Let's just start at the beginning, which was last month. I was doing yard work at this new place trying to get it ready before I moved in. A neighbor across the street came over and asked me if I knew if they changed all the carpets and painted. I told her yes. She said she knew they did a lot work on the place over the last few months, but wanted to give me a heads up because she was friends with the previous tenant and this person got bed bugs while living here and never said anything to the rental agency because she had pretty much trashed the place. I e-mailed the property manager and asked her about this. She said that they were able to figure it out after the former tenant vacated, and that it had 4 treatments, one of the heat. They also sprayed the other unit.
I was somewhat relieved, but I also did some research in preparation. It still didn't sit well with me because I wondered how they would get exposed to the insecticide if there wasn't anyone in the house making them come out to feed. Despite that, I had signed a lease and had to follow through with that contract.
I got the keys before the big moving day and went over to the house to open up windows and access where I wanted to put my furniture and belongings. Upon opening the tightly closed closet in the master bedroom, I was greeted with a heavy dose of that sweet, musky scent I had read about. I wasn't positive that it was THAT smell since I had never smelled it before. I had an acute sense of smell, and I now smell it every time I go upstairs.
I was able to move my son's bed into the new place that day and decided we were going to sleep here that night. I made a makeshift sleeping space in the living room along the same wall that is in the master bedroom the floor above it. This is one of the walls I believe is highly infested. In the middle of the night my cat started freaking out howling at this wall. Yet, I just thought she was freaking out because of the new environment.
I moved in the next day and all went well. My cat started freaking out again in the middle of the night running back and forth from my room (master bedroom) to my son's room.
The next day I saw some marks on my arm that looked like a rash. I questioned if it was bed bugs, but also was aware that I was in some dusty spaces the day before moving things and could have been having a reaction to that. Then I saw a line of bites on my legs. I looked on our mattresses and found two alive ones on mine and one alive one on my son's. I e-mailed the property manager immediately but knew I wouldn't hear about back from her until the next morning.
The next morning I woke up covered in bites. I think in this last week I have about 30 bites, most of them from the first 2 or 3 days...it's hard to tell. My son has less because it's my room that is infested the most. The property manager was able to get the exterminator in that day, but I was not able to prep and was not here when he came. My mom was here, and from what she said, he seemed not to inspect much. I was told he would be back every month. He sprayed our box springs and who knows where else. I bought mattress encasements and pulled our beds away from the wall. That night I obviously was up a lot. I noticed my cat was looking at different parts of the wall, so I got up and turned on the light. I saw about 6 adult ones on the wall and a bunch of those nymphs but the outlet. I couldn't count them, and the only reason I think I could see them is because they were all bunched together. I checked my son's room and saw no activity. We did not seem to get bit so I was optimistic that they were going to get killed making it up to our beds. The only ones I had found on the bed were dead that day.
The next night I woke up 4 times to check if they were on the walls. They weren't.
The next day I was removing the clothing from the room and other items just to have it clear so they wouldn't have more places to be. My clothes were still in laundry baskets because I decided I wasn't unpacking them but had to wash and put them away in totes. This was all happening in the middle of the work week. I was worried about bringing them out of the house into my really nice new car and then exposing the laundry mat to them. I was slowly doing all this with my washer and dryer in the house, doing bit by bit and storing the clothes and linens. While clearing some stuff out and getting ready to vacuum, I came across more live nymphs and adults. I e-mailed the property manager and asked to have another treatment this week or next week. The pest management called me back and said they will come back every 3 to 4 weeks and that this place is on a preventive care treatment. How can it be preventive care if the infestation is very much active?
During all of this I came up with the brilliant idea of using my old beater car I still have to transport all the unwashed items to the laundry mat in big utility bags. I then put those bags inside another utility bag, duct taped them shut, and disposed of them in my work's dumpster. I vacuumed out the car and went and parked it where it will sit until it gets sold. I already have a buyer, and I know it will continue to sit after he buys it.
At this point, I can't do this anymore. I wanted a fresh start for my son and I. I was so excited about our new home. I thought it was perfect for us. Now I'm worried about how much of my property has been compromised and how big this infestation really is. This house is not even my property, but I feel that I am the only one who is seeing how serious this is. The exterminators don't seem to know what they are doing or think that it is serious. Everything I read said treatments should be every two weeks. I can see having monthly treatments after it gets more under control. Something in my gut is telling me this is a huge infestation. It's the way these walls are and how my cat acted that first night like she sensed all these bugs coming down. It's the way that closet smelled.
I stayed in a hotel last night. I cried on and off yesterday and today. I'm 95 percent sure I'm going to get a lawyer and have him speak for me to get out of this place. Right now, I feel so beaten down that if I try to get out of here by speaking to the rental agency, I may get screwed over in some way I've overlooked. I also want to get a second opinion from a different exterminator.
My boyfriend won't see me because of all of this. He owns his own house and doesn't want to take ANY risk. I can understand, but it still hurts.
Picture of a live one I killed today
Picture of hole above the outlet
Does anybody know if bed bugs can do damage like this weird hole?
Hole and discoloration on ceiling and wall in closet
IMG]http://i67.tinypic.com/108bqqb.jpg[/IMG]
Along the bottom of the wall