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I do feel you are performing a public service in warning people about the bed bug problem. It sounds like about as nasty infestation as anyone would want to encounter.
And I like your recommendation for getting rid of anything they would like to nest in. We have been in our house for 37 years. Over this time we have collected a lot of junk, particularly in the basement, which is never used. I am making a conscientious effort to identify anything I can't remember actually using over the past 5 years and saying out it goes. Frankly, it is a relief when you see space suddenly opening up.
We have a cat who has never been outside the house in almost 20 years, so I am not going to blame her.
The accumulation is material evidence of your life. Once it's gone, there's no evidence that that part of your life even existed. You may need an entirely different outlook on life.
The reference to the animals is, (#1.) bed bugs will feed on animals. In my former apartment building, when I found out that I had them and started wondering where they came from, I mentioned the neighbor's cat to the property manager. The woman had them, let the cat roam the halls and had her belongings out there, too. The cat was often nearby bouncing off of things. The property manager called a veterinarian and asked if the bugs ever got on animals. He said no.
As for my public service efforts.... Actually, I'm somewhere around enraged at the way things have been handled for me. When I moved into my former apartment in 2003, the place had quarterly extermination inspections, and they put stuff around as needed for things like roaches. That property manager died. The replacement staff eventually got rid of the exterminators, and set maintenance to do the work.
The logical conclusion would be that whatever insect problem there was had been brought firmly under control enough so that maintenance could handle it. In hindsight, my guess is bugs, especially bed bugs became such a pronounced problem they had no intention of paying what the exterminator wanted for service. I eventually found out that there had been bed bugs above me, below me and around the corner from me (the woman with the cat).
And, just as important as the bugs feeding on animals is (#2.) the fact that whatever insecticide someone may try, it can have an effect on animals as well as small children.
But you are still mainly posting what the average citizen should be doing to protect themselves. I can agree people need to be responsible for their own actions and repurcussions. But I still say if the problem is as chronic as represented the public health officials have fallen down on the job. Do you disagree?
Let me go farther than you: the government is supposed to be for the people even if it is NOT by the people. And, sometimes it is necessary for the people to get the government to do what it is empowered to do.
In this case, the government isn't even particularly empowered, and no one who has the critters can really wait for the government to get empowered.
By the same token, the media is supposed to inform the people. The informing so far has largely been sensationalist and not particularly useful.
I decided not to tell my story chronologically; rather, I am going to do this by subject. So my first topic will be on sleeping, or rather, not sleeping.
As I mentioned before, the problem with the bugs increased tenfold over Labor Day weekend 2009. One of the first things bedbugger.com tells you to do is isolate your bed. I learned that that meant putting it in the middle of the room, minus a headboard or footboard if you have them. You're supposed to put the frame legs in coffee cans. There's supposed to be a liquid in the cans, although I can't remember what it is--mineral oil? Something that the bugs can crawl into and drown in.
But my bedroom was small and there was little room to pull it out from the wall. Not to mention the fact that I didn't drink coffee.
Over the next very two long months (during which I aged about two centuries) I learned that what worked for me--at least to some extent--was to create for myself a hazmat suit to sleep in. As the weeks went on I kept on adding more and more clothes. It finally came to this: Pajama bottoms. Very long socks in which to tuck the ends of the pants. A tank top to tuck into the waistband. An oversized hooded sweatshirt that went past my waist and wrists, plus the hood hung over my forehead. Long gloves that reached over the wrists of the sweatshirt. Only my face was exposed.
I tried putting eucalyptus oil on me, which was supposed to be a bedbug repellant, but the smell was so awful it made me sick to my stomach within a minute. Eucalyptus oil isn't cheap, and I threw the bottle away.
Except for the plastic mattress and box springs zippered covers that I purchased, I removed all the sheets and blankets from my bed. What I used for a blanket (I really didn't need one with all the clothes I had on), was my microfiber soft plastic raincoat. Bedbugs don't like plastic.
I also kept a light on all night because bedbugs don't like light. But the lamp had little affect because they still crawled around.
I'm a light sleeper anyway and during this time I was getting only six to seven hours of sleep at night. There was one sunny fall Sunday afternoon when the sunlight was directly on my bed and I decided to take a nap. Did the bright light stop the critters? Of course not!
I decided not to tell my story chronologically; rather, I am going to do this by subject. So my first topic will be on sleeping, or rather, not sleeping.
As I mentioned before, the problem with the bugs increased tenfold over Labor Day weekend 2009. One of the first things bedbugger.com tells you to do is isolate your bed. I learned that that meant putting it in the middle of the room, minus a headboard or footboard if you have them. You're supposed to put the frame legs in coffee cans. There's supposed to be a liquid in the cans, although I can't remember what it is--mineral oil? Something that the bugs can crawl into and drown in.
But my bedroom was small and there was little room to pull it out from the wall. Not to mention the fact that I didn't drink coffee.
Over the next very two long months (during which I aged about two centuries) I learned that what worked for me--at least to some extent--was to create for myself a hazmat suit to sleep in. As the weeks went on I kept on adding more and more clothes. It finally came to this: Pajama bottoms. Very long socks in which to tuck the ends of the pants. A tank top to tuck into the waistband. An oversized hooded sweatshirt that went past my waist and wrists, plus the hood hung over my forehead. Long gloves that reached over the wrists of the sweatshirt. Only my face was exposed.
I tried putting eucalyptus oil on me, which was supposed to be a bedbug repellant, but the smell was so awful it made me sick to my stomach within a minute. Eucalyptus oil isn't cheap, and I threw the bottle away.
Except for the plastic mattress and box springs zippered covers that I purchased, I removed all the sheets and blankets from my bed. What I used for a blanket (I really didn't need one with all the clothes I had on), was my microfiber soft plastic raincoat. Bedbugs don't like plastic.
I also kept a light on all night because bedbugs don't like light. But the lamp had little affect because they still crawled around.
I'm a light sleeper anyway and during this time I was getting only six to seven hours of sleep at night. There was one sunny fall Sunday afternoon when the sunlight was directly on my bed and I decided to take a nap. Did the bright light stop the critters? Of course not!
Hi, skippercollector!
Sorry to be taking so long to acknowledge your important message, but the world got in my way for a few hours. It's not the only thing that was not done.
Do you or did you follow the blog (weblog) part of bedbugger.com or just check through the forum topics? Or, are you referring to one of the groups or message boards with that kind of a name? It's easy to get them mixed up, and I just want to know if we are referring to the same thing. The bedbugger.com forum has information, but the really sensible stuff is current news in the weblog.
Isolating the bed may a good idea if the infestation came from or is coming from some place else, like an apartment next door, depending on what all you do. It's also a good idea if you've already accumulated an infestation as what you've got can easily go beyond your bed after the bugs are done eating and appear after you think you've gotten rid of them.
But, personally speaking, I don't think putting bed legs in cans of anything, greasing them with vaseline, etc., is going to do much good in regard to getting rid of the creatures.
As for getting all covered up so they can't bite you, possibly the biggest downside of that is that if they can't get at something like your arm, they'll go for something else exposed, like your face. I tried that, too, including using plastic some places, until one day I felt the need to scratch inside of an ear -- I felt something and my finger came out covered with blood. Thankfully it didn't get so deep I couldn't reach it or didn't get on an eye or up my nose....
Eucalyptus oil is one that I don't recall off hand, but I didn't try any kind of a repellent. The then apartment manager babbled something about "Off!" There were dozens of the bugs at times all over my couch and she thought "Off!" would take care of things? They weren't there by accident; they were chasing their next meal.
A light on all night is a good idea as if you wake up you can see immediately. I thought the light would discourage them, too, then I realized it didn't make any difference as there were some around in morning daylight, too (like 8:00 a.m.). The nocturnal part of the way they work may have more to do with things like sound vibrations. If you got six or seven hours sleep you were lucky.
The first things to go were small--magazines, dustrags, seldom-used cleaning products, old paperwork.
But the problems worsened, and I started disposing of non-displayed knickknacks, books I hadn't looked at in years (books are very important to me), letters and cards and photos and small souvenirs that had sentimental value, decorative throw pillows, etc.
Third to go was clothing I hadn't worn in a long time. Before you start getting judgmental, there wasn't a lot of clothing that fit that category, except for really dressy items such as bridesmaid dresses, which I refused to dispose of.
Then the items started getting bigger. First big item was my wicker clothes hamper, which I replaced with an oversized plastic but nice wastebasket with a tight lid. Next was the clothing that I WAS wearing. I had to launder all of my clothing and linens ALL OF THE TIME in hot water, and that will quickly wear out the fabrics. I probably pitched a third of my wardrobe. Thank heavens my heavy winter coats and sweaters were stored in a cedar chest at my mom's house, far removed from my apartment, or they would probably have been tossed too.
In the meanwhile I took down the curtains in my bedroom and living room. Yes, there had been eggs in the bedroom drapes, but those curtains were easy to take down, wash in very hot water and dry on high heat, and then fold up and store in plastic bags.
Lastly were my beloved couch and easy chair. It turns out that the couch, and not my bed, were where most of the bugs and the eggs had lived all those months.
By the end of September I was living in apartment with few places to sit and no privacy.
I know that there are holier-than-thou people out there who will blame me for this series of problems, and also tell me that I owned too much stuff to begin with. But I am a woman with a desk job that requires meeting with the public, so why shouldn't I own a nice wardrobe? What's wrong with owning a lot of books, especially since many of them were gifts? Why can't I have a comfortable place to sit in my own place? Most importantly of all, what's wrong with curtains and needing privacy?
Someone here must know the words. When I was a kid at camp, we always sang a bed bug song in Yiddish. I have tried to find the Yiddish and English translation for ages, but no luck.
All I remember now in "Ve da vantzen tansen" "See the bedbugs dance"
Bedbugs, as stated above is an ancient problem. It was well managed until the "Lesson of unintended consequences" was applied by our all knowing government when all insecticides that work were taken off the market.
They know no socio economic boundary.
Another cause of this massive re-infestation is due to the pick-up and delivery of beds by reputable companies. They became an easy way to spread the problem with their delivery trucks.
The first things to go were small--magazines, dustrags, seldom-used cleaning products, old paperwork.
But the problems worsened, and I started disposing of non-displayed knickknacks, books I hadn't looked at in years (books are very important to me), letters and cards and photos and small souvenirs that had sentimental value, decorative throw pillows, etc.
Third to go was clothing I hadn't worn in a long time. Before you start getting judgmental, there wasn't a lot of clothing that fit that category, except for really dressy items such as bridesmaid dresses, which I refused to dispose of.
Then the items started getting bigger. First big item was my wicker clothes hamper, which I replaced with an oversized plastic but nice wastebasket with a tight lid. Next was the clothing that I WAS wearing. I had to launder all of my clothing and linens ALL OF THE TIME in hot water, and that will quickly wear out the fabrics. I probably pitched a third of my wardrobe. Thank heavens my heavy winter coats and sweaters were stored in a cedar chest at my mom's house, far removed from my apartment, or they would probably have been tossed too.
In the meanwhile I took down the curtains in my bedroom and living room. Yes, there had been eggs in the bedroom drapes, but those curtains were easy to take down, wash in very hot water and dry on high heat, and then fold up and store in plastic bags.
Lastly were my beloved couch and easy chair. It turns out that the couch, and not my bed, were where most of the bugs and the eggs had lived all those months.
By the end of September I was living in apartment with few places to sit and no privacy.
I know that there are holier-than-thou people out there who will blame me for this series of problems, and also tell me that I owned too much stuff to begin with. But I am a woman with a desk job that requires meeting with the public, so why shouldn't I own a nice wardrobe? What's wrong with owning a lot of books, especially since many of them were gifts? Why can't I have a comfortable place to sit in my own place? Most importantly of all, what's wrong with curtains and needing privacy?
I'm a bit slow here (sometimes the world does descend on someone), but I think your ordeal does deserve attention.
It sounds to me like you were very ill-informed by someone. Your first sentence suggests that someone (or some source) preached "clutter" when the root of the problem was that the bugs had come some unknown way and had taken up residence in your couch. That happened to me, too; and, when I first mentioned the problem to someone, the first thing zeroed in on was "Do you have a lot of clutter?" Nothing useful was said.
While it's true the bugs can hide in clutter, without attention to where they took up residence and how they got there, getting rid of "clutter," assuming it is clutter, is hardly an effective measure. Even if you got rid of all your "clutter," without knowing where the bugs really were (and for that matter, how they got there) the largest part of the infestation would just seek out someplace else to hide, like behind appliances or even in walls. If they were in your curtains, too, it sounds like you had a bad infestation.
I don't see why someone shouldn't have a nice wardrobe whether they had a desk job meeting the public or not. Nor do I see anything wrong with owning a lot of books -- some people have entire home libraries -- or hanging curtains. And, certainly people have a right to a comforable place to sit.
It sounds to me like the landlord was quite willing to hang it all on you.
.
Last edited by CarpathianPeasant; 01-17-2011 at 03:18 PM..
Reason: Emphasizing and spacing.
Someone here must know the words. When I was a kid at camp, we always sang a bed bug song in Yiddish. I have tried to find the Yiddish and English translation for ages, but no luck.
All I remember now in "Ve da vantzen tansen" "See the bedbugs dance"
Bedbugs, as stated above is an ancient problem. It was well managed until the "Lesson of unintended consequences" was applied by our all knowing government when all insecticides that work were taken off the market.
They know no socio economic boundary.
Another cause of this massive re-infestation is due to the pick-up and delivery of beds by reputable companies. They became an easy way to spread the problem with their delivery trucks.
Actually there is more than one strain of bed bugs. And, the ones found around now have been fairly well judged to be a strain that is immune (I'm not sure that's the right word) to those old insecticides used.
While delivery trucks may be an important source of the spread, in my case, anyway, the first time I got an infestation there weren't any deliveries. They were in other apartments and they finally found mine. Meanwhile, I didn't even know the creatures existed.
is there any possibility of a new whiz-bang neurotoxin eradicating these things again?
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The accumulation is material evidence of your life. Once it's gone, there's no evidence that that part of your life even existed. You may need an entirely different outlook on life. 
insomnia chapter 2
