I'm sure everyone has heard of that saying, 'Don't let the bed bugs bite' at some point in their life. Did anyone think that they were a made up thing that adults would tell us kids to behave while we were going to bed? I did. I had no idea they were real until recently.

I actually had my first encounter with bed bugs this year. Disgusting as it sounds, yes I got them.

Contratory to disbelief, bed bugs don't come to your house if its dirty or anything. They aren't cockroaches lol. If you have ever had lice ever in your life, they are the cousins of lice, except, they dont live on you. They live on your bed, in your dressers, in your couches, rugs, electrical sockets and then come feed on you at night.

They are a to get rid of. 

You all know {at least some do} my cousin situation and all that, when they moved in; they moved the bugs in too. I didn't even notice them for months and months. We eventually had to get work done in our backyard and we had our doors opened for a long time and it was around mosquito season. I started to get bit around then, so I figured that since the doors were open for 5+ hours, mosquitos had gotten in and were feasting on me at night.

It started off with a few on my feet(Btw, these aren't my photos. Just using them as an example although I do have my own photos on my IG)

I got a few of those on my feet and ankles during the night and as months progressed, it started getting worse.

and then in the end before I decided to investigate, I started to look like this

I started thinking, "Why the am I getting bitten so badly and I don't even see anything flying around? these must be small mosquitos". It wasn't until I showed my aunt that she was like, "Do you have bed bugs?" and I looked at her like 'Wtf? No' because I actually had no idea that they existed nor knew what they looked like.

I eventually went to bed later that night and her question popped up in my head and I decided maybe that I should look and check out my bed for "bed bugs".

I started to notice black dots around the bottom folds of my mattress. I lifted the folds and oh my ing god. It was pitch black all the ing way around. I was so grossed out.

This is what it looked like (once again, not of my real bed):

I was so grossed out that I grabbed a shot glass and filled it with rubbing alcohol and plucked the ers off my mattress with tweezers and drowned them in the alcohol and killed them. 

I must have had over 50 bed bugs in the shot glass.

It took me 6+ months to get rid of them because I thought they were only in my room and after I "cleaned" my mattress, I didn't know they traveled from room to room. So not only did I get them, my mom got them, and my cousins got them (although I think they started off in there).

My cousins room we got chemically treated first and after 30 days, they were gone. Although my room and my moms room and then eventually the couches got them because I started sleeping on the couches -_____- (They're attracted to the carbon dioxide you breathe out)

Today, we finally paid like over 1k to get the whole house chemically treated and they sprayed EVERYTHING. They said within 30 days, whatever is here will die and if we see anything after 30 days, they will come back and do it again for free.

These are what they look like:

Can you imagine having these things feed on you while you sleep? Whats even more disgusting is that their eggs look like rice! Whats EVEN MORE disgusting is that their poop 'the black dots' is so hard to get out of mattresses because its digested blood. Ladies, I'm sure you know the struggle when mother nature comes around and accidents happen.

Now here are things you can contract bed bugs from:

-Public transportation

-Hotels

-businesses

Thats why you always hear that you should leave your suitcase and everything outside after you come home from vacation because bed bugs are hitchhikers. They'll cling to your suitcase, clothes, purses.

The only real solution to killing them is getting it professionally done so they can use highpowered chemicals (You'll have to clean your house spotless and leave the house for 6hrs, like I did today)

"Andy, what if I put a mattress protector over my mattress. That will contain them!"  Well what if they are no longer on your bed? I've seen them on my clothes that I had on the floor.

"Andy, what if I just go away for a while and they die of hunger?" If you plan to be away from your house for over 400 days then go ahead lol. 

I hope this was somewhat educational about these little demons. I purposely posted this at night ;)

Good night everyone and don't let the bed bugs bite ^^

~Andy