Dicar....any words of wisdom on how to deal with this? The dog only indicated the bugs in one room (thank goodness) of course I fear if she missed them somewhere else. I'm just disgusted by this entire situation. And leery of ever staying in another hotel. I don't really blame the hotel as having BB has nothing to do with cleanliness (as where we stayed was immaculate - at least on the surface) but it is still frustrating nonetheless. Makes me wish we hadn't even taken our trip.
From what I've heard, the dogs are pretty accurate. CONSULT A PROFESSIONAL! Early on, it was (I think) $250 to treat one room and they do take measures to keep the bugs from simply fleeing into another room. One treatment is not usually enough because getting to the eggs is really difficult.
DH didn't take the situation seriously and started dragging DS's mattress all through the house, uncovered. We took half-measures because he didn't think it was such a big deal. A couple of months later, the bugs were in all three bedrooms, and a downstairs sofa.
To treat the whole house was going to start at $1000. And there are no guarantees. We got rid of a lot of very old, very cheap furniture and that took care of a lot of the problem right there.
You want to take all the measures you can to avoid spreading them from one room to another. Get a week's worth of clothes, run them through a dryer and then zip them into large ziplock bags. When you (or whoever's bedroom is infested) get up in the morning, change into fresh clothes before leaving the bedroom.
Take care with laundry, sheets and blankets; carry them in a plastic garbage bag. Don't wear shoes in and out of that room, don't bring purses, bags or backpacks, craft items, books, etc. in and out of that room. Anything that leaves that room MUST be treated (by heat or cold) before it hangs around in another part of your house.
You will have to decide whether you want to keep the mattress and box spring or not. If you decide not to keep them, they will need to be entirely encased and taped into plastic sheeting before you remove them from the room. Mark them by writing "BED BUGS" on them and do your best to keep others from taking them if you put them out for the garbage men. The frame and headboards, bedside tables, can all be treated if you wish. Generally, you can keep the mattress and box spring if you want to. Once they are each encased in a good, solid cover, the bugs will die if they cannot get out to feed.
I know it is totally creepy, but aside from the basic measures to not spread the bugs, and encasing your mattress and box spring, DON'T start taking a bunch of stuff out of that room, or scrub the furniture or whatever, before a professional comes out to treat the problem. You don't want to clear away signs of where the bugs are hanging out! That's how they know where to concentrate their efforts.
It's totally disgusting, and a huge hassle, but you'll get through it.
