We’re having a crazy morning. The short version of the story is: somehow in the midst of Covid19 we got bed bugs. Yes, we haven’t left the property for more than a few hours since the beginning of March, we haven’t had any visitors (we literally live in a one-room cabin with two exterior studio offices), but somehow Michael started getting bit in the classic three-bite pattern in October.
We’ve dealt with bed bugs once before. Many years ago (easily 15+ years) Michael saw an older gentleman covered in bites at his gym but thought nothing of it until a few days later when we were bit.
We did then what we immediately did this past fall, we tore the bedroom apart, removed all the extra mattress/pillow protectors, etc. Washed/dried everything on high heat. Then literally duct-taped the mattress back into its zippered dust mite cover.
No signs of bugs.
None.
Michael got bit again a couple of nights later. Even though wrapping the mattress, etc, had taken care of the problem last time.
So …
Michael then tore the entire bedroom area apart a second time and STEAM CLEANED every surface, including removing the kicks on the cupboards, the electrical outlets, EVERYTHING. Then he rewashed and dried the sheets/blankets/etc.
The bugs bit him ferociously that night.
I, BTW, hadn’t gotten bitten at all up to this point.
Sigh.
So … after much, much research and seeking professional help for an infestation we can’t find any evidence of, we have dropped about a thousand+ dollars on a heating system. Yep, we’re cooking the bugs. It’s taken Michael days to get the house prepped and we put the finishing touches on it all this morning. The fans can only be hooked up to the dryer and oven outlets – new electrical cords had to actually be made by the electrician working on our cabin addition. And everything that could be damaged by high heat needed to be removed … with the caveat that you want to remove very little that can’t also be run through a hot dryer for 30 minutes before sealing it in garbage bags.
There is also some concern that the heat will damage our cabinets (hence the green tape all over the edges in the picture). And when Michael cooked out his office last Friday, as a precaution so we could use it for storage, the heat managed to pull sap out of his hundred-year-old reclaimed fir desks … so yeah, that might happen to our gorgeous table, etc.
Anyway! We are now officially locked out of the cabin for 24-hours. We’re hanging in our offices for most of the day with Leo and Miranda (turtle). And, you know, to make certain we don’t blow a breaker or set the house on fire. We’ll sleep overnight in a hotel. Eating picnic style out of a cooler for lunch/breakfast and hopefully finding something edible for dinner in ‘town’.
I’m supposed to be writing this afternoon but honestly I’m thinking of cracking open a new book.
Wish us luck!!
That’s really awful. I went through that a few years ago after my husband brought bedbugs home from a work conference he attended. I found out very quickly that I am deathly allergic to bedbugs and he had nary a bite. We ended up doing the same thing you did – cooking the whole house and spending the night in a hotel. (Paid a company to do it.) It did work but man, I never want to go through that again!! Good luck and my deepest sympathies for your plight!
Yeah, on a small island here so we had to get the heaters shipped in. Total do-it-yourself LOL
thank you!
So sorry you guys are dealing with this Megan! I remember when my city had a bad infestation of them. On public transit and everything! They are so hard to get rid of and sometimes it can be draining! Hope it all goes well, take some time crack that book open and some wine! You deserve it 🥰❤️
My DIL worked at a hotel a few years ago that developed an issue…you are obviously doing everything they did and I was going to suggest!! Good luck and a blight on the little buggers!!
OMG! along with that book I’d be cracking a bottle of anything alcoholic!
I wish I drank! HA
If all this doesn’t work, try some bean leaves… if you can find some. I have never had to try it, but when there was a lot of news about hotel infestations, and I was traveling for work, I looked into prevention, and the what ifs, and read about this.
https://news.uci.edu/2013/04/09/bean-leaves-can-trap-bedbugs-researchers-find/#:~:text=Bean%20leaves%20can%20trap%20bedbugs,%20researchers%20find.%20Theoretically,,floor.%20Synthetic%20materials%20could%20provide%20a%20nontoxic%20alternative.
Thank you!
Bed bugs suck, dealed with them too last year such a pain in the @$*. Hope the heating helps. Sometimes they arent inside the mattress, but in furniture. Good luck with it, hope you get rid of them soon.
OMG! What a hassle! So sorry you’re dealing with this Meghan😣Sounds like you’re doing everything you can so hopefully all your strategies work🙏🏻🤞🏻
My daughter found 1 in a little boys shoe, but he was leaving right away tho.
I sprayed our couches, we didn’t find any others. N I hopened we don’t find any more…
Oh, Michael has my sympathy! A few years ago I was visiting in Burnaby and the person I was visiting didn’t have a bite but I got chewed royally. Next morning saw the little monsters on the white bathroom floor and on the throw cushion in the living room. Needless to say I cut my visit short. Had my husband meet me at the ferry with clean clothes from the skin out in a big garbage bag then went into the bathroom and changed. That bag went into another bag and when we got home washables went into the washer and hot dryer and everything else went into the freezer for a week. Good luck with the cooking
So sorry to hear about the bugs. Maybe they snuck in with Christmas gifts? That is one of the things I always worried about when my husband traveled a lot. Especially when he first started it was back before reviews were on the internet. So you didn’t always know about the hotels he booked.
Good luck with the baking, certainly not the type you usually do 😁
Never gone through anything like this before, like you I have not been anywhere, bought any old clothes or furniture. I woke up with bites on my face, back arms.
That was three weeks ago and bites are slowly going, apprently I’m one of the lucky ones that gets a a bad reaction to their bites.
Thankfully no new bites, still have no idea where they came from.
Good luck! Do start reading a new book, you deserve the treat!
My gf and I have been living out of garbage bags on our balcony for the past 5 months, we’ve had three spray treatments so far plus every home remedy imaginable. Everytime you think they’re gone (few weeks with no bites) they suddenly start showing up again. We haven’t been bit in over a month now and we still don’t trust it… another couple weeks and maybe we’ll slowly start putting the place back in order… Maybe.
We’ve essentially been moved out of our place for half a year, EVERYTHING is on the balcony, one bag of clothes each that get washed every few days, one plate each etc.. it is some kind of hell I feel ya. I put duct tape over the bites. It works pretty well to stop yourself from scratching but you look and feel ridiculous of course covered in tape patches… Best of luck!
Best spray is Hot Shot. Bag mattress and springs, available at many stores and Amazon. Put wide tape around switch plates and plug plates. They live in walls. Spray walls top to bottom. take mattress and springs off bed and spray. Be sure to spray around windows and doors. Wash all clothing and bedding Hot water. Spray sofa, chairs ,etc. If you buy new bedding be sure to bag before putting inside house.
Love the series but when will we hear from Jade again?
Jade will periodically appear in the Misfit books. 😊
We just went through this, with a 5 day old newborn. I got bit and swelled up good. We got a professional in, he used a powder all over the house and lent us a heat tent to cook our fabric furniture and mattress. Only could vacuum for 2 months no washing floors or walls. We haven’t had a bite since thankfully.
We are deaking with an infestation since august and we moved in june. We believe that one of the kids brought it in from somewhere or they may have been here before because there were traps laid out during our move in inspection. Our landlord sent their contractors to come spray our home. They came and sprayed our place 3 times now at incriments of 4 weeks apart and our problem still remains and the kids are suffering from multiple bites. My 10 year old refuses to sleep in the room due to the bigs and been sleeping on the living room floor. We are at the verge of getting rid of all our belongings and move out starting frsh with new befs, furniture, clothes etc to replace what we had. But first We will look into spending money ourselves and try to get the k-9s to come in to do a thorough inspection and then hire them to do heat treatment in hopes to getbrid of the bugs. Wish us luck.
Good luck!!!