Question: hi our family is getting bites everywhere we have assumed its bed
bugs , we have steamcleaned, scrubbed walls ,mattreses ,beds everything in
the home. its a 4 month old house so its new but were still getting bites
yet we dont have 1 visible bug we can see to kill we have 2 cats can they
be carriers of something?
ANSWER The cats are not carriers. Bedbug control takes a lot of work, some physical work and some detective work.
Control begins with taking the bed completely apart. Start with the frame, and disconnect as many parts as possible so you can treat all the cracks and crevices with an aerosol insecticide (any of the common aerosols will be fine). If you don't want to use an aerosol, use a hair dryer (set on high) to blow hot air into the cracks and crevices of the bed-this will drive out the bugs and kill some of them.
Once the frame is clean, then do the same for the head board and the box spring. Treat the cracks and crevices, then clean and vacuum the seams of the mattress. With what is left in the aerosol you can spray the baseboards of the room. Start with the area near the bed, and try to get the spray under or behind the baseboard (where bedbugs may also be hiding). These insects can travel far to find a blood meal, so don't fail to clean and treat the room. Night stands and picture frames on the wall can be hiding places, so be thorough. They can live long without food, so even old beds (not used in while) can have them.
Check to see that there are no new or recently abandoned bird nests close to the room (check the attic), since there are 'cousins' to bed bugs that can live in these nests and can move from there to feeding on people.
