[addabox]

Saw an interview with an entymologist a while back where his basic message was that the idea that humankind, even first world well heeled human kind, had some kind of right to sleep unencumbered by parasites was just a brief fantasy enabled by the indiscriminate use of toxic pesticides. That we had best just get over it, because we were presently to return to the experience of 99.9% of human history-- bed bugs and whatnot are just part of the deal, for most people most of the time.

I guess once they start to establish a certain density of infestation, it gets harder and harder to avoid picking them up at some point, unless you want to burn your clothes every time you venture out of your house, or just never go out at all.

I had a bedbug scare a while back, and it was deeply traumatizing. I kept leaping up all night and peering into my bedding, convinced I was being eaten alive. The fact nothing came of it with only the most modest interventions on my part (diatomaceous earth around the bed, actual fucking bedbug spray on the frame) suggests to me there was never anything there-- never saw one except for what was probably, in retrospect, a book louse. I had the dread "itchy three bites in a row" that led me to believe the bastards were about, but only a couple of times and never thereafter. Who knows what that was about. But believing I was under attack made me a husk.
And I live in a small space-- it's never been clear to me what the fuck I should do should I actually have a problem-- I don't have room to seal off an area and live around it for a while.

My best guess is that I'd want to use one of the services that seals your place up and uses heaters to take the entire space to oven like temperatures over some number of hours, guaranteeing a complete kill no matter where they lurk. It's expensive, but it beats burning my house to the ground.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by addabox Saw an interview with an entymologist a while back where his basic message was that the idea that humankind, even first world well heeled human kind, had some kind of right to sleep unencumbered by parasites was just a brief fantasy enabled by the indiscriminate use of toxic pesticides. That we had best just get over it, because we were presently to return to the experience of 99.9% of human history-- bed bugs and whatnot are just part of the deal, for most people most of the time. I guess once they start to establish a certain density of infestation, it gets harder and harder to avoid picking them up at some point, unless you want to burn your clothes every time you venture out of your house, or just never go out at all. I had a bedbug scare a while back, and it was deeply traumatizing. I kept leaping up all night and peering into my bedding, convinced I was being eaten alive. The fact nothing came of it with only the most modest interventions on my part (diatomaceous earth around the bed, actual fucking bedbug spray on the frame) suggests to me there was never anything there-- never saw one except for what was probably, in retrospect, a book louse. I had the dread "itchy three bites in a row" that led me to believe the bastards were about, but only a couple of times and never thereafter. Who knows what that was about. But believing I was under attack made me a husk. And I live in a small space-- it's never been clear to me what the fuck I should do should I actually have a problem-- I don't have room to seal off an area and live around it for a while. My best guess is that I'd want to use one of the services that seals your place up and uses heaters to take the entire space to oven like temperatures over some number of hours, guaranteeing a complete kill no matter where they lurk. It's expensive, but it beats burning my house to the ground.

Yeah, I understand the trauma. Just worrying that I might have them is pretty stressful. I have to remind myself that a) they're ultimately harmless, they don't carry disease and b) unless I find actual concrete evidence there is no point worrying about it. That's why I've set up traps. A good exterminator won't treat without evidence anyways.

From my reading after finding a bedbug in that guesthouse a month ago, there are some basic steps you can take to help prevent an infestation from entering your home, but it only takes one pregnant female to crawl in from an adjacent apartment. Traps serve as a good early warning indicator without surrounding yourself with toxins.

I travel a fair amount so I'm glad I've finally bought a PackTite. New rule is nothing comes into my apartment after I return from a trip until it's been treated in my PackTite or sent through the dryer. Anything that can't be treated (electronics and medicine) is kept in sealed ziploc bags and removed outside for inspection, then everything else is placed in the PackTite for treatment. Pretty simple routine really. I've stayed in enough dodgy Asian guesthouses that I'm surprised I've never picked them up before.

[noleli2]

Between this thread and one over on reddit, I'm officially terrified. There has to be a way to get ahold of Propoxur and use it off-label.

[crazychester]

Oh dear god.

Saw the emoticons. Said to myself, stop, stop reading now chester.

Couldn't help myself of course.

So far have resisted reading all the gruesome bedbugness that I know will follow after the first post.

There should be a warning about the bat bugs. I do not expect to come on to a nice, almost all-American, mom's apple pie forum like this and find myself discovering for the first time in my 53 years that there are fucking bat bugs co-existing with me on this planet. I mean WTF! Are all the mods on holidays???

And they might be in my bed! 😁😱😫 oh god there aren't enough emoticons to describe how much that freaks me out!

It's shit like this that leads me to believe the Internet is truly evil after all. We have rules to protect people who are scared of spiders, don't we? But when it comes to bed bugs, open slather huh?

I say new rule prohibiting threads involving bed bugs that haven't been cleared by our (lazy) mods now!

[crazychester]

You guys banned somebody who is an authority on bed bugs?

Then you let someone post a bed bug thread willy nilly.What is the matter with you??? I put my internet safety in your hands and you go and recklessly ban a bed bug expert.

Fucking hell. I say make billybob (or Captain Billy or Captain Bob or whatever he's calling himself these days) life member now!

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by alcimedes bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha. so you pray.

Huzzah, just a clover mite.

[alcimedes]

I'll breathe another sigh of relief for you.

[Ryan]

I too always hire pest control services from Australia to service my home in the Northern Hemisphere!

[Dr. Bobsky]

Bed bug infestation #2 underway -- picked this one up myself from a conference site. I might have gotten 'lucky' in that I found and killed a single bug and noticed its molt nearby implying that if it was the only one I carried over (which has a substantial probability), it wasn't an adult and there should be no eggs...

[Izziewerner]

How Can Long Bed Bugs Live Without Food

[psmith2.0]

Oddly enough, it mostly depends on the location.

In Toledo, for example, 2-5 days seems to be the typical range.

Something in the air/water there, I believe?

[kscherer]

I hear "Long Bed Bugs" usually don't live as long as "Short Bed Bugs", but I'm no bugologist, so what do I know?

[PB PM]

Depends on how big the bed is, and how close it is to Toledo. The bigger the bed, and the closer it is to downtown the longer the bed bug will be.

[kscherer]

Oh, drat! Brad's been banning people. Taking away our fun.

And here I was gonna wait until the bedbugs were at least as long as Murbot.