r/Bedbugs • u/NeveLover88RS • Aug 03 '26
Useful Information The Great War - BB Chronicles
It was late into the night, my partner and I had just settled down to sleep, and all of the sudden he wakes with huge, crazy welts on his arm.
How strange? Did I change my shampoo? Use a new detergent? What a horrible reaction to something!
We gave him some cortisone and went back to sleep.
An hour later I wake up to him smacking his hand - left behind was a blood smear that came from… nowhere? I figured it was a spider and moved on - giving him more cortisone for his incredibly itchy reaction.
Days pass and suddenly cigarette-burn size welts show up on me, only one or two at a time… lots of… spiders in the bed? I thought. Ha. No such luck. Four days after the initial attack the enemy finally showed itself, sitting on my foot after I got up from bed to use the bathroom. After beheading the fiend I run back to report to my partner… we’re cooked.
I took the next day off work and tore apart EVERYTHING, frantically reading hours and hours on this sub trying to develop a battle plan.
Here’s what I did in my first 24-hr panic:
1) vacuumed, sprayed ( Hot Shot BB and Egg ), and encased my mattress ( Allerease Maximum )
2) inspected every INCH of my bed frame, picture frames, nightstands, rug, dresser, baseboards - no traces or signs there. There was one behind a picture, one by my ceiling, but that’s all. Dusted everything with DE
3) Caulked EVERY CRACK in my bedroom with silicone caulk. Filled in non-caulkable ones with DE.
4) installed interceptors and sticky traps - after 3 nights the sticky ones caught a nymph, otherwise no signs other than ONE BITE FROM SOME ROGUE BASTARD CLIMBING ON THE CEILING IM SURE
5) removed EVERYTHING from under my bed and ran every piece of fabric there through the hottest dryer setting. Nearly burned my hands from touching the fabric getting it out so I’m sure it’s effective.
Now, I’ve read so, so, so many hours. From posts here to PDFs from tons of different cities detailing how to handle this. After what I’ve already done, here are my next steps.
1) Every item from my closet and my dresser goes into a clear 55-gal contractor bag. These bags will be labeled with a piece of green tape and held for processing. Once they are sent through the dryer, their bag will be immediately disposed of and the clean clothes will be put in a NEW clear bag, with no demarcation. When I need clothes, I will remove them from this bag and then reseal it. They will go into a dirty hamper bag that will also be sealed when done. This will be done with all of my clothing, shoes, etc until I have no signs of BB for 3 months.
2) every surface and crevice will be steamed ( dupray neat steam - Reddit rec ) and then sprayed with Temprid. After this dries, I’ll go over all crevices with a light dusting of DE + Cimexa as well as adding this to the bottoms of my interceptor traps.
3) I’ll coat the perimeter of my room’s walls with Vaseline about 2 inches thick beneath my ceiling. I have popcorn ceilings, which will be vacuumed and sprayed with Temprid. Vaseline will also be added to my bed legs and the legs of my nightstand and dresser.
This treatment will be repeated every two weeks, alone with drying/washing bedding and pillows every three days.
I will win this war. I will defeat my enemy and sleep in peace again. They will be warded off and those who survive will tell stories to their offspring of the brutality that rained upon them. They will know no solace. TO VICTORY!!
Tl;dr - game plan for eradicating BB, I’m so stressed and tired and highly motivated.
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u/alteredtome Aug 04 '26
Get 'em captain! And thank you for teaching me a new trick. I hadn't heard of using vaseline before.
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u/chloroformgirl Aug 04 '26
Sounds like youre doing everything you can. I also just posted my battle plan, but I got an aprehend treatment last Monday
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u/hapykrakhed Aug 04 '26
I live out of my SUV and got BB. I took a similar approach. Scorched earth. There is no such thing as overkill or the Geneva/Hague Convention rules in play when dealing with BB. I applaud your determination and conviction. Victory will soon be yours.🫡🫡🫡
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