Bed bugs

So I got a huge infestation, so far only in the bedroom, but probably I'll find them in the living room or some other place too.

I'll spray them, kill them in any way, do all the precautions that the internets can provide me with. But, most of all I'd like to hear from you guys, if anyone has ever had a problem with these before, how did you deal with them?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed_bug

God damn

Well, Bed Bugs normally live inside the furniture that they infest. They'd be inside you mattress rather than under it for instance. I've haven't dealt with them personally...

never actually had an infestation but we thought we did. they turned out to be clover mites migrating through our apartment but we went crazy for a few days till we knew. very hard to get rid of. if you have a bed with legs you can get something to put over the legs to stop them getting up. but they may already be in the matress. steam is the best way to kill them, but getting someone to steam your apartment can be expensive. if you are renting then tell your landlord, although i',m not sure what the law saws about who deals with it. you also have to tell the health department of the infestation i believe (depending on where you live).

First you should be sure that they are bed bugs. Then proceed to sell your soul for extermination fees. and the process isn't even fool proof either.

First thing we did was wash all our clothes/bed clothes etc on HOT and inspected the mattress with magnifying glass. we went insane, through stuff out. before we realized what they were. the pest guy couldnt identify them at first

I recently had a flea infestation after my cat (which passed away a week before it really got bad) bought them in, which are sort of similar to bed bugs in the way they hatch / infest the place. Most of this advice works better for fleas, but seeing as they're both parasitic insects hopefully most of it will apply.

The best way to get rid of them I found is to vacuum as many places as possible every day. Although bed bugs eggs are usually found near where you're getting bitten, it's possible the eggs are probably getting carried around and dropped in a lot of places. Vacuuming will either suck up the eggs or the vibrations will cause them to hatch, which is good as parasite eggs are fucking hard to kill (most pesticides that say they can kill eggs don't work btw), so to stop the infestation, you need to get rid of the eggs.

One of the better ways to get rid of them I found is to use salt. It'll dehydrate the adults and the eggs if they come into contact with it, so place that shit everywhere possible, vacuum up and add more salt (if they're in the mattress, combination of salt and baking powder should do the trick, or if you can get it, borax will kill the eggs off). If it's really bad, a pesticide / bug spray might calm it down a bit so you can start focusing on the eggs, but they'll never kill all the adults and eggs, so I wouldn't bother with that unless they're literally crawling around the place.

If you also want to stop getting bites, you might want to set up a trap to kill them. A good one is to get a high wattage lightbulb, place it in a desk lamp, put it on the floor then lay a small dish of water and washing up liquid underneath it whilst you sleep. Even though bed bugs are naturally attracted to the carbon dioxide you give off, they're also highly attracted to light and heat, thinking it's a host. They'll go towards the lamp and drown in the water (the washing up liquid makes sure they sink, as a lot of insects can float and escape pools of water due to water tension. Also acts as mild insecticide).

I had a few friends with BBs in NYC. Most of them ended up throwing out everything they owned.

Those things get into everything: clothes, furniture, electronics, you name it.

I feel genuinely bad for you.

We once found a BB on a jacket on our coat stand and we took all of the coats on the stand to a NON-ECO-FRIENDLY (very important) DRY CLEANER.

They cleaned all of the coats using some non-environmentally friendly chemical process. This will kill the bugs AND THE EGGS.

Apparently there are 2 types of dry-cleaners, ones that use bad chemicals and ones that don't. You want the bad ones.

It cost us $100 for 8-9 coats, but we were very lucky and never had any issues afterward. We must have nailed the problem before it became a problem.

I wish I had more advice that was helpful, but you may just have to settle in for a rough ride :(

  On 5/22/2012 at 8:24 PM, jefferoo said:

 

It cost us $100 for 8-9 coats, but we were very lucky and never had any issues afterward. We must have nailed the problem before it became a problem.

 

or you just didnt notice them. you can be infested and not even know. fucking horrible business.

I understand they come out at night

funny there's actually a program on channel 4 (UK) right now about bed bugs.

synchronicity.

...or is it in the heat?

Well, the salt and washing detergent sounds interesting, the vacuuming and spraying everything is already in motion and I'm hoping for no big costs as I'm afraid for my survival as it is.

Any more ideas still very welcome!

  On 5/22/2012 at 8:34 PM, Benedict Cumberbatch said:

  On 5/22/2012 at 8:24 PM, jefferoo said:

 

It cost us $100 for 8-9 coats, but we were very lucky and never had any issues afterward. We must have nailed the problem before it became a problem.

 

 

or you just didnt notice them. you can be infested and not even know. fucking horrible business.

I think we got em. That was years back. I think we would have felt the burn by now.

My guess is the bug got on my coat at a movie theater.

yeah we're pretty paranoid now whenever we go to the cinema or somewhere similar we strip as soon as we get in and bag the clothes in the bathtub, then put them in the dryer. its a horrible way to live but bed bugs we dont want. next step is wearing a has-mat suit(?) to the cinema. or not going out

Release a load of spiders into your room.

I so would let spiders do this for me. But how to arrange that?

are you sure?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099052/

  On 5/22/2012 at 11:57 PM, gaarg said:

I so would let spiders do this for me. But how to arrange that?

Buy some on the internet. Or ask them nicely

Newsflash, I got some of that insecticide in my eyes and now it burns me, dear lord

Tip: Dont do that.

I would go as far to say insecticide in your bedroom is a bad call. Thats where you sleep mang.

Me and 874 170 bedbugs. It's supposed to only be me!

  On 5/23/2012 at 12:17 AM, gaarg said:

It's supposed to only be me!

no gurls allowed!

I've had them, got over them. Don't panic. If you have a landlord, call them, in most places they have to deal with it. Don't throw away your clothes. Put them in plastic bags immediately, then move them, wash them, dry them for a long time. Get a cover for your mattress, don't throw it away. You can get a nice one that won't tear.

Have a professional treatment done in the infected room. Spread diatomaceous earth around the borders of your room. If you are careful and isolate everything, and let the professionals come in to treat the rooms, it shouldn't be a problem. Just don't get a DIY bug bomb or anything like that, that will make it worse.

Most of all. Don't worry about it too much. A lot of people get depressed about that shit it really isn't a big deal you just need a plan and be careful with them. Don't want them to spread, for the most part, they will not spread away from where people sleep. If they have a good host, they generally will not leave until they have too much competition. Keep them isolated as best as possible.

OR

b) try to spread them to as many people as possible. Eventually, if the problem gets so bad that over 50% of people, americans especially, have them, they will find a better way to get rid of them. This is a long-term strategy though, so maybe not for you...

  On 5/23/2012 at 8:23 AM, Bubba69 said:

I've had them, got over them. Don't panic. If you have a landlord, call them, in most places they have to deal with it. Don't throw away your clothes. Put them in plastic bags immediately, then move them, wash them, dry them for a long time. Get a cover for your mattress, don't throw it away. You can get a nice one that won't tear.

 

Have a professional treatment done in the infected room. Spread diatomaceous earth around the borders of your room. If you are careful and isolate everything, and let the professionals come in to treat the rooms, it shouldn't be a problem. Just don't get a DIY bug bomb or anything like that, that will make it worse.

 

Most of all. Don't worry about it too much. A lot of people get depressed about that shit it really isn't a big deal you just need a plan and be careful with them. Don't want them to spread, for the most part, they will not spread away from where people sleep. If they have a good host, they generally will not leave until they have too much competition. Keep them isolated as best as possible.

 

OR

 

b) try to spread them to as many people as possible. Eventually, if the problem gets so bad that over 50% of people, americans especially, have them, they will find a better way to get rid of them. This is a long-term strategy though, so maybe not for you...

good advice.

i have some stories about bedbugs. we had them in my apartment a few years ago. they also were in my house at home, where i brought them back.

we ended up throwing out mattresses, cushions, and burning a couch. throwing out mattresses is unnecessary, you can get a cover. honestly at that point it was crisis mode.

we let it get WAY out of hand, see because my depression i suppose was so severe that i just didn't give a fuck. i slept with the bastards. there were a shitload of them, in the carpet, in the walls, everywhere. at some point we took care of it, only took a day or two of hard work. i believe i slept with them for around 3 months after finding them, maybe more

they spread very easily, just follow the simple directions of washing and isolating all your stuff, bags included, cushions. call the man and clean the place and then you're fine until you bring them back again

My boyfriend sat on a couch in the backyard of a friends place that we later found out had a bedbug infestation. He was covered in bites the next morning so we don't know if any latched onto his clothes or something but they probably just bit him there. Although we never saw any at our place, we called a place that specifically dealt with bedbugs to come spray the place right away. They made two appointments with us, saying that they are usually gone by the first visit, the second is just to be completely sure.

It was so shit because we had just had to leave a place because of an insane cockroach infestation, but everything worked out just fine.

We also bought some kind of spray that isn't harmful that you can spray on your clothes and furniture after (or during) the exterminator that is supposed to kill them. The extermination company recommended it to us so ask them about something like that. I think it's best to call a place specifically for them as it seems they are a little different from other pests.

If you can, I think it would be very helpful to find out where they might have come from. If they are in another apartment in your building you will probably need your landlord to fumigate the whole place.

this thread makes me itchy

My friends had some once. They had professionals come in and got some sort of heat treatment done to their room where they heated the place up to around 150F for a few hours. I think it worked.

Ok I should explain, that I (I'm solo, because my gf is away in Spain these months) live on the top floor of a three level house, the landlord lives on the bottom two. He's aware of the situation now, but I sais I'd take care of it as it's obvious that me (or gf before she went) brought these bitches from somewhere.

I explored a bit around the apartment and it seems the bugs so far only occupy in the bedroom. That's the most positive thing so far. Because if I find them anywhere else I'll probably cry like a little girl.