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If you have bedbugs (and if you do then I’m so sorry) then I recommend not using the chemical treatments. These supposedly just scatter them everywhere, causing

If you have bedbugs (and if you do then I’m so sorry) then I recommend not using the chemical treatments. These supposedly just scatter them everywhere, causing them to spread. The two treatments that work reliably seem to be: - Whole building heat treatment, but this is the nuclear option as it involves heating the entire building (including cracks and crevices) to 60c - Repeated steam treatments. Superheated steam kills them on contact, but doesn’t scare them away. Any remaining bugs will gravitate towards sleeping areas and can be got by repeating the steam treatment within a 2 week window which is how long their reproduction cycle takes. Source: https://www.bed-bugs.co.uk/educational/about-bed-bugs/ https://www.bed-bugs.co.uk/educational/about-bed-bugs/ I did a lot of research on this topic after an unfortunate encounter with bed bugs while travelling, and this was the most reliable source I could find. EDIT: the Mark Rober video linked below (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JAOTJxYqh8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JAOTJxYqh8) also contains much of the same advice.

beardog 4y ago
I can confirm in my anecdotal experience that poison is not effective. The poison also made me itchy more so than the bugs. It is really difficult in large houses or multi-unit apartments because they can hide in walls or behind things. Pretty much have to do heat treatment but that can be rough on the structure.
preommr 4y ago
> Whole building heat treatment When reading about this I've heard exterminators say that heat treatment alone isn't always effective because there are some areas that don't reach those temperatures, and it might not kill the eggs that tend to be more durable.
wcarss 4y ago
I had to live through a bedbug infestation about five years ago; the neighbours had a "sweep up and don't tell the management" approach, which I did not adopt. After two rounds of standard chemical treatments, my apartment was empty of them -- it can be quite effective. Despite that, I still constantly found reasons to believe that it might not yet be resolved, and lived a horrible shell of a normal life for months until I had served out my lease and (still amazingly bug free), could move. Even months after moving, I feared having somehow brought them along. In retrospect, it's hard to believe: but they were gone after those two treatments. The greatest toll was the mental toll and the uncertainty of whether it could ever even be resolved. If anyone reading is going through it, just follow the instructions of a professional, and know that one day, you _will_ be past it.
- Retric 4y ago
  There’s very different bedbug populations in different areas with wildly different levels of resistance to these chemicals. NYC and a few other major metropolitan areas have in practice spent decades maximizing how resistant these bugs are. It might sound preposterous but even within NYC there’s very different lineages where wealthy areas tend to be much harder to deal with because people don’t want the stigma and so don’t tell anyone when they fumigate and they also travel more which means constantly risking exposure in hotels etc.
  - andrewstuart 4y ago
    It’s so hard to get rid of an infestation of the wealthy.
    - katzenversteher 4y ago
      I guess chemical treatment or the suggested "heat to 60 degrees celsius" might work. But the f*** are pretty mobile and escape or call security / police.

beardog 4y ago

I can confirm in my anecdotal experience that poison is not effective. The poison also made me itchy more so than the bugs. It is really difficult in large houses or multi-unit apartments because they can hide in walls or behind things. Pretty much have to do heat treatment but that can be rough on the structure.

preommr 4y ago

> Whole building heat treatment When reading about this I've heard exterminators say that heat treatment alone isn't always effective because there are some areas that don't reach those temperatures, and it might not kill the eggs that tend to be more durable.

wcarss 4y ago

I had to live through a bedbug infestation about five years ago; the neighbours had a "sweep up and don't tell the management" approach, which I did not adopt. After two rounds of standard chemical treatments, my apartment was empty of them -- it can be quite effective. Despite that, I still constantly found reasons to believe that it might not yet be resolved, and lived a horrible shell of a normal life for months until I had served out my lease and (still amazingly bug free), could move. Even months after moving, I feared having somehow brought them along. In retrospect, it's hard to believe: but they were gone after those two treatments. The greatest toll was the mental toll and the uncertainty of whether it could ever even be resolved. If anyone reading is going through it, just follow the instructions of a professional, and know that one day, you _will_ be past it.

Retric 4y ago
There’s very different bedbug populations in different areas with wildly different levels of resistance to these chemicals. NYC and a few other major metropolitan areas have in practice spent decades maximizing how resistant these bugs are. It might sound preposterous but even within NYC there’s very different lineages where wealthy areas tend to be much harder to deal with because people don’t want the stigma and so don’t tell anyone when they fumigate and they also travel more which means constantly risking exposure in hotels etc.
- andrewstuart 4y ago
  It’s so hard to get rid of an infestation of the wealthy.
  - katzenversteher 4y ago
    I guess chemical treatment or the suggested "heat to 60 degrees celsius" might work. But the f*** are pretty mobile and escape or call security / police.