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Pest Control Referral
updated: May 30, 2011, 5:01 PM

UPDATED info:
When I first found out about the bedbugs I bought a new bed and sealed it with a special bedbug mattress and pillow encasements. Unlike what most people believe, bedbugs don't just live in mattresses, but hide in cabinets, purses, book covers, luggage, shoes, along floor boards, in sofas, can be found behind photos, in computers and have been known to crawl up walls and drop from the ceilings onto humans if they can't get onto the bed and suck the blood from their victims! They are primarily active at night and they bite you, but you don't feel it and that day or in the next few days you see the welts/bites. People first think its a mosquito bite or something else, until they see the bed bug or they get such an infestation that they are covered in welts. The eggs could be anywhere and it only takes about 10 days for them to hatch and in 30 days (with this weather) I should have 4 to 8 new adults per female bedbug per day hatch with half of them being female and inseminated for life after they are adults! One female bug will lay up to 500 eggs in her lifetime! You can imagine my horror at all of this and that nothing has stopped them. I have heard of people spending upwards of $20,000 to decontaminate their homes and that includes does not necessarily include all the items that need to be thrown away and replaced. I must have used an inexperienced bedbug exterminator and I need recommendations from EXPERTS. If anyone knows someone who has gone through something like this I really need help.

I've even put tape, sticky side up on the legs of the bed to trap them and they still get to me. I don't know if they are in the carpet, drop from the ceiling, are in my clothes or towels or in the comforter that I've washed a dozen times. I also don't know if they are at my work, but pray they aren't, because I could be giving bedbugs to my co-workers or just repopulating my home by bringing them home with me. (Very few people know about this and NO one at work knows.) Bedbugs can hitchhike on anyone one at anytime and one pregnant bedbug is enough to cause a ton of damage. Based on the number of bites I have now, the eggs are hatching and the little bedbugs which need to feast on me to molt and become big breeding bedbugs are on the prowl and if I don't kill them I am going to go insane. I can't take it anymore. The stress is killing me, I feel like I am going crazy and I break out in a panic just thinking about going to bed. - I have even slept in the backyard but still "felt" them crawling on me in the middle of the night.

I even has a man with a dog that sniffs out bedbugs come from LA to my house to sniff for them before I had the second company try to ride the house of them, so we could concentrate on the. I didn't need the dog to come back to tell me it didn't work. The babies are now sucking the last of my blood and sanity away!

In all of this chaos, I also lost my girlfriend and gave her bedbugs and she is now threatening to sue me for coming to her house when I knew I had an infestation and later a possible infestation claiming that I was negligent and that I brought them with me and gave them to her.

Original Post:
Does anyone out there have any advice on a reputable pest control company in Santa Barbara who has expertise with Bedbugs? I have no idea how I got these critters, but I have spent 4 months trying to kill them all and about $5,000 having two different pest control companies deal with them. But they keep coming back and now my ex-girlfriend has them at her house (they killed the relationship!).

I sleep with one eye open, have sores all over from their bites, feel my skin crawl just thinking about them and what's worse at night it turn on the night and find them in the bed with me! I am terrified that they cling to my clothes and are being deposited at work, on strangers as I walk by, at the market... I can't stay at home or I will go crazy. I clean all the time, break into sweat as I open the door to my home because I know what awaits... I sometimes feel like burning the house down because at least then they will be gone. (I won't do this, but its the only sure fire way to kill them all!)

I need HELP to kill them or I am going to lose my sanity. If anyone has any recommendations please tell me who to call or what to do. I can't imaging another 18 months of this (they can live this long) and I can't imagine 10,000 of these things running around my house which is what I project given the information I've found online.

Places People Are Talking About:

Lenz Pest Control

Western Exterminators

What People Are Saying:

COMMENT 178180	2011-05-30 05:29 PM
ecola claims to be able to deal with them, but i have no experience with them so i can't give them a personal recommendation. i can tell you that the best way to kill them is with heat. don't try treating them with poison. if you can get the air temp in your house above 120 degrees for a few hours, it'll kill 'em all. a good pest control company will have hot air blowers to accomplish this. good luck!
COMMENT 178181P	2011-05-30 05:36 PM
I don't know if this will help or not because I've never had them but I've heard that those waterproof zip up bags for your mattress and boxed springs are helpful to discourage them.
COMMENT 178182P	2011-05-30 05:42 PM
Big problem back East. Almost impossible to eradicate. Yikes, they've made it here! I suggest googling, doing lots of research and talking with pest control companies on the East Coast. I doubt local companies have much experience.
COMMENT 178191P	2011-05-30 07:15 PM
We had the same problem with my daughter's mattress and she was miserable. As soon as I looked online and began to thing bedbugs were the source, I bought a zip-around mattress pad as well as one for the box spring from Bed Bath and Beyond. It was for allergens and for bedbugs and mites. They also sell a spray in a green bottle that smells like cinnamon and I sprayed it on the mattress (before I covered it) and carpet underneath the bed. There was immediate change and we haven't had any issues at all since then and none of them spread anywhere else in the house. A simple fix to a HUGE problem. Hope that info helps.
COMMENT 178200	2011-05-30 07:59 PM
For what it's worth, I've noticed CVS at State/Figueroa has been selling a bed bug spray at the check out counter. I don't know if it actually works or is a placebo for tourists.
COMMENT 178214P	2011-05-30 09:47 PM
I think it might be time for him to look up the term formication. (with an m instead of an n)
COMMENT 178250	2011-05-31 08:00 AM
Our sympathy; you've been through a lot. Talk to Western Exterminators. They are gearing up for the bed bug infestation. I have heard that a mixture of citronella oil helps. Since you have tried the 120 degree heat and steam method and it failed, you are going to have to talk to the major national exterminators who have already been trained and have experience back East. Skip Ecola. Diatomaceous earth is a natural remedy for dealing with bed bugs. This is a type of dirt that comes in powder form and can be sprinkled around the perimeter of the bedroom to help eradicate the bugs. Spray rubbing alcohol directly on bed bugs. Citronella oil and pyrethin can also be used safely around children and pets to help kill bed bugs. Sorry but you are going to have to keep cleaning.
COMMENT 178274	2011-05-31 08:53 AM
Comment 178250 knows what they are talking about! You may have gotten them from a hotel - when staying in hotels I recommend checking the mattresses for signs of bedbugs - it is also recommended that you keep your suitcase off the bed in a hotel room so the critters don't hitch a ride back with you. Western Exterminators have experience. Good luck - I hope you get rid of them soon!
BONNER	2011-05-31 09:16 AM
I had identical issues earlier in the year and almost went crazy like you. I did all the same things, double-face tape, washing, cleaning, and slept with a space heater pointed toward me at night. I placed articles of bedding into the dryer for extended periods. Studied all info on internet, etc. Finally I moved into another room and bought a heavy-duty spray bomb at Home Improvement that said it worked on bedbugs. I did two separate treatments in 3 weeks time and still didn't move back into my room for 3 more weeks as I was paranoid by then. I moved back in about 6 weeks ago and haven't had a problem since but I'm very wary, I never saw one bug or egg but had all the classic signs, it almost drove me insane, you have to experience it to understand how awful it makes you feel. Keep at it, I feel for you.
COMMENT 178346	2011-05-31 12:14 PM
lenz...the best by far
COMMENT 178511	2011-05-31 07:37 PM
I listen to Progress Talk Radio in the morning and they are always advertising a product called Cedarcide. It is supposed to completely get rid of bedbugs, is not toxic and smells really good. Google it.