3 ms·

I'm very confused, if the bed bugs are in/on the mattress, and you enclose the mattress in a cover, how do the bed bugs get out of the cover?

asielen 2y ago
They don't. You leave the cover on until you are sure you got them all and then you throw away the mattress and get a new one. Also wash everything you own in hot and dry on hot. Or put it in an airtight box for at least a year. They can and will live anywhere within a few feet of where you spend a lot of your time. Couches, beds, chairs, carpets, etc. This person is downplaying how hard it can be to get rid of them.
- lotsofpulp 2y ago
  Hotels get bed bugs all the time, and they don’t regularly throw away mattresses and furniture. Just call a professional terminator who uses the proper insecticides, and you can get rid of beg bugs. The downside is you usually cannot occupy the space for at least a few days. I know of no hotels that bother with diatomaceous earth, so I presume it either doesn’t work sufficiently often, or it takes too long to work.
  - grumple 2y ago
    Diatomaceous earth is very messy and slow. A quick search tells me hotels usually do heat treatment. It requires a professional (or in house set up). I suspect they also wrap the mattresses by default, but I'm not sure that's strictly a bed bug measure. Bed bugs are everywhere though. They will infest any public space with furniture, or any space like hotels where anybody can come in and out. They have infested my local movie theaters (at least the older ones). I bet there are a lot of airlines with this issue.
- colanderman 2y ago
  Then what is the purpose of the diatomaceous earth? The GP's post implies some sort of causal relationship between placing the cover on the mattress and the bugs then being forced to crawl over the DE. I still do not see what the relationship is.

3 ms·

I'm very confused, if the bed bugs are in/on the mattress, and you enclose the mattress in a cover, how do the bed bugs get out of the cover?

by colanderman 2y ago

asielen 2y ago
They don't. You leave the cover on until you are sure you got them all and then you throw away the mattress and get a new one. Also wash everything you own in hot and dry on hot. Or put it in an airtight box for at least a year. They can and will live anywhere within a few feet of where you spend a lot of your time. Couches, beds, chairs, carpets, etc. This person is downplaying how hard it can be to get rid of them.
- lotsofpulp 2y ago
  Hotels get bed bugs all the time, and they don’t regularly throw away mattresses and furniture. Just call a professional terminator who uses the proper insecticides, and you can get rid of beg bugs. The downside is you usually cannot occupy the space for at least a few days. I know of no hotels that bother with diatomaceous earth, so I presume it either doesn’t work sufficiently often, or it takes too long to work.
  - grumple 2y ago
    Diatomaceous earth is very messy and slow. A quick search tells me hotels usually do heat treatment. It requires a professional (or in house set up). I suspect they also wrap the mattresses by default, but I'm not sure that's strictly a bed bug measure. Bed bugs are everywhere though. They will infest any public space with furniture, or any space like hotels where anybody can come in and out. They have infested my local movie theaters (at least the older ones). I bet there are a lot of airlines with this issue.
- colanderman 2y ago
  Then what is the purpose of the diatomaceous earth? The GP's post implies some sort of causal relationship between placing the cover on the mattress and the bugs then being forced to crawl over the DE. I still do not see what the relationship is.