Tag Archives: animals

Preparing for Pest Professionals – When Doing It Yourself Isn’t Enough

I’ve been through the whole Bed Bug business, so I’d like to consider myself a pro at handling this. So far, I’ve talked about how you can identify if you have bed bugs, Cleaning after finding bed bugs, how you can get rid of them on your own, and today I’m going to talk about how you get ready for Pest Control if, in the end, you decide that you need a professional.

Bed Bugs-Preparing for Pest Professionals

I’m going to be honest with you right up front, it isn’t easy. In some ways, you may think that you would have rather just handled everything on your own, but I assure you that having the professionals in was the RIGHT decision, and if you can afford it, I would absolutely recommend the same for you.

How to Prep for Bed Bug Pest Control

  1. Wash everything. Literally. You will need to go through and wash everything that can be washed in the rooms where you’ve seen the bed bugs. This means emptying out every drawer and your entire close. Even if you THINK that there aren’t any bed bugs lurking in your clothes, don’t take the risk, just wash everything.
  2. Remove all bedding, including mattress pads and the gauze underneath the box springs. Bed bugs LOVE holing up behind the mesh. Wash all of the bedding and the mattress pad, toss the gauze out.
  3. Remind yourself that everything must be washed in HOT HOT water and then dried in HOT heat for at least 30 minutes (I personally go longer).
  4. Store clean laundry in an airtight container. Once you’ve completed a load of laundry, you will NOT want to put it back in your drawers / closet until after pest control finishes. You need to place it in an airtight bag, but those vacuum bags are expensive. We did a little research and determined that the large black contractor bags (these worked best for us, Husky Contractor bags), twisted closed and then sealed with a zip tie are JUST as effective and much less.
  5. Remove all of the face plates on outlets and light switch covers. If you’re wondering why, it’s because Bed Bugs can lurk within walls and enter and exit via this face plates. They’re pretty simple to remove, so just do it!
  6. Place all of the furniture in your rooms in the center of each room. Pest control will need to get behind and around them so that they can treat the edges of the room. I recommend getting slippy furniture movers, they make them both for hardwood and for carpeted floors. For hard wood and for carpet (affiliate links).
  7. If you live in an apartment, insist that your landlord have all apartments checked for Bed Bugs. <A little secret, our landlord refuses to force the tenants below us to have their place inspected. She said she’d let them know we have had them, but will not force them to have a person come in and look. So frustrating!!!>
  8. Finally, remind yourself that no matter the hassle of prepping for pest control, it is worth it, if you can once and for all, get rid of the Bed Bugs.

Going through the whole experience (now, twice) has been difficult, but I have learned a lot and am hopeful that I can impart some of this knowledge onto you.

If you’d like to read my other posts on the subject matter of Bed Bugs, you can read them here.

How to Choose a Pest Control Company – a fantastic article, that is very handy to have around, should you ever need to hire pest control.

Your turn!

If you’ve gone through an ordeal like this before, how did YOU prepare?

Have you had to do as much as we did? More? Less? Share in the comments below!

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Our Trip to the Zoo

I’m finally sharing our pics from our trip to the Buffalo zoo!

**Fair Warning – This is a picture heavy post.**

Before our vacation had rolled around (in October) we knew we wanted to take Emmett to the zoo. It is so much easier to go during the day on a weekday than on a weekend, fewer crowds means we have the opportunity to spend more time looking at the animals without being pushed away. We wanted to give that experience to Emmett, so off we went on a chilly Thursday afternoon.

zoo-12It was such an awesome day! Emmett was in a great mood and the sun was shining, we had absolutely nothing but a beautiful, perfect day in front of us.

When you first come through the gate at the Buffalo Zoo, to your right are the elephants so we head right over there. Unfortunately we couldn’t see any, they weren’t outside and they weren’t up front in their building. They did have a note saying that occasionally they had to be pulled for training, so that’s likely where they were. Either way, Emmett was in great spirits, we tried to get him to pose with the poster. 🙂

zoo-15It didn’t go so well. lol He just kept looking through it or grabbing at the edges, but it did make a cute photo.

Our next stop was over to the giraffes! We were hoping one of them would be outside, but no such luck. They were available inside, though. We came right in as they were enjoying their breakfast.

zoo-14While we were standing there a couple of the giraffes (there were a total of 5) came over to us and poked their heads and neck as far as it could through the fence. Probably wanted to give us a good smell. Emmett enjoyed watching them just move about their holders.

We made our way slowly around the zoo, stopping to look at any animal that might be out, Emmett seemed to be in awe of them all. I think my favorite picture we got of him was when we were looking at the monkeys in the rain forest exhibit, we told him what they were and he got VERY excited (he loves monkeys)!

zoo-10Isn’t that an awesome picture!? It’s one of my all-time favorites of Baby Doodah.

zoo-9We visited with the lions, too. We were able to get SO close, they were sitting right on a window ledge, even I was pretty wow’d by that.

zoo-8 zoo-7

We spent some time indoors looking at the different reptiles and we stopped to have a snack since they had benches. Emmett liked it because he was allowed to get out of his stroller and stretch his legs a bit.

zoo-18 zoo-5Next was over to see the gorillas, where there was a mommy and baby (toddler) gorilla hanging out. It was really sweet to see the momma and baby so attached to each other.

zoo-6Emmett was pretty impressed too!

Towards the end we walked by the Baboons. They were all clustered on one large rock, picking the bugs off of one another. We stood there for awhile, just watching them, one little guy came over, very close to the fence to get a good look at us too.

zoo-20 zoo-19Seamus got some really great pictures of Emmett and I. Sadly, I’m not in a lot of photos with Emmett, but Seamus got some good ones this time around.

zoo-1 zoo-3 zoo-2And of course, I have to share the next ones because Emmett is just so gosh darn cute!

zoo-16 zoo

We really had a fantastic time. I’d love to go back during the summer so that we could see more animals that were likely all cozied up in their homes for the cooler weather that has slowly moved in.

Your turn!

Have you taken your kids to the zoo?

What were your favorite exhibits?

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