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dadisstubborn Asked February 2015

Elderly people and bed bugs. Any advice?

I recently battled bed bugs in my home and couldn't figure out where they came from. I still can not point fingers at anyone, but I did tell my closest family members and friends and asked them to check their homes. Everyone said they checked and no one found anything. I stopped visiting others homes and stopped letting anyone into my home, except my dad. Eventually I noticed a pattern that every time my dad visited we would find another bug. So sadly I quit letting him in too. Mind you we were paying for very expensive treatments during all this time. Now that my dad has not visited our home for 9 weeks now I have not found anything. So my theory proved right and I decide to tell my dad its time I check his home about 2 weeks ago, and I could not believe what I found.! I had thought about approaching him with the situation long and hard but what I did not think about is what I would do if I did find bugs. I helped him carry his box spring and mattress out to the curb that day, which probably wasn't the best idea, but other than that I didn't know what else to do. He says he has vaccumed and laundered everything and he thinks that is all he needs to do. I try to tell him he needs to hire a professional but he is stubborn and wont listen! I feel horrible because I don't want him in my house until I know he has taken care of it. What would you do?

chantaway Feb 2015
PS. if you are in an apartment it is the landlords financial burden..at least in Illinois...

chantaway Feb 2015
He needs to get a professional service in right away. It is not only him, but all of his neighbors who are going to get his bugs too. This is a very expensive problem for everyone plus some people are allergic to these bugs and get health problems. As much as we don't want it to be so...our parents are OUR problem. You can call adult protective services in secret if you don't want to get into it with your dad at this point. If you are afraid. Then you can feel good about doing your part and solving the problem. Good luck!!!

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anonymous158299 Feb 2015
if you search this site for bed bugs youll find ive written quite a lot about successfully eradicating them . the misinformation in peoples heads is enough to break your mind . bed bugs feed on human blood , not skin , and most extermination doesnt work, only drives the bugs deeper into the woodwork . pestmall online can sell you diotomecious earth and mattress covers for a good price . most fluffy furniture will need to be burned and put the vaccum away for a while . if you vaccumn up your DE every day youre defeating yourself . the idea is -- the human host is the bait . put de in the floor around all the places you sit or sleep . the bugs are going to cross that dust to get to you but theyre going to die from dehydration for doing so . the dust keeps their excoskeleton plates from closing off properly . the hatchlings are so small that they can climb thru the zip up mattress covers but the adults locked inside are deprived of food , they will die . wintergreen alcohol in a spray bottle kills bugs and eggs when you do see a hatchling or stray but you have to soak them with it . my mom and i wiped them out but its about a 60 day waiting game . the last holdouts in the house were in my beloved homemade chair but every one you saw was already coated with DE and hadnt long to live . i had to protect a dying elder tho so i finally burned my chair too . you CAN wipe them out . just read a lot about it and keep in mind that they are lazy parasites and they only live within 8 - 10 feet of the human hosts' hangouts . they aint hangin out in the kitchen or tool shed is what im sayin .

BarbBrooklyn Feb 2015
I just think that if APS visited and told him that he needed to hire an exterminator, he listen. Elderly parents never seem to believe that their kids know anything!

ferris1 Feb 2015
Have him buy a antimicrobial mattress pad, a new bed preferable one that is resistant to bed bugs (i.e. Tempur-pedic), and if the bed bugs are in his bed, they are in the rest of the house. They feed on human skin. If he is not getting an allergic reaction from this problem, then he doesn't care about it. You can still prevent him from entering your home, and keep your space free of bugs. Until he understands this is a BIG problem, then all you can do is keep you and your family safe. Bed bugs do not warrant an APS visit.

BarbBrooklyn Feb 2015
I think I would call adult protective services and ask for their help. Surely they've faced this problem before.

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