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...:vom:
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!
Have you tried poisoning your own blood yet?
Quote from: Cain on August 20, 2010, 02:34:10 PM
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.
DE is good stuff. We use it to treat the kittehs for fleas and ticks and worms etc.
Quote from: Doktor Princess on August 20, 2010, 02:56:57 PM
Quote from: Cain on August 20, 2010, 02:34:10 PM
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.
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.
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.
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
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?
Probably just reporting it more.
They can live up to a year without feeding.
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!
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.
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.
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.
:lulz:
Oh, how I hate and fear them.
I'm on the Bedbugger.com forums and they have been a great help! I'll check it out.
I really want to buy a Packtite, but there's no way I can afford it right now. However, that will be the life saver for my costumes and fabric once I do.
Ugh...
http://www.ziploc.com/Products/Pages/BigBags.aspx
Yep, after the heat treatment, everything is going in those.
So, if I am reading correctly, the banning of DDT because of the thinning of egg shells is smoke that was blown up asses by the EPA, same thing with the banning of Ficam from the UK. Interesting...
http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-billions-of-bed-bugs-are-biting.html
I'm doing a bit more due diligence on this though.
And then of course, this week was the Bedbug Summit in Chicago with the EPA, and the EPA apparently sat there and twirled their hair vacantly like, "Well, chemicals hurt the environment, hmmmkay? So you like, can't use them. Deal."
Now, I'm sure once someone very important in the EPA get's bedbugs, suddenly things will be very different. Like Dickless here. (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KgBT8kIRgBo/SXTn2oA2keI/AAAAAAAAE1o/gGDt_g_6lN0/s320/Walter+Peck.jpg)
Where did you read that? After the discontinuation of DDT, raptor populations came back. So did bedbugs, sadly. Apparently we can have eagles AND bedbugs, or we can get rid of bedbugs and also have no eagles.
Or we can change our lifestyles to be less hospitable to vermin.
I wouldn't trust anything read on the blog of a guy who has a product to sell.
Given his analytical prowess in other areas (just look at his top post), trusting him does seem to be quite a leap of faith. He also says in the comments that:
QuoteThere was no danger to the bald eagle or other birds. In time studies refuted that nonsense. It belongs in the same catagory as the lies about the Spotted Owl being endangered.
The movement to ban DDT and the environmental movement in general began in response to Rachel Carson's pack of lies called "Silent Spring." She has the deaths of millions from malaria on her hands and I hope there's a special place in Hell for her.
So yeah.
Who knew there was adoption centers for vermin and bunnies
http://www.rabbitadoption.org/rehome.html
I -DID- say I was doing more due diligence.
Week 2:
I'm getting pissed. My landlord keeps putting off my 2nd inspection/spraying. I washed my sheets yesterday and refuse to put them back on my bed until treated, so I've been crashing over my friends' house in Warren for the past 2 nights, simply because I anticipated treatment that didn't happen Sunday OR yesterday.
He said he'd call me today. Still nothing. I have to go to work tonight so I NEED to know if I can come home or if I'm going out to East Bay again, this makes the difference between 1st cut and closer. I want my sheets on my bed, I want to sleep in my own bed...doped up on Benedryl and using myself as bait for the bugs (I know, I know...it's gross) so they crawl through the DE and chemicals.
I haven't seen any in a few days, save one Sunday that I shot with the Rest Easy. It didn't die, but it got stuck on the wall and convulsed for a while. I was going to leave it there for the landlord to see, but when he cancelled the spraying I grabbed it and flushed it.
Still no sign of them anywhere in my clothing or fabric. I had to go through my art supply bins because I lost my ink pens that I need to work on MSY, and saw nothing in them...Then I had to spend money on more pens because I have no idea where my other ones ARE BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS DISPLACED AND I'M A WALKING BUNDLE OF STRESS WHO CAN'T GET ANYTHING FUCKING DONE.
And to make matters worse, I washed a few loads of laundry with full fragrance Tide because I wasn't paying attention. I am now a walking ball of dry, itchy skin on top of older bug bites and paranoia. *twitch* Free and Clear Purex has now been purchased, and I have to rewash my clothes for my sanity.
I'm only giving myself another month here, with or without GS having a job. I'm moving. And when I do so, I'm buying a new bed, and fumigating the rest of my belongings from within my efficiency in a Pod with Vikane. It's going to cost me about $500, but it's 99.9% effective, and New England Pest Control (see also: Big Blue Bug) guarantee it. Half a G is well worth keeping my thousands of dollars worth of costumes.
:sad:
I wish I had seen this thread earlier.
Is there any way you can clean your precious items and immediately remove them from the premises? Your costumes, for example, can you heat wash/dry them and then get them out to somewhere else? The idea is to remove items you know are not infested, getting everything down to the bare bones so it's easier to control them, and so you know your things now at risk are no longer at risk.
As for DDT, what Nigel said was the truth. A pro-DDT nutter is as bad as an anti-vaccine nutter.
Just jumping in on the DDT thing... Sjaantze was very active in Raptor care during the 90's including a long stint at the World Bird Sanctuary. She seems convinced that the data supports DDT as being a Very Bad Thing for raptors... esp those that eat fish. Most of the people claiming its bunk base their argument on early studies on quail and chickens who don't respond to DDT (well DDE actually) in the same way as raptors.
Quote from: Kai on August 24, 2010, 08:12:59 PM
:sad:
I wish I had seen this thread earlier.
Is there any way you can clean your precious items and immediately remove them from the premises? Your costumes, for example, can you heat wash/dry them and then get them out to somewhere else? The idea is to remove items you know are not infested, getting everything down to the bare bones so it's easier to control them, and so you know your things now at risk are no longer at risk.
As for DDT, what Nigel said was the truth. A pro-DDT nutter is as bad as an anti-vaccine nutter.
This is getting done to the fabric and costumes within the next week or so. They fucked my hours at work so I'm running low on time in which help can be arranged to perform such an undertaking.
The clothes and art supplies, well...I can live without most of my clothing, and art supplies are cheaper than bolts of velvet.
Definitely getting treated tonight! That means off to Warren I go again, that means I can't close at work. Oh well.
You could probably clean your art supplies individually and you would get any eggs. I mean, it would be work but I'm sure it would be more expensive to scrap them and buy new.
True. It doesn't seem like they're very interested in my plastic bins at all though, fortunately, but I'm not taking ANY chances.
I also took the plunge and notified EVERYONE who's ordered costumes from me in the past few months. The response I actually got has been very positive, and I got a lot of big "thank yous" for being honest. No reports yet, but I'd rather customers be happy and warned than get the fuckers and have to deal with them as well. No new shipments are going out until I am 110% sure their order is bug free. They will be heat treated and packed for shipment off-site.
Ugh, I gotta get outta here. It's pretty obvious from traces of DE up and down the stairs to the mattresses outside and across the street that my whole house if not the whole fucking block has them.
I'm doomed.
I didn't get bit last night. I consider this a big deal. I think it's pretty safe to say that I'm winning so far.
OK, apparently I need to know everything you know as far as what works and what doesn't. The building my apartment in PDX is in has reportedly been infested. I'm moving in january anyway, but I want to know how to make sure that the stuff I bring with me is not contaminated so that I don't promptly re-infest my new digs.
Quote from: Ratatosk on August 24, 2010, 08:21:37 PM
Just jumping in on the DDT thing... Sjaantze was very active in Raptor care during the 90's including a long stint at the World Bird Sanctuary. She seems convinced that the data supports DDT as being a Very Bad Thing for raptors... esp those that eat fish. Most of the people claiming its bunk base their argument on early studies on quail and chickens who don't respond to DDT (well DDE actually) in the same way as raptors.
Yes, it affects the fish-eating birds, mostly, which is why bald eagles, osprey, and peregrine falcons were so badly affected.
Quote from: Exit City Hustle on September 02, 2010, 07:43:36 PM
OK, apparently I need to know everything you know as far as what works and what doesn't. The building my apartment in PDX is in has reportedly been infested. I'm moving in january anyway, but I want to know how to make sure that the stuff I bring with me is not contaminated so that I don't promptly re-infest my new digs.
:x
I know. I am never renting an apartment again.
Get a Packtite. That's what I'm doing when I move. It cooks your belongings to like 140 degrees and kills the bugs and their eggs.
that is exactly what I needed to know. Thanks Suu!
Just remember to take your belongings out of the Packtite and put them into air tight bags. Ziploc makes big bags you can use.