Day 73: Lessons learned from the bed bug war

Hopefully the great bed bug war of 2013 is over, but honestly, we will not know for sometime.

Despite not knowing the final out come to this war, I have decided to share some lessons learned (thanks Ashlee for reminding me that this would be a benefit to others).

1 - The old saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is aptly applied to bed bugs. One night at a hotel room (in our case 2 nights) equals a month long battle....hopefully it will not last longer.

2 - The best protection against bed bugs is knowledge....and then using that knowledge to stop the little pests from ever stepping foot into your home.

3 - You should look at sites on-line, talk to exterminators, and to people who have battled bed bugs to understand the best possible preventions while staying away from home.

A few prevention tips:

A - When checking into a hotel, leave all of your belongings in the car until you have checked your room thoroughly.
B - Use a flashlight to check the mattresses, box springs, hide-a-beds, behind the head board, behind the pictures on the wall.
C - You are looking for a small, flat bug that can be anywhere from clear to black (it gets darker as it feeds...on your blood). Bed bugs do NOT get any larger than an apple seed. They are fast moving. They like quiet, dark areas.
D - You are also looking for what appears to be blood splotches or mold spots....usual signs of a bed bug infestation.
E - If you find bed bugs in the hotel room, immediately go to the front desk and ask for a new room. Repeat the above steps with the new room. If the second room has bed bugs, immediately ask the front desk to help you find a new hotel to stay at. Repeat the above steps at the new hotel.
F - When you have a safe hotel room, do NOT place your luggage on the bed. Luggage needs to be on the fold out luggage racks or on the table...not the end tables by the beds or the couch.
G - Do NOT put your clothes in the drawers. Bed bugs like quiet dark places to sleep. They also like to have 3 sides protecting them...drawers have lots of little spaces to hide.
H - Bring a kitchen garbage bag with you - all of your dirty laundry should be placed inside the garbage bag.
I - Immediately wash all clothing as soon as you get home from the hotel. Throw the garbage bag away immediately - outside, not in the house. Vacuum your luggage immediately.

Back to lessons learned:

4 - It can take 2 to 3 months from the time you stayed at a hotel for signs of bed bugs to show up in your house. I have no idea why. I do know the little buggers can live for a year without eating. I do know the females lay about 100 eggs a day. I do know, the eggs are small & white - very hard to see with the naked eye. I do know they lay the eggs anywhere & everywhere - papers, books, clothes, luggage, etc.

5 - The easiest sign that you have bed bugs is waking up in the morning with bites....sadly, not everyone shows this sign. You see, these lovely bugs (and they are true bugs...whatever that means), are kind enough to use an anesthesia on you right before they suck your blood just so you do not feel any pain. Isn't that kind of them? Their bites leave barely a mark. It is usually a perfectly round circle, very small and flat...unless you start to itch. The itching is actually an allergic reaction to the bites themselves. The anesthesia wears off, and if you have an allergic reaction you itch and then the bites look very similar to mosquito bites, flea bites and spider bites. Some people are even diagnosed with a mysterious rash...that is how hard it is to tell that you have a bed bug bite! Yippee! Not. Oh, one other thing about bed bug bites - they are usually in some kind of row in threes. It is called by the experts (just wiki it), "Breakfast, lunch & dinner". So, for every three bites, you know you have 1 bed bug.

Side note: I am extremely thankful that my children had allergic reactions to the bed bites, especially S who looked like she was having the chicken pox all over again or ran into angry mob of bees. Poor kid.

6 - Bed bugs do not feed every night. Since they can go for a really long time without eating, you can be tricked into thinking they are gone...and then "pop up" the next week or even a month later...see why I keep saying I am not sure if my personal war is over?

7 - Extreme heat & extreme cold will kill bed bugs. Alcohol wipes will kill the eggs. All the cleaning, steaming, washing, drying, freezing in the world will not get rid of bed bugs. Cleaning is not enough!!! It is just one tool in your arsenal. A useful tool. An important tool, but not the only tool.

8 - The earlier you catch the problem the better. We stayed at a hotel in October. My children started showing allergic reactions to the bites at the end of December....we had (have) a light infestation. So light, that the exterminators only found one bed bug in my son's room. I have been trying to get rid of this light infestation for a month...and I am still not done.

9 - Bed bugs were all but gone for 60 years and have started making a come back - big time. This is not "if I get bed bugs", it is "when I get bed bugs." Forewarned is forearmed. Study, know, use all the preventions and hopefully it will never happen to you.

10 - Exterminators may use harsh chemicals that you hate...but they are in the business to know how to get rid of bed bugs. yes, clean. yes, use home remedies, but also use your friendly neighborhood exterminator. He is one of your tools.

11 - Bed bugs are not a part of the monthly package from exterminators. Bed bugs are like fleas & termites...it will cost you extra for the exterminators to get rid of bed bugs. Why? Because it takes a different chemical and different way to kill them. Trust me, bed bugs can go places  your vacuum will never, ever reach: behind baseboards, behind cracks in the walls, behind electric outlets & light switches, etc. They are small, they are flat, they are nasty.

12 - The prep work is hard, the clean up after is hard. You will be stressed. You will be tired. You will want to give up. If you are like me, you will start having mind games when thinking of bed bugs: if I take these clothes to the washer/dryer did I possibly just move bed bugs and their eggs to my laundry room? I have wiped down everything, stored it in plastic bags...but was it enough? Did I miss something? Trust me, you will look at all of your possessions: books, toys, pictures, stuff animals, pillows, desks...everything with horrible thoughts of wonder "are there bed bugs still lurking? what is safe?"

13 - Having bed bugs is not an indication of being dirty. It is sadly, a part of life now. Ask for help. Warn others of the danger. The more everyone knows, the better able we are as a society keep bed bugs in check.

14. Everyone is affected by bed bugs. Not just the person who stayed in the hotel...everyone at home is affected. Everyone.

I think that is everything, but I do have this one final thought:

I won't be able to explain this well through the typed word. It is just a feeling, a fleeting thought...not a well thought out analogy. So please bear with me.

I see the whole bed bug war - staying at a hotel, months later discovering the bed bugs, how it affects an entire home, family (if you live in an apartment building - other families) kind of like the dumb mistakes that happen in life and how they affect us.

For example, when my parents came to visit me a couple of years ago, their home was broken into and their car was stolen. This affected their entire vacation, it affected their lives when they returned home - it certainly affected their home! Could they have done more to ensure the break-in didn't happen? I have no idea.

But stuff like that happens all the time. We make a choice, we take an action...and it affects us & everyone around us (good or bad). Sometimes we do not see that consequence (good or bad) of those choices until months or years later.

Not sure that makes sense...and I will be honest, I have tried several times to write this final thought down. I even published a different version...it didn't feel right. This one feels right, just not complete. I will have to keep think on it.