tom cotter

+1 on burn it. In fact, burn everything your son has brought into the house. And, smack him upside the head for exposing your home to these little bastards. I realize how drastic this is. But it's one sleeping bag versus everything you own! These bugs are insideous! They will get into everything. Once they gain a foothold your life becomes a nightmare.

What is the cost of replacing every bed, every mattress, box spring, blankets, sheets, comforters, sq ft of carpeting, couches, chairs, clothing, draperies shoes etc etc etc. ? That versus one sleeping bag. And, only that if it isn't already too late.

Good luck!!!!

vik 

+10 - I wouldn't have let him back onto the property until he was 100% de-bugged. Bed bugs are nasty and they can get tracked in from the yard or anyplace close by he's being de-bugged.

Ekdog

How do I debug my son and his girlfriend?

vik 

My advice consult a local professional who has dealt with this before. It's a serious problem that deserves the being treated as such.

If you keep the bedbugs out of your house you'll only have to deal with the two of them and their belongings. If you let them into your house you'll have a much bigger problem to deal with.

Niles H.

You can double-check this, but I do not believe they lay eggs on human beings. There are five stages of nymphs. In the early stages they are very small and hard to see (first-stage nymphs are only about 1mm long, and translucent). But they will drown.

Fortunately, they don't tend to 'colonize' the human body. A few of them may hitchhike, and they often do. But then they jump ship, and form their colonies in hidden places in a home, typically near a bed or sleeping area.

People go a little overboard in their fears, it seems to me. There are ways of dealing with them, and eradicating them, even if they do colonize. I agree that it is [perhaps (see below)] far better to prevent this from happening in the first place. But I disagree that it is a problem that can't be faced and solved. You just have to go about it in the right ways.

Panic and hysteria can be replaced by science. There are ways and ways of dealing with them.

Back to prevention: Raccoons have an interesting strategy for this sort of thing. They choose a stick (preferably one with thick, rough bark on it), and pick it up with their teeth. They then slowly wade into a lake, or a pool in a stream. Creatures like fleas, lice, and probably close relatives of the bed bugs that feed on humans -- maybe even individuals of the same species at times -- tend to migrate upwards as the raccoon wades into the water. The bugs migrate to dry areas on the raccoon's body.

Toward the end of the procedure, the bugs are migrating from the head to the nose, and out onto the stick, where it is nice and dry, and where they can hide in the bark.

The raccoon keeps going, and finally releases the stick after slowly submerging the last of its body and holding its breath. Then it swims a safe distance underwater, and says, in its own way, "So long, you little buggers."

There may be some useful hints there.

Seriously, there will probably not be many of them; and they will try to jump ship as soon as possible. Preferably not in your home. They are not like scabies or lice that stay on the human body. They just visit to feed, usually at night when the body is still and asleep. They build their homes elsewhere, off-body.

People do often pick them up in movie theaters, and on buses and trains and other forms of public transport. Then they hitchhike home and start a new colony.

They are very common in shelters used by transients. Backpackers' hostels also. Even libraries. They have been strongly on the rise in recent years.

Diatomaceous earth is one very useful element in a good arsenal. Traps can help you determine if the bites you are getting are from bed bugs. Traps are available online.

I don't think it has to be a fear-besotted nightmare. It can be a cool-headed and interesting challenge instead.

Best avoided for sure [actually, literally, or in truth, that 'for sure' probably should be a 'probably' -- or an 'in many cases' -- or even a 'perhaps' -- because some of us actually enjoy these sorts of challenges, and others learn and grow from them]; but it's just not as bad as some would have it. Or it doesn't have to be. That's only one mindset among many possible. Human scientific approaches rule the bed-bug world coming and going.

***
[Why are there so many infestations then? Because most people are not very scientific.]

Ekdog

I had a look around and found this:

[h=2]Will bed bugs travel on people?[/h]Bed bugs may hitch a ride on clothing that people wear, but they are not like lice and will not travel directly on a person. If you are concerned about bed bugs on clothing, remove suspect articles and place these items into a plastic bag. It would be preferable to remove clothing in a place with a non-carpeted floor, so bed bugs will have to travel some distance before finding a hiding spot. A wet cloth wiped over the floor area will help contain any bed bugs that may have attempted to escape.

https://www1.extension.umn.edu/garden...and-traveling/

Niles H.

Hi Ekdog,

That excerpt is mistaken. Bed bugs do sometimes ride on the human body. There are accounts of people entering a bathtub (no clothes), and watching a bed bug float away from their body. They didn't see or feel the bug (they are sneaky and good at this, and most people don't feel them crawling or hiding on their bodies, nor do they feel the bite while it is happening, which may be due in part to an anaesthetic used by the bugs), but it was on their body, and it floated away in the water....

The adults can be seen fairly easily. The small nymphs cannot.

The advice about the wet towel seems rather mistaken as well. There are better ways of doing this, including outside.

Removing and bagging the clothes outside would be a better option.

Lots of swimming and diving and snorkeling might be a good next step.

Taking them out to a lake or swimming hole, or meeting them there is one possibility.

You don't really want to drive them there in your vehicle....

The plastic bags: the way these large bags are usually 'sealed' isn't really good enough. The nymphs can crawl through tiny passageways in the bunched-up plastic. All they need is a very small tunnel.

Niles H.

Niles H.

Came across another firsthand account of bed bugs on someone's body, along with a way of getting them off, and thought it might be of interest to some (the account starts at about 02:44):


This one includes a pretty level-headed entomologist who has seriously studied bed bugs:

dwmckee

I will admit that I have no experience at this, but I hate pesticides and am a cheapskate so here is what I would do. Get some large garbage bags and stuff everything in them. Then I would pour a half gallon of liquid household ammonia in each bag and seal them up overnight. Then I would put the bags in a subzero freezer for a week or two. Then I would double wash everything in a commercial laundromat. Then I would bake everything in a 130 degree oven for two days. Then I would find out how long the egs can survive and store everything back in the bags for that long.

this is, by the way why I do not use commercial laundromats.

Ekdog

They've come back. We were waiting for them at the airport with plastic trash bags and a change of clothes. All of their things are now in quarantine--double bagged and taped shut.

hybridbkrdr

I wasn't kidding about spraying vinegar for a couple of weeks. I'm talking bed sheets, carpet etc.

dwmckee

I hope I do not wind up in the same seats on the plane's next trip!

Ekdog

Well, they bathed and changed into freshly laundered clothes before they got on board.

We took all of their clothes and equipment to a laundry yesterday and washed and dried it at high temperatures.

Ekdog

Is there any proof that this actually works?

MassiveD

Diatomaceous earth is awesome. I had this ongoing fight with large silverfish, don't really do harm in my workshop, but sorta gross. And I didn't want them migrating into other areas. Nothing I did worked, but I spread DE around before going away for the summer, and they are all gone now. It can be purchased cheaply, but if you buy the insecticide version, check the concentration, some are diluted with milk powder as a bait, which does no good if the thing you are after is not interested in milk.

DE is said to be pretty good for the human body when appropriately ingested, but not good to breath in.

On the bag, the best course would be to pick your favourite cure from the list accumulated so far, heat is my favourite. I prepare fly tying materials, and can say that most feathers can take coffee temps when dyeing, so you are probably fine at 140-160, and above. Then sell it on ebay.

Ekdog

If the steps we've taken don't work and we end up with an infestation, applying DE is one of the first steps I'd take. I wonder if boric acid would work, too. I've used it to combat cockroaches and it worked brilliantly.

hybridbkrdr

My experience was that I'd get bug bites for a while then spray and after a while, no bug bites.

I know the smell can be pretty powerful the first hour but then goes away. I can't remember if I started with two sprays per day for the first days or not. But you get the picture.

My mother told me it kills the eggs.

Ekdog

I have no objection to the smell as I use vinegar for everything: wash my hair with it, clean the kitchen, the bathroom, etc. Thanks for the tip.

lucille

If vinegar works, that would be best. I was going to suggest avoiding pesticides on the sleeping bag, as you will be breathing it in next time you use it. How is the bag after high heat wash and dry?

I'm all itchy now, btw...