Bed bugs creep into the Grand Valley From Sky

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - The battle against bed bugs is creeping up in the Grand Valley. These insects could be hitching onto used furniture that's up for sale.
Bed bug victim Chris Gibson saved up what money he could to buy a used couch. Less than a month later, it's being sprayed for bed bugs.
“I didn't know what was happening. O thought it was rash at first. It turns out that there were bite marks all over myself and son,” says Gibson.Exterminators in Grand Junction say the nighttime bloodsuckers have hitchhiked their way into the Green Valey from ski The bugs are extremely resilient and tough to get rid of.
“They can feed one time and live for a year. If they bite you today, you’ve got 12 months in which they could be living in the cracks and crevices,” says Terminix exterminator Tyler Lehr.
Gibson will pay more than $1,700 dollars to fumigate his apartment over a year long process. He says the store crept away from helping him. “He basically said prove it,” says Gibson.
“You can't pinpoint the source exactly. You can pick them up at movie theaters, staying at hotels, or used furniture” says Lehr.
“It's buyer beware when it comes to buying something second hand. We do our best to clean them up, to make them usable. But, they're second hand. You don’t always know the history of what something's been through,” says Amy Rogers, executive director for the Habitat for Humanity of Mesa County.
The Habitat for Humanity Re–store says it follows all state regulations, which include a chemical spray down. But some exterminators say that's not enough to kill these parasites. “I don't think you can spray something one time and get rid of them completely,” says Lehr.
Several exterminators told 11 news that they receive daily calls for bed bugs in the Grand Junction area. They say this was not the case about a decade ago.