Anybody on here ever had Bed Bugs?

[Guy]

Anybody on here ever had Bed Bugs?

 

[justjoinedtopost]

Not here. But I did suffer through a flea infestation that will be talked about for generations to come.

Do you have bed bugs Guy?

 

[JickyJuly]

Nope, but it's my nightmare.

 

[Guy]

Not here. But I did suffer through a flea infestation that will be talked about for generations to come.

Do you have bed bugs Guy?

never anywhere ive lived. Ive seen them on tv.

 

[justjoinedtopost]

never anywhere ive lived. Ive seen them on tv.

Well then.

I think bedbugs on the tv are much easier to deal with than fleas in the carpet.

But mosquitoes are the real menace.

 

[dilligaf0]

Fleas are a pain in the ass.

I used to work in a motel, and had to get rid of them after people sneaked their pets into the room.

 

[justjoinedtopost]

Fleas are a pain in the ass.

I used to work in a motel, and had to get rid of them after people sneaked their pets into the room.

Fleas are no damned joke, that's for sure.

Two days after using Raid Foggers (the strongest ones available to me at the time), I was still able to walk across the floor and have hundreds of those bloodthirsty little f*cks on my feet and legs.

I think I'll take my chances with the bedbugs, tyvm.

 

[Gen]

My old office got bed bugs, unfortunately it was when I was flying in to work from another city and had slept in the office. I got bed bug bites on my legs. After sleeping at the office for a day, I went to stay with a coworker and brought all my luggage to her house. I have a super distinct memory of her busting into my bedroom, yelling "the office has bedbugs" and I sleepily said, "is that what these bites are?" She literally collapsed on the ground and yelled "NOOOO". She had previously had them and it was hellish for her to get rid of, plus she had a toddler, so the idea of getting them again scared the heck outta her.

Thankfully I never got them at home, and we had the office fumigated. But it was pretty scary. They're soooo gross. Apparently getting rid of them in your house is hell.

 

[Guy]

My old office got bed bugs, unfortunately it was when I was flying in to work from another city and had slept in the office. I got bed bug bites on my legs. After sleeping at the office for a day, I went to stay with a coworker and brought all my luggage to her house. I have a super distinct memory of her busting into my bedroom, yelling "the office has bedbugs" and I sleepily said, "is that what these bites are?" She literally collapsed on the ground and yelled "NOOOO". She had previously had them and it was hellish for her to get rid of, plus she had a toddler, so the idea of getting them again scared the heck outta her.

Thankfully I never got them at home, and we had the office fumigated. But it was pretty scary. They're soooo gross. Apparently getting rid of them in your house is hell.

DId you do a lot of scratching and digging on your legs?

 

[Ann_Sulu]

Nothing kills bedbugs. They can live without nutriment for months. My ex roommate (years ago) brought them into our apartment after doing his laundry in the complex laundry service area. If you have them, you not a joke have to get rid of everything you own, move, and start over. All chemicals that kill them are illegal, exterminators came and went, and told us for bedbugs there was nothin' they could do. No, you can't kill them by steaming fabrics/running things through the dryer. I had to live with my mother-in-law after throwing out everything, and thankfully my ex had a few sisters who could give me clothes. Not a joke, every nightmare story on bedbugs is exactly how it is. They bite everywhere. You can't sleep ever. Don't bother getting the plastic mattress cover...sorry, but game over man! They are the devil in bug form!

Edit: btw, fleas are NOTHING in comparison. I've had animals that have gotten fleas, and brought them into the house...not near the psychological trauma of bedbugs.

 

[justjoinedtopost]

My old office got bed bugs, unfortunately it was when I was flying in to work from another city and had slept in the office. I got bed bug bites on my legs. After sleeping at the office for a day, I went to stay with a coworker and brought all my luggage to her house. I have a super distinct memory of her busting into my bedroom, yelling "the office has bedbugs" and I sleepily said, "is that what these bites are?" She literally collapsed on the ground and yelled "NOOOO". She had previously had them and it was hellish for her to get rid of, plus she had a toddler, so the idea of getting them again scared the heck outta her.

Thankfully I never got them at home, and we had the office fumigated. But it was pretty scary. They're soooo gross. Apparently getting rid of them in your house is hell.

That sounds terrible and all, and I certainly don't mean to make light of your plight, but...
...on the heeby jeeby scale, nothing can compare to a basement full of garter snakes.

 

[Gen]

That sounds terrible and all, and I certainly don't mean to make light of your plight, but...
...on the heeby jeeby scale, nothing can compare to a basement full of garter snakes.

Ewww, I like snakes but a basement full sounds horrible
Any kind of creepy-crawlies in the house freak me out. This is why I will never go to Australia

 

[Ann_Sulu]

But in all seriousness...I'd take the snakes. They're easier to get rid of, and don't cost as much in the end.

 

[bodisha]

Anybody on here ever had Bed Bugs?

Nope thank goodness.... but we all know one guy that had them and they made him miserable. The night we heard him bitching about them, we all collectively took 3 steps back from him in unison. I also know an exterminator that has some Bed Bug sniffing dog. Knowing him though the dog is a scam. I've heard him say the only way to get rid of Bed Bugs is to heat treat a home. And knowing this guy it's probably expensive as hell. Yet someone else told me the very same exterminator recommended some chemical spray that cost a fraction of that to get rid of them.

 

[JerryBoBerry]

I have not. But one of my neighbors has had them and they are hard to get rid of. He tried 3 times and failed. But that was mostly to believing the 'do it yourself' sprays and remedies on the internet. Don't believe them. Heat and UV rays from the sun are about the only thing that kills them.

The last time they had them they got desperate. Electronics they put outside in the sun for a couple of days in a row on hot sunny summer days. Clothing and other fabric they ran through the dryer on high heat for at least a half hour. Then the apartment itself they went uber drastic. All the baseboards and electrical plates were removed (they can survive behind them). Then they brought in a propane torpedo heater and fired it up most of the day. Brought their apartment up to 180 degrees for almost 8 hours.

That finally killed them all. They haven't had a recurrence in over a year now. They also stopped bringing home furniture other people give them or they find 'free' on the side of the road.




For those with good memories, yes posted this info before here.

 

[Crumb]

you were in jaceymaries room today, weren't you?

 

[Guy]

you were in jaceymaries room today, weren't you?

who is that?

 

[justjoinedtopost]

For those with good memories, yes posted this info before here.

omfg

 

[BasicBasic]

I have extensive experience with bed bugs in Mexico, Costa Rica, Laos, Phillipines, Malaysia, Indonesia and a few more countries. In some cases, they were actively crawling out of the walls at night. Real nightmare stuff, especially for the owners of hotels or hostels that get infested. They can be very tiny (like ants) or bigger like a thin wide beetle.

Extreme heat or cold is the best killer. I put my little backpack into the freezer after walking in the door from a trip to a bug infested country. They hitch-hike on clothes and lay eggs. If you live in a really cold climate, I guess you could turn off the water and open the windows to deep freeze your place as the most cost effective treatment. Otherwise it can be sealed up and heat treated.

Many... and I mean many... people have been killed by chemicals that have been used to try kill bedbugs. Chemicals work best on baseboards of hallways (the highways of bugs) but should never be used on fabric that contacts your body.

On the plus side, they don't carry disease. On the major downside they like to attack your groin and ass plus the bites take a lot longer to heal than mosquito bites. Classic sign is a line of bites on the side of your body leading to your groin or butt.

I've also woken in the night with them crawling on me and that is... disturbing.

 

[Jappie]

mmmm what an educating thread

 

[LydiaFrost]

in a bigger german city they even have special bedbug- detecting dogs haha. ( they are trained to be able to smell the bedbug scent and find them)
i know that because friends of mine had the disaster of heaving bedbugs in their flat. i haven't been there to visit since then haha
but apparently it is quiet common in that city. ( lots of old houses with wooden floors- means a lot of hinding places that are hard to clean)

fleas are annoying but you can get rid of them without throwing your furniture and everything you can't wash really hot / freeze away :S

 

[BasicBasic]

There was a bedbug detector product introduced on "Shark Tank" in the past. The idea was a small inexpensive trap that is put between mattresses or other places bugs may wander. I don't know if if was ever brought to market but a detector device would be very helpful since most people with a home infestation don't know about it until it's gotten to the advanced stage. You can also look for dark spotty trails, which are the poop of the bug as they wander around.

Sleeping with the lights on won't deter the bugs btw. Neither will sleeping in a sleeping bag since they'll just infest your bag. I haven't found a repellent that works on them either (like mosquitoes).

The quickest short term solution is to not sleep close to the "2 hours before sunrise" timezone, which is feeding primetime for bedbugs. Sort of like not being on the beach at sunset, which is feeding time for sandflies and mosquitoes.

If I had an apartment that was infested, I'd get a freezer tractor trailer unit to come and then move everything that can be moved into that and freeze the bugs (and eggs) to death. Then fumigate the apt with chemicals that can knock out the rest. This could also work for cockroaches, which are a whole other box.. of flying/crawling bugs.

*sidenote - Just checked MFC and the username bedbug is already taken but bedbugz is still available.

 

[SaffronBurke]

My sister had them when she lived in a homeless shelter. Then, after living on the streets for a couple years, she moved back into our mom's house for a little bit, and now her old bed has them, which means that the entire upstairs of the house is probably infested.

I've never had to deal with them personally. I did once live in an apartment that, due to management not cleaning vacated apartments until someone was ready to move in, had major problems with roaches and fleas. I bug bombed the place before packing when I moved out, and that took care of the fleas, as did washing my poor cat in a friend's backyard with a hose (we tried washing him in the bathtub, but they would just rush up around his nose and eyes, so we had to be able to really get them off). A couple roaches came with us, but we used pheromone traps and they were gone within a week.

 

[Guy]

Here is a site were you can report Bed Bugs in apartments and hotels http://www.bedbugreports.com/

 

[justjoinedtopost]

Damn.

Here is a site were you can report Bed Bugs in apartments and hotels http://www.bedbugreports.com/

An excellent resource Guy.

 

[lovesheidi]

okay, after reading this thread, i thought i might give my actual "professional" opinion.

I worked as a hotel clerk, then housekeeper because, being a hotel desk clerk is worse than being a debt collector (another job i had).

I was working at a 4 star hotel (btw, stars only describe services available, NOT quality), while out smoking and drinking with me, my regional manager told me that there was an outbreak of bedbugs in one wing of the hotel. A short version of the meeting the next day, "Bedbugs don't affect most people, if you happen to have a guest complaining, just upgrade their room and offer coupons". The longer version includes a lot of racism.

One more precaution, that is vital for anyone staying at a hotel, "check the power outlets for "pepper" and the corners of the mattresses for bugs and pepper droppings".

So basically if you don't see either, it's very unlikely you'll be carrying bed bugs home, remember, even your rented car, tram, bus, airplane seat, etc. can be carrying them. Just watch for the pepper dropping that indicate an infestation and live your life because there are many worse things out there.

(basic hotel tips other than checking for "pepper" are, always always ask for fresh towels, and never ever drink from the glasses)

 

[SaffronBurke]

Ha! The hotel mention reminds me of when I worked at a Holiday Inn, and we had a couple rooms that got bed bugs because the Marriott had them, and some people moved to our hotel to get rid of them... but brought them along.

 

[marchards]

OMG yes! Those crazy little bugs! I was getting "mosquito" bites every night and it was driving me crazy. My Asian flatmates were sharing all sorts of remedies from their homelands until eventually my entire room was covered in citrine and some Vietnamese concoction she got from her mother. Nothing worked. Until one night, I actually saw him, crawling along my bed like an old person pushing a cart around Albertsons. I trapped him in a little bottle and put him outside and that was it. No more bites.

I found it hard to believe that one guy was causing all those bites (because they generally occur in gangs), but apparently it's possible.

Also, I realise this is going to make me sound like a pussy, but I would prefer to not kill things if there's any way to avoid it. I won't kill ants or bed bugs if there is any way at all to just make them leave me alone instead.