Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums Topic: will try Pure Heat in Massachusetts & post experience

Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums Topic: will try Pure Heat in Massachusetts & post experience http://bedbugger.com/forum/ Bed bug support forums en Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:14:38 +0000 marci-Massachussetts on "will try Pure Heat in Massachusetts & post experience" http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/will-try-pure-heat-in-massachusetts-038-post-experience#post-52348 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:18:26 +0000 marci-Massachussetts 52348@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ Hi. This is what happened today in Mike Tache and his sniffer dog Badger's visit - American K-9 Private Investigators, Inc. - <a href="http://www.americank9pi.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.americank9pi.com/</a> First, as an unscheduled extra before they came upstairs, Mike agreed to have Badger sniff my car trunk and car interior, including Badger going into the back seat where I'd carried some of my luggage when bringing home BB from an infested hotel room a month ago. Badger didn't detect anything in the car, which is a relief! Then Mike led Badger around the living room, dining alcove and coat closet and linen closet, again with no BB detection. Mike was able to calm Badger's interest in the cat smell, and my cat Sarah wasn't meowing while locked in the bathroom. In the bedroom, Badger immediately signaled BB scent in the bed, nosing and pawing a particular spot. The dog didn't signal other spots in the bedding, after being put up on it to walk around. I had pulled my luggage out of the little walk-in closet, also three bags of clothing I'd bagged while on vacation as a precautionary measure. (I suspected that sweaters and wool socks might be a favorite hangout for BB.) Badger signaled positive for three of four luggage items and one of the three bags. He didn't detect BB inside the walk-in closet,or in any of the other bedroom furniture (desk,computer, file cabinets, bureau, bookcase or another small closet). Badger repeated a positive identification signals for these items and the bed and not for anything else. So I put the infested luggage in heavy garbage bags and another heavy bag around the bag of clothing the dog had ID'ed. I was slightly freaked out, I will admit. On the other hand, the fact they hadn't spread much, apparently, was a big relief. Mike went the extra mile for me. He put the brand new mattress and box spring covers on for me, something that I wasn't physically up to, nor in a senior residence do I have physically capable neighbors to call on. I decided to toss the metal bed frame because I can't totally protect it's casters and other holes and don't know if it harbors any BB right now. Mike carried the frame out to the dumpster on his way out. Replacement cost will be small - after I'm confident there are no more BB here that might take up residence in a bed frame. I told Mike I was also going to toss the infested luggage, which he urged me not to do, to treat it instead. Yuck, I just wanted it gone. So it's gone, inside heavy garbage bags, taken to the dumpster after Mike left. My lucky day: the day of the week the dumpster is emptied is today and I got my discards in a couple hours before it was emptied. I'm willing to run my pillow, bedding, and the garbage bag of sweaters and socks ID'ed by Badger as infested through a very hot dryer and reuse whatever isn't hurt by that treatment. I realized that my cat's claws will make holes in the new mattress cover, so I've put a heavy quilt, folded double, on the single bed to protect both mattress cover and the sides of the box spring cover from cat claws. Sarah thinks that's pretty luxurious by her posture as I type this. Fitted sheets aren't going to fit anymore, but that's life. Mike will come back with Badger in two weeks for re-exam, to see if Badger finds any more BB. (The one or ones inside the bed are a given, but can't get out now.) I'm hoping that cooking the whole apartment won't be necessary after all, but cannot tell at this point. After lots of reading, I am aware of all the things I know wouldn't stand the heat of thermal remediation and have quite a list of questions about other things. Given how stuffed with possessions this place is, I'd be bound not to keep them all aside. And the expense! - if it's not necessary, wonderful.!! Also so far, having imported the problem, I haven't had to say anything to building management. I hope by quickly getting rid of the problem before it proliferates, I won't have to do so. That's looking like it may work out. Hope is reasonable but I have no guarantee. Getting ready for a canine inspection, I had to throw away many paper shopping bags full of excess paper files (recycle them) from the bedroom, or there wouldn't have been room to bring out the luggage and to pull things out for Badger to get behind. That took a lot of time. (I didn't want to move stuff into the living room until I knew what was harboring BB.) For a thermal treatment, I'd go a lot farther in uncluttering to open up air space for the heat to get at everything. It's open up air space or the expense of an overnight, staffed, treatment _staffed for temperature control, penetration, to make sure not to set off the sprinkler). Sarah (and I) would have to board overnight, getting her into the carrier to go and to come back. This time Sarah could stay in the bathroom, so I didn't have a knock down drag out battle with her to get her into the carrier. She's a peaceful and loving cat unless she panics, but then uh-oh. Finally, I can't say enough good about Mike Tache and Badger. If, like me, you are at what you think is at the early stage of a problem and need proof and to know where it has and has not spread, and you live in eastern Massachusetts, he's your best bet for diagnosis. He's very busy with a mainly commercial client base (hotels, summer camps, dorms, etc.), but also a very caring man and will try to fit you in on the way to or from another booking, or at least that was my experience. And he didn't rush to get to that other booking. He and Badger did everything that could be done today. Yes, canine detection is an expense, but the alternative could have been much, much worse if the BB proliferate from minor to major infestation. His company is American K-9 Private Investigators, with contact information at his web site <a href="http://www.americank9pi.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.americank9pi.com/</a> That's it. I'll post again after the re-exam, mid July probably. buggyinsocal on "will try Pure Heat in Massachusetts & post experience" http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/will-try-pure-heat-in-massachusetts-038-post-experience#post-52070 Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:34:02 +0000 buggyinsocal 52070@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ I just wanted to say I'm really glad that you're taking the time to give us this detailed account. Thanks for sharing the info. I look forward to reading the updates. marci-Massachussetts on "will try Pure Heat in Massachusetts & post experience" http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/will-try-pure-heat-in-massachusetts-038-post-experience#post-52054 Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:39:26 +0000 marci-Massachussetts 52054@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ Hi. This forum helped me a lot so far to understand my situation and what the possible courses of action are. You also helped me understand that obsessing about the problem was typical, not some individual failure of mental health. Understanding that has helped me move toward taking action and otherwise getting on with other interests in my life (and stop obsessing). I'm posting here about my plans to use K9 detection and thermal remediation, today why and first steps, and will add description of how it has worked as and after I take those steps. MY SITUATION: On vacation in May I stayed 9 nights in a severely infested motel room in a southern city, not knowing what the bites were. I thought they were mosquitoes or something, just totally ignorant, until one group of bites were in a place only accessible under my nightgown, and only when I was in bed. I went to a doctor for diagnosis on day 9, he said he didn't know but would try to find out. He pulled up bite pictures on the web, diagnosed BB bites (from only looking at the ones located on my arms and neck, no stress laid by me on the ones under my underpants.) I had meanwhile developed a moderately severe allergic response to them different from any other insect bite I've ever had, not the size of the welts but how long they lasted and itching more on each new bite. I obsessed, it ruined a good part of the rest of my vacation. Still ignorant about what to do and not do, I didn't know how to prevent bringing them home. That's what I obsessed about. Also my eyes aren't up to seeing the tiny things. I only saw one that was red and moving, squashed it, the red clearly was my blood. That was en route home. I unpacked stuff and put it in various parts of my apartment. Three weeks later, about a week ago, I had a fresh pair of BB bites. Since the new bites I've been on this site and a lot of other internet sites intensively, something like 30 to 40 hours so far, finding out, in layers of information and understanding, about BB infestation in as much detail as is available, which is a lot!! (I have a very long attention span and excellent web searching skills.) That does not make me an expert, more like a reasonably informed victim. I finally talked about the problem with someone I'm close to, and that helped move me toward figuring out what to do. I'd already ordered mattress, box spring and pillow encasements and CLIMBUP interceptors. The question was what to do about killing the bugs rapidly before they proliferated, with only the bites as evidence so far. FACTORS IN MY DECISION I am NOT wealthy, not even comfortably off, but I have been slowly saving for quite awhile and decided that the very big expense and probable effectiveness of heat (thermal remediation) was what I would do. Factors in my decision are (1) I do have some savings to tap and enough motivation to use them for this as my "rainy day". 2) I don't want to endure months of trial and error and only partial success, ongoing mental agony and more bites that itch like crazy for a week to ten days (3) I live in a small, very cluttered apartment with no good way to deal with what I don't want to throw away or do rapid uncluttering, and heat treatment can cope with clutter (4) I'm an apartment dweller and don't want to spread the infestation from probably now only my bedroom in a building corner that is on exterior walls and (5) I found the list of occupant preparations for chemical extermination, which requires things physically impossible for me to do without exporting the problem to a storage unit and re-importing it later. (6) dry cleaning my large amount of clothes that can't stand high heat would cost over $1000, so this is going to be expensive whatever I do that actually will work. (I go up and down in weight and have several clothing sizes of clothes., so a lot of clothes. Most, if washable at all, are tagged to dry at low heat.) Doing the clothes piecemeal wouldn't deal with moving bugs and the eggs they lay,. The place I almost surely brought the BB home to in my apartment is my little, packed walk-in closet where the suitcases are stored. Logical thinking is, I need to get successful treatment done all done in one go. (7) Experience with my building's management predicts that they will do it "their way" with "their exterminator" as cheaply as possible, so I intend not to ask their help, action, or payment, only to inform them. (I may have a case for getting compensated by the motel where I got the BB - don't know yet. Have no experience with suing if it comes to that.) FIRST STEPS: I only found only one thermal remediation of insects provider in my area - southeastern Massachusetts - who was mentioned in this forum, after doing enough skilled web searching and follow up phone calls to equipment vendors for provider contacts. A post on this forum asked for information about that company, Pure Heat, and no one had responded. So as a "community service" for having received really valuable insight here, I will share what happens as it happens. Step 1A: PURE HEAT: So far I've had a pretty long phone conversation with one of the owners of Pure Heat. After explaining my situation, it was mostly me asking questions and him answering about his treament method, preparation steps, pricing anf guarantee. After maybe 45 minutes, he advised that the first step will be to call in American K9 Investigators (which works exclusively in BB detection, that's what they investigate). He said this will give him an idea of where to look and prevent my spending a lot of money if there aren't any BB in the apartment. He said if they find BB and I use Pure Heat to exterminate, he'd pay for American K9's charge, otherwise I would pay. This step may be because there's no evidence except the bites that are now healing, in other words getting the evidence. It will somewhat help the extermination process, I deduce - showing areas where it matters most if the heat is high enough, how much they've spread around the apartment, whether they've gone into woodwork and wood furniture and so forth. About my paying him, he said it is pretty common for renters to do that because their building owners/management isn't willing to do so, even though legally the owners have the responsibility. The one issue will be trying to get them to turn off the sprinkler for my apartment during treatment, as opposed to his company having to pack it in dry ice. STEP !B: AMERICAN K9 INVESTIGATORS: This afternoon I got a call back from Mike Tache of American K9 Investigators, and we talked at great length. Besides the facts, I think each of us convinced the other of our excellent service ethics - in my own case, about preventing spread to my building by using my rainy day savings. That's good, caring is very good. I thought we'd hit a brick wall when he said I'd have to remove my cat to not distract his dogs. My cat has a severe panic attack about going into the carrier, bites and scratches and completely becomes like a wild animal. I'll go through that once, for the actual thermal remediation, since it's completely necessary. But not get bitten and scratched up and destroy her tranquility and trust of me twice in a matter of days or weeks. When I asked after further thought about locking her in the bathroom, he agreed on that as a plan. He said it would somewhat distract his dogs, not as much as if the cat was loose and accessible, and he thought he could still do a successful inspection. So we have it scheduled for July 1. Mike was the one who suggested, because he works for a lot of hotels & motels and knows the thinking of ones willing to be proactive, that I might be able to get my costs repaid by the motel or its chain. I hope that proves accurate. I haven't published a BB alert online against where I stayed, like on Travelocity and such travel review sites, and could easily do so. That's probably my main negotiating leverage. I'm not counting on getting repaid, though. If it works, I'll post here what I said and did that worked. That's it for now. I'll post again after further developments.