When Bedbugs Attack!!!
Wow. I haven't posted on here in a while. That's probably because most people aren't on this anymore.
Then again, I have a small following on Tumblr but don't post there either so I think it's also because I've become lazy and unmotivated. In any case I think I'll try to use this for major life updates.
First off, about the bedbugs I had. I refuse to post this on Tumblr because Amanda will sit there and tell me what I should have done, as she had bedbugs ages ago and suddenly became an expert overnight.
Over the past couple years two units upstairs and my neighbor (last year) had bedbugs. Then earlier this year the new neighbor got bedbugs. They were fumigated and cleaned when they appeared.
I don't remember exactly when I realized I had them, I think I saw one crawling on my bed. Then I noticed them every once in a while, along with blood spots on the sheets (they drink blood). Eventually I told my landlord to ask him for a bomb can. He got angry and blamed the clutter of my apartment and said if I didn't clean up and keep the clutter down he'd try to evict me. Mind you, the clutter is partially because I live in a tiny one-bedroom efficiency/room/shared bathroom unit. True, I did have quite a few things I found I didn't need anymore, but had I lived in a normal 1-2 bedroom unit I'd have more space... then again that might be cluttered as well. Plus, while having clutter may give them more places to hide, bedbugs are attracted to CO2, heat, and body smell, so will infest anything, cluttered or not. They are also not attracted to crumbs or food as they drink blood.
In any case I spent a week emptying out the apartment to fumigate. It would have been faster if I didn't inspect everything, sort everything, and pick stuff to toss. While packing I inspected the bed and found colonies of them nesting in a seam in the bedframe and holes in the box spring and sprayed those. We emptied the apartment and the last thing to go was the bed, which was going to be disposed of. Then we fumigated.
I received a nice new bed out of it but the same old frame. After the fumigation I inspected and found more, still alive. There was a crack in the wall. The walls were originally wood and plaster, and someone had "fixed" the wall by putting up a sheet of drywall, but there was a gap between the drywall and the baseboard, and they were living in the crack. So I sprayed the crack and we sealed it with caulk, and fumigated again. After I found a few stragglers in the bed frame because he left the bed on the frame... I insisted on a new frame as well and received one.
For a few days I didn't see anything, then I saw a few crawling on the baseboards, and pulled up the carpet to find a handful crawling in the space between the wall and tack strips. So the carpet came up, the carpet foam tossed, the carpet steamed, the room fumigated, the wood floor sealed, the crack between the wall and floor caulked, and all that fun stuff. This time when I fumigated I left the bed box and mattress sitting vertical on the frame.
I also went out and bought an anti-bedbug bed encasement, and traps for under the bed feet (total $50). I saw a couple stragglers on the encasement and killed them. I covered the bed frame with anti-bedbug powder. I had also spent overall about $20 on sprays and powder.
For almost 3 weeks I saw nothing. My landlord insisted that he rush my furniture back into the apartment, giving me little time to inspect them. It was a good thing I did, though, as I found a few hiding, mostly between the back of the furniture and those cardboard backings that some furniture had. So I disassembled the furniture to check for more, but found none.
A few days ago I found a couple on a vest I was working on, which was strange as the previous night I was working on the vest, and I had left it draped on metal chair. I also saw one the other day, dead. I decided to go through all my sewing supplies and equipment and found nothing, so I'm hoping they're stragglers. They were not filled with blood and looked unfed.
My apartment is re-furnished and half of my stuff is moved in (the other half in my mother's shed), and I have not seen any on the bed. Let's hope the few I just saw were leftovers.
People told me I should just throw everything away and start over, but of course that costs lots of money. The only effective way of killing them is either heat over 115°F or cold below freezing, hence why some of my stuff is in my mother's shed. Some exterminators use the heat method but it costs money. The way I beat these guys was through persistence, killing every one I saw, treating or sealing cracks, using bug powder, spraying anything I suspected, inspecting everything, and being ridiculously diligent. Or, leaving all your stuff in outdoor storage over winter or living in death valley might help.
Then again, I have a small following on Tumblr but don't post there either so I think it's also because I've become lazy and unmotivated. In any case I think I'll try to use this for major life updates.
First off, about the bedbugs I had. I refuse to post this on Tumblr because Amanda will sit there and tell me what I should have done, as she had bedbugs ages ago and suddenly became an expert overnight.
Over the past couple years two units upstairs and my neighbor (last year) had bedbugs. Then earlier this year the new neighbor got bedbugs. They were fumigated and cleaned when they appeared.
I don't remember exactly when I realized I had them, I think I saw one crawling on my bed. Then I noticed them every once in a while, along with blood spots on the sheets (they drink blood). Eventually I told my landlord to ask him for a bomb can. He got angry and blamed the clutter of my apartment and said if I didn't clean up and keep the clutter down he'd try to evict me. Mind you, the clutter is partially because I live in a tiny one-bedroom efficiency/room/shared bathroom unit. True, I did have quite a few things I found I didn't need anymore, but had I lived in a normal 1-2 bedroom unit I'd have more space... then again that might be cluttered as well. Plus, while having clutter may give them more places to hide, bedbugs are attracted to CO2, heat, and body smell, so will infest anything, cluttered or not. They are also not attracted to crumbs or food as they drink blood.
In any case I spent a week emptying out the apartment to fumigate. It would have been faster if I didn't inspect everything, sort everything, and pick stuff to toss. While packing I inspected the bed and found colonies of them nesting in a seam in the bedframe and holes in the box spring and sprayed those. We emptied the apartment and the last thing to go was the bed, which was going to be disposed of. Then we fumigated.
I received a nice new bed out of it but the same old frame. After the fumigation I inspected and found more, still alive. There was a crack in the wall. The walls were originally wood and plaster, and someone had "fixed" the wall by putting up a sheet of drywall, but there was a gap between the drywall and the baseboard, and they were living in the crack. So I sprayed the crack and we sealed it with caulk, and fumigated again. After I found a few stragglers in the bed frame because he left the bed on the frame... I insisted on a new frame as well and received one.
For a few days I didn't see anything, then I saw a few crawling on the baseboards, and pulled up the carpet to find a handful crawling in the space between the wall and tack strips. So the carpet came up, the carpet foam tossed, the carpet steamed, the room fumigated, the wood floor sealed, the crack between the wall and floor caulked, and all that fun stuff. This time when I fumigated I left the bed box and mattress sitting vertical on the frame.
I also went out and bought an anti-bedbug bed encasement, and traps for under the bed feet (total $50). I saw a couple stragglers on the encasement and killed them. I covered the bed frame with anti-bedbug powder. I had also spent overall about $20 on sprays and powder.
For almost 3 weeks I saw nothing. My landlord insisted that he rush my furniture back into the apartment, giving me little time to inspect them. It was a good thing I did, though, as I found a few hiding, mostly between the back of the furniture and those cardboard backings that some furniture had. So I disassembled the furniture to check for more, but found none.
A few days ago I found a couple on a vest I was working on, which was strange as the previous night I was working on the vest, and I had left it draped on metal chair. I also saw one the other day, dead. I decided to go through all my sewing supplies and equipment and found nothing, so I'm hoping they're stragglers. They were not filled with blood and looked unfed.
My apartment is re-furnished and half of my stuff is moved in (the other half in my mother's shed), and I have not seen any on the bed. Let's hope the few I just saw were leftovers.
People told me I should just throw everything away and start over, but of course that costs lots of money. The only effective way of killing them is either heat over 115°F or cold below freezing, hence why some of my stuff is in my mother's shed. Some exterminators use the heat method but it costs money. The way I beat these guys was through persistence, killing every one I saw, treating or sealing cracks, using bug powder, spraying anything I suspected, inspecting everything, and being ridiculously diligent. Or, leaving all your stuff in outdoor storage over winter or living in death valley might help.