I know many people in Toronto that have had problems with bedbugs. Extreme cold will also kill them if you have a way to store your furniture in an unheated place for a while, such as two weeks. One interesting DIY method that I found to control bedbugs is a floor to ceiling mosquito netting treated with a pesticide known to get rid of bedbugs. This method has been shown to virtually eradicate bedbugs in some places. Put the legs of your bed into glass jars as well, so that they can't climb them. Also, you could try some two-sided carpet tape around the wainscoting of the walls where they like to live and breed.

The diatomic earth/ boric acid that you might have put into the crevices is an OK way of controlling their population. This stuff kills bugs by filling up their breathing holes with sharp dust that dries them out as well as cuts them up. It's good because it is not toxic to people or animals. However, you might also want to vacuum them out. If you vacuum them out, be really careful with the dust bag. Wrap the whole vacuum in a plastic garbage bag, and take it outside into the freezing cold to empty it away from your house.

I bought a big bottle of 'bed bug juice' that is supposed to be quite revolutionary. It works on lice as well, essentially it is lice shampoo. This stuff is not a poison, but actually an insect hormone that induces the bedbugs and lice to molt their skins. Since the bedbugs are molting their skins too early, this stuff basically induces them to kill themselves by pulling their own skins off. For this reason, this stuff is totally non-toxic.

The manufacturer suggests pulling all your furniture away from the wall and putting it into the center of the room, then spraying this stuff along the baseboards. You should also wash your bedsheets and your clothes with this non-toxic stuff. Any time bedbugs (or lice) make contact with it, they end up pulling their own skins off and dying.

I never ended up using this stuff. I thought I had bedbugs, but what I actually had was a psychotic roommate that was catching bedbugs and tossing them into my bed. I might have a gallon jug of this stuff (which cost me $150) at my parent's place still.

That's great....that knot in my shorts needed to be tightened anyway.

Thanks James. That's one of the products I found in my online searches.

The exterminator came in to treat the apartment, and he told me that he unwittingly introduced them into his own apartment a couple of years ago, so he's lived through the whole process and was really supportive. I'm sure I'll have to be vigilant about maintenance as I know they're in at least one other unit in the building. God, what a drama. I've been hypervigilant and jumpy from all the stress. They can hide and lay eggs in any crevice the thickness of a credit card. I told him how I"ve been constantly triggered for weeks and suffering from sleep deprivation, had to quit eating bagels because if I saw a sesame seed I'd just about jump out of my skin. "That'll make you crazy fo'ril, know what I'm sayin?" was his response.

The stuff I got online has pyrethrins and piperonyl butoxide mixed with silicone dioxide. The product is labeled Results Indoor Insect Killer, and it's advertised to have a Pleasant Citrus Scent (accounting in part for the 16.8% inert ingredients, I imagine). I hate orange soda anyway so I"m fine with it reminding me of something I don't want to ingest.
I'll be using it to fill the plastic cups I got at the hardware store for the feet of the furniture and then wrapping the legs of the bed and the dresser in doublestick tape so the critters will have to cross the No Man's Land of insecticide and get hung up on the stickytape on their forays to feed. I also bought a sprayer so I can dust the heat registers and the back of the dresser, the mattress encasements and the wall outlets. We're planning on filling all the holes in the walls and sealing the crevice around the light fixture with caulk. Apparently they are crawling insects, so they can't fly but they can crawl up to the ceiling and drop onto their hosts. I felt one land on my neck and wake me up to a pungent smell, sort of like peanut butter, and I remember reading on some website that they will emit a musky, pungent odor when they are active. Ugh.

The product labeling advises weekly treatments so I will post periodically and let y'all know how it's going. Thanks again for the input.

Are there any bedbug updates? They've now arrived in the building where I live. They haven't gotten to my apartment yet, luckily, but I'm hoping to stop them in their tracks before they do!

1. HEAT: Put all your clothes in black plastic bags (such as garbage bags) and/or sealable plastic bins such as tupperware bins. If you leave the black plastic bags in the sun, the heat of the sun will kill the bedbugs. Hair dryers also generate enough heat to kill bedbugs if you point them right in the cracks and crevices but this is pretty labor intensive.

2. COLD: Bedbugs are also killed by extreme freezing cold, so you can put some items in the freezer. This has to be for a twenty-four hour period at least. The extreme cold method works well for larger items if you have a garage or non-heated storage place.

3. CRACKS: Bedbugs love to live, hide and travel in cracks along the walls and floorboards. Try and seal these cracks off with caulking or fill them with diamecteous earth (boric acid). This stuff is non-toxic to mammals, avarians and reptiles but kills all insects.

4. DOORSWEEP: Get a door sweep for your door to seal off that crack between the door and the floor. This is one area they like to come in. Two sided carpet tape will also work in a pinch.

5. CLOTHES: Bedbugs like to jump onto people's clothes and piggyback a ride into their living quarters. They especially like the cuffs of your pants and sometimes your sleeves. Keeping your outside clothes in a sealed-off closet would be a great help in preventing a bedbug infestation, especially if you put some insecticide along the walls and floor of your closet.

6. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS hang your clothes up and NEVER NEVER NEVER leave them on the floor. Even shoes should be kept off the ground if possible. Bedbugs hide and breed in clothing, mattresses, and anything soft. A laundry hamper is like a five-star hotel to bedbugs so keep your dirty clothes in sealed plastic bags or sealed containers.

7. Try to wash all your clothes in water as hot as possible, since this will also kill the bedbugs.

8. Vacuum regularly, especially carpets, corners and upholstery. Pay particular attention to the area where the walls and the floor meet. This is the bedbug highway. Place a plastic bag over the opening(s) of the vacuum as soon as you are finished. Wear rubber gloves and ake the whole vacuum outside when you have to dump the bag. Dump the bag as far away from the house as you can, such as a garbage can on the street and not a garbage receptacle close to the house.

9. A mosquito net around the bed has been proven to eliminate bedbugs in all but the most heavily infested areas, especially when the bottom part is treated with insecticide. Bedbugs like to crawl up the legs of the bed and the blankets to feed from their host at night, so make sure that the skirt of the netting surrounds the bed. Leave no openings in the netting to allow the bedbugs to slip inside without having to cross over the insecticide permeated netting first.

10. You can also put the legs of your bed in something slippery like plastic cups or tin cans.

11. Pull all your furniture a couple of inches away from the walls.

12. Protect your books, records and magazines from a possible bedbug invasion by placing them in sealed plastic containers.

Some things that no one's brought up:

Not everyone is allergic to bed bugs, so some people may be getting bit and show NO SYMPTOMS. Sort of scary because you could be living with 1000s of bugs for years and not know. ew.

After you're bit a certain number of times you may stop showing the symptoms.. This is worse in a way because even if you know you've had them, how can you EVER be sure if they're really gone? I told a friend who was severely allergic I wanted her to come test my home for bugs.. =)

After you're bit, it can take a few days for the bite to actually show up or itch.

Putting your clothes in the dryer for an hour or freezer for 24 hours will kill them. If you live in freezing weather putting everything outside for a couple days would do the trick.

If you put a lot of clothes in black trash bags the sun will probably not kill them, even after days. They can live without air for a long time, and the sun is not going to heat every part of the content of the bag to the point of frying them.

Even though they are likely to live longer and manifest in dirty motels or hostels, you could pick them up at a 5-star resort. Many people who travel a lot will stay in both nice places and dumps on occasion. If said traveler goes straight from bug-infested joint to nice hotel the bugs are likely to come along, and can live unnoticed for quite a while.

While traveling in Italy/France years ago I broke out in tons of bumps all of a sudden, then slowly more and more came throughout my horrible day (while walking around the Louvre! I thought whatever had done it was still on me - a BAD feeling to have.) Because it can take days for the bites to appear, I don't know which hostel to blame. But the good news is that they don't live on you, which is a common misconception. Thus, no need for the lice treatment mentioned by someone above. They do often travel on your clothing and in your luggage, which made me really freaked out that I had brought them home with me. I did find one when I was back at home, but it's the only one I've ever seen to date. Another crazy thing about them is that they can give you a hundred bites without being caught in the act.

I totally can relate to all of the stress you guys are suffering, try to relax and not let it drive you nuts. Nothing good will come from worrying, all you can do is try to make them leave. It may not seem like it right now, but there are worse things.

Along with the stress in Europe, I thought I had brought them back to my parents' house for a good month while I tormented them over it. I forced them to tent for termites (which they were putting off anyway), though the company said it would take a double dose of poison (and twice the cost) to kill the bedbugs. My dad didn't go for that, and since no one else in the house has ever been bit to date they think I'm an insane person, and that they were never there at all. I hope they're right. I've got a giant bag of natural remedies that I unleashed upon the entire house. After a couple months of complete anxiety I decided I didn't care anymore. If they're not biting me or anyone else in my house, I can't be bothered by them anymore. That was years ago, and no one's complained. I still wonder if they're around, but no symptoms=no problem.