Thomas Gouard
What use to be a bed time story for me when I was younger turned into reality in my early thirties! “Nighty Night, don’t let the bed bugs bite!” Never have I ever encountered these little critters in my life until now while living in Chicago. I have heard people mention them, but I always thought bed bugs were cockroaches. These little things are worse than cockroaches! At least cockroaches find food elsewhere, but bed bugs feed off you; they want your blood and they come for your blood at night.
My first encounter with these critters was after a bike ride. I was hanging out in the lobby of my apartment building logging my bike miles in with my smart phone, and felt a little sting. The sting felt like a little needle being pressed into my skin. I look down on my ankle, and seen a little bug that was the size of a needle on a pen. I flicked it off, but there may have been another that latched on to me a few minutes later. After that encounter, I remembered while moving into my apartment early 2015, signing a form part of my lease about bed bugs and at that point I figured that I’d come across one at some point, but didn’t think it would be a year later. They may have been there before or latched on my clothing while out, but I started encountering them after the pest inspector came in for an inspection. Funny! It’s like once the pest inspector made his appearance that’s when I started noticing them in my apartment. Prior to me noticing them, I realized that I have felt bites, and itching before, but didn’t think that it was a bed bug.
Once I started noticing them coming out, which was late in the evening around 10pm, I started doing research about them and what I needed to do to kill them. The annoying thing about this whole situation was that it all went on during midterms, so it gave me extra to stress about and extra things to study outside of the semester.
Online, I found an overwhelming amount of information on how to get rid of these things that involve money and too much extra time that I did not have. What I wanted was something simple that I could use to get rid of those little bastards! I stumbled on an article mentioning rubbing alcohol, which is something that I keep in my apartment all the time, and once I seen my first one it was on! The alcohol worked and it worked quickly! After killing my first one I stripped my entire bed to see if I could find hiding places and anymore lurking around, but no luck! Finding bed bugs is like looking for a needle in a haystack, so it’s best to wait on them to come out in the late evening.
The next night, I did more research on ways to get rid of them and found multiple YouTube videos of people mixing things together like yeast, sugar, and water; as well as building traps to catch them. Too much time involved in that, so I continued to search “Google”, and found that Lavender oil, Diatomaceous Earth, Indian Lilac, Tea Tree Oil, Turmeric, Lemongrass, Peppermint Oil are all effective ways. All suffocate them when they encounter it, or when it encounters them. I wanted to eventually try them all, but that was if I didn’t kill them all with rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol is by far my favorite weapon because it doesn’t bother me when I spray it everywhere including on my bed and I know that it kills them quickly!
The next day I wanted to stop by Home Depot or Walmart to grab some Diatomaceous Earth, but ended up not, so I stopped at Dollar General instead, and grabbed extra bottles of alcohol, along with an empty spray bottle. Tonight was the big party and I smiled once I got into my apartment. Once it was 10pm, I sprayed the inner part of my bed down with Air Wick Lavender air freshener and then sprayed the outside of my bed where I will be laying at with alcohol. As for the Air Wick air freshener spray, it was used as an alternative way to frustrate and suffocate them. It was a great feeling knowing that I would be getting some rest tonight and that I found things to counter my bed bug issues. Three hours later, I woke up and did a spot check around my bed and found nothing! Rubbing alcohol was my main source of killing bed bugs, but I did have the option to sprinkle things like Diatomaceous Earth, Turmeric, or Baking Soda around my bed and the cracks along the walls in my apartment. As for baking soda, yep! It works! I read an article stating that it works like Diatomaceous Earth; shredding their shell, but nothing’s been proved of that yet.
Trying to get rid of them you must think outside the box before they infest your house or apartment. Make it a habit to spot check your bed or wherever you lay prior to going to sleep and if you don’t fall asleep quickly do another spot check 20 – 30 minutes after you lay down. I have noticed in the past that they come out after you have laid down in your bed for a bit. Some advice from me is to not allow your bed sheets to drape and touch the floor because they can easily crawl up them and get to you.
Anyway, I started this article a year ago and I have not encountered any bed bugs in my apartment, however! If I feel any twitches or sting on my skin, I ‘am quick to look and see if one is there, but most of the time it’s just the hair on my body. To my knowledge, I didn’t really have a serious infestation, thank God, but if I did I would have tried a different approach. That approach would have been utilizing bed bug traps under the legs of my bed to see how many I could catch with that process.
One thing that I can officially say is that I have won the battle against bed bugs, but that doesn’t mean that I will never possibly have them again because they can be anywhere, such as on the train; in a hotel; at school, work, or even in my neighbor’s apartment, and just happen to make their way into my apartment on any day of the week by clinging to my clothing, or even my luggage.
I read about 20 posts of yours and really enjoyed them all.
Thank you Sunny for being one of my regular contributors.
You are welcome, this is the only way we can help each other.
amazing…. never thought they can be beaten!!! ha! good for them wheeeeeeeee
I really cannot remember why I even decided to share this, but it turned out to be hilarious reading it in the end. It cracks me up seeing that it has so many views.
The little birdie in my ear is telling me to do something similar with earwax. I have battled with it also in the past, but discovered ways to get it out.
haha… of course.. the texts are funny and people would want to know the battle between you and the bedbugs.
**itchy!
I wish I would have got pictures of the ones that I caught. The ones that I caught I tortured them in a jar by shaking it. Such a sweet guy I am, lol.
my gosh…so violent, but don’t they smell too.
I’ll never know because I had them sealed in where they could not breathe. Prior to them being caught, they did bite me, so I was still bitter about that.
that’s funny, i know for a fact they have a certain smell when crushed.
The thought of them smelling sounds disgusting
I had found out that getting rid of bed bugs are a very difficult job to do. Last month, when I was dealing with a bed bug issue I had washed off all the clothes right away. Most of the people throw out beds, mattresses or furniture solely because they can be cleaned thoroughly but you need to wash your cloth. But, sometimes fighting with bed bugs can be a long and drawn out process that may take a lot of energy. So, you can call help from the exterminator in Bronx NY team which is also a best option.
I’m just happy that I did not have a huge infestation or I would of definitely had to get ahold of a exterminator. I will keep that in mind, and also refer others to you
Congratulations on a well deserved victory
Thank you, Alex. Its a crazy situation to deal with.
Sounds like it. But now you have a solid defense
I caught two that are dead as a door nail in a bottle that i put them in. I suffocated and tortured them until they died 🙂 They lived no longer than a week inside of a airless container.
Unfortunately, insects aren’t capable of learning; you can’t negotiate or even threaten them. It’s all or nothing with those guys
Shits all fun and games to these f0ckers until they become the hunted, and get caught by an annoyed human that hasn’t got any sleep 🙂
They think it is a game, but you’re not playing around- you’re playing for keeps
After I experience bed bugs in one of the hotels in Laos, I now have the habit of checking the back of the mattresses whenever I check in into a hotel. Lol!
I remember staying at a hostel and getting ate up by one at night. Has me very suspicious about staying in one again. It also makes me suspicious about a hotel that I stay in every year while visiting Hawaii. There is a couch inside of the room that I’m skeptical about laying on. T
Hahahaha! Yeah I understand the trauma. Just check the back of the mattress. If it is clean, it is likely it is free. But if it has many blood stains then be careful with it. What scared me the most is the thought of the bug getting inside my ear. Coz I woke up finding two in my pillow!
Ouch! That would be frustrating if one was in the ear. For me, lets hope that it doesn’t get inside of my left ear because I normally have the worse buildup of wax in it, lol. When dealing with the phobia, I always have to slap and rub whatever area itches to insure that I smash it.
I’m glad you managed to solve this problem
Same here, Vidocka. Once you experience these things, its like you pick up this phobia of them finding their way into your apartment again.
Yikes! Glad you finally succeeded. I had a friend that went through this with 3 kids!
I bet that was rough for her. Lots of time and energy involved with this, and possibly money.