Bed Bugs and Chinchillas?

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Gemma

Well-known member
Joined
May 23, 2011
Messages
78
Location
Central NJ
Recently discovered, is an infestation in my home of bed bugs. The exterminator has not investigated the house yet so I am unsure how bad it is, or if it even reached my room (where chins are) yet.

I have a question, I know fleas cannot inhabit chinchillas, but can bedbugs? What if there were to be eggs on my chins?
 
Bed bugs do not stay on the host. After taking a blood meal they harborage somewhere close to their feeding areas (which is generally on or around a bed where a human host would sleep), mate, and lay eggs. They do not harborage on the host. They could biteand feed on your chin though and be harboraging on or around the cage. I work at an entomology lab and I'd say 80% of my work last year has dealt with bed bugs... including rearing them. If you have any questions about them, feel free to PM me.
 
The bed bugs should leave your chins alone, when they attack, they like areas that do not have hair. This is why most bite marks will be on the neck or arms (if you are not hairy). This being said they will leave chinchillas alone because they are covered in hair.
 
Okay thank you so much for your help :)

The exterminator came in and said we were in the extremely early stages, if we were to find two bedbugs we would be lucky (not). Hopefully this isn't a rip off!
 
They would be able to bite the ears, tail, and feet of a chin easily. Hair on other animals (not dense like a chin's) does not deter them... trust me... their mouthparts can still manage to get past the hair and pierce the skin. If they couldn't do that, I wouldn't have the numbers I do in my colonies... They have even bit my coworker on his extremely hairy (we're talking gorilla-like!) arm.

By the way, I have a colony collected from an infestation in Jersey and these bed bugs are highly resistant to a lot of the common pyrethroid pesticides. What is he going to treat with? Steam treatments work well too as long as the exterminator is very thorough.
 
I am TERRIFIED of getting a bed bug problem. I hate even thinking of going to a hotel/motel and maybe coming home with bed bugs. I don't know what I would do with 40 + chins even if the chins don't have the problem. I understand the WHOLE house has to be treated and that is not good for the chins.
 
I also am terrified of the bed bug infestation!! I did recently stay at a hotel and I ripped the whole bed apart looking for them! lol!
 
I unfortunately had them when new people moved into our old apartment complex. My son and I were getting eaten the most, we would wake up with these small clusters of bites on our arms neck face, and we just thought it was mosquitos. Well for some reason I looked up bed bugs and saw where to look for them. Usually in the crevices of your bed where it is sewn together. Let me tell you we began looking and it was the most horrible thing. At first we were just noticing these little brown marks on the bed, which happened to be our dry blood. Then we saw these small things in one corner that were clustered together. They looked like small lentils, until I touched them and they all began to move. The apartment complex paid for the exterminator who treated the house twice, we had to keep our chinchillas out for a few hours with us while the chemicals acted. The second treatment was the same. We ended up throwing away our bed and futon, got a new bed, and put a plastic bed bug cover on it. Luckily all that fixed the problem, but I know depending on how bad they are they can be anywhere. I have heard of them being in wood furniture, couches, beds, and even kids stuffed animals. The best method that I have heard if you just cannot get rid of them is having a professional come in and heat your house up to like 150 degrees and letting them cook. Hope this helped, and to prevent them just don't travel or stay in hotels lol, but your best bet is to cover your mattresses, you can buy the covers at like walmart.
 
The bed bugs are contained to one room, the exterminator came in and could not see any signs of it spreading.

We are using Hot shot, spraying it twice a day into the room.

The Chinchillas are closed off on the other side of the house, and I moted the casters of the cage (water discs)... I heard water will drown the bedbugs trying to climb the cage. So Far there has been nothing in the water. I am not getting bit... however I was told that isn't a good thing to count on (bite marks) when determinating if you have an infestation. Some individuals aren't allergic to the bites.

Is hot shot a good chemical for treatment? I would do the radiative treatment, but it is expensive and don't really have an "infestation". Nevermind the exterminator did not reccomend it.
 
Does anyone know if it is okay to let the chins out after treatment?
I just had my apartment treated for bed bugs, I know the pesticides will remain active on my floors for about a month and a half, and I cannot wash my floors before then. If I do, it will ruin the effectiveness of the treatment. I discussed moving them out of the home for the duration of the treatment, but I forgot to ask if it would be harmful to the chins even afterwards!
I plan on calling tomorrow and not letting them out until I speak with them to be on the safe side, but I'd love a second opinion! It's better to be safe than sorry!
 
I personally would NOT let my chins out. If you feel you have to let them out then I would purchase a playpen that has a bottom attachment/cover.
 
The bed bugs are contained to one room, the exterminator came in and could not see any signs of it spreading.

We are using Hot shot, spraying it twice a day into the room.

The Chinchillas are closed off on the other side of the house, and I moted the casters of the cage (water discs)... I heard water will drown the bedbugs trying to climb the cage. So Far there has been nothing in the water. I am not getting bit... however I was told that isn't a good thing to count on (bite marks) when determinating if you have an infestation. Some individuals aren't allergic to the bites.

Is hot shot a good chemical for treatment? I would do the radiative treatment, but it is expensive and don't really have an "infestation". Nevermind the exterminator did not reccomend it.

That is very strange!
 
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