Pesticides don't work
My first stop was my local hardware store, where the nice clerk assured me they had the pesticide I was looking for to kill the pesky pests, a quart spray bottle for only $10. If that wasn't enough, they had a five gallon bottle for $50.
Taking the quart bottle, I raced home to spray everything on my bed, I thought. That night, I decided to try sleeping in it again to see if my treatment worked. I hadn't even gone to sleep when the little monsters appeared again, as numerous as the first night! Did they drink the spray?
So I ordered a gallon of a famous brand of pesticide called "Bedbug & Flea" for $12 with free shipping that soon arrived. This time I took the bed apart and sprayed every crevice and crack. I carried the bed linens and curtains in a closed plastic bag to be washed and dried on high heat. But that night, here come the bedbugs again! What to do?
Taking the quart bottle, I raced home to spray everything on my bed, I thought. That night, I decided to try sleeping in it again to see if my treatment worked. I hadn't even gone to sleep when the little monsters appeared again, as numerous as the first night! Did they drink the spray?
So I ordered a gallon of a famous brand of pesticide called "Bedbug & Flea" for $12 with free shipping that soon arrived. This time I took the bed apart and sprayed every crevice and crack. I carried the bed linens and curtains in a closed plastic bag to be washed and dried on high heat. But that night, here come the bedbugs again! What to do?
Cups and covers
This time I got on the internet and began reading a lot of scholarly papers from various extension services and universities advising things like cups for the bed's legs to stop the little varmints from climbing up from the floor and zippered covers for my mattresses, springs and pillows. I order them all. Was told to take off all the light switch and electrical outlet covers and spray behind them, and around the baseboards in every crack and crevice, which I did.
Burn the house down?
You guessed it. Here they came right back the first night that I tested all my new purchases and strategy. Even worse, the nasty bedbugs had invaded my second bed, so I moved into my third bedroom, where they soon followed. They even drove me off the living room sofa downstairs, where I took my after lunch rest. What to do now? Burn the house down?
Exterminating companies
In desperation, I decided to call every local exterminating company in the phone book for a quote, knowing their reputation for being pirates. I wasn't disappointed. The first nationally advertised company told me they'd have to put a tent over my two story house, including the front and back porches and my large deck. Then they'd fumigate my house. I'd only have to leave for three or four days. The cost: $7,000! The others weren't much better.
Heat treatments: The answer!
Going back to the internet, I began reading about a highly effective treatment using heaters and fans that don't use pesticides or fumigants or steam heat, but that would heat an entire bedroom without taking it apart and that would completely kill bedbugs, nymphs and eggs. So I tried it. It worked, when nothing else I tried did! My house is now completely bedbug free!