Annie Spratt / Unsplash
Is it safe to go back to the bedroom?
OPINION: Do you think having mice in your house is annoying? Tired of ants marching across your kitchen window? Have you caught a cockroach or two crawling up your curtains?
Sorry, I have no pity. Bed bugs trump the crowd. The devil’s invertebrates make these other pests and vermin appear just a sniffing little thing.
Lots of people have asked me if my own bed bug drama is over. The news is both good and bad.
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Two types of bed bugs, Cimex lectularius and Cimex hemipterus, commonly feed on humans.
I’m pretty sure they left my house. This confidence comes mainly from the fact that more than $ 2,000 was spent on a heat treatment to get rid of it, backed by a small portion of desperate wishful thinking.
CONTINUE READING:
* Three huts on the Whanganui Journey Great Walk closed due to “bed bug attacks”
* A great walk on Stewart Island / Rakiura
* Bed bugs make me hate life
* Bed bugs: The nightmare that keeps coming back
* Hiking with kiwi on Rakiura / Stewart Island
However, I seem to have passed it on.
My friend, who let me stay at her house one night when I was at the height of my infestation, has just had her house treated. I took all precautions when I was there not to bring bags from my house to hers either, but it is surely too much of a coincidence that she has them now too.
It’s a wonder she’s still talking to me.
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After the heat treatment, the room looks like it could be a comfortable place to sleep.
My friend in Auckland, who has been terrorizing me with her experience for months, says her nightmare has persisted. Her daughter recently slept in her bed and found telltale blood stains from bites the next day.
Other people have shared their experiences with me. It is usually an admission of a degree of separation. The woman at the gym says her cousin had her. My Facebook friend says her sister, who owns apartments in Brisbane, couldn’t get rid of them for months.
The guy from heat treatment company Strada said he was fully booked and only had one day off for treatment over the next month.
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Unlike this larger cluster, bed bug bites often occur in a row.
Are they actually getting more common?
Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell. They are not reportable, like whooping cough or tuberculosis. All anecdote and opinion.
On Stewart Island, they closed North Arm Hut on the Rakiura Track earlier this month to dismantle, reline, reseal, and treat the hut for “the toughest bed bugs known to mankind”.
The hut has since reopened and all reports are clear.
Three huts along the Whanganui Journey Great Walk were closed after a bed bug attack in April.
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Far fewer people travel overseas, but that doesn’t seem to have resulted in fewer bed bug outbreaks.
Stu Inness, the professional pest fighter, tells me that he has more bed bug cases this year than last year.
Which is a bit surprising when you consider that they used to be associated with overseas travel.
“A few years ago it was almost always people who were abroad and picked them up abroad,” he says. “But (within New Zealand) people are moving a lot more now. I think it’s only going to get worse. “
He says his company is “tearing the room apart” when they spray on bed bugs, including breaking down the bed.
“We haven’t beaten one another yet. That’s more luck than good management. It doesn’t take long before they become resistant. “
Joanna Davis / stuff
Steve Bank at Strada rents a generator to run heaters for heat treatment of bed bugs.
I think those in Nelson are resistant.
Steve Bank from Strada Refresh and Restore is on site and heat treated two bedrooms in my friend’s house. He says the process of heating the room to 65 degrees Celsius and holding it there for several hours – “absolutely surprises you”.
“I’m totally, totally confident,” he says.
After weeks of torture, I finally sleep better at night. I’ve taken Steve’s trust, and I hope my friend will too. The alternative is too terrible to endure.
Signs that you have bed bugs
- Dark / black spots – on the mattress and surroundings from bed bug droppings.
- Sweet scent – an unpleasant, sweet, sickly scent.
- Small dark spots – small dark spots of blood on the bedding known as “fecal pellets”.
- Live insects – although small (adults are only 4-5 mm long), it is possible to spot live bed bugs and shed their skins.
- Blood stains – on the sheets or mattress.
