I thought someone I slept gave me crabs, but it turn out I have bedbugs in my new home! Ugh, I wish I had crabs as they are easier to deal with.  What do I do?  Shouldn’t my landlord have told me the apartment had bedbugs?  How do I get rid of them? Can I sue?  Who pays to get rid of them?

It’s never a good sign when having crabs is a better option.  There are a few things you should know.

First, your landlord may have no idea that your home has bedbugs.  The former tenants may not have known, or never  the notified the landlord and it’s always possible that you brought them in. You may have picked them up at a hotel or they could have been brought in by an animal.  Instead of playing the blame game, work together to get rid of the problem before it gets worse and spreads.

Contrary to popular belief bed bugs they are not attracted to filthy homes only.  They feed on the blood of human and warm-blooded animals.  When you inspected the apartment it would be almost impossible to detect them. They can hide in a crevice the thickness of a credit card.

Some people use a bed bug sniffing dog to detect them.  This is helpful, but not 100% accurate.  You can have a pest control company do a thorough search.

How to find them: They are flat, brown little buggers, that look like lentils.  They rarely appear during daytime hours.   Often spotted in the crevices of a mattress, in a box spring, bedding towels, shower curtains, pictures, within books, the folds of drapes. They tend to stay close to the host that they feed on. Bedbugs feed every five to ten days.

Bed bugs can be spotted by the dark spots they leave behind, it’s their excrement.  If you have light colored sheets they’re easier to detect. Sometimes you may crush one after it’s fed and you will discover the blood. Keep a flashlight next to your bed and check in the wee hours, getting up to turn the lights on gives them time to run scamper off and hide.

Most people discover them from the bites that swell on the body within 24 hours.

Getting rid of them: Professional extermination, vacuum every single crevice, sanitize sheets and all clothes in a dryer at 120 degrees or higher.  Have your mattress professionally steam cleaned.  The steam will kill them on contact. If you’ve been meaning to get new bedding, now is the perfect time!

Seal any entry-ways in an attic as they can be carried in by a bird or mouse. Calk up cracks in walls. Spray Neem oil on carpets, curtains and mattresses. Neem oil is made from the seeds of the neem tree it has been used safely for thousands of years in India as a natural insect repellent.

Who’s responsible: Laws vary widely by city and state.  As you are a renter, research the laws in your location on who is responsible to eliminate them.

Most every city has a tenants’ rights organization you can consult. At the end of the day, you also have a responsibility to deal with the infestation.

Report it promptly (make sure to keep a paper trail), agree to and work with your landlord to all extermination methods. If your landlord is not responsive you may need to contact city authorities, and doing so as a group, or as a bunch of individuals, might be more effective. Keep a detailed log. Save receipts of all expenses. Get medical records of bites. Consult an attorney to send a letter requesting to break lease and see what money may be returned to you if the issue is not dealt with.