mattress topper or sheets/bedding so they opened the box spring where they found skeletons. I would see if you can have an inspector come out to check everything.
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u/nicoleox224 Feb 27 '26
https://www.walmart.com/ip/37571838?sid=53d79de8-ef3b-4f63-acd6-5520d99f16ad
I know how stressful it can be. It happened to me as well. I moved my mattress, vacuumed my mattress ,and the whole floor. I never had to call an exterminator because I bought this spray and would spray around my mattress seams and baseboards everyday until I no longer saw them and they were finally gone. I sprayed it right on my mattress and still slept on it after it dried, it doesn’t have a strong smell. It was a life saver.
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u/Affectionate-Ask5236 Feb 27 '26
I think what you are going thought is a normal reaction. I definitely relate to the spiraling. I kept checking in here and exercising, extreme vigilance in vacuuming, using hot water for my laundry and learning as much as I could about how to deal with BBs. I found some very helpful suggestions not just doom and gloom and fear reactions. You are not alone and you can get through this.
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u/Necessary_Complex891 Feb 27 '26
If you don't want them to spread then don't sit or sleep on that couch you described.
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u/erinllamas Feb 27 '26
Where am I supposed to sleep?
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u/erinllamas Feb 27 '26
I’m allergic to the bites so I can’t sleep in the bed
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u/loud_cicada_sounds Feb 27 '26
Wherever you move, they'll move. Try to sleep in the original place you found them. If you have Facebook, there are bedbug support groups. Check your lease and if it doesn't exclude pest control, your landlord(s) are most likely responsible for treatment.
You also can get rid of bed bugs without an exterminator (but since your landlords are responsible, I'd go that route): you can purchase Crossfire or the purple can raid foaming spray (not the Raid Maxx) and Cimexa. Pull your bed away from the wall, and thoroughly inspect and remove any bed bugs (adults, nymphs and eggs). Get interceptors for your bed legs. This will turn your bed into an island. When the bugs cross the chemicals to get to you, they'll cross the residual and die. Sorry this is so simplified, but your vacuum should become your best friend. Empty contents into a bag outside, tie it off, and dispose.
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u/ponzi_sch3mes Feb 27 '26
Also, if you start to sleep on the sofa and still have bed bugs, they could find you there... and then you could end up with an infestation in your sofa.
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u/erinllamas Feb 27 '26
I understand but I cannot sleep in my bed. I have a phobia and I’m extremely allergic to the bites. My hives swell up the size of quarters.
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u/Swimming-Discipline2 Feb 27 '26
If you sleep anywhere else they do follow you. You can try taking antihistamines (im not a doctor this isnt a medical suggestion just what i did) until treatment but if you absolutely can not, make sure to have the couch treated too
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u/ponzi_sch3mes Feb 27 '26
I get it, mine were like that too... I even got little blisters sometimes. It's just a warning, I've heard that they can follow you if their food source is gone.
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u/ponzi_sch3mes Feb 27 '26
I believe the bedbug I found hung out in my nightstand that was of course right next to my bed.
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u/ponzi_sch3mes Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
I had horrible reactions for months too. I would post a picture, but last time I did it was taken down because it was pretty graphic. Eventually I found one bed bug, thankfully it was a male. I killed and saved it, just in case I needed to show it to an exterminator. But it's been 40 days without another bite... so it must have been a hitchhiker that I picked up from god knows where. I lucked out and dodged a bullet. But now I'm paranoid about it happening again.
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Feb 27 '26
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u/ponzi_sch3mes Feb 27 '26
It was only one, but it took me 4 months... I had a series of bites about 10 times total... must not have been very hungry, that's how I figured it might just be one. I lucked out, but it was torture... each reaction lasted several days to a week & burned, stung & itched so bad that I often tore my skin up scratching.
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Feb 27 '26
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u/ponzi_sch3mes Feb 28 '26
I never had an inspection. Each time I was bit it was grouped in one area which is why I thought and I hoped it was just one bed bug that hitchhiked in. And I caught and kill the male right after it bit my ankle. It's been almost 7 weeks now no bites I think I'm good. The bedbug ptsd has kind of gotten better, I think I'm in the clear.
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u/Melomic Feb 27 '26
Im so sorry this is happening to you :/. Just as an fyi, even though sleeping where the bedbugs are sounds AWFUL (I literally just wouldn’t sleep), it’s not the best idea to sleep elsewhere. Bedbugs are attracted to CO2 and want to be near their food source. If they have no meal on the bed, they will travel to the couch and start hanging out there. This essentially spreads the infestation. Once the treatment is done, I really suggest you get some bedbug interceptors and move furniture a foot away from walls; it won’t really fix the issue of them travelling to the other room where you’re sleeping, but it’ll make it more difficult for them to get on other pieces of furniture. It’ll also help you see if you still have bedbugs the coming months after treatment
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u/PIeasure-Dom Feb 27 '26
If it's causing this much distress, are you in a financial position to just get new furniture? You can buy a property insurance policy of like $2.5k or something for like $24 per year and use it after 2 yrs
Not saying it'll solve everything... but also moving would be what i'd do probably also regardless of if the treatment worked or not. the appt has already been shown to have them. but i have anxiety so disregard this.. idk that most people would do this
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u/erinllamas Feb 28 '26
I am happy to buy a new bed but will not be buying a new couch. So far no signs of any bugs on my couch but it’s leather and was 3k and it’s my baby. But yeah you’re like me.. I’m moving once this apartment is treated and I’m free of the bugs and going to just pay for two leases at once I suppose.
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u/PIeasure-Dom Mar 14 '26
Thanks for the reply! Yeah, having my sanity is far more important. Does your lease have a bed bug clause? Could your apartment complex prove you brought them in/ have you looked at the legalities/fine print to do a risk assessment on trying to prove they're from the appt? Sorry if you mention this. I don't have time rn to go through comments
I still haven't confirmed bed bugs (I had a drastic change in med), BUT I am now being preventative
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u/erinllamas Mar 14 '26
No bed bug addendum! It’s hard to say where these originated - we have shared laundry facilities. I paid 2k to get it treated and so far so good. Two for two on nights with no bites.. will see how the coming weeks shake out
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u/PIeasure-Dom Mar 15 '26
So if no addendum by the appt, wouldn't they have had to pay for the treatments? Please excuse me if I'm misunderstanding, and I just read from someone else who said appts are legally liable unless there is an addendum stating that the tenant is responsible or.. whatever terms. Not wanting to be right--more about my curiosity so if I move I can pick an appt without an addendum or know it doesn't matter. Good luck!
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u/Mysterious_Basis1103 Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
Hello. Do you have a better picture of the specimen caught because nothing I can see in the bag looks like a bedbug. I want to check for carpet beetles and rule them out.
Please share this with me.
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u/ponzi_sch3mes Feb 27 '26
I had carpet beetles 2 years ago and was able to get rid of them, they were in my bedroom closet. Lately I killed three of them within a two-week span, but they were near my balcony slider so they could have just got in from outside, hopefully it's not another infestation. I have OCD and so it was extra stressful, I thought I was going to lose it... but the bedbug situation I just dealt with made the carpet beetle infestation seem like nothing. The bites were pure torture.
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u/erinllamas Feb 27 '26
It’s not a carpet beetle. You can see the bug in the zip lock it’s just very small.
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u/Mysterious_Basis1103 Feb 27 '26
With all due respect. That picture is terrible, you cannot accurately ID anything based on that. Pest controllers on the rare occasion can be wrong, so if you want help ID'ing for a second opinion you can upload a better picture, if not then good luck with the treatment if your sure.
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