Suu VS Bedbugs, the epic battle.

[Suu]

I'm going to chronical my experience for all to see. I figure it's at least entertaining, and for fuck's sake, sharing it may at least help people know what to look for and hopefully prevent these fuckers from taking over the world like they already seem to be doing.

So, aside from them being what, the 11th Plague? Bedbugs are gross, I still don't know how I got them, but I'm leaning more and more toward Anime Boston, since that's the only hotel that I've stayed on recently that has reports on the Bed Bug Registry.

WEEK ONE.

To start off, I was being bit a lot on my left arm, since that's the side I sleep on the most, as well as ones on my feet. At first I thought, like so many do, that it was mosquitoes, and since my room isn't sealed all that great near the AC in the window or on the front door, I figured they were getting in.

...I let this happen for longer than I should have.

I found a couple of bugs on my ceiling...a reddish beetle/tick like thing that, because of my tickphobia, scared the crap out of me, and I immediately took it off of the ceiling and flushed it. I noticed how flat it was then, and how it wasn't really anything I had seen before, but I ignored it, until I saw another one, and then I realized something was up.

I did some research on my phone while at work one afternoon, went to Shaw's and got a spray bottle for a bleach solution, and when I got home, I warily pulled off my sheets...

They were chillin in the corners of my futon mattress, right under my black bed sheets where it was dark all the time and I couldn't see them easily. Those sheets have since met their end in the dumpster after I washed them in scolding hot water and dried them on high temps.

GS came over the next day and we cleaned EVERYTHING. I bought a vacuum and went to town. I threw out one of my suitcases, cardboard boxes, and anything that caused immediate clutter on the floor. We didn't find anything in my clothes or fabric (so far!) My landlord was made aware and he came in and did a treatment of some sort of spray and dust...I took off for a few days.

I came back, encased my mattress in vinyl and my pillows in allergen cases, and picked up a new bed in a bag from Target on sale...NOT black...and prepared to sleep here again. I knew the battle was going to be far from over, so knowing that I was going to get bit again, I was paranoid all night and barely slept, thinking I was seeing them all over me at night.

I ended up finding a few harboring in my bathroom, probably hiding from the chemicals, that promptly met their hairspray death, so I cleaned my entire bathroom up and down with bleach, Awesome with Bleach, and Orange Clean. I should probably not be alive after inhaling what I did, but I have yet to see another buggie in there so far.

Note: Bleach doesn't kill them well, even my 50/50 solution.

So for my next trick, I ordered something called Diatomaceous Earth, a dessicant that is better known for pool filtering and what makes the White Cliffs of Dover white. I got the food grade though, because the filter grade is toxic to humans. The cool thing about DE is that if you lay it down in places where the bugs crawl, the tiny fossilized diatoms will shred up the waxy layer of their shells, and cause them to dehydrate (hopefully painfully, hehehe...). It's not a fast cure, I'll have to use myself as bait, but I can't wait to get this stuff down. It will significantly reduce their numbers, and therefore, reduce breeders.

I purchased something called Green Rest Easy yesterday from Bed Bath and Beyond after doing some research, it's all natural and made out of strong essential oils including cinnamon, clove, and peppermint. This stuff burns if you get it on your skin, so I couldn't imagine what it does to bugs. So, I sprayed a barrier around my bed and then in the nearest wall cracks and crevices. It wasn't long before a brave, or maybe just desperate, bug came out, gasping for air or something. I shot him, and he died almost instantly! This stuff isn't a permanent fix, but it does make me "rest easier" because last night I appear to have suffered no new bites. So it's working at keeping them away from me. I also sprayed barriers near my clothes and fabric, because that's the last places I need them.

My landlord is going to come back in and spray again, and by that time I should have the DE to follow him up with...my next big endeavor will be to go through my fabric piles, throw out anything small or replaceable, grab the good stuff, throw it in a dryer for a while on high heat, and then put it all in bug-proof bags, then do the same for my costumes. Like I said, I haven't seen anything near them, but I am taking NO chances.

I'm also worried about my shoes. I have a lot of boots that I use for various costumes, and it's not like I can easily look into them, so I think they may get heavy sprinkles of DE and prayers.

So..any questions comments or concerns...go ahead and post. I have to give much love to our board Etymologist, Kai for making me feel better and not so crazy by answering my stupid questions by PM. I <3 you Kai!

[Cain]

Have you tried poisoning your own blood yet?

[Suu]

Have you tried poisoning your own blood yet?

Not yet. But considering the amount that I've drank in the past week, coupled with last night's Benedryl, it appears to not work even if I tried. When I figure out how to safely lace myself with arsenic I'll let you know.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

DE is good stuff. We use it to treat the kittehs for fleas and ticks and worms etc.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

Have you tried poisoning your own blood yet?

Not yet. But considering the amount that I've drank in the past week, coupled with last night's Benedryl, it appears to not work even if I tried. When I figure out how to safely lace myself with arsenic I'll let you know.

Eat lots and lots of asparagus.
Apparently there is just enough arsenic in that stuff naturally to kill skunks.
My poor friend poisoned hers with it on accident.

[Apikoros II]

It has gotten really bad in NYC, and I had a good friend who got them and has had them for years. I will give you the same advice I gave to him: Take everything you own, and burn it. Then, naked, move into your next apartment. That is your only hope and in the end will cost you significantly less money then trying to eradicate them. I am sorry.

[Suu]

Yeah i have a problem there...I can buy clothes and a new bed, but the loss of my costumes and fabric would be devastating as they are essentially my livelyhood. I'd rather kill myself.

[the last yatto]

I've checked my bed before sleeping the last two days in a row. So far nothing but our apartment complex is like 300 plus units so I'm conserned

[Jenne]

Ugh.  I wonder what is a foolproof way to clean something so that the bedbugs are just GONE GONE WAY THE HELL GONE...Seal all the stuff in bags with no air so they die out?  With poison inside?

...wonder why the huge bedbug infestation...or is it we just are reporting more of it now, and the epidemic is more of an informational rather than circumstantial variety?

[LMNO]

Probably just reporting it more.

[Suu]

They can live up to a year without feeding.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The reason for the bedbug epidemic is that for many years, bedbugs were essentially eradicated in all industrialized nations due to the use of DDT. Then we found out that DDT was destroying our raptor populations, and we all stopped using it about 20-30 years ago. Meanwhile, there were still bedbugs in distant corners of the world, waiting to be picked up by the unwary traveler and brought back here.

During the Golden Years of bedbug-free living, our living habits changed considerably. Everything is carpeted. Hotels, motels, hospitals, airports... all the places which were once austere and clean are carpeted and plushed. We have transformed the way we live in accordance with the idea that there are no such thing as bedbugs. Where most people once owned only a few changes of durable, high-quality clothes, most of us now own enough clothing to clothe a small village. We are obsessed with stuffed animals. Our furniture is plushly upholstered. Our homes have been transformed into a bedbug paradise... all they have to do is get here.

Suu, Mr. Language's friend is a bedbug eradication expert; I will ask him for her website. It can be done! Also, where you are, winter works in your favor. I am very grateful that we encountered the fuckers away from home and had a trip through the desert to help us. Temperate areas like San Francisco and Portland are facing a huge problem because the weather doesn't get hot OR cold enough to kill them, most years. OHSU, one of the largest teaching hospitals in the country, has been infested with them for YEARS... they keep it hush-hush though.

I foresee a huge shift in how we live and decorate our homes and institutions coming up. Goodbye, carpeting!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Here you go: http://www.bedbugsnorthwest.com/

She is specifically addressing treatment of bedbugs here in the temperate zone; with diligence, you may be able to eradicate them using the help of the winter cold. The eggs are the hardest to cope with.

[Jenne]

I'm down with no carpeting--gives my asthmatic kid hives and makes him wheeze, anyway.  We switched to Pergo upstairs, and I need to do it to the downstairs, too.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Oh, I forgot the other glorious element of the bedbug epidemic! It's that the few lone survivors of the DDT onslaught are insecticide resistant... we created SUPER BEDBUGS.



Oh, how I hate and fear them.