#TeamKillTheBedBugs!!

We also bought bed bug covers for the box spring and mattress ($45 each at Wal Mart. Go! Now!). I know that throwing away furniture is a big no-no, but honestly, we tossed our bed frame and bedside table, and then vacuumed the hell out of the apartment again after transporting them into the bin outside. After everything I’ve read, a good majority of people have said they inevitably throw out their bed frames and nearby furniture. I just decided to eliminate one for-sure issue. After every vacuuming session, we suck up a boatload of DE into the bag to ensure they are suffering til death in their dark, blood deprived hellhole. God, I hope this all works.

Came home today to find a few dead ones. Miniscule triumph after an 8 hour duty day at the laundromat. Still have no idea how my wool uniform is going to survive a dryer for 40 minutes, I’m hoping a Dryel bag will protect it from shrinking. I’d throw it all away, except I still have to work and it will take 2 weeks for new uniform pieces to arrive. The whole lot is currently quarantined, tied up in double bagged heavy duty garbage bags.
I will update our trials and tribulations as they happen. I am crossing my fingers for everyone.

So if you use public transportation:

Once you go home take off all your clothes put them in a bag. That immediately reduces your chances of getting these things. Then of course wash all your clothing.

Believe me these bedbugs are on buses and the trains. It’s like I cannot believe I forgot about this…I just found these bugs and I am freaked out and grossed out I hope though that this tip can help any one of you out.

I have put mattress and foundation in plastic zip casings along with pillows. She has no bedding on ther bed other than a throw she sleeps under. We have sprayed all baseboards more than once with Flea and Bedbug killer. Also have sprayed around baseboards with alcohol. She did have whelps on her her prior to all this and now has not been bit since then. I packed up all clothes that were not in use along with pillows, stuffed animals and anything else did n’t have to have and put them in those bags where you suck the air out and have put them in outside storage building.

Personally I want her to move to another apt. But she likes this one and wants to stay. There is another apt. in the building and a business underneath. Who knows where they come from. I’m sure they are still there.

BUT if you are very persistent, these would probably work on their own. I just read a life story from Paris in 1900 talking about bedbugs … before DDT .. and they got rid of them doing things like this.

Don’t give up! You don’t have to throw out/spray/heat-treat everything you own!

First steps:

1. Bugs usually stay close to where you sleep/sit for many hours i.e. bed, sofa, if you work at home maybe office chair or desk, plus baseboards or small tables right beside those areas. So even if you have a lot of clutter (like me!) they probably will NOT be in other areas (bookshelf across the room, or kitchen, bathroom etc.) Ignore those for now — concentrate on obvious places.

2. BED and BED FRAME:

If your bed has legs (not boxspring straight on floor) Find a plain white or pale coloured sheet and lay it under the bed, lifting bed legs GENTLY, so you can see if anything falls off frame as you work.

Take linens/blankets off bed and seal in plastic bag, then launder, or just tumble dry hot for 60min.

Look carefully at mattress and bedframe in case there are obvious bugs and/or areas with little black spots that look like ink stains. Also look at wall around/under bed, especially baseboards, and any furniture near bed. Clusters of black spots show where insects are hiding.

Live bugs can be killed with alcohol, Murphy’s oil soap and various contact methods mentioned by other posters. Spray anything that moves! Spray any areas with black spots!

Do everything you can BEFORE moving whole mattress too far i.e. slide it along two feet and look at top and all sides, take care of anything you see, THEN lift and stand it on end to see the bottom of it. Bedbugs feel vibrations and will crawl away from the area if it is moving too much, plus can fall off onto carpet etc.

Look at all seams, crevices etc of mattress and spray.

After dealing with mattress: If you can take apart your bed frame, carefully do so. Any loose bugs should fall onto sheet. Stand parts of bedframe on end, and spray/wipe down with contact killer. Put back together; put clean sheets on.

Ideally, put each bed leg in a stainless steel bowl and fill bowls with insect killer solution, or wrap bed legs in double sided sticky tape.

3. CLUTTER AROUND/UNDER BED: Clear out and throw away or seal up anything stored around/under beds, sofa, anywhere you get bitten. Sealed things you are keeping have to be sealed for six months minimum, some people say 18 months. Then vacuum around the area, seal and throw out vacuum bag. (vacuuming does not do a lot as bugs tend to hide in deeper cracks/crevices, also the eggs are laid with sticky substance attached to wood surfaces and won’t vacuum up, but still a good idea for any loose/stray ones.)

4. INSECT DUST: Dust with diatomaceous earth also called Crawling Insect Killer– works great — I bought some at garden section of Canadian Tire for 7.99 Works well but takes time (they crawl through and it gets into their joints and dehydrates them but not an instant kill; any eggs need to hatch and then crawl through it … this could be 2-3 week process before noticing results)

How to dust with Diatomaceous Earth:

Careful! This is not poison but can get into your lungs and be harmful as they are tiny very sharp particles. Very bad to breathe in.

Shake up bottle with lid closed, then open the tip, hold bottle horizontally, and squeeze/puff it out into the areas where bugs are … it comes out in a cloud of very fine powder. Wear a dust mask if possible, or hold your breath, then leave room/apartment and don’t come back for at least one hour while dust settles.

Not effective to leave it in “lumps” — should fall in a very fine “mist” of powder onto floors, bed-frame and any surfaces where they may be crawling. Luckily it is so fine you can puff it onto walls, into cracks, etc.

Leave it down for 2-3 weeks. After you vacuum, dust everything again.

5. CLOTHING: If you have clothes that are dryclean or cold water wash only, just throw them straight into dryer for 60 minutes without washing first. Tumbling clothes in dryer for 60 min on hot setting will kill everything, even eggs, and won’t hurt most delicate fabrics as long as they are DRY when they go in.

(some synthetics like sheer nylon may melt, so be careful with those, but silk, wool, cashmere, cotton etc are fine)

6. Glad Wrap your sofa:
If infested and you can’t afford to replace it, wrap it thickly tightly and completely in saran wrap. This is a whole evening or whole day project, took me 7 hours and 8 standard size (in Canada 60m) rolls (5h, then had to re-do part, 2 more hours).

How to Saran Wrap your Sofa:

I took off seat cushions and wrapped each separately in 3-4 layers. Then wrapped the rest of sofa as one piece. Wrapped starting at each end (arms/legs) and working toward middle. This is tricky, it needs to be stretched tight around legs, plus need to leave extra loose wrap on “L” shape between back and seat because it will stretch and break when you sit down on it.

Tips:
a) Pat and smooth down each layer with your hand as you go.
b) Look on YouTube for videos of furniture movers saran-wrapping furniture … not quite the same, but gives a basic idea of what to do.

You need to do at least three layers over entire sofa. Try to stretch tight everywhere EXCEPT inside the “L” seat-back join of sofa (i.e. where your ass goes … ) in that area you need to leave the saran wrap loose but put lots of layers.

Think about working on a diagonal or figure-8 whenever you can
i.e. from front bottom leg around outside end to top back corner then back inside the arm toward front bottom leg …

Did mine with trial and error, time consuming but can’t afford new sofa and don’t want to buy another used one in case of bugs!!

I’ve tried sprays, bombs, exterminators, etc. I even have the best mattress covers money can buy, and that knocked them down to a much lower level for months, but they have since attacked from other areas (since I know they can’t get out of the mattresses).

They keep coming back. These things have ruined our sleeping, and we are even afraid to have friends or relatives over for a visit, let alone staying over as we live way out in the country. There is no way I want the rest of my family getting bit by these things.

After doing much research (multiple tens of hours reading every paper I can get my hands on without much hope of ever being allowed to use DDT, and I’m a relatively smart person), I have decided on the following course of action:

First, do the obligatory clean, wash, clear, steam clean, spray with conventional store bedbug products and bombs. Then…after the first waves (which they’re used to by now)…

Here we go. I have recently purchased 48 ounces of pure essential oils: 16 oz clove leaf (you have to use the leaf kind for this as it has much more eugenol in it), 8 oz peppermint, 16 oz neema, and 8 oz orange to make it all a bit more balanced.

I also bought 25 lbs. of DE food grade that comes with a powder spray load and applicator, sold in a box.

First, after the usual conventional attack, which by the way they recover from in only a few weeks…but I’m not waiting for that. In fact, only three days after…

The DE goes down. EVERY nook and cranny conceivable and in every desk, around every bookcase, etc. On every bed frame, and even between, over and under every mattress, and window sill. Everywhere, as shown in how-to-apply videos. Not just willy-nilly, but everywhere just the same.

Then, a spray of the essential oils I just mentioned. After mixing all of the oils together, I will fill a spray bottle halfway with it, topping off with water, and of course constantly shaking while applying.

EVERYTHING gets it. Everything we don’t eat off of. The saltwater fish tank, obviously will be covered in plastic, and the pets and people out of the house. The carpet gets it, too; heat/AC vents, intakes, etc. (Of course, the windows will be open, and I will be wearing protective gloves, goggles, and a mask)

And I know they’ll run. Right through the DE (it only works if they walk through it); put down at every baseboard, every exit, cranny, vent, in ways they MUST contact it. They will have no choice, to get away from this spray which they will not only hate but will kill them if it touches them.

All the clothes will be outside in bags, as they will once again be run through the dry-wash-dry cycle. All drawers will be emptied, removed, and sprayed inside and out.

No mercy.

And when they come back in (and they will)…to get to us…they have to run right through the DE.

Oh, and by the way…repeat everything in two weeks.

I’ll let you all know how it goes. Of course, the house will smell like potpourri for a long time, but hey, there are worse things (bite bite bite all night night night).

The above supplies (48 oz of essential oils and 25 lbs of DE food grade with applicator) cost $115.00. Much less than some of the other things I’ve tried.

Wish us luck! I hope we’re not crazy…