The first I saw was crawling around on my pillow like it was home. It was a small dark dot and I shouldn’t have been able to see it clearly enough to notice but then again I sleep barely enough for my brain to recognise something was seriously amiss. It wasn’t the critter that woke me up at 2am on a Tuesday, it was my intuition telling me my bedroom didn’t belong to me alone.
I switched on my bedside lamp (brass number I’d been so pleased to discover at a car boot sale) and there they were. Not one, but multiple little creatures marching around on my crisp white duvet cover. My breakfast plummeted to my ankles and I knew this wasn’t going to be easy.
One problem with spotting bedroom bugs is actually working out what they are when you’re half asleep in your PJs magnifying them with binoculars. I whipped out my phone torch and leaned over my bed, getting terrifyingly close to these creatures.
They were dark brown, apple seed size and their movements were distinctive jerky jumps with no in between.
Eww. Oval and flattish. Bed bugs.
Ok time for panic number one. Images flashed through my head of bed bug infestations that cost people thousands in professional exterminations. Locals businesses fumigating your home and spraying down everything you own before throwing your mattresses in the bin.
But before I Googled local exterminators (and flat listings) I paused to research. I pulled all the bedding off my bed and sure enough there were more on my mattress. Several, gruesomely congregated around the head of my bed where I lie.
I also noticed teeny dark blotches on my mattress (aka their faeces. Fantastic.) And some reddish-brown stains on my pillowcases – likely from the ones I killed throughout the night unknowingly sitting on them. Then it hit me.
Where on earth had they come from?! I hadn’t travelled recently. I hadn’t bought any second-hand furniture.
No friends or family had stayed over. Then I recalled…I did buy some second-hand books from a charity shop about a week prior. Oh Goddamn.
They were sitting on my bedside cabinet. Right next to where I’d been finding the bugs. Damn.
Before I called the professionals (couldn’t afford to really) I tried a few things. Wash, wash, wash everything that could be washed on the highest temp possible. 60 degrees for at least half an hour.
My duvet cover, pillows, sheets, even my throw at the end of my bed. If it couldn’t be washed I tossed it in the dryer on high for 30 mins. Leather jacket trapped in the heating by me included.
Then I vacuumed. And then I vacuumed some more. I vacuumed my mattress seams, inside the joins of my bed frame, skirting boards, wall to carpet edges – anywhere they could possibly reside.
I used an attachment to vacuum every nook and cranny of my wooden bedframe. I even found more bugs hiding out in there (sick.) And some shed skins. Lovely.
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The vacuum bag went straight into a sealed plastic bag which was chucked in the outdoor bin. Not taking any chances of leaving those nasties in my house. I’d heard mixed reviews on diatomaceous earth for bugs but had heard it worked wonders for fleas from a friend.
I bought some food grade diatomaceous earth powder and sprinkled it around my bed legs and along my skirting boards. Let’s them dehydrate and die but takes time to work. It’s messy but at least you can avoid professional fees.
Finally I broke out the steam cleaner. Borrowed my mum’s old wallpaper steamer (yes, you can buy attachments that turn them into handheld versions) and gave my mattress, bed frame and nearby furniture a good once over with that. The heat from the steam will kill them on contact so every second spent calming down at funny bed bug videos was a second more they could be multiplying.
Be careful you don’t soak your mattress though, I got a bit enthusiastic and had to leave the mattress off for two days to dry. As for spot treatments I resorted to natural oils. Lavender mixed with water in a spray bottle and sprayed round my bed worked for keeping them away but didn’t seem to kill them.
Tea tree oil is supposed to be better but permeated my room for months. Not awful but telling. My saving grace was a proper zippered mattress and pillow protector.
Yes they can still be in your mattress but if they can’t get to your skin to bite you, you don’t care. About £40 for a decent one but so worth it. Pushing my bed away from the wall and placing interceptor traps under each leg helped too.
Bed bugs can crawl back down these and into your bed but can’t climb back up. Buy them or use your own with small bowls and a smear of petroleum jelly. Took ages to clear but I checked and emptied them each morning for weeks.
And that’s about it. Takes patience and I’m still finding the occasional one. They prefer to hide in clusters so once you start finding less and less each day you know you’re winning.
For me it took three weeks of sustained attacks. Within the first week I’d dealt with the major issue but lingered longer to ensure I got rid of every last one. By week three I wasn’t finding any new bugs.
Things I wish I knew from day one? You can’t just treat your bed. Once I started checking I found them in my curtains, behind photo frames, on my clothes and even tucked into the binding of a book on my shelf.
They wander off the bed during the day to hide so ended up treating my whole room. Would I call in the professionals if I found them again? Most likely.
Not because it didn’t work.
But because it’s time consuming and exhausting checking, washing, vacuuming and spraying every spare inch of your home until you drop. Take my word for it and call the exterminators.
They can often have it sorted within a couple of days with professional heat treatments or even fumigation. For prevention I now examine second hand items before bringing them in the house. Books, clothes, furniture.
If you can see small dark movements scurry away, don’t buy it. I even do a quick check in hotel rooms before jumping into bed. Pull back the sheet and inspect the mattress seams – just in case.
Paranoid? Maybe. But once you’ve had bed bugs you never want to experience them again.
