<p>After talking to multiple people and researching, I believe my dorm has bed bugs. My roommate and I both have red bug bites since we moved in. They flare up and sometimes are in straight lines or in groups of 3. Any advice on what to do? I am from out of state so I can’t take everything home and wash it or anything. I need advice desperately . I do not want to sleep like this tonight.</p>
<p>Have you tried contacting housing services? I believe that bed bugs have become a real issue in recent years in both dorms and motels The university housing department should have some program in place to deal with it. </p>
<p>Should I go to SHC to make sure its bed bugs? </p>
<p>I’d talk to housing services, and see if they advise you to do so. It might be hard for SHC to confirm it is bed bugs just based on some insect bites. Have you examined the mattresses? I believe you would probably see stains. A Google search would probably have images to compare with.</p>
<p>I would contact housing ASAP. They are usually very responsive.</p>
<p>Yes, contact housing…</p>
<p>In the meantime…do you or a friend have a clothes steamer? If so, strip your beds (wash bedding in hot water), and use the steamer to steam your mattress and around your bed…particularly the seams. Hopefully, this will control them until Housing can get there and resolve the issue.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I talked to my RA and she managed to pull strings and my room should be clear of bed bugs by tomorrow night (: until then I will just sleep somewhere else. I steamed my clothes and book bag so I do not carry them to my friends.</p>
<p>If you take your clothes and bedding to the laundry room, be very careful. Put them in a garbage bag and take extra caution when you are dumping the bag in the washer. Heat is what kills the bed bugs and eggs so again be careful when transferring your laundry to the dryer. You don’t want to spread these by leaving something behind in the laundry room! (Also do not use this garbage bag again. Tie it and toss it in a dumpster.)</p>
<p>I was just wondering which dorm this is in?</p>
<p>Ridgecrest South. They told me not to do my laundry or anything until after my room is sprayed. </p>
<p>Thanks mom2collegekids! I steamed my whole book bag and my clothes for the day so I don’t spread them. I never thought about steaming.</p>
<p>I have read that if you steam room crevices / baseboards etc if there are bedbugs hiding there the heat will force them out.
Can you get bedbug mattress covers? And pillow covers?</p>
<p>Okay, glad to see that you’re not panicking. But, how do you get rid of bedbugs in one night? How is Housing going to address this problem exactly? It takes time, patience and repeat care to get rid of bedbugs. I would be addressing housing for a thorough answer. They need to have a strategy and should be addressing the problem in multiple steps. </p>
<p>Here is a good government website with helpful information about bedbugs.
<a href=“http://www2.epa.gov/bedbugs”>http://www2.epa.gov/bedbugs</a></p>
<p>Housing should consider this a top priority since bedbugs can spread easily. The rooms next door to yours should be assessed for bedbugs as well.</p>
<p>I wonder if Sevin kills bedbugs?</p>
<p>Are you sure that these aren’t mosquito bites? I get those in a line as well.</p>
<p>Found this on dealing with bedbugs
<a href=“Bed bugs: Do-it-yourself control options - Insects in the City”>http://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/biting-stinging/others/ent-3012/</a></p>
<p>I hope Housing is very proactive about this (to the point of supervising the students if needed) because they will spread if they are not. I am very paranoid about this, even checking my dorm room during orientation, as it can happen to anyone. </p>
<p>They checked my whole room today and found no bed bugs!!! they left traps and stuff to check tomorrow. </p>
<p>Fingers crossed that they don’t find any!</p>
<p>One of the pest control center here have trained dogs that goes into rooms and pinpoint where bed bugs are hiding.The school might want to look into a service like that to get control of the situation. It can be difficult to find them until it gets to infestation levels. They say that the best time to look is between 3-5am.
Did anyone consider bed bug mattress covers when their student moved in the dorms?</p>
<p>Bed bug mattresses do keep whatever bugs might be on the mattress “in” when you put them on. If you get bed bugs after this, they really do nothing. I do agree with azsun3 that a “small” infestation cannot be found easily and a dog would be the best idea. However, since they cannot find anything outright, it is encouraging that if there are bed bugs, that they will be more contained and hopefully easier to get rid of.</p>