Friday night with my Ziploc bags « Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums

Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » General Topics

Friday night with my Ziploc bags

(7 posts)

Tags:

BeeBee

junior member
Joined: May '08
Posts: 79
offline

Posted 4 years ago
Sat Aug 23 2008 5:08:30
#

Login to Send PM

I love my 2.5 gallon Ziploc bags. Truly! Wait, that's a lie, they're actually Hefty One-Zip Jumbo 2.5 gallon bags and they are the new love of my life. (Walmart, $3.26)

I despaired earlier today, bad stuff at work, exhausted and MORE bites this morning. So I tackled the living room (where I've been sleeping and where the infestation began--don't want to spread to the rest of the apartment, if I haven't already) and bed bugged proof my desk. First I thought: I CANNOT do this. I'm a writer, I have manuscripts and notes ALL over.

Then I glimpsed my box of Hefty bags. I swear they almost winked at me from the counter and I thought: Come on, baby.

The bags are the PERFECT size for bound manuscripts (think thesis, book rough-drafts, submissions, etc.) and magazines. I swear, it was so easy to simply sort into piles according to writing topics and slip into individual bags. I cleaned out my desk drawers, coated them with Terro Ant Dust (basically the same as Delta Dust and found at Ace Hardware for $8.95--can't get Delta up here in Alaska), placed my bagged manuscripts and then dusted the whole desk. Tomorrow I'll caulk all the cracks (thank you Jim, for all your great caulking tips) and my desk will be pretty darned foolproof.

The only thing I worry about is my printer, which has many nooks and crannies. I've dusted around it, so anything that tries to get out will die.

Tomorrow I'll tackle the kitchen.

I'm still struggling with my futon, however. This is where I've been sleeping and the bugs are in there somewhere yet I cannot figure it out. Have the futon mattress dusted with DE and then encased with zipper taped. There are no cracks in encasement. I have a futon slip cover over the encasement with the zipper dusted with DE. No signs of fecal matter or anything around any of the zippers or over the encasement. Not sure where they're coming from except the frame, which I've got pretty well caulked and dusted. Also have sticky pads beneath each leg so nothing new can crawl up. I must have missed some tiny crack somewhere on the frame. It's driving me wild. All my bites are around my head, face, neck and upper shoulders so their nest must be on the top half of the futon frame. It's pretty darned maddening.

Got any good suggestions anyone? Jim?

I keep the frame lightly dusted so anything that comes out should eventually die. That leaves the mattress but the mattress makes NO sense.

Enough! Off to bed with my bugs (at least I don't have to say I spent Friday night alone in bed, eh?).
Itchy-Scratchy

senior member
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 483
offline

Posted 4 years ago
Sat Aug 23 2008 7:14:48
#

Login to Send PM

BeeBee, that's great! I haven't found those Walmart baggies yet (maybe they're not sold in Canada yet?). My daughter will be tackling her desk next week. May I ask, what did you do with all the desk accessories, like pencil cups, hole-punches and staplers? Did you bag everything, or just the paperwork?

It's funny how important Zip-lock bags have become in our lives!
parakeets

oldtimer
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 1,011
offline

Posted 4 years ago
Sat Aug 23 2008 18:48:40
#

Login to Send PM

I used to refer to it as "Living the Ziplock Life" and, similarly, one person here on the board once wrote song lyrics about a "ziplock life."

All I can say it is now "SATURDAY night with my ziplock bags." (who can date when you have bedbugs?)
spideyjg

oldtimer
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 3,201
offline

Posted 4 years ago
Sat Aug 23 2008 23:41:24
#

Login to Send PM

Could be the frame flexed and broke a caulk joint or the wood itself has a split it in someplace.

Pine has a tendency to have cracks in it.

Did you DE the gaps before caulking them?

Jim
Itchy-Scratchy

senior member
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 483
offline

Posted 4 years ago
Sun Aug 24 2008 18:56:58
#

Login to Send PM

All I can say it is now "SATURDAY night with my ziplock bags." (who can date when you have bedbugs?)

I hear you, parakeets! As if my age wasn't hinderance enough, how on Earth will I find my soul-mate now? Unless he's a PCO or at the laundromat, I'm unlikely to meet him!!
Nobugsonme

your host
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 13,710
offline

Posted 4 years ago
Sun Aug 24 2008 23:18:43
#

Login to Send PM

BeeBee,

What is your plan for the bagged manuscripts?

Will you un-bag them well before your PCO treatment is done, so any bed bugs trapped inside can come out, cross poison, and die?

Or will you seal them away for 18 months without touching them?

(Another option might be DDVP strips in a larger sealed bag with a number of manuscripts, though I am not an expert on this, and you would need to research it. I've tagged this thread with DDVP so you have an easy link to discussions on this.)
BeeBee

junior member
Joined: May '08
Posts: 79
offline

Posted 4 years ago
Mon Aug 25 2008 15:23:17
#

Login to Send PM

I'm planning on keeping most of my manuscripts sealed for 18 months. They're basically hard copy final drafts and published articles/stories, etc. I have everything backed up on my computer and can access from there.

The few I will need I'm planning on taking to a friend's sauna for a few hours of extreme heat. I'll keep them in the plastic bags, firmly sealed. Even so I'll probably do the editing in the bathtub, just to be safe. (Imagine me with my red pencil crouched in the bathtub working. Too funny!)