I discovered this forum during my own invasion of our favorite pests, and the posts gave me useful tips, facts, and encouragement when I was feeling inconsolably helpless. Now here I am posting one of my own, simply because I have achieved a fresh new panic and could use some advice.
The bed bugs have only ever inhabited one room in my apartment--my room. I have two other roommates living with me, and they have never had a single sign of them in their rooms. I've been grateful for this and have done everything I can do to contain them that way. The activity itself has seemed to be minimal compared to some horror stories I've read about, luckily (as lucky as I can be, having bed bugs and all).
To get right to it, I'd like to know if there's anything more I can do to ensure these little nightmares are gone for good. I've had the exterminator come out and spray the apartment twice. The first time was a month ago, and I started cleaning (and using a steamer) too early, and I think I must have diluted the chemicals he laid down. So I took apart my bed and threw it and my mattress out. Unfortunately, it was a large bed and taking it apart was a long process, so I think some escaped because I was still getting bites after it was gone. The exterminator came again a week and a half ago and this time I've just been vacuuming my whole room daily with a big push vacuum cleaner, focusing on the perimeter, and then with a handheld vacuum along the baseboards of the perimeter as well, so as to get better into corners and cracks. I empty both vacuums' compartments immediately after I use them. I sleep on an air mattress on the floor, so I try to run my sheets through the dryer on high heat every other day or so. My air mattress has inherited my (new) mattress cover, specifically made for dust mites and bed bugs, which I also put through the dryer about once a week. The air mattress itself has gone through the dryer a couple of times, but not lately since the cover should keep it protected. My clothes are in plastic bins, and all my stuff is still in trash bags in the closet, ever since the first spray, which was a month ago. The only furniture I have left in the room is a very small bookcase and two end tables, all wood, which I try to vacuum as well. The end tables are old and have many places I can't reach. I also have a plastic wire bookcase that I have not been all that worried about, since there isn't much place for them to hide in that. I have not found casings or track marks, but last week I found a live bug on my sheets before going to bed. It was not an adult, and I killed it.
I have still gotten two or three bites since the second spray. The service who did the spray says that it's common to still get bites up to two weeks after the spray, and it's been a week and a half for me. I have been in an unwavering state of panic ever since I realized I had bed bugs, so I'm probably a little high-strung, but I'm frantic to make them go away. Is there anything else I can do to make sure they won't come back? Will it ultimately be the vacuuming that eliminates them? Do you recommend caulking the baseboards around the room? Should I try diatomaceous earth or other over-the-counter poisons? Should I throw out the end tables? All my wooden furniture? Should I be treating the radiator in any way (it's one of those old ones that are basically holes in the wall)? Any thoughts at all would be a huge, huge help. I feel as though I could be nearing the end and I just want to make sure I can completely and assuredly put this whole, awful experience behind me. Thank you so much!