Bed Bugs Relapse

19/1
During spring cleaning, Mother found bed bugs and eggs on Brother's mattress! We threw it out immediately. That explains the find on my table.

Hope this ends the episode.


23/1
We are not done yet! I spotted another bed bug crawling on Brother's mattress. I was determined to catch it, and I did.

They must be hiding somewhere in this room. Upon inspection, a few were found on my chair and bed. Babies were caught running up my legs. OMG!

We were mystified by the sudden return after a 6-month gap. Unless it's a new infestation... maybe Sister imported them from her recent trip :\

We can't be throwing out so many furniture. Especially my mattress! And throwing things out might not solve the problem if there are eggs somewhere.

We (just Brother and I, actually) decided to seek professional help. Mother wanted to diy as usual. She spoke of this wonder pesticide her family used when she was young. It eradicated the bed bugs after just one application. She couldn't understand why we wanted to pay people to spray the house with greasy pesticide (especially after she has done the cleaning for CNY) when we could diy; she would call up our uncle right away and ask him to buy it for us.

So effective? Sounds like DDT to me... No way I'm using a known carcinogen when there is another way. Besides, how are we going to import a poison? And the problem will worsen with each passing day. Ignore her...


24/1
Brother gave me the url of a pest control company with good reviews: Hollandia Home Services. The CSO noted my needs and got the relevant party to get in touch with me.

A lady from a pest control company called back. They could come down the next day. Fantastic! To think I was worried that we would be put on some waiting list.

Their service costs about $850 for a 3-room flat. They will check the whole house, advise what to throw, steam beddings to destroy eggs and fume. They will provide bed bug monitors to monitor the activity and check again next week. If there are still bed bugs, they will come to kill again and monitor and cycle repeats.

Same price regardless of the number of rooms to spray or steam. Payment by cash only.


25/1
The pest contollers arrived at 3pm. They inspected my and Sister's rooms and found bed bugs in the most unimaginable places, like the tiny gaps in the room door frame and gaps between floor tiles. Non-greasy pesticide was applied at places where they might lurk. They steamed the mattresses and beddings and told us to soak the blankets in boiling water.

My mattress is good because it doesn't have folds for these blood-sucking monsters to hide. Wow unintended benefit.

Mother declared her room bed-bug free and was adamant that her room does not need treatment. Anyway I think they guys said they could do 2 bedrooms only? Forgot.

We were given bed bug attractors to place in each room. The device gives off CO2 and heat, thus acting as a monitor. If we found anymore bed bugs within 1 week (I think), we could ask them to return and they would treat the house again for free.

Mother was not impressed with the job done. We could have diy, she said.

Surprisingly, the beddings were not drenched after the steaming. So 神奇! So that's the benefit of true steamers?Should consider buying one. Maybe can use for ironing too.

Father sealed the holes in the rooms. No more hiding places, bed bugs!

Tip: Capture bed bugs easily using duct tape. No more slipping out of the tissue paper!


28/1
What a rude shock to spot a baby bed bug crawling across my laptop. It was as tiny as a fullstop, white, almost transparent, but its shape was still distinguishable. My heart sank. Babies! The bed bug monitors didn't attract anything. I guessed my laptop fared better.

Where the hell did they come from? Don't tell me they really have a clandestine nest deep in our in-built wardrobe or wire casings?

I made an appointment with the pest controllers, requesting them to come ASAP and to be done by 5pm, before Mother returns.


30/1
The pest controllers came this morning. To date, we have caught a total of 5 bed bugs. 1 on my laptop, 1 on my bed and 3 on Brother's mattress. The monitors caught nothing.

The guy said that in the experiment, there were more bugs. And this trap is new.

So... we are the beta testers o_O.

Guy disagreed that the bed bugs are hiding in the wardrobe and casings as they are too far from where we sleep. They searched but didn't find anymore bed bugs. Hmm... so the last few decided to crawl out themselves on a suicide mission? They treated the house again.

My house's problem is considered mild.

Die die die!