In the last week of June (June 26th and on), I noticed a few bites on my son’s arms and neck. I asked him what happened and since he works outdoors, he attributed them to mosquito bites. By the following week (July 7th) they seemed to be getting worse and I thought it might have been a rash and asked him if he had used anything different on his skin and he said “sunscreen”. We thought the combination of heat and sunscreen had caused the irritation. Finally on the 12th of July, I noticed it getting worse and asked him to remove his sheets from his bed because I believed it was the detergent causing this outbreak. Much to our surprise it was not! He instantly reported that there were a few bugs underneath his sheets and I quickly ran in to inspect. Not only were there bugs along the edge of the mattress but there was fecal matter (black like dots) on his box spring and bedskirt. I quickly went onto the internet to find out what this could be and was horrified to find out it was “BED BUGS.”
I contacted my husband and informed him of the horrific news, we both agreed to have a professional deal with this because it was a territory that neither my husband and I were familiar with. That was when I found Akram from PSS. Akram had a very high rating on HomeStars.com, he used an IPM system and most of all was an Entomologist. I quickly called him that day (July 12th) and his earliest appointment was for July 14th at 9:00am. In the interim, I ran out to Dollarama and bought 20 plastic tarps, 4 rolls of packing tape, shower caps, gloves and a box of hefty garbage bags from Home Depot. I returned to the infested room and placed all of the linens into the garbage bags for disposal, along with the items on my son’s night stand (lamp, alarm clock, etc). We wrapped and taped up the box spring, mattress, headboard, railings and area rug, so that that nothing could escape. We rented a cube van and drove it directly to the city dump. We placed all of his belongings in to hefty garbage bags and placed them in our shed for later inspection and taped off the door so nothing could escape.
On the 14th of July, Akram arrived at my home and noticed a can of raid on my front porch. He quickly asked what I had used it for and I told him it was for the ants outside on my driveway. He was very relieved to hear that I did not try to use the can raid on the bed bugs because that could have worsened the situation. Within 2 minutes of entering my son’s room, Akram was able to show me where a bed bug was hiding on my son’s night stand along with a nest of eggs which he quickly wrapped and discarded. Upon further examination, he informed me that I had a high infestation of bed bugs, nymphs, eggs and feces. Akram asked several questions regarding my son’s where a bouts (travelling abroad, visiting people, etc.). I told him that he had been working the entire time with the exception of seeing a movie. All of a sudden, the lights switched ON! It had to be the movie theatre!!! I was so numb...how could this have happen to us? Akram also showed me feces near the top of my son’s shelves. He told me that I could save the furniture if he dry steamed it. I asked him to steam it all, even though I had no intentions of keeping the furniture. I just wanted to make sure that they were ALL GONE!!! Around 2:30pm, Akram reported he was done and I asked him if he could inspect other parts of my home which he was more than happy to do. I was thrilled to hear that he did not suspect further infestation.
Today (July 20th) Akram returned for second inspection and injected a bed bug powder into the cracks and crevices in my son’s room and closet and told me that its’ effects should last up to six months.
In conclusion if you remotely think you have bed bugs, DO NOT TRY TO HANDLE IT YOURSELF! I would highly recommend you contact Akram from PSS. He is a true professional in his field and has only your best interest at heart. In the end, Akram will save you time, money, grief and most of all...give you peace of mind.
