Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Tell Me Your Bedbug Story


have an interesting bed bug story? Do you have a success story? A story to top all stories about how tough it is to get rid of bed bugs? A story of how or where you got them? Tell me your story in the comment section and get it off your chest.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

(Cincinnati,Ohio)
October 2007 was the first time I had ever seen a bed bug. It was early evening, and I spotted a bug crawling on my comforter, I wasnt even in the bed when I saw it. I didnt know what it was, and brushed it off; its not abnormal to catch a bug in the house from time to time, right? A few hours later, I spotted another of that same bug crawling on a piece of paper hanging out of my purse. I was puzzled, but checked around my bedroom and saw nothing else, so I, again, brushed it off.
About a week later, I reached under my bed to retrieve a book, and noticed a whitish bug hanging around with a brownish colored bug, and thought it was weird. I vacuumed thorougly, and paid it no further mind, until I spotted one crawling on my covers a few days later, and that was it for me.
I looked on the web, and discovered that these bugs I had been seeing around my room were bedbugs. Ever since we moved into that two family home, I had been getting mysterious bites, but chocked it up to fleas; I had spotted tiny black insects around, and assumed the previous tenant had a dog or something. This is why I didnt pay the bites any mind, but I did notice they were itchier, and bigger, like mosquito bites.
What I did:I threw my raggedy daybed and mattress out, and sprayed with some insecticides I'd ordered, and started sleeping in another room. I washed my clothes in the hottest possible water, and dried them on high heat, and put them in space bags. My other items, like purses and shoes, I sprayed with lice spray, inspected, and stored them in big zip lock bags. I threw away things I didnt need, and luckily, I was moving out soon (this is my mothers house). Everybody else in the house thought I was crazy, appearantly, I was the only one seeing the bugs and being bitten.
Nobody was convinced, but I was, and couldnt figure out where they had come from, I hadnt had any visitors or traveled anywhere (I'm a home-body, lol)I had, however, bought some items from e-bay, and another company, and stored the boxes under my bed, and assumed the bugs came with something I oredered.
Eventually, I packed up, and moved out, and my niece took up residence in my former bedroom. To this day, I have a box of things that were under my bed sitting in the hall of my mothers house, I am afraid to go through it, or even go near it, tons of papers, and books, many hiding places for those a-holes.
My niece hadnt had any complaints of bugs in the room, and my mother hadnt spoken of them, I assumed they were gone. WRONG.
I spent the night on my mothers couch a few months later, and soon as I flicked off the lamp, I spotted crawling toward me. It was four in the morning, snow and ice on the ground, and I got outta there! (OF course, after maniacally inspecting my things)
Come to find out, my mother (the skeptic) had been seeing them, and my niece was constantly awakening to itchy bites.
My mother is not fazed by them, and has done nothing other than cover my nieces mattress in a cover, spray a little bit, and call it a day. Her refusal to acknowledge this problem is why I havent visited her for a long period of time since.
And guess what? Last week, I spotted a BB in my bed at my new apartment.
I am having an exterminator come in next week, and have been using Steri-Fab and Alcohol so far. I've only seen one though, but I brought so many bags that were buried deep in the closets in my mothers house, no telling how many more they may be. We have brand new couches, and I have propped them up on magazines wrapped with sticky tape, so no bugs can take refuge in the couch. Who knows how this thing will play out, and although I've only seen one, I am not like my mother, and take action before this thing becomes an infestation.
If felt great to get this off my chest, and thanks for taking the time to read my story. Dealing with bed bugs is a very exhausting thing.

Anonymous said...

I feel so bad for Cincinatti :(
I know how he/she feels. I too initially attributed the bugs I saw to randomness. These pesky jerk-olas have invaded my entire apartment complex (12 units) & I'm the only one compaining.- argh! Talk about your losing battles. How can people sit by complacently while bugs infest their homes & bite them while they sleep? - Frankly this whole things has made me rather traumatized.

Megan said...

I'm a 21 year old college student away from her parents and living all by herself. One morning I woke up with welts covering my body. It kept getting worse: covering my hands, feet, arms, legs, neck, and back. After two months, I went to the doctor. I was diagnosed and treated for a multitude of things. One night I looked at my wall and found a strange bug. I killed it and called my landlord. It ended up being a bedbug. Pest control had me throw out my mattress, half of my clothes (7 trash bags full), and treated my apartment on a routine basis. I washed all the clothes I had left in hot water. I still kept getting bites. They pulled apart my bed frame and there were literally hundreds of bedbugs. We threw that out, treated, but the bites just kept getting worse. The pest control than had me move all my furniture out, I slept on the floor for a few weeks. The bites kept happening and I still was seeing them. So we painted my walls, ripped all the flooring, and replaced it. At my cost. I moved in my furniture yesterday, after I re-painted every piece. I am still getting bites. I found them in my car, in my dishes, all things that I have washed. It is now gotten to the point where I have to start over. I'm very upset. I have lost more than $2,000 dollars and am about to lose more. That is a lot of money to a 21-year-old who isn't working. I'm a college student that is at her wits-end. I have to start over now. Move, throw away almost all my belongings. I'm afraid this is never going to end and I'm afraid of losing almost everything I have worked so hard to achieve. This morning I woke up to one right near my eye. I'm so frightened of sleeping. I have scars literally covering my body. I HATE YOU BEDBUGS.

Anonymous said...

After all the reading I have done, it seemed that diatomaceous earth was the only natural, non-expensive approach to getting rid of bed bugs myself. And it worked!! At least to keep them from biting me. I sprinkled it all over my carpet and placed my be back down with the bb covers and as long as I have this dust down, I have not had any more bites. You have to use yourself as the bate and sleep in your bed with the powder scattered all over your bedroom carpet, but they will crawl to you to feed, and they will not make it through the dust. I don't know how long it takes to get them all to walk through the dust, but I have been doing this for a month and plan to keep it up for a long time....

Anonymous said...

After having bed bugs for over a year, I finally drew the line and said to myself, If you want something done right you have to do it yourself. So I finally got smart and bought a steamer. Yes, a very hot 300 degree steamer, and I slept with it next to my bed, so I could kill the bugs the second I felt them crawling on me at night. News flash, it worked! I killed bed bugs with my steamer, and I set powder around the walls of my apartment. In order to help others, I created www.easybedbugs.com where you can find all the products I used to kill my own bed bugs. Browse an extensive selection of steamers, powders, and devices to help you kill your bed bugs . easyBedBugs.com has it all!