About a week ago my housemate starting getting hives all up her arm, her neck and across her face. Then I got a couple...
I showed them around lab and some wise person said, "You know, they look like bed bug bites." This got me thinking, what do bed bugs look like? A quick perusal on google very swiftly let me know that the "beetle" I squashed last week on the couch was in fact an adult Cimex lectularius.
Ho-ly SHIT.
All hell has broken loose in my apartment. Everything that could be laundered was washed and dried on hot in one evening, then has been sealed in garbage bags. Everything that couldn't be laundered has been bagged up and is awaiting dry cleaning, freezing or napalm. (Turns out I'm a pretty good liar and managed to persuade lab safety to loan "our lab" a -80C freezer for two weeks so that all the yarn and sweaters and teddy bears can be frozen solid.) Literally everything I own that is not furniture is currently in a plastic bag. I shit you not.
Ho-ly SHIT.
All hell has broken loose in my apartment. Everything that could be laundered was washed and dried on hot in one evening, then has been sealed in garbage bags. Everything that couldn't be laundered has been bagged up and is awaiting dry cleaning, freezing or napalm. (Turns out I'm a pretty good liar and managed to persuade lab safety to loan "our lab" a -80C freezer for two weeks so that all the yarn and sweaters and teddy bears can be frozen solid.) Literally everything I own that is not furniture is currently in a plastic bag. I shit you not.
I think the couch was the epicenter of the infestation (it's the only place I was ever bitten and the only place we and the exterminator found bugs) and it has been disposed of. As has the armchair that was next to it. Everything has been sprayed with pesticide and will be sprayed again on Monday and quite possibly again a week after that. I've ordered encasements for the beds so that if there are bugs in there they can't get out and any stragglers from the couch wont be able to make their way in. I'm going to buy new pillows.
Just in case the person who is my Sit n' Knit Neck Warmer Swap recipient is reading this, your cowl was the first thing to be ziplock-ed and put in my freezer. It'll soon be moved to the -80. I'm trying my hardest not to spread the love.
So yeah. I have no yarn, one pair of shoes and seven days worth of clothes in a garbage bag. Housing put me up in "guest accommodation" which was infested with cockroaches. I hightailed it out of there as soon as one crawled across me while I was watching TV. The front desk gave me keys to the "emergency accommodation" which was thankfully free of obvious bugs.
I feel like a bag lady and a leper and the pied piper of bugs all rolled into one.Check your luggage folks, this is not fun.
Just in case the person who is my Sit n' Knit Neck Warmer Swap recipient is reading this, your cowl was the first thing to be ziplock-ed and put in my freezer. It'll soon be moved to the -80. I'm trying my hardest not to spread the love.
So yeah. I have no yarn, one pair of shoes and seven days worth of clothes in a garbage bag. Housing put me up in "guest accommodation" which was infested with cockroaches. I hightailed it out of there as soon as one crawled across me while I was watching TV. The front desk gave me keys to the "emergency accommodation" which was thankfully free of obvious bugs.
I feel like a bag lady and a leper and the pied piper of bugs all rolled into one.Check your luggage folks, this is not fun.
I am so sorry this happened to you. Let me know if there's anything I can do to give you a hand.
ReplyDeleteICK. i am so sorry you have to deal with this shit. wtf.
ReplyDeleteugh, so gross!! you poor thing! i hope this resolves itself soon!
ReplyDeleteholy moly!!! so sorry about that!! AHH!! I cannot even imagine!! you poor thing!!
ReplyDeleteAH!
Hope things get better soon!
Crap!! That is horrible!!!
ReplyDeleteWe just had this conversation in my knitting group recently. One woman lived in India for a 6 month exchange program. She had bed bugs in her room. The locals told her to pour gasoline over everything. She pulled her mattress and other belongings to the roof and did that and let sit in the sun for days. Afterwards she got bit again. In a fit of frustration she turned over her bed. Underneath her metal bed frame and all along the frame were the bed bug eggs all layed on their. She used a toothbrush and gasoline and scrubbed the hell out of it. That did the trick.
Oiyi,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure housing would appreciate me washing everything in gasoline, especially since the feel right now I'd be tempted to take a match to it.
I will be isolating my bed when we move back in. Basically it can't touch the walls or floor (no more underbed yarn storage :( ), the bed frame will be caulked to close any gaps, the frame itself will be set in plastic cups covered in double sided carpet tape to catch any bugs trying to crawl up that way. Bed clothes will only be worn in the bed. The mattress and box spring will be placed in bug proof and bite proof casings.
As for the rest of the apartment. I've ordered one case of XXL ziplocs but more than likely will be ordering a couple more. Everything (once laundered and dried on hot) will be kept sealed. Dirty laundry will also have to go straight into a ziploc. We wont have a couch or any soft furnishings for the foreseeable future or until the exterminator gives up the all clear.
I have to stop now, I'm getting too itchy.
holy lord!! if you need clothes, yarn, needles, place to crash, shoulder to drink on, i'm your girl!
ReplyDeleteoh no. been there, done that. still having the exterminator come in every other month to spray just the keep them away. i had to throw away the sofa and two armchairs that we bought new when we moved in and that, by rights, would have lasted us for YEARS. i truly, truly feel for you.
ReplyDelete