Some, however, are longer and more detailed than can fit into the page. So I have decided, from here on in, to give each its own post, and to link to that from the success stories page.

Now, I give you Collette’s bed bug success story (10/2007):

First phase, the discovery:

I had been scratching my arms like crazy at night for several weeks. This started to really impair my sleep. But I never suspected anything gross, and the reason was that my husband slept through the whole thing without even as much as a scratch. So first lesson: Not everybody scratches. One very early morning, after a sleepless itchy night, which I like to call my last night of innocence, I stumbled my way to my iMac and googled: arms itching night.

I was instantly flooded with allergies-related results, I was to take an allergy test, and find out what it is my body cannot take. Had I recently changed soap? Was Zytec right for me? I knew I was not allergic, never had been allergic to anything, and thought never will be. (Second lesson: Now, I am allergic, but the details will come later).

Buried, almost hidden, within the sea of allergy sites, one result line grabbed my attention. More exactly, one word in the line : bedbugs. At least it sounded different than the rest, I clicked. I was faced with the picture of a round-shaped brown bug, not exactly ugly. There was even a Latin name for it, and a very long story about what a terrible thing they are, and how impossible it is to get rid of them, and how they can make you scratch all night long.

I shrugged. Yes, I shrugged, so comforted by my own naiveté, that I could not possibly harbor such a repulsive thing in my very cozy pricey king-size bed. I headed back to the bed, making a mental note to self: Get an appointment for an allergy test. As I was walking around the bed to occupy my rightful side, passing by my snoring open-mouthed husband, I noticed a dark spot seemingly moving on top of my white-as-snow comforter. I got closer, and there it was, doing his morning jog, the exact reproduction of the image I had just shrugged at on my iMac screen. A bedbug, and a big one. A rounded one, which means his belly was full. Full of blood. Full of yours truly’s blood. I had bedbugs. I would never be the same person again.

Second phase, a naïve and hysterical attempt to get rid of the bedbugs:

Luckily, it was a day off. I immediately woke my husband up, and announced to him that we were infested. He had no idea what we were dealing with. Neither did I, but I knew more than him. We had to clean up. We did. We lifted the king-size mattress against the wall, and started inspecting it. We immediately found them. They were hidden under the mattress seams. We cleaned that. Should we throw the mattress away? We decided we should. So we started to shop on line for new mattresses. Nothing happens in a day, so we kept sleeping on infested mattress for a few more nights. We had an exterminator come in. A nice fellow, who quoted us $2,500 to take care of the problem, with no warranty, and a lot of prep work to be done by us. We decided we would do the work alone. I read everything there is to read about the issue on the blessed internet, ordered a whole case of deadly poisons online and we started spraying around. I literally threw half of my bedroom contents in the garbage. Everything that was worth saving, but that I could live without, I sealed in to plastic bags and stored in a container located in my back yard for a period that was set to 18 months. (Based on the assumption that the bedbugs can live a little over a year without food). Overreacting? Nope. Under-reacting. They kept biting me. I searched all the rooms in the house to finally come to the conclusion that they were only in my bedroom, but some forensic evidence suggested they might have once resided in the guest room, and then migrated to greener and bloodier pastures, my warm sleeping body.

Began the era of suspicion, which guest brought that questionable gift? We started gossiping about the hygiene of everyone we knew and had been kind enough to pay us a visit in the middle of our woods. We were mean. We were desperate. And then the worse came, the karmic punishment, my daughter told on us to the neighbor. Innocently, as a perfectly legitimate response to the question: Did you have a good week end? She decided to describe my epic battle against the bugs to my closest neighbor. We were exposed. I got sympathetic displays of support, was told that New York is infested, that it is not my fault, that I am not dirty, etc.. I spent a few more evenings spraying and cleaning. I bought a mattress cover. I bought white sheets, washing them daily, to be able to spot the tiniest intruder. My husband decided to keep our prisoners alive in a Tupperware box and experiment on them various pesticides. I was not sleeping much.

Third phase: Getting smart and desperate

By then, I was almost philosophical. I was thinking I am being tested by some higher powers. Had I been a believer, I would have certainly gone far into that path. My husband, on the other hand, was simply happy the house was getting cleaned much more frequently. Have I mentioned he slept though the whole thing? Well, he did. I, was not sleeping at all. First I had adopted an anti-bug attire to go to bed: Socks, PJ pants stuck into the socks, long sleeves shirt stuck into the pants, rubber bands on the wrists, and insect-repellent spray all over the whole package. Probably the part that my husband did not really appreciate, this attire was not working for him, go figure. And then I read that bedbugs will find their way to your blood no matter what, and will not hesitate to bite your eyelids. I got the hint, and took the socks off. Bite my feet, if you want. They did. I was sleeping by periods of 10 minutes, waking up at every real or imaginary itch on my body, and immediately grabbing the flash light to catch the perp in action. My husband had KGB inspired dreams, I had no dreams at all. Why didn’t I move to a hotel or another room? Simple, they would have migrated out of my room, and I wanted them in there. Also, it had evolved into a principle. They will not drive me out of my room and my bed. I started following them at night, and establishing theories about their habits. I was now able to recognize them at their different stages of life, the egg, the nymph, the adult. I knew their hours. I knew their paths. I learnt more and more about them. They are not social, they are resilient, they scatter when threatened, and they can go dormant for months if needed. And the more I knew, the more I realized it would be very hard to exterminate them. By the way, before the bedbugs, I honestly believed every life form should be respected. Like I said, I will never be the same person again.

Then one night, I got bitten by a tiny one, a baby if you will, very energetic. That was one bite too much. I stood up in the middle of my room and started crying uncontrollably. My husband opened an eye and looked at me, he then asked me to turn off the light because it was disturbing his sleep. He was smart enough the next morning to deny any remembrance of that request, and claimed he was probably sleep-talking. Nevertheless, I moved to the living room, and ordered him to keep sleeping in the bedroom as a bait. Which he did, gladly.

Fourth phase: War and victory

And one day, I knew. I had to kill them all, in all their stages, wherever they were, whatever it took. Obviously the pesticides were not working. They were only killing me. By then I was highly allergic to the Drione powder I had purchased to allegedly melt their disgusting little bodies. I was sneezing twenty times in a row every time I moved an item in my bedroom. I had read that the diatomaceous earth I was practically sleeping in could cause cancer. (Editor’s note: see response below.) I was slowly dying, and they were in great shape. It would have to be mano a mano. The conventional way. I had to go to battle against them directly, not hidden behind a sprayer.

I made the smartest purchase of my life, I bought a dry steam cleaner. $1,500 of killing steam. This would be my weapon of choice. And I went to war. The war lasted 8 straight hours, during which I went through every inch of wood and mattress in my bedroom, with a flashlight in one hand and a steam nozzle in the other. I crawled into unbelievable spots, I moved unbelievable weights, I was super-human for a day. I made no compromise, did not skip one crevice, I followed them home. I found them, everywhere. I found their eggs, found their hiding places, sometimes in the tiniest little nail holes. And I steamed them. 310 F of burning steam. They did not have a chance. I knew that even one survivor could mean re-infestation. Then I left the room and took a shower. I had a cold beer. And I came back into my bedroom, sparkling clean, smelling like a dry-cleaner shop. And I knew they were gone. I just knew. Since then I have been sleeping like a baby. So does my husband, but he always did. They are gone.

Some will say maybe they scattered, maybe they are hiding, maybe there are eggs. I know there aren’t. They are ALL dead, I killed them one by one with my bare hands.

This is my recommendation: No pesticides. Just steam and good hard work.

Colette

—————

Editor’s note:

Thanks Collette!

I have a few comments.

First, we generally recommend professional pest control operators (PCOs) because they can often get rid of bed bugs faster and more fully than self-treatment. Pesticides are imperfect, but in many cases, necessary.

That said, steam absolutely does work. Some PCOs use it and later apply dusts or sprays. PCOs may also use steam in lieu of other treatments in sensitive cases where pesticides might pose a problem to residents. It certainly can work well for individuals who do their research and (as you note) do a lot of hard work.

We do have to keep in mind that it will not work if the steam cannot penetrate every place where bed bugs are living and laying eggs. (For example, this can be deep within a sofa, or inside the wall.) If steam alone, as per your tactics, did not work, or if readers wanted to be sure they got rid of bed bugs quickly, they might combine steam and then pesticides and/or freshwater DE (all properly applied, of course). We haven’t heard again from you, and we hope they were all killed, but in most cases, it would probably be best to have some residual pesticide or food grade DE waiting in case they pop out.

I note that you used a $1500 professional steamer. Less expensive dry steamers in the $400 range can be found in the Useful Stuff page and have been recommended by readers and PCOs. (Dry steam, we’re told, is better than the wet steam cheaper steamers put out, because that can lead to mold and mildew growth, along with its own health issues.)

Regarding diatomaceous earth: first, you should not be sleeping in it, and it should only be used in small amounts and in crevices that won’t be disturbed. Used correctly, I have read that food grade freshwater DE should be safe. If you have articles suggesting otherwise, please share them.

On the other hand, inhaling any dust, or drione, is not a good thing, and so your sneezing was a sign something was wrong.

Thanks again for sharing your story! Steam has many fans in our readers, and your story will no doubt inspire many who are willing and able to do the work.

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Don’t think that booking into a five-star hotel will offer you protection. Earlier this year, a US lawyer sued a luxury hotel in London after he and his wife had been badly bitten.

And then this bit of misinformation:

A better - and cheaper - alternative is never to go anywhere without a lavender oil spray: apparently, it’s the one thing the little bastards can’t stand.

I can vouch for the fact that lavender oil sprayed on people and bedding will not keep bed bugs away. They may not like it (that’s possible), but hungry bed bugs will persist.

Better advice for travelers: watch the CBC video about bed bugs, which includes a demonstration of how to inspect a hotel room for bed bugs. It is about 10-15 minutes long and you will be glad you watched it. Read our FAQ on travel. Inspect your bed, keep your clothing sealed in XL ziplocs inside your suitcase, and inspect it after you come home too. While there may be bed bugs in the room that you miss on inspection, it’s unlikely to be one of those nightmare stories with 50 bites in a night. That kind of infestation, I have a hunch you’d see signs of, if you look.

And if you do have bed bugs at home, already, don’t waste your time spraying lavender, thyme, tea tree, or eucalyptus in the sheets, or sprinkling sweet rice or boric acid around your bedroom.

The only home remedy I think is safe and works is food grade diatomaceous earth, which is a mechanical killer, not a repellent. But that is unlikely to quickly clear up the entire problem. And it is not wise to start self-treating, since some PCOs won’t even treat you if there’s evidence you have.

I always send people to find a good PCO who knows bed bugs.

Believe me, if there was evidence supporting a quick, easy, natural cure, we’d be all about it here. Bed bugs are so resilient, they can withstand 100 degree temperatures (for a while), survive a stint in your freezer, and even live through multiple pest control treatments, before finally succumbing. They can live, apparently, for a year without eating. They want to live, breed, and suck your blood. A little essential oil is not going to ward them off.

There is one thing lavender is good for, when you have bed bugs: it’s known to make you a bit sleepy. Dab some on your pillow, ask your doctor if it’s okay for you to pop a melatonin (natural sleep enhancer found where you buy vitamins), and it just might help with the bed bug-related insomnia.

Update 7/19/2007:

Non-chemical methods of treating bed bugs that can work (if done properly) are steam, thermal, and freezing. There is information on the “dealing with clothing and other stuff” pages, including a link to Stephen Doggett’s Bed Bug Code of Practice, which covers these briefly, and to Dr. Michael Potter’s research on heat, steam, etc. Keep in mind it is probably not possible for you to kill your own bed bugs by freezing or heating your home. You may live in an area where professionals know how to and can employ this technology. The temperatures must be changed quickly, and this is why, for example, setting up space heaters in your home is not going to cut it (though you may spread bed bugs around the building, and you may start a fire!)

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Well, I wish I’d seen it yesterday, so I could have warned more of the folks from Tampa. The CBS article isas originally posted, was wrong: do NOT use the diatomaceous earth (DE) designed for pools in your home to fight bed bugs. It’s dangerous. Use food grade freshwater DE instead. See our FAQ on the subject. (CBS 10 has now updated its article to reflect the dangers of pool grade DE.)

We also have FAQs about what to do if you think you have bed bugs. Hint: the first step is not, as the article states, to treat yourself, the second is not to have a PCO apply one aerosol, as the article also states. Bed bugs are serious and you’d do well to have a Pest Control Operator who knows bed bugs come in and treat your home properly from step one. Don’t believe me? Ask people in the forums.

Florida’s been getting a lot of misinformation and lousy bed bug advice from its news media this month. In such a temperate climate, you have to take bed bugs seriously, or they’re going to have a field day this summer.

Heat. humidity plus bed bug bites = misery, trust me, even though I’m just a New Yorker.

Update 3pm EST: As mentioned in the comments below, several of us have attempted to leave comments mentioning the problems with pool grade DE on the Tampa CBS website, but these were subsequently removed. I think journalists who won’t correct their information, or even allow dissent in a space provided for comments, should be ashamed. Read the SF Chronicle article instead, for less biased information.

Update 10pm EST: My comment is up now (having apparently reappeared some time after I wrote the above), and the journalists have, in fact, corrected the article to say that Pool Grade DE should not be used due to health concerns. Had I known, as ALex points out in the comments, that pool grade DE is also less effective against bed bugs, because of the way its processed, I would have stressed that too. Nevertheless, the Tampa Bay article still contains poor advice about the recommended treatment, and what to do first–namely, call a PCO who knows how to kill bed bugs, since they don’t all know. We’re glad they linked to us and hope Florida readers will find more assistance here.

Update 4/11: Unfortunately, the Southwest Florida News-Press article “State Sees Bed Bug Invasion” includes the entire original Tampa Bay 10 article referred to above, including the advice to buy pool grade DE from the pool supply store. There’s no comment box. There’s no telling how many other Florida papers may carry this story, online or off. That’s a lot of misinformation. Interestingly, the side-box on the article announes “More from News-Press.com:” and the subsequent link “Learn about bed bugs” directs readers to Bedbugger.com, without mentioning us by name. (And clearly, what you’re reading right now is not “More From News-Press.com” at all.) Come to think of it, Tampa Bay 10 didn’t name us either. They just said “click here.” What’s with that?

Okay, let me start over:

Welcome, News-Press readers, and please look at our FAQs. Much of what was written in the article you just read was erroneous…

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This from CBS 5 news in San Francisco and this ABC7 television segment from the DC metro area, are both fairly uninformative, though the ABC segment mentions how many, many people are recording their own bed bug videos and putting them on YouTube. Watch out, many of them are like watching pesticide sprays dry.

This brief article is still telling people to diagnose their bed bugs by their “musty” scent. Good luck, there, folks!

This doesn’t qualify as news, but the Rapture Ready Discussion Board members are ready to chalk up this bed bug epidemic as a sign of the End Times. Listen folks, no disrespect to anyone’s belief system, but bed bugs were all over this country until about 1939, when the Court of DDT was in session until about 1972, and they more or less stayed away 30 years or so when they were more or less wiped out and had to scrabble their way back. And that’s where we are now. Bed bugs, a problem since caveman Biblical times and before, never entirely left, they just were way under control. Now they’re way out of control.

Finally, this gem of an article is bound to worry our friend Lou Sorkin, AMNH entomologist and Bedbugger advisor. A plant pathologist at University of Missouri frequently identifies insects and plants that people send in. But he was shocked to open one box to find live bed bugs swarming around. Some college kid sent them in without making sure they were properly sealed. Imagine the fun that ensued.

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1. Protecting your bed from bed bugs

This means you make sure bed bugs are not harboring in the bed frame, headboard, etc., and that you encase mattresses and box springs in high quality bed bug-proof encasements.

Bed bugs can crawl onto the bed and bite you, but you are taking steps to ensure they do not live there. If they cross poison on the way to you, any meal will hopefully be their last.

Some people prefer to “protect” rather than “isolate” because having bed bugs biting you in bed, or finding evidence they were there (cast skins, blood spots, etc.) is a sure sign you still have bed bugs and require further treatment. If you “isolate” and don’t react to bites you get during the day, it may be harder to verify bed bugs’ continued presence.

2. Isolating the Bed

Here, you are trying to get bed bugs out of your bed, and keep them out.

This option is more controversial, and certainly not a requirement. People who are being bitten very badly or who have serious allergic reactions or distress may attempt to do this in order to try and avoid being bitten by bed bugs while in bed.

Bed bugs will still try to get to you, but they should cross poison on the way, and you should be able to avoid bed bug bites.

In a few cases, bed bugs have been seen dropping down from the ceiling to bite people in “isolated” beds. It seems to be a rare occurrence, but can happen. More often, beds not thoroughly isolated have allowed people to continue to be bitten by bed bugs. If you’re going to isolate, you must be meticulous and thorough.

And remember, if bed bugs cannot bite at night, they will bite during the daytime, as you sit in chairs or go about your day. This still may be preferable to some, but it is worth noting.

Both methods require you to eliminate bed bugs from the mattress, box springs, headboard and bed frame, and then encase the mattress and box springs. So let’s start there.

Important:

The advice below assumes your home will be professionally treated by a Pest Control Operator who has experience with bed bugs. Protecting or isolating your bed, on their own, will not get rid of bed bugs. However, a PCO will tell you that you need to sleep in your normal spot in order to get rid of bed bugs, and protecting or isolating the bed will likely work well with the PCO’s treatment plan, which will likely include laying down residual pesticides that bed bugs will cross while trying to get to you.

You should wait to carefully clean your mattress, frame, bed, and home until a Pest Control Operator has verified you have bed bugs. Some have cleaned away evidence and been refused treatment by professionals or landlords.

Also, once bed bugs are verified to be present by those who need to see them, you should wait to encase your mattress until the Pest Control Operator has treated your home, because most PCOs can treat areas of the mattress (side, seams) and box springs as well as the bed frame / headboard with certain pesticides which are labeled for this purpose. Doing so and then thoroughly drying and sealing the mattress and box springs in encasements is best.

Everyone Will Need:

1. A zippered mattress protector that completely encloses your mattress (and box springs, if you insist on keeping them), the best you can afford. They are not all the same. Vinyl and cloth encasements are sold by a wide variety of suppliers, but few have actually been tested to keep bed bugs out (or in).

I would recommend Protect-A-Bed AllerZip encasements. They have been tested to keep bed bugs within the mattress even if the zipper is opened slightly — which gives you some insurance against accidents. Click here to read about encasements and to purchase them.

2. New pillows

3. Pillow encasements; buy with mattress encasements from same source. As for mattress encasements, they should be designed and tested specifically to keep bed bugs out (or in).

4. White sheets and pillow cases, cotton blanket (if you need to replace a comforter or other blanket). Cotton sheets and a cotton blanket are easy to wash and dry. (Comforters may harbor bed bugs even after a long stint in the dryer, and non-cotton blankets do not hold up well to dryer heat.)

One blanket option would be this cotton blanket from National Allergy which is reasonably priced and holds up well to lots of time in a hot dryer (follow the link for a discount of 7% on orders up to $174.99 or 10% on orders over $175).

——————————————————-

If you want to “isolate” the bed, read the following items 5-13.

If you only want to “protect” the bed, skip down to “Steps for Everyone” under the next dotted line below.

All items below are available widely. You can also see or purchase them on Bedbugger’s Useful Stuff page.

5. Bed risers — they raise the bed, to help keep sheets and blankets off the floor, a must if you are trying to “isolate the bed.” They can be found at Bed, Bath and Beyond (or Bed Bugs and Beyond, as Bedbugger Bugzinthehood termed it, long before a company providing Vikane treatments appeared with the same name) or (like the other items below) on Bedbugger’s Useful Stuff page.

6. Mineral oil or tea tree oil (more expensive but some people enjoy the idea that bed bugs hate it).

7. Vaseline

8. Quality duct tape: Use duct tape to ensure there are no sharp edges on a metal frame before you place an encased mattress on it.

9. Thick garbage bags (contractor bags) and XL and XXL Ziploc bags. Check

the hardware dept of your favorite big box store for

the contractor bags. They are usually not sold with the household

trash bags. In the USA, XL / XXL Ziplocs are sold in Target stores (look near the storage section and/or the section with bags), Home Depot (near the home cleaning supplies) or here.

10. Murphy’s Oil Soap (for wooden bed frames), which is a contact killer for bed bugs and is good for cleaning wood and rendering it bed bug-free. Regular strength

works fine. It is sold in ready to use spray bottles and a

concentrated formula.

11. 4 bowls for holding mineral oil or tea tree oil under the legs of the bed frame. Stainless steel is the best

choice, but other sturdy unbreakable bowls will do. If your bed risers have a little reservoir, you can simply keep that filled instead.

12. You may need a new metal bed frame, if you are unable to get bed bugs out of your wooden bed.

13. Some have actually decided to discard mattresses and isolate an Aerobed upon a metal bed frame. Use duct tape to ensure there are no sharp edges on a metal frame before you place an Aerobed on it. (Please use caution with discarding items; seal them completely in plastic before moving them through or out of your home, label them carefully, and realize that if you live in a building or in a house which is attached to others, your neighbors may take them in and use them and become infested and you may be right back to square one — another reason to encase instead.)

——————————————————-

Steps for everyone:

(See “Important” note at top.)

1. Strip the bed. Put all of the dirty linens into a garbage bag and

tie it off well. Some suggest using plastic cable ties. You can also knot the bag’s top in one single knot (it must be airtight; push the bag. If air can escape, you are tying it wrong). Launder your bedding as soon as you can in HOT water, and

dry on HIGH HEAT until completely dry and then some. When you take it out of the

dryer, put it immediately into another garbage bag and tie it off, or

use an XXL Ziploc.

2. Vacuum the mattress and springs really well. Especially in areas

with stitching, piping, tufts and the plastic corner guards. You

might want to take the corner guards off. You may also want to take

the gauzy covering off of the bottom of the bed spring and vacuum

inside.

3. Put the mattress and springs into the covers and seal. If you use a Protect-A-Bed encasements (with the BugLock Zip), you do not need to tape the zipper. If you use another encasement, you should probably tape the zipper and where the zipper closes on your encasement. This tape must not be allowed to come off; keeping it on can be very difficult. People have used Scotch Blue Painter’s tape, and National Allergy sells this along with their encasements, to be put over the zipper. Other types of very adhesive tape may work better, but none are foolproof.

4. Vacuum your bed frame. If you have a metal frame, put DE down in

the legs and cover over all of the holes and spaces with duct tape.

Wooden bed frames, and fancy headboards and foot boards are very problematic and need extra

considerations. These are addressed in another area of this FAQ.

5. Move the bedframe away from the wall.

6. Vacuum under and around the bed frame very thoroughly.

7. Put the mattress set back on the frame, very carefully, so you

don’t rip the covers. (See comments above about duct tape.)

——————————————————-

The following steps are only for those “isolating” the bed. If you are only “protecting” the bed, skip to step 12.

8. Put the bed on the risers, and put mineral oil (or tea tree oil) in the depression

in the castors are resting in. If your bed is already high off the

floor, or if the bed risers have no wells to put the oil in, put the legs in bowls of mineral oil.

9. Wrap double sided tape around the legs, and coat above and below

the tape with vaseline.

10. Vacuum again, to hopefully pick up any strays that fell or

crawled off of the mattress and box springs in the process.

11. Remember not to let your sheets and blankets drag on the floor while you

sleep. Realize also that you may carry bed bugs into the bed, for example, by simply sitting on a chair where a bed bug was able to crawl onto your clothing. If you isolate the bed, try to hop in bed clean and wearing clothing which was itself isolated and kept in sealed plastic bags.

——————————————————-

Everyone should:

12. Break out the new pillows and put encasements on them. See step #3 above and duct tape

the zippers if necessary.

13. Put on clean white linens (so you can see blood or other stains more easily).

Change and launder them (and blanket, if used) about every 3-5 days. Check the sheets every day for bugs, molted skins, blood spots (tiny to inch long smears), and black poppy seed-sized spots or what look like black ink spots.

If you “protected” the bed, this is evidence you still have bed bugs (helpful to know, especially if you do not react to bites). If you “isolated” the bed, this is evidence that the bugs are still in the bed.

Consider repeating the steps above of cleaning the frame and having it treated with pesticides, to ensure bed bugs are not living in the bed. And in any case, continue professional treatment approx. every two weeks until bed bug bites and all other signs are long gone.

14. Unless you are doing more cleaning immediately, take the bag out

of the vacuum, tape over the hole, put the bag in a Ziploc bag or a

securely tied garbage bag and put in an outside garbage receptacle.

15. Examine all of your precautions often. Encasements can get holes; try to avoid this. If it happens, promptly duct tape or replace them.

If you have a cat with claws, ensure the cat cannot make contact with the encasement (or even the encasement covered in bed linens). Keep the cat away from the bed if at all possible.

If you’re isolating, tape and vaseline can get dusty and lose their ability to trap bugs; you’ll need to replace them.

16. Optional steps:

AeroBed

Some Bedbuggers have used an AeroBed or air mattress, with or without a new cheap metal frame. You can’t encase the raised AeroBeds, so you will probably want to isolate the bed (per our FAQs) with bed risers and a cheap metal frame (see below). Remember to make sure there are no sharp edges on the frame (wrap with some duct tape if there are).

Wood Bed Frames:

If you have a wood bed frame, take it completely apart, if you can, and wash it

down (every inch) with Murphy’s Oil Soap, or another wood friendly

cleaner that contains d-limonene. Spray the Murphy’s on and wipe it

off. Don’t just spray it on a rag and wipe. The Murphy’s will kill

bed bugs on contact, if you douse them. I don’t know what a light

spray will do.

Since you are cleaning, you can pay close attention to

all the little cracks and crevices in the wood and joinery, looking

for all of the signs listed in step #13. The Pest Control Operator may spray the bed frame all over before you reassemble it. You may also consult the PCO about a pesticide you can use all over the frame if s/he will not do it. Take precautions and use pesticides only as labeled.

Captain’s beds (with drawers underneath a wooden platform) can be a bed bug nightmare. Consider destroying and carefully removing them. Otherwise, every piece will need to be disassembled, cleaned and sprayed with pesticide (by a PCO). A PCO who knows bed bugs will be able to advise about which items you should discard and which can be treated successfully.

Upholstered Headboards and Footboards:

Any upholstery is very difficult to treat successfully. Others may

have different answers, but I would say to remove them from your

frame, and vacuum and have the PCO treat them (or cautiously spray them with an upholstery safe

insecticide). Let it dry completely, then seal the item in

plastic wrap (ie. heavy painter’s tarp or shrink wrap plastic), duct

tape all of the edges of the plastic and store it for a year to 18

months. Another option that may or may not work is steaming with a

very good quality steamer. A professional may do this as part of a PCO service. You may do it also. The steam may not reach deeply enough in

heavily upholstered items without cooling and may only serve to drive

the bugs in deeper. Some people have simply given up and tossed them out, frankly, as upholstered head- and footboards are hard to treat successfully. Again, ask the PCO whether the item can be salvaged.

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The FAQ on isolating the bed was originally written by Dee in Colorado, from information she compiled by asking the members of the Bedbugger Yahoo Group, a great source of support and information, in your war against bed bugs. It was edited and revised several times by Nobugsonme.

Note from Nobugsonme: I have made a number of significant changes as of June 2008, including removing recommendations that people use the mechanical killer diatomaceous earth (DE) around the bed and on the floor. If you choose to use DE, read the DE FAQ, and ensure that your pest control operator approves of this self-treatment and where you’re doing it.

Make sure you apply only plain freshwater (”food grade”) DE, that you do not inhale it while applying or later (use a respirator mask to apply), and that your skin is not in contact with it.

DE should not be where it will be kicked up and inhaled, should not be used in mattresses or sofa cushions (because it’s bound to puff out and be inhaled) and should not be stepped on or touched by you or children. DE with added pyrethrins is a pesticide as well as a mechanical killer, and should be treated with even greater caution, and preferably left to professionals.

Among other things, I also changed the recommendations about mattress encasements. When this FAQ was written, few encasements were available, and few studies had been done about their effectiveness. Eighteen months later, it’s a completely different ballgame.

We have better products available now, and they can be more costly than the cheapest encasements which don’t work. But the best encasements can also be comparable in cost to ones that do not work.

If these pests are living in your bed and not crossing poison in order to bite you, you will never get rid of bed bugs. For this reason, I personally believe the quality of mattress, box spring, and pillow encasements are very, very important.

Thanks to Dee in Colorado, and all the other Bedbuggers who’ve contributed to this wonderful FAQ!

We learned everything we know by trial and error and advice from others. If you have had success with something other than what has been listed, please add it to the comments. Also, please feel free to add any other reputable sources for products.

If you need information on other aspects of your bed bug war, go back to the FAQs by clicking here. To read about or buy mattress encasements click here, and to buy DE, bed risers, metal frames, or any of the other stuff recommended above, you can click here to go to the Shop for Useful Stuff page.

• I can’t find a bed bug, but think I am being bitten. What do I do?
• Case study: bed bugs survived dry cleaning… and resurfaced 6 months later (update)
• Bed bug highlights from the 2008 Purdue Pest Management Conference
• FAQ: how do I deal with clothing during treatment for bed bugs (and for a while later)?

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