So in January of 2017, I saw a single bedbug crawling around on my blankets, one week after being bitten. I FREAKED THE HELL OUT. I remember I called management and they had an exterminator show up an hour later. I managed to catch the bedbug and bag it, and it was confirmed to be a bed bug. I bought $300 worth of mattress encasements and bedpost interceptors. I bought a handheld steam cleaner. I bought cimexa. I bought a ZappBug Heater. I steam-cleaned, vacuumed, and cimexa'ed every surface, crack, and crevice in every piece of furniture in my apartment. I washed, dried, AND heat-treated every book, pair of shoes, suitcase, cushion, and piece of bedding in the house. I put every piece of my expensive luxury bedding collection on the spare bed in SpaceBags and had to live out of plastic garbage bags and not have my expensive spare bed-- my personal sanctuary where I usually go when I'm stressed-- for three months. I cleaned like I was mainlining meth. The PCO came over and sprayed with Temprid and told me that I could put more than the most basic bedding back onto my beds when I had gone three months without a bite or a sighting.
I never had another bite. I never saw more than that one bug. Until now.
Last night, sitting on my spare bed, I looked beside me and lo and behold one of those evil demons was ON MY BLANKET, just standing there, wiggling its antenna menacingly. Heart racing, I went to get a sandwich baggie to catch it in. It was still there when I got back, but I didn't manage to catch it. It must have somehow slipped away when I went to grab it. I searched through my many, many blankets, but to no avail.
I went to my apartment manager as soon as the maintenance building opened, hoping they'd be able to send someone out even though I had no presentable evidence. Again, the exterminator was there within a matter of a couple hours. They must have one on call or something.
The exterminator got here. He did a fairly thorough investigation of our beds and mattresses and couch. He also examined the canopy, but wasn't as thorough with any of the bedding, which he briefly rifled through and glanced over and left in a heap on the floor. He said from what he did see on the mattress and bedframes, surrounding floor and walls and electrical outlets, there was absolutely no sign that a beastie had been there, ever. He didn't check the night tables or dressers, saying that since nothing was hiding in the bed frame, or the mattresses there was no need. He told me to go ahead and heat treat the blankets in my little fabric kiln and keep watch, and if I saw something else, let management know at once.
On one hand, good I guess that the PCO thinks I'm relatively safe. On the other, I know what I saw. I'm...pretty sure anyway. What if it really WAS just a piece of lint or something, or a feather being ruffled by the AirCon?
Where do I go from here? After I heat treat my precious bedding, do I have to lock it in storage for 3 months again? There goes my relaxation this summer. If it IS bedbugs, I certainly can't invite anyone over. The thought of three months of no hosting parties honestly makes me want to cry. And I've cried today. a lot.