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They are on fixed income but have tried several times to rid them to no end in sight. They're soooo bad!

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We had a battle with bedbugs in a rental house and my nephew brought them home once from a motel. The challenge is not getting re-infected. Vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and heat kill bedbugs; hydrogen peroxide can dissolve the eggs and larva, but can also bleach color and damage some fabrics.

Steps 1-3 should get most to all of the bedbugs off your parents and their bed. If practical your parents should not sit on the bed while wearing the same clothes they were wearing when using other furniture until whole home cleaning is complete. If that's not practical, consider placing a picnic blanket (vinyl backing) over the bed for daytime use to protect the bedding. Best practice would be to take a shower before changing into bed clothes each evening; if that's not practical, they should at least put on clean bed clothes each night until cleaning steps 4-6 have been completed. Even if they transfer some additional bed bugs back to the bedding, the vinyl sheets will protect the mattress and springs and another round of hot water washing will remove them from the bedding again.

(1) Either replace or quarantine the box springs and mattress. Use two vinyl sheets over each with duct tape on the seam to prevent the bed bugs from getting to the new springs and mattress or trap them in the existing mattress and springs. You could use "encasement" products but they are more expensive than vinyl sheets and/or thick plastic available at a builders supplier. Place the first vinyl sheet on the bottom, then a second vinyl sheet on the top, then use duct tape on the seam where the top sheet fits over the bottom sheet. Clean the bed frame throughly using vinegar (I prefer white vinegar) in the cleaning water and place the bed clear of the walls (1-2 feet if possible) and any tables. Do not use any bed skirts or spreads that reach the floor. I gave the top and sides of the vinyl sheet a wipe down with vinegar each time I changed the sheets.

(2) Buy some waterproof tubs to store sheets, towels, washcloths, and clothes as well as one tub for laundry. I found it cheaper and easier to purchase two large storage boxes/benches instead of multiple tubs for the clean stuff (one for clothes and one for bedding and bath towels). Take all the washables to a commercial laundry and use a hot wash and dry cycle, at least 125 degrees. Use white vinegar as a laundry additive. Be sure not to infect your vehicle when transporting the washables; bag them in plastic garbage bags and duct tape them closed.

(3) Your parents need to take a long shower and shampoo. If their skin can tolerate it, a wash down in white vinegar or diluted hydrogen peroxide would be beneficial to kill any larva attached to their body hair. Then dress in the clean clothes from the tubs. Make sure the tubs are only open long enough to access the contents.

(4) Remove all wall coverings, framed photos, etc and anything else that cannot be washed and place in plastic bags or tubs, duck tape closed, and do not open for at least 6 months. Adult bed bugs starve in about 5 months.

(5) Vacuum walls, floors, and the furniture throughly then steam clean while adding vinegar to the cleaning mixture. Do not forget appliances like the back of the refrigerator. If you cannot steam the furniture, then seal it in plastic for 6 months.

(6) Clean the home washer and dryer. I poured a gallon of vinegar into a large hot cycle with some old towels, then dried them on the hottest cycle to clean the dryer, and repeated every day for a week. You do not want your washer and dryer to be a source of reinfection.

In our area, the Salvation Army has occasionally helped seniors and the disabled with bedbugs infestations, including providing a few nights in a hotel while the house was cleaned.

Good Luck!
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Segoline Jun 2019
This is good info for many peeps. Thanks for posting it.
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Are they in an apartment, a Facility, in a single family home?
In an apartment or a Facility the Health Department can force the Management to take steps to eradicate the problem. In a single family home it is up tot he homeowner to resolve issues like this.
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Do they have a hoarding problem as well?

Are they living in a rental or do they own their own home?
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TAMTAM71 Jun 2019
No they have hardly nothing left. Everything had to be thrown away . Only furniture they have is bed but they cant use hardly. My mom is in wheel chair and they have plastic patio chairs to sit on.
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Small tip to add to other suggestion. If you can get a deep pie plate or roasting pan under ALL the legs of their beds, and fill the pans with rubbing alcohol, the critters will not be able to get from the walls to the bed. We found this to be the beginning of the solution. ALSO, if your LOs can tolerate it, a spray of half water, half alcohol sprayed on ALL SURFACES INCLUDING BEDDING, can also help.

Then it will be easier for the bed to be taken apart and meticulously fumigated.

We brought them home several years ago after an extended stay in hotels with an ill relative. Be sure that there are absolutely NO FABRICS left on the floors anywhere near the walls. The little savages were living in the decorative moldings in our old house.

Finally, never use fabric luggage when traveling to a living space that is NOT certified bug free.
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Have you called all the exterminators in your area and asked if they can help low income seniors for a tax write off and good publicity?

I would beg them for help, this has to be traumatic.
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TAMTAM71 Jun 2019
Well they've had it sprayed 2 or 3 times by this one place but they dont completely kill them. After few days I noticed them again. The heat treatment they cant afford. It just kills me knowing that they have this problem and I cant seem to help fix.
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Have you considered calling the local Department of Health-or Adult Protective Services?
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TAMTAM71 Jun 2019
Yes I've called them. No help
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My dad was being eaten alive too, he had a nest in his hat, shoes and his wallet. Keep reaching out to APS!!! We tried tackling this ourselves and got them in our own home, it became very very expensive.
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Thank you all for the information. I will try it all.
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I had a bedbug infestation. Are they in a condo or apartment? Will the landlord/association help out? Our condo association uses Orkin every other month for roaches. I called Orkin and they treated for $125 and came back a second time. they guarantee! then I went on line and found that diatomaceous earth will kill bed bugs, but you have to be careful not to inhale it. Use food grade. Dust it on the beds, in cracks... The internet can tell you how to do it. You can get 10 lbs of organic food grade for about $20. There is also a wealth of information online about treatment. Another handy note is that bed bugs don't like cedar oil. So maybe some cedar essential oil mixed in a carrier oil, like coconut oil could be used as a lotion on your parents to prevent the bugs from biting. That's just a thought. There is a product in Beaufort, SC called Green Bug, but that treatment is very expensive and the product doesn't ship, but it is essentially cedar oil and a carrier but it sure kills bugs.
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