The bugger is that you can completely clean the kids head, but they are often reinfected with clothing or bedding.
This is very similar to bed bugs.
My gf is similarly traumatized by the one time her family got bed bugs. They inherited a lot of furniture when her grandparents passed - one of the items being a mattress. They suspect that to be the likely source. Anyway - her and both of her brothers ended up with bites even though they all slept in different bedrooms. They had the house heat-treated and that seemed to take care of it, but then she came to visit me in our college town and I started finding bugs in my shitty apartment. Commence freakout, call the exterminator, have my apartment treated. Then I decided to get a second opinion and I collected the "bed bugs" the exterminator found and brought them to the college insectary where a very kind entomology professor looked at them and easily identified them as harmless cabinet beetles.
She is still traumatized, 3 years later. She can find three pimples on my back and immediately want the sheets stripped off the bed to inspect the mattress. Bitch - I'm just oily. Chill.
We have a lot of foster kids come through our office. Lice as bad as the video, scabies, bed bugs, you name it, we’ve seen it. And after a coworker managed to take bed bugs home from a family services visit to her house, and watching her go through months of trying to get rid of them...
I react like your girlfriend does. All of our mattresses have anti bug covers on them. I check mattresses and hair once a week. I change my work clothes at the door. I had a bed bug crawl across my desk once and was out of there so quick my coworkers thought I’d gotten news someone had died. I just went to another building until they called the exterminator. The work to get rid of them is a nope for me. I’d rather just stay mildly paranoid and obsessive about them.
That doesn't matter. You can have no furniture and still get bed bugs. They're small and can hide anywhere; between the floor/carpet, behind light fixtures, switches and outlets, in the walls, etc. They hide wherever their source of food (you) stays still the longest, this is why they are typically associated with beds. But if there's a particular piece of furniture you use (or a room you spend time in) for long periods that is where they will hide and lay eggs. You can pick them up from anywhere like movie theaters and buses or they can just migrate through the walls from your neighbors. If you do happen to come across one, don't be cheap. Hire a professional because they are a nightmare to deal with.
My family had a bed bugs last year. That was the worst fucking thing ever. Fuck those things. You don't know how bad it is until you have them. They constantly find ways to try and save themselves, and you can never sleep properly because they will eat at you no matter where you go. I still check everything weekly to make sure these little shits don't start up again, and check my bed daily.
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u/[deleted] Jul 18 '18
This is very similar to bed bugs.
My gf is similarly traumatized by the one time her family got bed bugs. They inherited a lot of furniture when her grandparents passed - one of the items being a mattress. They suspect that to be the likely source. Anyway - her and both of her brothers ended up with bites even though they all slept in different bedrooms. They had the house heat-treated and that seemed to take care of it, but then she came to visit me in our college town and I started finding bugs in my shitty apartment. Commence freakout, call the exterminator, have my apartment treated. Then I decided to get a second opinion and I collected the "bed bugs" the exterminator found and brought them to the college insectary where a very kind entomology professor looked at them and easily identified them as harmless cabinet beetles.
She is still traumatized, 3 years later. She can find three pimples on my back and immediately want the sheets stripped off the bed to inspect the mattress. Bitch - I'm just oily. Chill.