Hello
I would be extremely grateful for some advice on some shoddy advice we received from a PCO which may have exacerbated our bed bug problem. I will post another question separately about cimetrol but i wondered if you could help with my concerns about some clutter under the bed which was moved before a heat treatment. I hope its the right thing to do to post two separately as they are different issues - but happy to consolidate them if easier!
We had approx 3/4 weeks of bites (6 bites in total) and spotted a bug on our bed. We got a PCO out within a few days to do a heat treatment as i wanted a less toxic option as I have a baby. However, we received some very poor advice from the PCO which may have spread the problem.
We have a bed with drawers underneath and unfortunately have stored a lot of clutter under it as we have a very small flat (never again!!) We had the PCO come round the night before the treatment to suggest how to prepare the flat and he told my husband to move it ALL out and put in the kitchen on the table. It included boxes of papers and knick knacks, not disturbed for months, some paintings wrapped in bubble wrap, fabrics in plastic bags etc. Probably ideal bed bug habitat! Unfortunately my husband did all the prep as i was away and he followed the guy's advice - thinking that the professional told him to do so must be ok! (He hadn't done as much reading on bed bugs as me so I was horrified when I found out). The guy who did the prep kept saying that the bugs would not live in that stuff so it would be ok to move it. He also told my husband to move lots of other stuff out - hard plastics, books!
The pco when they arrived the next day to do the treatment - different people than the guy who I advised on the preparation - then told my husband that all that stuff didn't have to be moved and doing so could have spread the problem (!) They completed the treatment with heat and cimetrol but didn't tell us where the infestation actually was despite me asking for specifics. We were away during the treatment and the guys have been terrible at following up with us about what actually happened. I am chasing them daily.
Now we have all the clutter/ stuff piled up on our kitchen table and want to know what to do! I would really appreciate advice on the following:
1) if there are bugs in the clutter, will they have died from the treatment? The kitchen floor was sprayed, is it likely they will come out and cross the cimetrol to get us and die? How will we know if there are any in there and whether they are dead? Which leads me on to my next point...
2) should we inspect the clutter and / or bag it up? Or should we leave it where it is? Obviously we don't want to mess with the treatment if it might work. Should be wait for 3 weeks then whilst the cimetrol works? (Is a very small flat and pretty much impossible to live with all that clutter so would rather not!) Or would it be safe to start inspecting the clutter and bagging / binning it, and if so what is the safest way to do this in order to not spread bugs? Will it be easy to find them in amongst such clutter? Should we bag things then inspect the bath or similar? Should we steam items etc - what about papers, or trinkets which can't be washed or steamed. We are trying to minimise costs after this massive expense - I don't have a packtite etc.
3) what is the best thing to do to see if bugs are in the clutter and/or remaining elsewhere after the treatment? Active monitors in the kitchen? Passive ones? Climb up interceptors and isolate the bed? Or is there no point in active monitors etc as the bugs may have gone into hiding or god forbid gone dormant! What monitoring/trapping should we do to handle the situation best? I heard active monitoring only really works if you are not sleeping in the house?
We have put out yeast traps and homemade interceptors on the bed legs but i have read neither of these are as effective as the bought ones, is this true?
4) what's the likelihood the bugs have scattered round the house when the clutter was moved and/or when the treatment was happening? Would they likely be still alive - could they have crossed the kitchen floor or walked round non-treated walls (table is touching wall) to reach areas that haven't been sprayed? How do we find out and what should we do?
5) presumably we have grounds to complain given the poor advice we received and the fact the problem could have been exacerbated! What should we ask for? Another heat treatment (could we ask them to heat treat the kitchen?) An extended guarantee past the 3 months, perhaps 6 months? Some money back? Perhaps a sniffer dog or other identification considering they also can't even tell us where the bugs were found!
6) in the meantime, how can we sleep without feeling totally paranoid they are breeding and will get us again!
The PCO is a big name company. I am frustrated with the level of service and wish i went with a smaller bed bug- specific one who would be more expert on dealing with these things, as feel the job has been totally botched.
I should clarify we have not seen a bed bug since the treatment. Maybe good news or maybe just because we've moved them and they have gone into hiding!!
Thank you so much in advance for any advice or comments.
All the best
BugsLoveMyBlood