Hey reddit.
I [26F] moved home over the pandemic, so did my brother[24M] but he went back to school for a bit. We’ve had conflicts over the past couple of years now. Lately it’s been relatively peaceful. He moved back in May, he previously lived with his partner and they had bed bugs in their apartment. When he moved back, he convinced my parents that after their place was treated that he could bring the mattress and frame home. Now it’s September and I woke up two nights ago to his mattress outside the house and his bed frame gone.
My parents and I had work the next morning, and I pointed out the mattress thinking they knew about it. Panic ensued, and he later admitted he had bedbugs. So during that night he found them he decided to take his frame and moved it to our garage and brought the mattress through the house outside. He left all his blankets in our hallway in his hamper, which is right in front of my room. He then slept in the basement instead. My dad doesn’t think it’s a big issue, and that it’s contained. he’s still pissed and so is my mom. I’m freaking out and my brother has left for his gf’s. I’m worried that I could have already spread this unknowingly. He’s coming home tonight. He spent the night at his partner’s parents house.
I don’t want to enable him, but I also cannot handle not taking action on this. I’m so tempted to be petty and put all his things outside in bags, but I think that’s too far. I’ll be home after him anyway.
I’ve looked at apartment listings, most people I know live with family since it’s so expensive. I may be working a lot but it would not be financially solid decision to move out. And I don’t want to potentially expose anyone else.
I’m really struggling with thoughts that everything is now infested. Got a therapy session next week and I’m looking at exterminator options and new beds.
Reddit do you have any guidance on how to approach this? I don’t want to spiral myself into pettiness, and I’m not leaving this for another month now that bugs are confirmed. Concrete actions I can do are
– hire an exterminator
– look at new beds
– bag everything i can (started yesterday)
-wash everything on hot (laundromat since our machine is broken)
-asked him to buy bags
am i missing anything from people who’ve dealt with this? emotionally how do you deal with this?
tldr: brother brought bed bugs home, left us with mess
3 comments
Your plans are all good ones, and it is not a step too far to bag things up and take them outside until they are washed/treated. You can also buy plastic mattress covers to stop them infesting your mattress. Definitely look into an exterminator too, but it can sometimes take more than one visit from an exterminator to completely eradicate the issue. Also, in the meantime, you can buy a bag of diatomaceous earth and sprinkle a good amount around the feet of your bed, to keep them from crawling up your bed frame. Just vacuum it up regularly and spread more again. And tell your parents to forbid anything else of his coming into the house until it’s for sure clear of bugs, eggs, and larva. Bedbugs are a beast to get rid of once there’s an infestation, and you are right to take this seriously, and start taking countermeasures.
Exterminator time! Because they are the worst
Diatomaceous earth is your friend here and pet safe. I used it to get rid of bed bugs when my ex brought them home. Mattress protector, dust the mattress then put the protector on. Wash everything and dry on high heat. If you don’t need to have something out bag it, dust it if you can as well. I put the DE all around the room we were in and the bed bugs never spread to the rest of the house. Good luck 🙂