More than half-way there (I hope!!) « Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums

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More than half-way there (I hope!!)

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Frederick

newbite
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 13

Posted 1 year ago
Mon Jul 21 2008 12:39:30
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I’ve been reading the posts on this forum for almost 4 weeks now. We found bedbugs in our son’s room 4 weeks ago and I think we are more than half-way there (knock on wood).

I’ve learned so much thru this site and wanted to share my experience. (I am no expert but hope to install some hope, as I feel confident that we are going in the right direction). I know I’ve done some things that aren’t recommended, so I also hope people learn from my mistakes, but overall, I wanted to share what I have done to date. Just hang on tight, this is quite long...

The night leading to June 22nd our son woke up screaming. "There were bugs in his bed". Unfortunately I slept like a rock and never realized anything until I woke up the next morning and he was next to me (yeah, bad move). According to my husband, he killed about 20 "ugly bugs" in our son’s bed. What else did he do? He had our son sleep in our bed the rest of the night....and never went online to see what they were....

Anyway. So when my son (the next morning) tells me he had bugs in his bed, I go "WHAT?". He runs and gets his bug catcher which he conveniently got from school just 2 weeks prior. I say to myself “they look like small cockroaches”, then jump out of bed all freaked out. I go online and instantly realize what I have on hand – bed bugs!! Blah!! (freak out some more)

This was about 7:30 am. My husband was scheduled to leave for California (for 5-6 weeks) at 3:30 pm that day... I decide (without doing research) that we have to get that bed frame OUT OF HERE before he leaves... So we get a mattress plastic bag (the ones that they come in when you buy them new) on the mattress and tape it up, then take it outside. Then we spend 2 hours taking apart the bed frame, vacuuming as we go. (Very complicated bed frame from IKEA – I think that is what saved us from having an infestation in the baseboards, etc). Then we wrap all pieces up in plastic and take it outside as well. We vacuumed up probably another 10-15 adult ones and several (About) 2-3 stage nymphs.

I call Company A which we have a contract with for general pest control. They can come out Tuesday (this was Sunday). I say, ok. They say they will only spray that one room, though, for free. I say, okay. And I order DE and a contact killer from a company I found online, since I wanted to have "Backup equipment". Figured I could "do this myself".

Company A shows up, the guy sprays some here and there, doesn’t look anywhere for signs of the bugs, doesn’t ask for "proof", puts DE (or something similar) in the sockets and leaves......hm…not so great, I think. He was there for 20 mins... That day, I also found (cheap) encasements which I get on all our beds and box springs, except our king bed. (had a hard time finding Twin XL size).

By Friday I have several "spider bites" on me. Well, how naïve am I? I guess because my son didn’t react to the BB bites I thought that I wouldn’t react either (?). I even went to the Drs on Thursday for my "very ugly spider bite" on my thumb. By Monday afternoon the 30th I had found Twin XL box spring encasements for our bed and after that day is when the bites stopped (and I had figured out what I was dealing with….I also killed a recently fed nymph in our bed that morning so I knew I had to get those encasements on the box springs ASAP). They were the cheap vinyl ones but better them than nothing, for the moment. (BTW, my son went back into his bed on Friday, as I let him sleep in our bed Sund – Thur night. With clean pajamas on).

Between Company A’s spraying on the 24th and Monday the 7th I apply lots of DE (I know, I know) around our bed frame legs, and in all cracks etc (not so much there). I pull the baseboards away from the walls and apply it there (remember, DH is out of town…so I have to deal with this while caring for 2 kids, the dog and cats, and working FT). I even put it between the mattresses and box springs (they are enclosed).

I also spray frequently (primarily the bedrooms) with the contact killer that I bought and despite its "nice" smell I start feeling woozy. I don’t recommend this….. (I do this at lunch time so it has time to air out before we get home). I also find “better” encasements and get those on the beds. BTW, we live in a 4 story townhome, and our son’s room is on the 4th floor. That and a computer den are the only rooms on that floor. My daughter, who is like me (reacts to the smallest of mosquito bites) have no bites so I feel pretty comfortable they aren’t in her room. She’s on the 3rd floor where our bedroom also is. I also start a new routine – when my son wakes up in the morning he’s to strip out of his clothes, put them in the plastic hamper and get into his day clothes. (It’s really really hard to control movement when you have kids.... But he understood this concept and it’s worked thus far).

I also wash all the kids’ (plastic) toys in water/vinegar baths, and dry all stuffed animals on high heat for 2 hours at a time. Then bag them up. The plastic toys went into plastic bins so that I can easily re-wash them if/when needed. I have washed bedding every other day.... (and yes, I’m losing my mind). Thankfully, my son’s clothes were never up in his room – for convenience he’s got them in my daughter’s closet.

Also between the 24th and the 7th all I found were 3 dead adult bed bugs, and about 2-3 stage 2 nymphs, and about 5-7 unfed nymphs. This was all in my son’s room. Since I didn’t like Company A I didn’t know what to do next. Thankfully I found some resources thru this site and found two companies in the area that provided BB Dogs. I called both and Company B couldn’t service me. They could not bring the dog in until 40 days AFTER the last treatment of anything (like my own DE)....which I figured would guarantee another infestation at that point. And they wouldn’t treat based on what another dog found, and they couldn’t give me a quote over the phone what it would call (I told them that if they sent a guy out to do a check he most likely wouldn’t be able to find anything with the naked eye). So unfortunately I couldn’t go with Company B.

Company C doesn’t provide pest mgmt but has a BB Dog. I call them on the 10th (it’s taken me 3 days to figure out what I should do next). They can be there on the 11th. Apparently their dogs don’t have a problem with the "Wait 40 days". YAY!! So I sign up for it, although it cost me $475. (Expenses to date = $475 + $600, to include encasements, DE and contact killer, $100 to pay a friend to haul the frame and mattress to the dump), ziplock bags, pillow encasements, etc).

I was very impressed with their willingness to help and I trust the dog to 95% I think. I mean, I trust the dog was accurate but of course I do wonder if it could have missed a spot or two. So anyway, the dog smells BBs in my son’s bed (which was already encased), his dresser (which was empty), some old laptops and laptop bags sitting in the computer den, and a white fabric chair in my daughter’s room. But that is IT!. Nothing elsewhere in the house, nothing in the bags of stuffed animals, etc. (Dog is trained to pick up scent on live, eggs, and nymphs). It does freak me out that the dogs smells them in the white fabric chair because it’s next to my daughter’s bed, but it makes sense. My son used to come down in the morning and sit on that chair while I got my daughter out of bed....

After he leaves I put the laptops and laptop bags (very old anyway) in a huge ziplock, saran-wrap the chair and the dresser and have the same friend haul it all to the dump. Another $100 there. (they have a truck, I don’t). I was very careful with vacuuming after I was done, also wet swiffering the floors, etc. Sorry, but I’m not to thrilled about dealing with this on my own….taking things apart, making sure I get it all, etc. So throwing things away was easier for me at this point, plus, the chair was getting very dirty and wasn’t very expensive, and the dresser, well it was nice but can easily be replaced. Also after this I break down and buy the "good" encasements....just in case... So there goes another $600....

Still... I have to figure out what to do next in terms of spraying. I call Company A again on the 14th but they never call me back. I find Company D via this forum and they can come out on Thursday. They were great on the phone, and when they came out. The tech was very knowledgeable and I’m glad I called them. The found one dead small one under the bookcase in my son’s room, but that was it. No other signs. He was very thorough and he made Company A look like I don’t know what. He thinks that one treatment may be enough (so two total including Company A) because from what he can tell i had a really mild infestation and at this point it's all about eggs/nymphs. We don't believe there are any adult ones (live) left. But I want another one just in case. For peace of mind. At this point $350 more isn’t a big deal... They are also treating my living room (2nd floor) just in case of tracking. And they had a preparation sheet for me to follow before the came out.

So far so good. Have seen NOTHING since last Wed (I found an unfed nymph on Wed on my son’s mattress as I was putting on clean sheets, the day before Company D came out). I feel like I can start breathing. I have not applied any of my own products (I probably shouldn’t have to begin with, as it may have interfered with Company A’s products). I wash the bedding about every 3 days now, and I went thru our closets this past weekend and washed EVERYTHING and bagged it up in ziplocks. (It was already in black plastic bags from when Company D came out last Thur). I have been and continue to vacuum my house every day/every other day (I must admit, I have now gone to every 2 days after Company D). I feel certain that Company D can do this for me. (BTW, after the second treatment I can enter their yearly contract which DOES include BBs, so if they come back I am covered!!!! I cancelled my yearly contract with Company A last week...it was due to expire/renew anyway on Aug 1st).

The living room is being treated this coming Thursday and the re-treatement of the upstairs is scheduled for Aug 7th. BTW, I have no idea how we got them but seeing they were only on the 4th floor of a townhome, I’d say either my son brought them home from school somehow, or a kid brought them over during a playdate in late March.... I really have no clue. Our townhomes are newer and they have the brick fire wall thingy between each unit. Also, my son’s bed was in the corner not facing the neighbors – we have an end unit. My parents came to visit in April but they don’t have BBs so the only thing I can think of is that a BB got on their luggage on the plane/airport and got off at our house… (They stayed in his room).

So...lesson’s learned (many are repetitive from what others have said):
1. Get the GOOD encasements up front. I would still have about $210 in the bank if I didn’t triple enclose mine like I ended up doing...
2. I see nothing wrong with getting your own contact killer, however, don’t use it all the time as it can interfere with what the PCO uses. Ask your PCO. It did give me peace of mind at the time and who knows how many I did end up killing that I couldn’t see? In retrospect I would not have gotten it had I gone/found company D to begin with. But with Company A I felt that I needed it...
3. Do hire a good PCO up front. Don’t let cost be a factor. Make sure they know what they are talking about...
4. I’m still glad I hired the BB Dog. I don’t know what the current PCO would have said about those laptops sitting on the floor... would they have treated them? I never did ask them that question. If not, I’m sure they would have come back. Having the dog come over gave me peace of mind and I’m going to hire them again about 2-3 months after I think I am clear.
5. I still have nothing to say about my dog and 3 cats.... just hoping for the best, I guess? (I know BBs don’t live on their host).
6. Oh yeah, and when you read that DE kills your vacuum...believe it!!!!! It’s true….I learned that the hard way (new Dyson, $455...)

In the past 4 weeks I have become paranoid, gained 5 Ibs from stress eating, can’t sleep thru the night, and now am deathly afraid of anything new (including people) coming into my house... so the normal stuff…. :-) Seriously. This is something I never thought I had to deal with. Although I have made mistakes up front since finding the BBs I do feel that I can beat this.

Anyway, I don’t claim to be an expert AT ALL, but wanted to share my story thus far. I live in Maryland so I’d be happy to share the Company names/contact info if you pm me. Also if you want the product name of the contact killer that I got, let me know. I didn’t want to put it out here (not sure about the rules). My husband comes home in one week and can’t even begin to understand what I’ve been going through here. It totally sucks and I can’t even discuss this at work or with anyone else but my husband (although my boss knows cause I’ve had to take 2 full days off work due to all this). I read this site daily but I haven’t commented because I don’t feel experienced enough.....But again...wanted to share my story thus far. Hope it helps someone! :-)
fightorflight

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Joined: Jan '08
Posts: 692

Posted 1 year ago
Tue Jul 22 2008 1:05:41
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Well, you did a ton of work alone, but it looks like it's paying off - so you can count yourself as luckier than some folks around here. Sounds really good. Wishing you complete success before too long!

> I can’t even discuss this at work or with anyone else but my husband

Wouldn't matter much even if you could. If you were really lucky, your friends and colleagues would be sympathetic, but they still wouldn't understand at all and would probably think you'd gone a little off the deep end. Here we know you did the right things.