Bedbugs: What do I do?

You’re going to need a professional exterminator. It’s rare that bedbugs would only be in her recliner. Ask an exterminator for a free appraisal of the situation.

You say you are not active in contact with your mother. This is no time to undo that.

So who IS active. Because this is their problem.

It will be difficult to impossible to find respite for someone bringing in things infested with the eggs of bedbugs, which her things ALL will be from clothing on.

The house needs treatment and this is fumigation and may be needing to be done TWICE. Bedbugs can infest EVERYWHERE and typically between carpets and floorboards. They will be in every crack and crevice. This is a total nightmare.

To me you are either in or out with Mom but back and forth isn't going to work, especially in crisis situations such as this. Report to APS if you like, but my advice is to stay away lest you have the SAME problem. My neighbor rented her home out while she was in Europe through Airbnb and the result was a nightmare of bedbugs.

Call a professional exterminator immediately. All the home remedies only deter. Those things lay eggs daily. After you've called the exterminator, do all you can to find out who brought them in. It's also possible mom may have gone to an appointment and brought them home, Bus seats are notorious.

Don't think you'll take her somewhere to have the home treated, you're guilty of spreading them.

I would order 20#s of food grade diatomateous earth and get it sprinkled around her house. Every place on the recliner, turning it over to get hidden areas, other furniture, her bedroom, around all the base boards, just everywhere. This will look terribly messy, don't worry, it is completely harmless, it is what is put in our grains to stop bugs.

Then you leave it. This will deal with the bedbugs problem but, it takes time. It is more effective then a professional exterminator and pennies comparatively. Not to mention it is completely safe for humans and animals.

Unfortunately, we are living in a world that this problem is here to stay. Learning to treat the problem without expensive, dangerous bug sprays is vital to keep out homes safe.

Your mother has a hell of a problem on her hand. I had never experienced bedbugs until my family and I went on vacation to Ocean City, Maryland and the hotel room was infested with bedbugs. The first night we spent in the hotel we did not know that it had bedbugs until we woke up the next morning around 6:00 am with bites on our legs and arms and blood on the bed linings. Upon checking the mattresses and beds, there were bedbugs in the crevices. We immediately got showered and dressed and reported the problem to the front desk and they sent someone to check the room. We immediately checked out and went home even though the room was booked by us for five nights. The hotel reimbursed our money for the stay. When we got back to our state, we had to throw away the suitcases and all of our clothing in the dumpster as I was not going to take a chance to have those bugs in my house.

You need to have an exterminator come into your mother’s place and fumigate it. The exterminator will explain whether you should throw away your mother’s recliner, etc.

Good luck in getting rid of these bedbugs.

I've replied to this problem earlier as well as some who have given home remedies. Some may well have been Google remedies and are NOT efficient for dealing with bedbugs period.

If bedbugs are known to be in one spot in the home, likely they are in other places. I'd bet if you lifted the mattress and looked at the frame of the you're going to find them. They will get into the walls. You can't just treat one spot, you have to treat the entire home. Bedbugs have made a big comeback since WWII.

A good, honest, reliable exterminator who treats for bed bugs MUST be called. Not all exterminators spray or treat for bed bugs. I do say reliable, because it may take more than one treatment to completely eradicate them. Once the home is sprayed with all switch plates and wall plug covers remmoved, it may well need to be heat treated. That's the least expensive way. Tenting is a whole other story and extremely expensive. If tenting is done, make sure they know what they're doing. We had one tent our 2 story home and only treat the downstairs. We had them back 2 more times, then they just plain disappeared.

I've dealt with them so I know now how to get rid of them. All from a friend of our daughters we didn't know had them who stayed with us only 1 night. That's all it takes.

IF she lives in an apartment with adjacent walls, neighbors should be notified. If you're in and out of the home, besure to strip and launder in the hottest water possible to kill them or you're going to have them also.

I hate to tell you but bed bugs don’t stay confined to one piece of furniture- the recliner has more of them but they’re travelled bugs they begin to spread out to other areas, including behind picture frames, clothing, shoes, slippers socks drawers etc- in other words the solution isn’t unfortunately to treat or throw the recliner away, the entire room needs to be treated involving bagging up all clothing bedding etc- edit to say I posted before seeing the update, yes they get in the walls and crevices in buildings / housing complexes there
are companies that deal with that and the entire building often times they will have to tent to fumigate

Bed bugs are the most insidious parasites. Does your mom have bites? Bites are not generally a health issue but it could indicate how bad the situation is.

If it were me I would call a professional exterminator who has proven experience in eliminating bed bugs and ask them what you should do. These professionals typically use very high heat to eliminate an infestation. It's expensive, like hundreds per room in my area, unfortunately but I have heard that the high heat is the only solution. Bed bugs are a major problem in many areas. Even Paris, France is dealing with a citywide infestation.

Call APS and ask how this can be handled. Mom needs to be somewhere safe. I would also consider placing her now.

If you think they are only in the recliner, get it outside quick. You may be able to take it to a pest company for treatment, without doing the whole house. And with luck the house should still OK to live in.