I had a bedbug problem in a place I rented. The landlord used heat, and it seemed to work. I also just used common sense and got a mattress liner and used Permethrin around the perimeter of my room, and it cleared up.
Getting rid of bed bugs: trickier than ever
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Re: Getting rid of bed bugs: trickier than ever
#62I worked pest control for a few years until 2021. We all knew that pesticides basically don’t work on bed bugs—it was old news. The article glosses over heat treatments, which is odd, because it really does work, and usually in a single session. It’s a very labor-intensive and invasive procedure, though. The residents must leave the house for 8 hours while the techs bake each room and throw everything around. By the…
Here's how we got rid of them ourselves for cheap: 1. Bought a bedbug-proof encasement for every mattress and pillow. Seals them in and they starve. 2. Bought a handheld steam cleaner and steamed every seam on every piece of furniture.
3. Spread the diatomaceous earth all over the floor. Don't be shy and over do it. It wont work immediately but in 7 days or more they are dead.
Re: Getting rid of bed bugs: trickier than ever
#63I would nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Re: Getting rid of bed bugs: trickier than ever
#64We had a house centipede infestation when I lived in NYC. It was awesome. No bed bugs. No roaches except in the end of summer, (the giant flying variety and it was really just the month of August when the humidity is out of control they would come out of the drains.) No bugs in general. Those house centipedes ate everything.
When we moved into our house we were disturbed by the house centipedes. I did a quick search online about how to get rid of them, and I mostly found stories of the form "Help, I got rid of all my house centipedes and now my home is infested with other bugs! How do I get the house centipedes back?" So we let them be.
In my neck of the woods it’s the same deal with spiders. You just escort them outside once they get fat and too lazy to not be on your wall in the daytime.
Re: Getting rid of bed bugs: trickier than ever
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
If the infestation is heavy enough they will climb the walls and drop from the ceiling.
Like special forces bed-bug airborne commandos?
My grandfather was in the German army in WW2 and he said they called them Fallschirmjäger - paratroopers - for exactly this reason, they would climb tent walls to drop onto beds that had their legs placed in tins of water to try and keep them off.
Re: Getting rid of bed bugs: trickier than ever
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's how we got rid of them ourselves for cheap: 1. Bought a bedbug-proof encasement for every mattress and pillow. Seals them in and they starve. 2. Bought a handheld steam cleaner and steamed every seam on every piece of furniture.
3. Spread the diatomaceous earth all over the floor. Don't be shy and over do it. It wont work immediately but in 7 days or more they are dead.
This. My wife had grabbed a couch off the side of the road. Perfect condition, even advertised on Facebook as free!
After a couple days we saw these bugs crawling out of the couch. After a quick reverse image search, it came back as a bed bug.
Lo and behold we noticed these buggers were all over our house after a month.
We didn't use anything but diatomaceous earth. Sprinkled it all over the house around the base boards and furniture. After about two months, they were all gone.
Re: Getting rid of bed bugs: trickier than ever
#67Y
Re: Getting rid of bed bugs: trickier than ever
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are creepy, but they eat baddies. The last time one showed up in our bathroom, my wife yelled at me to "Stop marveling at it!" It was the biggest one I had ever seen, close to 3 inches. RIP Uber-coleoptrata scutigera!
I just googled the scutigera and they’re somewhat more adorable than the giant centipedes we have in Australia (no they’re not everywhere, but they’re enough to startle you).
Not when you watch them move, I bet.
Re: Getting rid of bed bugs: trickier than ever
#69I worked pest control for a few years until 2021. We all knew that pesticides basically don’t work on bed bugs—it was old news. The article glosses over heat treatments, which is odd, because it really does work, and usually in a single session. It’s a very labor-intensive and invasive procedure, though. The residents must leave the house for 8 hours while the techs bake each room and throw everything around. By the…
Heat works.
We heat the room to 120-130 for 12-16 hours.
Some people are magnets. bedbugs love their blood.
Re: Getting rid of bed bugs: trickier than ever
#70I worked pest control for a few years until 2021. We all knew that pesticides basically don’t work on bed bugs—it was old news. The article glosses over heat treatments, which is odd, because it really does work, and usually in a single session. It’s a very labor-intensive and invasive procedure, though. The residents must leave the house for 8 hours while the techs bake each room and throw everything around. By the…
Can't be that old. I had bed bugs in 2012 I believe. I bought some of the recommended insecticide and sprayed a small perimeter and released a couple that I had captured into the middle. They then crawled outward and I was shocked how quickly after they crossed the perimeter they died.
Was the pesticide Proproxur? That stuff does work but you can't buy it anymore. I think the last stocks sold around 2012...