Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Bed Bug Success Stories
5months and an "all clear" from BB K-9s
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mississippibugs
newbite
Joined: Jun '10
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Posted 2 years ago
Sat Jun 12 2010 8:38:33
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We first discovered our bed bug problem in July 2009 about 4 months after my husband had made a business trip to Finland. We were not noticing any unusual bites on us because living in Mississippi we are always covered in mosquito bites in the summer anyway, which is what the bites looked like on us. It just happened that one night my husband stayed up reading while I went on to sleep and he saw some bugs out of the corner of his eye start to crawl across the sheets. He woke me up, we researched on the computer and lo and behold we had bed bugs. So we hired a PCO and got started on the war. First we threw out the mattresses, washed and high heat dryed all clothes and bagged them using those extra large Ziploc bags. Then the PCO came and treated only the room that we saw bugs in. They gave us a contract saying that if they reappear within a year they would treat again for free. Well two months later, we notice that our 7 month old was getting bites. We couldn’t find bugs anywhere in his room or any blood spots. So our PCO came to search and they couldn’t find anything either. Since this was only the PCO’s second time in dealing with bed bugs in a house(and they were the most experienced ones we could find in our area), they really didn’t know what they were doing. They thought they could just put sticky traps out and that would attract the bugs. Of course it didn’t and we were in a panic because we knew we still had them but couldn’t convince the PCO that we did til they saw a live bug. So we researched and researched what to do and found Quest K-9 in Atlanta, Georgia. They agreed to come out and have their NESDCA certified bed bug sniffing dog, “Sydney” come sniff the house and our PCO decided that they would in fact take that as evidence if the dog alerted. So sure enough “Sydney” the beagle alerted on my baby’s crib mattress and in several other places in the house that we weren’t even suspecting. So our PCO agreed to treat those rooms but still not the whole house. They used Delta dust and bedlam to treat.
We weren’t feeling real confident that they got them all since they didn’t treat the whole house again. So we bought a steamer and my husband built his own heater box in the garage. He built a 4ft tall, 4 ft wide and 8 ft long box out of 2x4s. He screwed Styrofoam backer board to cover the box. He didn’t secure down one end so we could use that for loading and unloading. We went through each room in the house and took everything in that room into the box, placed a kerosene heater with a box fan a couple feet in front of that to circulate the heat and would let it heat for several hours. We had a meat thermometer that we inserted through the styrofoam at the bottom back part of the box to monitor the heat and once it got to 120 degrees Fahrenheit then we would start the clock and heat for a couple of hours. As all the furniture in a particular room was being heated, we would steam the floors and all cracks and crevices in that room and then caulk all cracks and crevices in that room. Then we placed the heated furniture back into the room. It took us weeks to accomplish this but that way we knew we had done all we could do. We waited several months to make sure we weren’t getting any more evidence of bugs anywhere and then we called back Quest K-9 who now has two dogs. They came and sniffed with both dogs last week and there were NO ALERTS!!!
This puts us at about 5 months without any signs of bugs whatsoever and two dogs that have said ALL CLEAR!
I write this to hopefully encourage anyone who is suffering right now. Gather all the tools you can to win this hard emotionally trying battle against the bed bugs! There are lots of things out there you can do and I think using a combination of these tools is a good way to go.
I also want to reccomend Quest K-9 to anyone who is near them in Atlanta. We are 6 hours away from them and Adrienne, one of the owners, was a huge help to us. She was a huge support for us as she constantly checked in on us and tried to find anyone she could near us that could help us further. She is willing for BB sufferers to call and ask questions anytime. And they are willing to travel if you do decide that a BB sniffing K-9 would help in this battle.
Mississippibugs
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bb_gave_me_ocd
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Joined: Nov '09
Posts: 137offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sat Jun 12 2010 23:57:08
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Congratulations and I hope you stay free!
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your host
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 13,693offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sun Jun 13 2010 2:13:18
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Thanks, MississippiBugs,
If anyone wants to construct an "oven" to bake bed bugs in furniture, I would recommend researching the method developed by the University of Florida, which you can read about here and in the manual that page links to. There are step by step instructions and, obviously, you do want to exercise caution.
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bed buggy hell
junior member
Joined: Mar '10
Posts: 119offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sun Jun 13 2010 12:00:19
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thank you for the words...we are on about 8 weeks now with no bites...i did find some more spots on my walls i will call the pco to come out and take a look this week...i hope we are done with these things i am sooooo done with all of this... good luck and i hope your luck and hard work continue to pay off
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Bed Bug Epidemic
senior member
Joined: Jun '10
Posts: 449offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sun Jun 13 2010 21:33:58
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WOW what a refreshing success story, MississippiBugs! Thank you so much for sharing. It gives me hope. We are going insane, as i'm sure you and everyone else on here knows. we're only 8 days into knowing that this was happening. It's all a lot of work but it has to be done and we have to move on right? Congratulations on being bb free. i cannot wait for the day, hopefully very soon, that i can report back to everone on here that very same news. My husband is handy and i think he would be willing to build something like that to bake our things in.
Question: Did you do that with all belongings? Dishes, mugs, pots, kids toys, books??? Thanks again.
Lauren, New Jerseybed buggy hell - 9 hours ago »
thank you for the words...we are on about 8 weeks now with no bites...i did find some more spots on my walls i will call the pco to come out and take a look this week...i hope we are done with these things i am sooooo done with all of this... good luck and i hope your luck and hard work continue to pay off -
mississippibugs
newbite
Joined: Jun '10
Posts: 2offline
Posted 2 years ago
Mon Jun 14 2010 16:44:31
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Hi Lauren,
So glad to hear that my story gives you some hope because you will get through this! It is hard and not fun, but hang in there and win this battle. To answer your question, yes we did heat everything like books, dishes, and kids' toys. However I will say that at times if it could be heated another way, I would do that to save on some time since the big "oven" can only hold so much at one time, and you don't want to over pack it or it will take forever to heat everything. So if it could be put in the dryer, we would do that. We also turned up our water heater all the way and would soak things like dishes and pots and some toys in 140 degree water for 30 minutes and then seal it up in a bag til you get the done with the whole room. I would also take nobugsonme's advice and read that manual on making a big heat box just to make sure it is done safely. We got the idea from University of Florida as well. SOunds like you have a good outlook on your situation and I wish you all the best and a quick ending!
Mississippibugs -
bugnut
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Joined: Feb '10
Posts: 528offline
Posted 2 years ago
Tue Jun 15 2010 9:25:37
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Mississippibugs - good for you! I hope to join your ranks eventually. Here in the northeast BBs are such a problem even back in July 2009 we have plenty of PCO with experience. I had my whole house treated even tho the K( alerted in my bedroom only. Still have not seen one bug, dead or alive or fecal (only fecal in the handbag I threw out) and only one cast skin. My son has 3 bites on his back 10 days post treatment but we used Phantom (and Bedlam, delta dust and DE) so we can't treat again for 28 days. After next dog inspection, we will see if we need to treat again. You were luck to find a dog handler that was so willing to work with you! Enjoy your (BB-free) summer!
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