Reddit how to get rid of bed bugs

Posted by10 years ago

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Hey guys. So I live in Brooklyn in a small apartment. I keep getting bedbugs, even though I've sprayed my apartment several times, gotten a new mattress, washed all my sheets and blankets, etc. The spray gives me a headache and CAN'T be healthy, and I'm told you can make a spray out of vinegar (any information on how to make this would be appreciated, or any other natural remedies you know that wont have me wake up feeling like I was beat up in my sleep). Any other ideas or resources you guys have that could help me out are welcome too.

hopefully this is the right sub to post on. I live in a complex, and since Friday night i've gotten the worst bed bug bites ever. Both my feet, and left calf are covered in bites. i've woken up (this morning included) at 3:30 every morning due to the intense itching, and nothing seems to be working. I've changed my sheets, washed them and my duvet covers in high heat, vacuumed my mattress, sheets as well as the area surrounded by bed, nothing. they're getting progressively worse, and i'm becoming extremely paranoid as if i can feel them crawling on me. what have you guys done to get rid of bed bugs and the bites? what remedies have you guys used that works besides hydrocortisone?

EDIT: i didn't know bird mites existed, but these are more likely bird mite bites than bed bugs. Bed bugs attacked mainly the face, neck, arms and hands while as i've stated these bites are clusters on both my feet and left calf. On the couch right now, very paranoid and itchy.

EDIT 2: woke up on my couch with no new bites, so good news is that the bugs or whatever is living in my room hasn't spread knock on wood. As of right now, i threw all my bed cloth into a hot wash and will be drying it high heat. Spraying down EVERYTHING (top of mattress topper, underneath, top of mattress and underneath as well as the carpet surrounding it. clothes as well and bug bites drying them out) with rubbing alcohol 70%. Will be calling my complex customer service for an exterminator.

photos of my bites: https://imgur.com/a/S1ykU as you can probably assume, all dots are the bites. bed bugs? bird mites? both?

Posted by6 years ago

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I found a cheap place to live in that had a former bed bug problem. It's cheap for reasons other than the bed bugs btw. My friend knows the landlord and he's a straight shooting kind of guy and he says he took care of the bed bugs and hasn't seen any since. The apartment is empty, so no furniture for them to live in. A new carpet was put in and extensive spraying was done with one more round planned. I know the horror stories that are bedbugs, so I don't need warnings about how much of an infesting pest they are. I just want to know if getting rid of them is doable with significant work or if it's the worst idea ever to move in there.

Bed bug infestations are increasing at an alarming rate. Despite common misinformation about this pest being limited to "dirty" people it can happen to ANYONE. I have seen the nicest, most innocent people lose hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in service costs and property loss. Don't become a victim, become aware! Eliminating this bug entirely is unrealistic but we can control it with a more knowledgeable culture.

My company would ask that I avoid public proof but I promise the mods have it.

I've seen professionals eliminate them with a handfull of treatments (3 or 4) across 4 months (with a 2-month weekly inspection phase thereafter to be certain they'd gone).

I've seen a very early infestation in a very sparsely furnished home eliminated when the owner re-floored & painted 2 rooms most heavily affected. This one was a classic "people moved out & left the bugs as a surprise, hibernating in the walls" situation. The re-flooring (paint in one room & linoleum in another) and spackling / painting occurred right after a single professional treatment & the first sighting. They got lucky and it worked right away. That's abnormal.

Generally, the way to eliminate them is like this, whether it's done by a pro or not:

• You isolate the beds people sleep in. 3 inches from any wall, curtain, or other furniture. Nothing stored underneath. Bedding tucked up off the floor. Encasements on mattresses & box springs.

• You apply some long-lasting killing agent around each bed, or at the very least around the feet where they touch the floor. Pros will use certain specific insecticide films. You can use silica dust like CimeXa or food-grade Diatomaceous Earth (not other kinds), or the relatively new fungal insecticide Aprehend. Each product has its own guidelines for how often to reapply or how to keep the floor treated properly over several months.

• Every week, like clockwork, you clean the bed & bedding. 1 hour on hot in the clothes dryer for all bedding & pillows (before laundering if using separate washer & dryer machines, just to kill bugs). Wipe down & spray the frame with insecticide, soapy water, or (as a last resort, very carefully as it's a fire hazard) rubbing alcohol. Carefully clean the encasements of any bugs. This "evicts" any that made it through the gauntlet that may stay & hide in the "safe" bed away from the "killer" floor.

• When you've gone 8 weekly bed inspections / cleanings and found zero bugs or fresh signs, you're probably done. Every time you find one or a fresh sign, you reset the clock to zero weeks and start over.

• Optionally, you can put monitors under the legs of the bed to help with inspections. They'll kill a couple bugs and you can find their carcasses there as easy evidence. When you stop finding them, you're near the end.

• Optionally, you can spray any of those cleaning agents I mentioned for the bed around & into any suspected harborages (places you see them other than the bed), like sofas, wall cracks, baseboards, other bedroom furniture, etc. This flushes them out faster and will cause sightings, but will also expose them to your floor treatments, sooner.

Some adult bed bugs will just ignore the treatments. They're big enough & their shells thick enough to survive contact with the agents, and/or they're genetically resistant. However, the young are not. It takes 5 weekly feedings for a newly-hatched bed bug to grow up enough to reproduce. They can't take that many exposures, so the elders never replace themselves and die off after about 6 months.

The bugs will still bite. Absolutely nothing prevents 100% of bites. But they'll usually die not long after, and long before their next feeding the following week or so. This process usually takes at least 3 full months to kill off even a small infection to the last bug. 6 to 8 months isn't uncommon. Most of that time is spent with a very small infestation with only a handfull of bugs present, hanging on and trying desperately to reproduce but with all their young dying immediately. Most infestations get noticeable (bites every night, sightings frequently) after 2 to 4 months. They get bad after 4 to 6 months with no treatment at all, and really disgusting after a year or so. They spread to neighboring units in adjoining buildings or apartments at about 3 to 4 months.

Good luck!

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