Bed Bug Infestation: A Real-Life Tale

The Importance of Bed Bug Monitoring

Bed bugs have been around for centuries – a pest problem most often associated with developing countries.  However, the international community has recently seen a resurgence of bed bugs plaguing homes and businesses in every country regardless of affluence or living conditions.  Experts suggest that our society’s increase in travel combined with an overall lack of bed bug prevention awareness has led to the growth of this costly pest problem.

The biggest myth surrounding bed bug infestation is that bed bugs only inhabit dirty or unhygienic locations. In reality, bed bugs are not attracted to dirt or filth – they are attracted to warmth, blood, and carbon dioxide.  Even the cleanliest of places can still be affected by a bed bug infestation, including five-star hotels and luxury cruise ships.

Initial Bed Bug Reactions and Research

In college, I (unfortunately) got to experience a bed bug infestation firsthand.  Being a senior, I had roommates.  About a month and half after moving in, I started to notice that my roommate was no longer sleeping in his room, but out on the couch.  When asked why, he said he had noticed some small brown bugs on his wall and around his bed and thought it better to stay out until he could call maintenance to come and spray.  I peeked in and saw one small, flat, reddish-brown bug on the wall.  I watched from afar as it crawled down the wall and disappeared behind the mattress.

I began to research fervently and found that indeed it was the dreaded bed bug.  The more I researched the more my skin began to crawl.  Bed bugs feed by biting and drinking a person’s blood, which usually takes five minutes per bite. They are very small and feed at night, which is why they are typically found near a person’s bed.  They usually bite in patterns of three and are attracted by carbon dioxide emitted when a person exhales.  This leads to bites being predominantly on a person’s face, neck, arms, and chest. Bed bugs are very good hiders during the day – usually between floor boards and mattresses – but they are even small enough to hide behind wallpaper.

Bed bugs also love to travel and will latch on to various items or crawl through holes and walls to find additional food sources.  They can live for months without actually feeding and the female bed bug can lay over 500 eggs in a lifetime!

Bed Bug Detection and Elimination

We immediately went to work doing all the recommended procedures to get rid of bed bugs. We had to throw away my roommate’s mattress because the bed bug infestation was so severe; we bagged all of his dryer-safe items and dried them on high heat.  And we, of course, called an exterminator.

Our management company refused to pay for any pest control because there had been no previous history of bed bug infestation.  In all likelihood the bed bugs came in by hiding in the nooks and crannies of the used bed frame my roommate had purchased from a local thrift store.  Bed bugs often arrive via used furniture from a location that had bed bugs.

My roommate decided to choose the cheapest pest control company.  They used a spray pesticide only in the infected room and then we waited…

Bed Bugs…Back Again

For two months our bed bug problem seemed fixed.  Then one morning I woke up with large, red, itchy welts on my arms in a pattern of three.  Because the first exterminator did not properly treat the problem, the bed bugs had managed to travel to my bedroom.  Not everyone experiences a reaction to bed bug bites – but for those who do, reactions can range from small welts to a severe allergic reaction.  My roommate had no bed bug reaction (which I believe is how the infestation got as bad as it did).  I, on the other hand, had multiple welts on my arms and neck that even cortisone cream couldn’t relieve.  We immediately bagged all of our items and called the exterminator again.

After a handful of calls, I found a pest control professional who was very knowledgeable about bed bugs and he helped us take a multifaceted approach to ridding the apartment of them for good.  The exterminator used a pesticide around the base boards in all rooms and even in the staircases outside our apartment door; he also used a non-toxic freeze spray on my bed frame and other surfaces I came into contact with regularly.  Finally, he suggested we purchase special fabric mattress covers that would not only keep bed bugs out, but seal them in as well (so they would not continue to spread, if by chance there were still any bugs or eggs remaining in the mattress).  After his visit, we had finally rid our apartment of bed bugs for good.

Bed Bug Monitors – A Before and After Solution

Bird-X offers a product to detect whether or not bed bugs are present – Bed Bug ALERT Monitors.  These bed bug detection monitors are extremely helpful in early identification and elimination of the pest before a full blown bed bug infestation occurs.  If I had used Bed Bug ALERT Monitors after the first exterminator came, it would have let us know that the problem still existed before I got all of those itchy bites.  We also could have had a bit more peace of mind after the second exterminator if the traps found no evidence of any more bed bugs instead of us worrying for months if they might make an appearance again.