Anybody here have any experience with bedbugs?

[jodymarie aimee]

I was told the only way to get rid of them is $$$$ heating treatment....8 hrs of 160 degrees. It's Trumps's fault...

[Tiggeroshii]

1. Yes

They are great hiders. We had to put everything in bags and seal them. Anything suspect we got rid of (which was most things).i would put alacohol in a spray bottle and look for the areas where there was bed bug poop and spray near ther since it was likely bed bugs were near there. We never did the heating thing because we moved out of the slum apartments where we got them from.

[fierywoman]

2. I've read about diatomaceous earth but don't know the protocol since I haven't had to deal with them

[hlthe2b]

3. I've been lucky but very careful. Even 5 star hotels, movie theaters, high rise apts and condos

have been infested across the country in recent years. I rented a high rise condo in central Denver 1 year while finishing a degree and only by the grace of DOG did I not get infested. These were expensive, yet some residents would bring in second hand upholstered furniture that had not been treated and two of the resident airline flight attendants brought them in with their luggage. Shared walls are a nightmare for this kind of thing.

Even wall base boards can "shelter" them so if the infestation is bad enough, you may have to go beyond getting rid of mattresses, other infested furniture and spraying the hell out of everything.

Yup, it can become expensive. There are exterminators who specialize in this and the best ones have dogs (usually beagles) that come in to make sure they've gotten everything.

I can say the first thing I do when I check into a hotel/motel, is take out my flashlight and check the mattresses. I never let my luggage touch the floor (use one of those racks or put them in the bathroom). When I get home, I typically let my luggage with clothes and anything high risk sit in the back of my car under the hatch and in the direct sun a couple of days, just to be sure.

Good luck.

[duforsure]

4. Yes

Thanks to a hotel. We used safe natural sprays that wouldn't hurt our pets, and got a little Steam machine from i think Lowes and steam cleaned and sprayed and look up tips for getting rid of them online. It took a bit of work , cleaning a, and steaming but we finally got rid of them . Now before we travel we always spray our luggage good with it, and so far good. I was also told its become a huge problem around the country. Some places are even getting specially trained dogs to smell for them in these large businesses. My first and hopefully last experience with them. It was far less costly then hiring someone to come in and treat for them.

[mr_lebowski]

5. Yes I have and they freaking SUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKK ...

Honestly, if there's anyway you and any pets can just ... move somewhere else (making very careful to take none with you) for about 4 months ... they should all die ... They eat blood and only blood, so ... if there is none for about 4 months ... that should be long enough for them to all perish (assuming you're in a house not an apartment).

If that's no doable (and it's usually ... not!), getting bedbug-proof covers for beds, box-springs, and pillows ... is a good start. De-cluttering to give them minimal hiding spots is a very good idea. Getting rid of 'hiding places near where your sleep, or spent a lot of time sitting' ... is the first/most important step.

In fact, getting rid of a 'traditional' mattress (if you have one and you can tell it's infested), the kind with lots of seams and creases and the like ... and replacing it with one of those foam mattresses, that's just a big 'block', with tight fabric around the whole thing ... and then putting a BB-proof cover on it ... will definitely make your sleeping quarters more inhospitable to them. Also make sure it's NOT touching a wall, and never let the sheets or blankets touch the ground ... also, getting a 100% metal bedframe (even though they're ugly and lame) also gives them a lot less places to nest in your immediate vicinity. They'll nest on wood, but not metal.

If you have curtains right near your bed, make sure they're not the kind where there's a 'cavity' at the top that the rod goes through. You want the 'metal loop' kind of hanging mechanism, and you don't want the kind of curtains that are real 'bunched'. They'll totally nest in the curtains up by the curtain rod ... if the space there is dark and enclosed, AND it's near your bed.

The natural cedar-based bug spray works pretty good on 'em. Eventually I busted out heavier chemicals.

I also tried heat treating rooms with a propane heater but couldn't get the room hot enough to kill em all ... oh, and poisoned myself with CO gas one time to boot. They will hide and find places that aren't hot enough to kill them unless, as suggested, you literally heat the room to 160F for a LONG TIME so EVERY SPOT in the room ... is at least 140F. Including inside the depths of the mattress and between all the clothes in the closet. That takes a LONG time and a LOT of heat. Pretty much HAVE to leave that to professionals. Take it from me ...

Btw, little bastards LOVE office chairs, too, cause people spend a lot of time right there. If you have like a leather or vinyl one, the sort with lots of foam inside, make sure there's no tears/rips in the fabric or they'll get in and live in the foam and feast on you when you're in your chair.

Eventually I tossed my bed and spent months sleeping on air mattress in the middle of my carpeted living room ... they don't move well on carpet and an air mattress gives 'em no place to nest.

They don't need MUCH to call a spot a 'home' and raise a little family ... under your mattress around the edges where there's like 'seams' ... that is their favorite ... but they DO need/want a 'home', a hiding spot.

And they want to be close to where you either sit, and sleep. They'll venture around the house, but they won't 'set up shop' and lay eggs and stuff anywhere that doesn't provide ready-access to sleeping or regularly-sitting people.

Good luck!

BTW, people have accidentally burned their homes down by spraying so much Isopropyl Alcohol around to kill the bugs (only the 90%+ pure alcohol 'works', don't bother with the weaker kind) and then lighting a match or lighter too near an alcohol-saturated surface.

And ... people have even committed suicide because they couldn't handle the infestation anymore, presumably in some cases, they lost so much sleep worrying about getting chewed on ... that they eventually lost their shit.

But keep this in mind ... they don't spread disease, they barely poke your skin, most people don't even react to BB bites ... gross as they are, they really won't 'hurt you' or your family.

So try not let 'em get into your head too much. There's nasty little bastards, but they're ultimately harmless, and have been part of mankind's existence ... all along.

[left-of-center2012]

6. I get an occasional one, probably from city buses

Anyway, I spray my bed and surrounding area with 2 products which kill anything I bring home.
Also the professional exterminators in my apartment complex use the same two sprays.

Bedlam Plus Spray Aerosol

JT Eaton 'Kills Bed Bug Plus' Spray Aerosol

Both sprays have a 'residual' effect, so they keep killing for a couple weeks. If you didn't hit the bug with the spray, it'll die from crawling on the sprayed area.
Spray the baseboards well.

Also, of course, I bag and launder any clothing, sheets, etc that may be a hiding place.
A hot drier afterwards is the real trick.
I've not had to throw out any furniture, etc.

This has worked for me the past three years.
However I've not had a massive infestation. Just a few bites now and then over those 3 years.

One spray is better for hard surfaces = dressers, bed frames, headboards.
One for soft things = mattresses, carpets, sofas, etc.

Anyway, this has been my experience.

[Greybnk48]

7. Buy the bed bug sacks for your mattress and boxspring

and your pillows. They have them at Walmart. If the legs on your bed or headboard are wood, put the wooden legs of your bed into glasses about 5" high. They can only get up wood.

You can run your bedding in a hot drier for 30" and that should do it. Vacuum the hell out of your carpet.

Our daughter brought them home from a 5 star hotel in Milwaukee about 3 years ago. Everyone in her party was bitten to ribbons. A male friend had to go to the E.R. because his eyes were swollen shut. We haven't heard much about bed bugs since then.