Bed Bugs Bite!!!
Never thought I would have to say that in all seriousness to anybody. But yes, we may have a bed bug situation up in here!
Or we may not... its currently a mystery.
Rewind to when we first arrived.
I have noticed that I was getting more 'mosquito bites.' I chalked it up to doing late night feedings for Aden away from the safety of our mosquito net.
About 4-5 days ago we noticed some interesting looking bites on John. They were mostly on the right side of his body on his abdomen and thigh. We're talking probably 20-30 bites. That is no mosquito. They were also kind of clumped up together and in a path. Uh-oh we're thinking... "the shingles is back! But why does he a few on the other side of his body? Does he have bilateral shingles? Let's keep him away from Aden for a while... we don't want Aden to get chicken pox so young!"
A day or two passes and John doesn't get the flu like symptoms that got him bed bound the last time he had shingles. I also notice my bites are kind of clustered together too. They are not on my core but I also wear a shirt to bed. What could it be?
Then I look up bed bugs. Uh-oh. Our bites look like bed bug bites. And they itch like nobody's business! Bed bugs also feed at night and we notice our bites when we wake up in the morning even though we've slept inside a mosquito net.
We start looking into ways to get rid of these unwelcome visitors. It is a nightmare! These little buggers survive 100 degree temps, freezing, a year without being fed and they hide in pillows, sheets, box springs, clothes, and any other nook or cranny you can think of! The internet says to "call your local pest control guy who specializes in bed bugs." Do third world countries have pest control guys? Removing them would consist of getting some mattress and pillow bags sent from the U.S. with the next team in November or December. And then in one clean sweep we would have to iron all of our clothes, take everything out of our room, slather murphy's oil on all of our wood furniture, use some kind of toxic pesticide,and isolate and protect our bed. Then we would have to use white sheets so that we can see blood stains, feces, exoskeletons which would let us know if we were successful. But in the meantime, we would just continue to sleep with these parasites until the next team comes.
Here is a Bed Bug
So last night we go searching for some signs of bed bugs. We probably should be able to see some eggs, some exoskeletons that have been shed, possibly some live bugs (they are 1.5-7 mm long), and fecal stains. Yet when we take out our mattress and look at the bed posts, mattress, and sheets we find no such proof! What in the world? We see nothing. There are some black dots on the wood supports of our bed but they could just be a part of the wood... they aren't clustered together like they are on the internet.
Bed bug droppings
We also find some little beetles (3 or 4 of them) that we initially think are the bed bugs other places in our room and in our house. However, these little buggers have wings and bed bugs are wingless. So whats been biting us? It could be bed bugs... it could be something else... we have no clue! But either way... we mean to get to the bottom of this!
On a side note... any prayers you can offer up that we are not getting bit by bed bugs would be greatly appreciated! It just sounds like such a pain to get rid of and even if you do all those things, there are no guarantees.
Never thought I would have to say that in all seriousness to anybody. But yes, we may have a bed bug situation up in here!
Or we may not... its currently a mystery.
Rewind to when we first arrived.
I have noticed that I was getting more 'mosquito bites.' I chalked it up to doing late night feedings for Aden away from the safety of our mosquito net.
About 4-5 days ago we noticed some interesting looking bites on John. They were mostly on the right side of his body on his abdomen and thigh. We're talking probably 20-30 bites. That is no mosquito. They were also kind of clumped up together and in a path. Uh-oh we're thinking... "the shingles is back! But why does he a few on the other side of his body? Does he have bilateral shingles? Let's keep him away from Aden for a while... we don't want Aden to get chicken pox so young!"
A day or two passes and John doesn't get the flu like symptoms that got him bed bound the last time he had shingles. I also notice my bites are kind of clustered together too. They are not on my core but I also wear a shirt to bed. What could it be?
Then I look up bed bugs. Uh-oh. Our bites look like bed bug bites. And they itch like nobody's business! Bed bugs also feed at night and we notice our bites when we wake up in the morning even though we've slept inside a mosquito net.
We start looking into ways to get rid of these unwelcome visitors. It is a nightmare! These little buggers survive 100 degree temps, freezing, a year without being fed and they hide in pillows, sheets, box springs, clothes, and any other nook or cranny you can think of! The internet says to "call your local pest control guy who specializes in bed bugs." Do third world countries have pest control guys? Removing them would consist of getting some mattress and pillow bags sent from the U.S. with the next team in November or December. And then in one clean sweep we would have to iron all of our clothes, take everything out of our room, slather murphy's oil on all of our wood furniture, use some kind of toxic pesticide,and isolate and protect our bed. Then we would have to use white sheets so that we can see blood stains, feces, exoskeletons which would let us know if we were successful. But in the meantime, we would just continue to sleep with these parasites until the next team comes.
Here is a Bed Bug
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| Source |
So last night we go searching for some signs of bed bugs. We probably should be able to see some eggs, some exoskeletons that have been shed, possibly some live bugs (they are 1.5-7 mm long), and fecal stains. Yet when we take out our mattress and look at the bed posts, mattress, and sheets we find no such proof! What in the world? We see nothing. There are some black dots on the wood supports of our bed but they could just be a part of the wood... they aren't clustered together like they are on the internet.
Bed bug droppings
 |
| Source |
On a side note... any prayers you can offer up that we are not getting bit by bed bugs would be greatly appreciated! It just sounds like such a pain to get rid of and even if you do all those things, there are no guarantees.
Ah!!! That is Ryan's biggest fear I think as far as bugs go. (You may have officially persuaded him from wanting to visit! Haha!)
ReplyDeleteWe'll be praying! Those things suck! Hopefully it's something lame like laundry soap allergy.
Haha... just tell him that we will house you guys downstairs in a bed bug free building ;) Seriously though... give me bed bugs any night over mosquitos with potential malaria! (Don't tell him that though!)
ReplyDeleteHope things are better!!! I have been praying for all you guys!!! <3
ReplyDelete