Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Tales of Bed Bug Woe
Isolating the Bed - Water & Dogs
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UESbugs
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Joined: Oct '07
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Posted 5 years ago
Sun Oct 28 2007 23:15:23
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Hey everyone, well, we're in the home stretch as far as prepping is concerned. First treatment should be on tuesday if they are available. SO much has been thrown out, then again, boyfriend didn't clean out closets for nearly 15 years. Hoarder deluxe. It had to be done!
El cheapo metal bed frame was purchased for about $50 in midtown. Our mattress and box spring have been covered since day one (about 10 days now!) Anyway, the point of the post is for two purposes:
1) Several of you have recommended putting the legs of the bed into small containers of water. The El cheapo bed frame we bought has wheels on each corner. you know the ones. I've placed each wheel into Glad plastic containers *(the ones you can get at Duane Reade). Question: how much water needs to be in those containers? Do the wheels need to be completely covered, or just half way? I'm picturing them crawling into the containers, swimming or floating about, and wading their way over to the edges of the wheels and then climbing up the legs. I've also greased up about an inch of the legs, just above the waterline with Vaseline. How'm I doin?
2) NBOM: You mentioned that I should NOT isolate the bed, because then they'll get my pooch (out of desperation). I've been thinking about this a lot, and I probably did not mention that he's so little, and sleeps in the bed with us. Does this change the playing field? He sleeps through the night without needing to pee or poo, so he won't even come off the bed all night. What do you think?
Any advice is always welcome and requested
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your host
Joined: Mar '07
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Posted 5 years ago
Sun Oct 28 2007 23:48:58
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Well, you can't truly isolate the bed if your pet sleeps in it, in my opinion. They can crawl on your pet and hitch a ride.
You also can't truly isolate the bed, for the record, if you wear some clothing or pajamas around the home and then get in bed. If you are not guaranteed free of bed bugs, and pets are included in this, then getting in the bed means you may move bed bugs into the bed, which become isolated IN it, instead of isolated OUTSIDE of it. In other words, they can start to live in the bed frame and live a very long time. (Yes, this can happen to clean, non-isolated beds too, but if they have to cross poison to get to you, then they will hopefully die rather than set up shop.
If poison is around your home, then a non-isolated bed will mean they cross poison to get to you. They die after eating. Some may also die without ever getting to you. Not isolating might be the best thing in these circumstances.
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UESbugs
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Joined: Oct '07
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Posted 5 years ago
Mon Oct 29 2007 0:10:20
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NBOM: OMG, I would just like to know, what does it take to dedicate (probably) almost all of your time to such a seemingly never-ending disaster of a problem? How do you do it??? My mind stirs constantly with all of this, and I have to say, after 10 days of cleaning and stressing and sleepless nights, my body finally broke down immune-wise, and I've fallen ill. Fever, stuffy head, aches and pains, etc. etc. Boyfriend got sick too, but a only felt it a day later *yesterday. We're sick and tired... literally. I'm not trying to pry, but I'm guessing you turn SOME profit off the adverts, but still, I do not doubt that once this mess spirals COMPLETELY out of control. your site will surely be the end-all-be-all place for millions, and wow, this will have all paid off!
So, you're saying... I should just put the bed against the wall anyway? No poison down
yet, they are coming on Tuesday for the first treatment.Did me just laundering the sheets and comforter defeat the purpose of my bed prep today?
Help me understand, once the poison is down, and the bed is not isolated, what if they are living between my encased mattress/boxpring, or in the folds of the encasement? Or in the el cheapo metal frame? how do i control this?? Won't this just be the exact same problem I had before? So confused!! I don't think the PCO treats the bed at all, correct? please help, your reply, though thorough, has left me confused. Can you clarify for me? "If poison is around your home, then a non-isolated bed will mean they cross poison to get to you." *(?huh?)
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your host
Joined: Mar '07
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Posted 5 years ago
Mon Oct 29 2007 3:17:15
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"Help me understand, once the poison is down, and the bed is not isolated, what if they are living between my encased mattress/boxpring, or in the folds of the encasement? Or in the el cheapo metal frame? how do i control this?? Won't this just be the exact same problem I had before? So confused!! I don't think the PCO treats the bed at all, correct? please help, your reply, though thorough, has left me confused. Can you clarify for me? "If poison is around your home, then a non-isolated bed will mean they cross poison to get to you." *(?huh?)"
Imagine this:
Clean but unisolated bed: they climb on the bed to bite you. To get there, they cross pesticides and dusts. Even if they bite you, they will die soon. You can vacuum the encasement when you change the sheets, or maybe use a sticky lint roller. You might also want to spray a contact killer like kleen free on the frame occasionally.
Clean and isolated bed: they never get ON the bed, period. If they try to, they die in the moats under the bed legs. They still try to come and bite you, so they do cross poison. You have to ensure they do not get there via your clothing or pet. The only way to do this is to put on clean, bagged clothing before climbing in. And to not bring your pets (IMHO).
If you think you can be fastidious and thoroughly clean and check the dog before you get into bed (and the dog has short hair, facilitating a thorough check) then maybe isolating is ok. But if bed bugs do get on the bed, they can live and breed there. There's no way they will contact poison.
But lots of people do not isolate. How is a clean bed frame and a clean, encased mattress better than before? Well, you MUST keep the bed clean and frame clean. You don't want them to start nesting there.
PCOs DO treat mattresses and frames. They should treat the mattress before it is encased (as per the FAQs). Treating the frame after the first spray + encasement would be good insurance.
Lots of people don't "isolate". A clean new frame is still better than before, but the instruction to purchase a frame is based on the isolation idea described in the FAQs. Which works for a lot of people, but has to be done fastidiously (ie no pets, no clothes worn in the home) or it is probably not worth the trouble.
Nevertheless, I still would not put the bed against the wall, or let sheets touch the floor. You want bed bugs to walk across poison and die. Make them work for it, IMHO.
In answer to your other questions, I run the site because when I needed the information, it was not there, plain and simple. Yes, there was a yahoo group, which was wonderful, but everyone who came on had to ask questions for the first time. Hence, the FAQs on this site.
Now there are more sites springing up with how-tos, but we've built up a body of information here, some of it not covered elsewhere, so I keep going.
The news on the blog, and the forums are also apparently helping people share their info. and connect, so I am glad to be running the site.
It takes up as much time as a p/t job ( a very, very badly paid one!) so if I did not feel it mattered, I would not be able to do it. It's often fun, and the people are good, so it's not a bad way to spend time.
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Joined: Oct '07
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Posted 5 years ago
Mon Oct 29 2007 3:53:39
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My PCO came and treated my bed frame, mattress and sofa, but not the computer desk and chair where I got half of my bites from (3 feet away from my bed). I specifically told the guys when they came for first treatment that they need to check and treat my desk, but when I returned that day, they were untouched.
Anyway I got 2 new bites since 13 days of blissful bite-free life.I suppose the treatment did work and the one who bit me is a hungry nymph/s who just hatched from somewhere (as I caught one crawling on my desk in broad daylight the day before). I already put carpet tape around my bed legs, so maybe it had gone off digesting at the walls. I'm calling them tomorrow morning to ask what they'll do on 2nd treatment.
Thank you so much to Nobugsonme! I know these things take up so much time and not get any profit or gratitude. Your help and service is much appreciated!
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UESbugs
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Posted 5 years ago
Mon Oct 29 2007 8:24:31
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NBOM- is there a way to PM you?
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oldtimer
Joined: May '07
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Posted 5 years ago
Mon Oct 29 2007 9:01:47
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