Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Tales of Bed Bug Woe
Who's Laughing Now!
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lieutenantdan
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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Aug 18 2010 15:47:22
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When we made our BB discovery it was October 2006 and the BB world was a different place.
How things have changed in just four years. When I had them there was very little if any news stories and Entomologists new little if at all anything about this creature of the night.
Protect-A-Bed coverings were not invented yet. People new nothing on how to combat other than cleaning and hiring a exterminator who in 99% of the time new nothing about bbs.
Then came Bedbugger.com, Lou Sorkin, Dini Miller and Dr. Jody Gangloff-Kauffman.
The war had begun and the Generals were doing there best to dig in deep and battle.
We were told about pesticides and if they would work or not. We guessed on how long a bed bug could live without a blood feed, and how many eggs can one female lay at one time.
What does a bb look like and can you see an egg. You know stuff like that.
Than we found out about steaming and how hot steamers should be and not to use steamers too much because we may cause mold. We learned about DE and the right DE to use and the wrong DE. On and on it all went.
After much persistence I believe that I had won my war with some pesticides use but mostly with good old fashioned hard work. The occasional nightmares may come back along with the imaginary itch and I steam once in a while. My bed legs are still kept in small stainless steal
bowls filled with DE as a preventative measure that now have become part of the mission style bed's design. Bed bugs can destroy people lives.
The media is now full of bed bug stories and the people who had once appeared in-sensitive
to me when I was at war are now the ones who are suffering because they now have bed bugs or they know someone very close to them that does. They are now the ones who appear crazy.
Well, who's laughing now! I'm not.
I kindly offer my advice to anyone who asks because I understand first hand of how bad it is to have your life invaded by this enemy. Once or twice I had fantasized that I would be able to charge large sums of money for my bed bug knowledge and be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for my positive contribution to society and the bed bug war. Hold on please I did use the word fantasized.
Actually I would like to see these creatures abolished from our planet.
We need stronger pesticides introduced for a short time period. I know some are against this but I know that some are for it also. Otherwise we are fighting a losing battle. -
bugnut
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Joined: Feb '10
Posts: 528offline
Posted 2 years ago
Wed Aug 18 2010 16:10:40
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I could not agree with you more -
I am very impressed you rid yourself of these beasts armed with little knowledge and less of an arsenal than today. I don't know if I could do it without this site!
I am on my second infestation (I live in a private house - I was reinfested by either work or vacation - hard to tell) The first time it was hard and awful. This time I am terrified. I worry that they are still here (3 treatments, 35 days later - nothing) that they are in my car, that my family will bring them home from work, school, MOVIES (I made my son strip down in a parking garage). I feel like I cannot do this again.
Lt. Dan thank you for hanging around and posting again. Every success story buoys me a bit more!
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paulaw0919
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Joined: Jul '07
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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Aug 18 2010 17:27:25
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Hey there LTDan. Nice to see you and I couldn't agree with you more. The nightmare of lack of info, torn plastic encasements, bug hunting, plastic bags, bins, carpet tape, murphy's oil, spending life savings on professional treatments when the professionals didn't know anything, the self treatments, the trauma it cause my family and children, the length of time for recovery......oh I could go on and on...... I still bag dirty laundry, depending on the occasion have the children undress in the laundry room and bath right away. Most of the precautions I take are pretty much meaningless due to the amount of people/children vs bathrooms in our house but I still do it if I feel the need. I wish I could inspect more often and vigilantly than I do, but with busy schedules and three small children, it's just impossible. I feel we are all victims in waiting when it comes to this bug. But we must go on, live our lives ot the fullest and hopefully spread the word as much as possible to help others.
It IS amazing how much come to pass in the last few years. For that I am soo thrilled and yet shiver at the chance we may get infested again. On a good note there is now attention on state and Federal levels and there should be much better things to come against the war on bed bugs in times to come. I just pray we don't fall victim again in the meantime to this so called "pest"
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Joined: Jan '08
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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Aug 18 2010 17:40:46
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Hi Lt Dan,
Anyone who hangs out and offers advice is worthy of a Nobel peace prize in my books and I know a lot of people who are taking comfort in educating others but we need to recruit a lot more.
I wish I could bottle elbow grease and attention to detail, along with early detection it is a close as people will ever get to magic bullets in resolving bedbug infestation.
I partially agree with the statement of pesticides because even the sharpest tool is quickly blunted if not used correctly. I keep coming back to Darwin on this subject and the reality is that when controlling a biological entity that can evolve to selective pressures dealing with an early stage or light infestation is the most optimal stage and that can only be done through education, awareness and early detection.
David Cain
Bed Bugs Limited -
spideyjg
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Joined: Jul '08
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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Aug 18 2010 18:26:06
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Nice to hear you check in Dan.
Back when I arrived LtDan was more like General Patton. A take no prisoners, give no quarter, kill 'em all and let God sort them out, approach is what he preached if self treating.
Time and time again over the years that approach is a proven path to freedom in treatment beit from a pro or self treating.
Jim
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insomnia
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Joined: Sep '07
Posts: 56offline
Posted 2 years ago
Thu Aug 19 2010 22:10:10
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Lt. Dan, you are a true warrior and your posts helped me long ago. But, even though it's been years, I never laugh regarding the topic of bb's.
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Jacksfullofaces
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Joined: Apr '10
Posts: 163offline
Posted 2 years ago
Fri Aug 20 2010 4:54:55
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Dan
I agree and I think it is ridiculous that with modern technology it is still so difficult to eradicate cimex. We have an elderly house with the usual cracks and crevices. All of the elbow grease in the world will not prevent bugs from arriving. All we can do is be vigilant and turn detective in locating where they hide and treat accordingly. Vacuuming and steaming plays a part but it is quite difficult to do this behind a crack in the wall or skirting board.
I have enlightened everyone I know about them and everybody I have spoken to has been under the erroneous impression that they only hide in matresses.
However our friends have been quite understanding which is something.
Keep up the good work
Jacks -
lieutenantdan
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Posted 2 years ago
Mon Aug 23 2010 14:09:59
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Hi everyone,
It is good to hear from you. There is two pesticides that I would like to mention. BEDLAM is one that I applied myself after our three sprays in six weeks by a PCO. The other is what the PCO used on his last spray and it was called BP-300 by BAYER if I remember correctly. BP-300 is not labeled for BBs but I think that it greatly helped. He may have mixed BP-300 with something else, I don't know. I also want to place the importance of correctly using DE and steam. No one who has experienced an infestation would like to experience a second one. God forbid I do I will battle as hard as I did the first time but I will have the upper hand because this time the enemy will not have the element of surprise. I like to let you all know that I believe that DE is a big plus and everyone should have applied DE to there house and inside cracks especially in bed frames. I still have small bowls of DE on the bottom of my bed legs.
Now that we have media confirmation of bed bugs spreading like wildfire we should all take preventative measures and DE is a cheap and easy product to use. Please apply with some knowledge of how to and what not to do.
I wish all good luck. Keep on keepin on. -
your host
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 13,732offline
Posted 2 years ago
Mon Aug 23 2010 14:57:25
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lieutenantdan - 4 days ago »
When we made our BB discovery it was October 2006 and the BB world was a different place.
How things have changed in just four years. When I had them there was very little if any news stories and Entomologists new little if at all anything about this creature of the night.
Protect-A-Bed coverings were not invented yet. People new nothing on how to combat other than cleaning and hiring a exterminator who in 99% of the time new nothing about bbs.
Then came Bedbugger.com, Lou Sorkin, Dini Miller and Dr. Jody Gangloff-Kauffman.
The war had begun and the Generals were doing there best to dig in deep and battle.Just a tiny correction, Dan (and good to see you):
Bedbugger.com had its first post on October 2, 2006 (and the tagline for the blog was "Bedbugger.com: your Foxhole in the War Against Bed Bugs").
And Lou Sorkin, Dini Miller, and Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann were already hard at work at their bed bug research long before you had bed bugs.
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lieutenantdan
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Aug 24 2010 13:23:14
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Hi nobugsonme.
I think that I did mention that I discovered your site in October 2006, apparently around the same time that you started the site. True?
I do not think it was long before 2006 that most entomologist knew not much about bbs. Hell, I remember when everyone including professionals thought that two people in the same bed and one reacted to bites meant that the person who showed bites was being bit and the other not. We now know that is not true. No one really knew too much of anything about DE. It was Dini Miller who was the one with the breaking news on the positive effects of DE and bed bugs. She informed me during one of the talks that I had with her. I remember most people were not sure if bbs should be spelled bedbugs or bed bugs. There were no bed bug sniffing dogs and PCOs did not steam they only sprayed. I believe that no one knew much about bbs at that time. Most entomologists and PCOs at that time never saw a bed bug live or dead.
Our country had forgotten all about bed bugs.
I do not know exactly how long ago the entomologists that I had mentioned were hard at work with full dedication to bed bugs. I never asked them but I do not think that were spending the amount of time and energy that they are now. There was not the need.
I will ask them if I think of it the next time we talk.
They are all great people and had helped me much when I had bed bugs. Without my friends the entomologists help and support I don't believe I would have won my war.
I wish everyone luck with their war. Try to keep a stiff upper lip and not let these buggers ruin your life. You need to be dedicated and persistent. My advice is to try to have fun with it.
Part of the fun is writing something on this site and waiting to see how long it takes for nobugsonme to correct you. No hard feelings.
My best to all and keep on keepin on!
Your not alone. -
Futononthecurb
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Joined: Oct '11
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Posted 1 year ago
Thu Mar 22 2012 17:42:06
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"stronger pesticides introduced for a short time period" is not the answer to this problem.
Public awareness, heat treatment, dry steam, and bedbug sniffing dogs are the four horsemen of the bedbug apocalypse.
Think about it. Wealthy individuals immediately go for thermal remediation if they have bedbugs. It is THE best way to get rid of them.
Welfare recipients now get cellphones. See the pattern?
It won't be long before heat treatment becomes not only the standard procedure for eliminating an infestation, but also more affordable as it becomes more mainstream and possibly funded by gov programs.
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Posted 1 year ago
Thu Mar 22 2012 18:16:55
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It is THE best way to get rid of them.
That's questionable...
In a big percentage of cases to use thermal remediation has the same sense of shooting a sparrow with an antiaircraft gun...It won't be long before heat treatment becomes not only the standard procedure for eliminating an infestation,
That's simply unlikely...
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diesel
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Posts: 196offline
Posted 1 year ago
Thu Mar 22 2012 18:52:23
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I am not an expert not even close. This is a controversial topic, and from the people I have talked to many experts included, they do believe that it will take a chemical to get it under control and eventually and hopefully get rid of the problem or at least make it minimal. DDT is always a tough subject, because so many cry to bring it back, even though expert after expert has said it will no longer work. What I find interesting, is that most of them agree on the same thing, and that is that DDT itself was not the solution to the problem, it was that everyone used it and it was affordable and people could get access to it and use it to get rid of the problem. It may have not been that DDT was the greatest invention of all time, yes, it was great at eliminating BB's, but the fact was that everyone used it, and it yes it wiped the problem out, or so we thought. I have heard Paul Bello say that many chemicals out there right now are very good as well. And David has said the same thing, the issue is that they have to be used properly and that just spraying chemicals is not the answer, it is how you apply them and where you apply them, that makes the difference. To kill something you have to find it, be thorough and not back down or do a halfway job. The problem with heat is simple Math. The truth is most people can not afford it, nor can they afford Vikane gas or even get access to it. If we expect our government to step in and fix the problem by providing citizens with money or vouchers to get heat treatment or vikane gas, we are simply going to fail. That is like asking the government to stop the wind from blowing as Dr. Potter said it. I do believe that we need a knock out chemical, but it has to be used properly or the cycle will start all over. David and Paul and all of the other experts are right, we need education and awareness. We need to be open about it, and people need to be proactive. What I find interesting, is that many, many things work, chemicals, steam, heat, vikane, DE, etc... But they have to be used properly, and people have to be able to afford it. LL's have to be willing to get things done properly, and people have to be willing to work together, or it will never work. I think a chemical is the best option, but it has to be affordable and done correctly. David is right, people need to be educated and know how to check properly, catch it early and then it can be taken care of better. But it is also going to take people like David, KQ, Paul, Lou, Effe Ci and all of the other experts to keep fighting for this to work. I know they will, they are great at what they do. But they all also care or they would not be on here. How many times have you read them say PM me, or I will come by and check this out for you etc... Many times probably taking less than they could, to try and help. The economy is bad, money is tight and so we have too have something that people can afford yes, but we also need people to be serious about it and become educated.
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