k_bedBug_wisdom

See also staggering marginal ROI

Some people think a single sighting implies they must treat everything in the entire building, and stay in hotel for a few days. Even after treatment , they fear the bedbugs could come back from neighbors. So every family in the neighborhood has to move out to hotels 3 times a year (carrying bedbugs)? Well, germs (and covid viruses) are around us everywhere except clean rooms, so we humans have to live with them.

I read that “Since they prefer to nest within about 15 feet (5m) of their host, you’ll probably find them hiding in tight spaces near your bed.”

Q: if you find up to 3 bedbug on your bed and nowhere else, do you need to treat entire house? It’s a touch chocie of cost vs risk.

• If you opt for higher (not 100% permanent) protection, then move to hotel, treat entire house, move back and clean everything. Tcost would be many hours, far heavier than the $cost. Unfortunately, I won’t believe any guarantee by anyone that the bedbugs will not come back within a month. Note bedbugs can come from neighbor or carried by a host including visitors. So this is a super-high-cost, lower-risk, 99% reliable option.
• If you opt for pragmatic living, then you can choose to treat (or replace) the mattress and observe. If bedbugs /resurface/ in a month, then they probably have a nest outside the mattress (unless the professional treatment was incomplete.. unlikely) so you may need to treat or replace the bed. If bedbugs only come back afer a year, then you may consider using cheaper mattress from now on, so you can replace them easily. This is a low-cost, higher-risk option.

— https://www.epa.gov/bedbugs/how-find-bed-bugs hints that bed bugs mostly hide on the bed, and in other parts of home only if heavily infested.

— https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=SG&hl=en-GB&v=EVk3xFClDQA video says Infestation takes months. In the beginning, they only stay on your bed.

Weekly check.

—http://bedbugscrusher.com/how-to-search-for-bed-bugs/
But the good news is there are very common areas that will usually be heavily infested prior to them spreading to these tiny little hiding spots that may be more difficult to uncover. So if you start with these areas and find the problem has just begun and the infestation has not become severe yet, it is possible to get rid of the problem on your own without the need for expensive professional help. It is still a LOT of work, but many people in recent years have been able to completely rid their homes of bed bugs all by themselves.

If you checked your entire bed and haven’t seen one little 1/4th inch size bug running away from you when he’s been exposed, then you probably don’t have any bed bugs in your home. They would not build a nest 10 feet away from their food if there is still tons of real estate available within a foot or two of their food.

Now if you have confirmed bed bugs, even if it’s just a handful, you need to treat your entire house.

Chemicals — VIC 80 SC (spray); (gas) Newhunt total release aerosol

The visual inspection was 1 hour +/-. The inspector checked all mattresses, bamboo mat (not bed sheet). He checked behind the queen bed. He checked my empty backpacks in the wardrobe close to the infested queen bed. He checked curtains in the same room. He checked the wire casing.

Each time, he examined only (what I call) strategic location. Since he didn’t find any trace of bugs, presumably he didn’t go in deeper.

He also checked the other bedrooms but not the living room. He didn’t check any furniture, electronics, books or toys.

Q: what if another light infestation (a few bugs found, only on bed)? A: if you don’t want to engage a professional firm, then yes you can try some spray from your friend at the furniture shop.

–night before:
* luggage esp. the one below the queen bed
Action: bring down and open up for treatment, but the storeroom is really too far from beds to worry about.

— the morning:
* pillow and bedding — Action: wrap up. Can hot-dry later.
* bamboo mats — Action: big one spray. Small ones move out. Soft one hot-dry
* all other beds — Action: move in
* food items — Action: hide
* dish rack and open compartments around oven — empty
* things below queen bed
Action: spray
* wardrobe in room 1
Action: seal up if possible

So (For Monday) the only things “contaminated” are the beds, mattresses, big bamboo mat. Also, the floor, wall, window etc.

Pest Pro said chemicals are definitely required. They are fine to restrict to just one room, at the (obvious) risk of missing the bugs in other rooms.

Blk 177 furniture shop has low-cost pesticide $18/bottle. The owner said need to spray once a week for a few weeks to kill all the newly hatched bugs.

Dr Yii (Raffles Medical) said — In his army days, if bed bug found, soldiers put the mattress/bed out in the sun from morning to evening. Just once. Bed bugs would never show up again. This is experience, not science.

Action: put in dryer if we get a chance.

Let us please spray these areas more thoroughly. These are the most likely places to have bed bugs, ranked in order.

1. Below the queen bed — where I used to keep an old laptop. In Mar or Apr some Simlim shop opened it and saw insects though I wasn’t there to witness.
2. Behind Queen bed —  where we never checked
3. Queen mattress — where we caught 2 bed bugs
4. the lower compartment of the wardrobe in the master bedroom — where I used to keep the old laptop
5. curtain in the master bedroom

Note this time round I have not seen a bedbug anywhere outside the queen bed, even when I checked after midnight. In contrast, during the 2014 episode I did find many bed bugs after midnight on, never around, each of my beds+sofa. I read that “Since they prefer to nest within about 15 feet (5m) of their host, you’ll probably find them hiding in tight spaces near your bed.” https://www.epa.gov/bedbugs/how-find-bed-bugs hints that bed bugs mostly hide at the bed, and in other parts of home if heavily infested.

To be practical, I have to assume some parts of a house are UNLIKELY to have bedbugs (including eggs):

1. kitchen
2. fridge, washing machine
3. ceiling
4. bathroom
5. high up on wardrobe — I assume bed bugs don’t need to climb so high
6. bookshelf
7. books
8. toys — ours are mostly plastic
9. piano
10. display cabinet in living room
11. storeroom — ours is far from beds and there are no old laptops, bedding etc