Her son has extremely sensitive skin and reacts bad to bites, so she sent him to his Grandmother’s while treatments commenced.
Meanwhile she spent hours reading about bed bugs and called an exterminator. Although she only had bed bugs in one room, he insisted that the whole house should be treated. After three treatments fourteen days apart, Karen gets the “all clear” from her exterminator, breathes a sigh of relief and believes her bed bug nightmare is now over.
Her son came home and slept in his own bed for the first time in a month and a half. The following morning he wakes up with a rash of bites all over his neck and arms. It was no different from the day before the treatments.
Her heart dropped and she broke out in tears. She hadn’t slept in months, and was exhausted, emotionally and physically. Aside from living out of bags, out of fear she woke several times in the middle of the night and inspected every inch of her bed. Her bank account hit a zero balance, and the house still looks like a tornado hit it.
Karen called her exterminator to tell him about her sons’ bites and he showed up later that afternoon. He inspected her son’s room only to find nothing. He replied it must be a skin condition and that it was not bed bugs.
She loaded her son in the car and took off to the doctors thinking it might be something else. After the examination, the doctor found nothing to be concerned about other than suspected “bites” of some kind. She then explained she was just treated for bed bugs and the doctor responded, “Ah, that makes sense, it’s obvious you still have them”.
It was when Karen returned home that she called our Bed Bug Hotline for help. She explained her situation and didn’t know what to do. In situations like this, emotions sometimes overpower your common sense and she was about to take a cash advance on her credit card for yet another treatment and send her son back to her mom’s.
I asked her lots of questions about the problem from the beginning and asked how the pest control technician was so sure that there were no bed bugs, had he brought in a detection dog for a follow-up? She said no, he just looked at the bed and ran a flashlight around the baseboards. I suggested she called her pest control company to ask if they had the availability of a dog and if they did to have them re-check her home. I explained the cost of having a dog check for bed bug versus having another treatment is substantial and she agreed.
She then called another company in for an inspection with a detection dog team, which alerted in her son’s room at the paneling on the wall. Having a follow-up with a detection dog team not only assures the treatment went as planned but also gives peace of mind.
Had this be done before her son came home, they would have acknowledged the failure of the treatment, her son would not had gotten bitten again and she could have saved herself from a doctor visit payment as well.
More people are realizing that follow-up inspections by a detection team can ultimately save not only repeated treatment money but also your sanity!
