Have bed bugs, am moving - recs or advice?

[chickflick1979.livejournal.com]

Hi, I searched through the other pest control tagged posts, but I didn't see anything related to moving out of an infested apartment.

My apartment was sprayed twice for bed bugs, though the other people in the building were not (it's my landlord and his family, and he hasn't done anything - I'm looking into getting my money back from him, too). After 2 sprays, I'm still getting bitten. Meanwhile, I decided to move out, because I thought it was all taken care of, but I wanted to get out of here.

So, does anyone know of a good way to move out of my apartment without taking the bugs with me? I've been looking for companies who will fumigate my items in a truck, or spray the furniture, et al, on my way out. If anybody knows of a good pest control company who might do something like that, please let me know. Or if you have advice on what the procedure should be while moving out, please let me know.

Thanks.

Comments

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I wonder how bedbugs do with cold? It seems that moving via POD rather then via truck if the nights are below freezing could offer some benefit?

[eclecticavatar.livejournal.com]

Sadly, if you read up on them (which is fascinating but kind of gross), they are nearly as hearty as cockroaches. The hot water washing will drown them and scald them, a combination that really works. However, they can live in a dormant/hibernating state for up to a year without even feeding, so they're notoriously difficult to get rid of.

[joyeuxnoel.livejournal.com]

Sadly, the freezing temperature needs to be maintained for a few days which is also mitigated by the fact that they like to burrow into mattresses and such so the temperature the bugs are at won't necessarily be the temperature outside. :(

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Two weeks of freezing temps is what I've seen recommended. Like, if you get second-hand clothing that you cannot wash in hot water, and want to make sure you don't bring the pests into your house, wrap it in plastic and put in your freezer for at least a couple weeks. Might be trickier to do with a household's worth of furnishing, though.

Using liquid nitrogen might also be effective, but I haven't researched it much.

[anyee.livejournal.com]

Er, liquid nitrogen is expensive and unstable. Plus, most things put in liquid nitrogen will become brittle and shatter. That includes living organic things...you can freeze/shatter leaves and whole fish. You'd need to somehow find a way to dip all of your furniture into liquid nitrogen vats for long enough to freeze out the bugs without causing the wood to warp and break, electronics to shatter, and so on. Oh, and keep the nitrogen at the -70C for the duration to keep it from evaporating.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

most things put in liquid nitrogen will become brittle and shatter. That includes living organic things.

Then it would work really well against bedbugs, wouldn't it? :) Clothing, at least, could probably withstand a brief dip.

[anyee.livejournal.com]

If a goldfish can't and a leaf can't, I'm pretty sure a piece of cotton can't either.