Bugs!

We've got a bug problem. Kinda a big one.

It started about a month ago. The kiddo's and myself started waking up to what looked like mosquito or maybe even spider bites. Everyone would wake up with 2-5 bites some where on there arms or legs. At first I thought we were getting them by being outside playing at the park or on Grandma and Grandpa's yard. But then there were times that we hadn't been outside the night before but we would wake up with fresh bites. So they had to be coming from inside the house! Despite our best effort we couldn't find a single bug (dead or alive) in the house that might cause the bites. So I called our bug lady who came out and sprayed the house for me. The next morning we found one or two dead spiders but mostly it was dead cock roaches. After a week the bites got super worse. I called the bug lady back again and she checked our beds and furniture for bed bugs but together we didn't see a single one or a sign of one. 

Before sending the kids to bed I would spray everyone down with bug spray. I would spray bug spray on their mattresses and on their sheets. Nasty, I know! I used an entire aerosol bottle in one week we were using it so much. When it ran out. I set up my oil diffuser and was diffusing 3-4 different oils at night in their room that was suppose to repel bugs. I also bought a do terra oil bug repellent spray I used on the kids and their beds. We ate garlic and onions in our lunch and dinner meals because that supposedly would deter a body from getting bit. It all seemed to work a little bit but we were still being eaten alive. I spent hours online researching what we could possibly have and what more I could do. 

After hours of research I decided we had "no see um's". They are like a mini mosquito. So tiny it's hard to see them. We ordered some light bulbs that are suppose to attract flying insects and kill them. We discovered a few in the light bulbs that confirmed my theory. But we weren't getting as many bugs I had thought we'd get with them. 

My little man seriously looked like he had the chicken pox!

Before we left for our one week vacay to California he had 70 bites just on his face and one arm. I didn't bother to count his other arm, his torso or his legs. 

Brayden by far got it the worse! The rest of us all had easily 20 bites on us but nothing like what Brayden had. Our trip to California was fabulous! All of our bug bites healed during those 7 days away from home. We all looked normal again by the time we got back. While we were away I tried to do some research on where and how the "no see um's" were coming from. Everywhere I read said they had to have standing water. We have no yard. We have no grass. We have no sprinklers. We water the fruit trees once a week. We do have chickens but we dump out their water once a week and give them fresh. We've had chickens for 2 years now. Why haven't we had this bug issue if that was the cause? The only other standing water I could think of was our swamp cooler. However our swamp cooler drains itself and refills every 7-8 hours. The water drains in the back yard under the fruit trees. We also had the same swamp cooler last year and never had these issues. So again where the heck our these bugs coming from? 

Its hard to see on Emily's face but she has about 10 bites on it. Then there's her leg. In about 3 days of being home from California everyone was covered in bites again. 

After seeing Emily covered I had had it. I was a mom on a mission! I dumped our chicken water out, I scrubbed it with bleach and let it sit in the sun all afternoon before I filled it back up with water for the chickens. While waiting on the hot sun to help sterilize the chickens water bowl I started in on the swamp cooler. I figured one of these water spots was creating our problem. I took that bad boy apart and I sprayed it all down with vinegar and bleach. I filled the compartment where the water sits with 1/2 bottle of bleach hoping to kill any larvae that might be there. Kory thought I had gone crazy until he inspected the screen that sits in front of the swamp cooler fan. I knew it was dirty. It had lots of dirt patches on it. When looking at it closer, it wasn't dirt patches, it was dead "no see um's". They really do look like a mini mosquito's. They are so small that they can fit through a regular window screen. There were hundreds of them on the screen and on top of the swamp cooler. 

After weeks of this dang problem we found our entry. Hallelujah!

"No see um's" live up to 48 days! 

That night I declared war on those bad boys. 

We turned on a movie with the kiddo's that night after dark hoping the light would attract these bugs that you could NOT see! Kory pulled out our bug zapper and made sure it had new batteries and we waited. Sure enough during the movie you would see what looked like a dust particle floating in front of the tv or toward you. When Kory swung the bug zapper at it, the zapper sizzled. We got one! During the 2 hour movie Kory killed more than 50! In all my research I learned that only the females sucked blood. 

We put the kiddo's to bed and then Kory and I sat on our bed with the bug zapper. We started another movie on the ipad with all the lights off. Over the next 2 hours we killed another 50. It was absolutely insane. After a while our eyes adjusted and those no see um's didn't seem so little anymore. In fact most of us can spot one pretty quickly now. 

I continue to pour bleach into our swamp coolers water. Not half a bottle but a good cup or two every couple of days. We are not getting bit as much now. In fact we can go a day or two with no one getting bit. When we wake up with a few bites than I make sure I add some bleach and we pull out the bug zapper at dark again to take care of those nasty things. We continue with the do terra oil and the diffuser too. I have also placed fan boxes by the kids bed and turn them on before bed. The fan blows hard enough that it keeps the no see um's from being able to land on the kiddo's. 

This experience has been CRAZY!

But I am so glad we finally figured out what it was and where they were coming from.