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The bugs themselves are really easy to kill! Spray them with rubbing alcohol and they're dead. They walk over diatomaceous earth and they're toast. Reach 115 de
by chefandy 4y ago
The bugs themselves are really easy to kill! Spray them with rubbing alcohol and they're dead. They walk over diatomaceous earth and they're toast. Reach 115 degrees for 30 seconds and they're done. But yes, infestations can be resilient because they scram at the first sign of trouble and hide really well if they're forced to live somewhere other than your mattress/box spring/bed frame. They will hide in electrical outlets, clothes, cracks in trim, in furniture, under carpets, move to different apartments, etc. However, they need a reason to leave your bed-- e.g. the mattress is too crowded with other bugs, has been treated with insecticide, etc.
The situation you had in your apartment would never have gotten better. Without treating the whole building, spraying insecticide will just push them into adjacent apartments. Many jurisdictions distinguish between infestations local to one dwelling to be handled by the tenant and infestations that are building-wide which landlords have to treat. If they just keep pushing them around, they never have to shell out for a building-wide treatment and they always look like a hero because technically they didn't even have to pay to get your apartment treated.
Step 1 is to clean every tiny little crevice of your bed frame, bedding, box spring, and mattress and if possible, get a mattress bag.
Step 2 is to put bed bug traps under each leg of your bed-- they can't jump or fly, only climb.
Step 3 is to make sure no part of your bed or bedding is touching the wall or floor.
Step 4 sprinkle diatomaceous earth around the base of your bed and the edges of your room.
That's actually enough to stop you from getting bit right there and if your infestation is really minor, is probably enough to entirely eradicate it. Unfortunately, they can go 70 days without feeding, so you'd need to keep that diligence up for quite some time. That's why a proper extermination will be building-wide and happen at least twice with the second treatment being after the eggs should have hatched. The best method, IMO, is tenting the building and heating it to 115 degrees for a few days. Not cheap, though, and obviously very disruptive.
- wcarss 4y agoDiatomaceous earth seems to bother/deter them, but it really doesn't kill them very quickly. During an infestation about five years ago, I was curious if what I'd bought and sprinkled everywhere was any use at all, so I captured a bug in a glass and absolutely covered it. It continued wandering around in there for 4 more days. But I agree with a lot of the rest of what you're saying :) Also: - double sided carpet tape is difficult, if not impossible for them to cross, so wrapping it around the leg of a chair or bed in addition to a trap can be a big help - you can measure the heat of a dryer with an instant thermometer by putting a few towels in the dryer and pulling them out right at the peak, before the cool cycle at the end, and tossing the thermometer right into the middle of them. Most dryers are suitably hot, but you should check before relying on it -- you should look up the temperature needed to ensure the eggs are destroyed, and always do a dryer run without washing first, so the heat applies directly and isn't just evaporating water! But after all that: lots and lots of stuff can be put in the dryer, and tied off safely afterwards in bags / taken away from a place it can be reinfested. - putting books or electronics in an oven, even set very low, is usually a bad idea.
- nicoburns 4y ago> It continued wandering around in there for 4 more days. For a bedbug, dying in 4 days is quick! They can live for up to a year or more normally. I think you'd normally want to combine a steam treatment to kill the bulk of them with diatomaceous earth to mop up the stragglers
- chefandy 4y agoThe big idea with the diatomaceous earth is that newcomers will hopefully die before they reproduce. They live quite a long time otherwise. For a nontoxic treatment it's not bad.
- ChocMontePy 4y ago> Step 1 is to clean every tiny little crevice of your bed frame, bedding, box spring, and mattress and if possible, get a mattress bag. Step 2 is to put bed bug traps under each leg of your bed-- they can't jump or fly, only climb. Step 3 is to make sure no part of your bed or bedding is touching the wall or floor. Step 4 sprinkle diatomaceous earth around the base of your bed and the edges of your room. I can confirm this through personal experience. I had a bad bedbug infestation two years ago, did the first three steps and haven't had a problem since (I didn't use the diatomaceous earth in Step 4). You basically turn your bed into a castle. No bedbugs currently in your bed + defenses so they can't get onto your bed = no future bedbug problem in bed. One good trick I used is that you can make "bed bug traps under each leg of your bed" yourself by putting little plastic containers under each leg that you fill with an inch of baby oil. The bedbugs can't get passed it.
- chefandy 4y agoNice. Good call with the oil. I immediately thought "hmm I hate the smell of baby oil-- wonder if you could use vegetable oil instead of baby oil" but then you'd attract cockroaches. Unscented mineral oil it is.