BED BUGS

Good luck not itching after reading this new yorkers.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1313368/Nikes-flagship-store-latest-victim-New-York-bedbug-infestation.html

please oh please let the tiny cream-coloured insect I just found in my bathroom not be a bed bug nymph

(I think it may be a book louse, and I really don't want a full-on book louse infestation either, but it'd be preferable to bed bugs and the internet suggests that it's a lot more possible to get just one book louse than it is to get just one bed bug)

(itches anyway, just from the power of suggestion)

Was it translucent? Did it have a black spot at the base of its abdomen?

itd be weird for a baby bed bug to be in the bathroom imo

Yeah, I think it being in the bathroom is the #1 point in favour of it being a book louse, because the internet says they like damp/humid places, which our bathroom is for hours after the shower is used.

No black spot. Think it may have been translucent but I'm not sure as it was tiny (about 1mm), light brown and walking across a variety of beige surfaces. So the other internet-gleaned point in favour of it not being a bed bug is that a bed bug would have to be less than a day old and not have eaten yet to be that small and pale - seems the odds are against seeing one in that stage.

The name "book lice" strikes fear into my heart a bit as we have a lot of books, but it sounds like they'd rather eat flour and grain than cause noticeable damage to c20th paperbacks (so next stage is check the kitchen), and it's quite possible to see a few of them and never end up with a major infestation. So that's good. Just not good at dealing with unexpected insects sitting on the toilet paper I was about to use (TMI, but !!) at 1am

I'm pretty sure if bed bugs are really small to the point of not having fed they're almost invisibly translucent and don't get brown until they're older and full of blood.

I did have some in my old bathroom though, them having apparently crawled through pipes from neighbouring properties, so keep an eye out just in case. As long as you're not actually being bitten by anything you don't need to be too worried.

:(

oh no!

do they eat you?

Found a bug last night. Fucker was jaunting across my bed. Caught it, looked at it, flushed it. Then I panicked. Washed all my linens and duvet and pillows, didn't sleep a wink, found a few discarded encasings but haven't found their lair yet. I have never experienced a single bite. Terminix is coming tomorrow to do an inspection.

THIS IS AWFUL

Oh man good luck. They don't have a lair really, they'll just be laying eggs in assorted places in/around the bed.

And if the exterminators try to tell you that you'll need to throw out furniture/clothes/linens, consider getting someone else. You shouldn't have to discard ANYTHING if they do the job properly.

I am probably going to pony up for a thermal heat treatment.

h/s, where do you live?

denver

ok, I had a similar problem in Denver and I don't know what type of housing you live in but make sure they're not bat bugs, a close relative of the bedbug. Save one, drown it in alcohol, and the exterminator should be able to tell the difference. This distinction is important because if they're bedbugs, you foot the bill. If they're batbugs, they become your landlord's responsibility (for not securing the abode from bat infestation). Do you live in an old building? Could there be bats on the premises?

bat bugs are cute

That was very misleading.

so is life

fuuuuuck this

oh by the way, I never did find any more bed bugs nor did Terminix nor did another exterminator who came out... so.. yeah, case closed I guess?

in hotel meetings these are referred to as "B.B.'s which cracks me up: an enemy so evil you dare not speak its name

"B.B.'s"*

living in seasia, bedbugs are a real concern, and i encounter them on almost every backpacking jaunt i take over here. a bad infestation is a nightmare, we're talking like 100+ bites at a time, they show up a day or two later and itch like a motherfucker. i've found an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure - if i get bit on vacay i quarentine my whole bag on the porch for a day or two, empty out everything and spray the shit out of it with bug killer, then do the same the next day. spray the shit out of little hidden corners of my bag as well. also i spray my bed 2 or 3 days in a row, shooting the stuff into those little airholes in my mattress, into every little hidden corner within 10 feet of my bed, etc etc. i got extra paranoid after i smashed a little baby bedbug running around on my matress 2 nights after i came back from a trip, even though the bag hadn't even entered my house and i'd immediately laundered the clothes i was wearing 5 minutes after i took them off in my bedroom.

so far i've managed to avoid a proper infestation, knock on wood. but i'd say in this day and age, dumpster diving for sofas and mattresses is totally off the menu due to these evil little fuckers.

I got some bites of some sort last night, went on full paranoid mode and threw out ratty couch, buncha old clothes, bagged the rest, cleaned everywhere. roommmate sez no bites.

I know the neighborhood has had problems so it's not totally ridiculous to go into paranoid mode. the landlords actually had some dogs come in this building earlier in the year.

our mattress is crap and slowly killing me and I don't have that many things in my room so I'd be more w/e about it if it weren't for the fact that I'm going home to california in a few days and if I somehow infect my parents homes I will feel awful.

also my window was partly opened and unscreened and it is summer could it be mosquito bites, yes, yes it could

What do the bites look like? Are they all in a row?

If not, you are probably overreacting . . . but now have a clean apartment.

We have an announcement in the hallway as you walk in to call the super immediately in the event of bedbugs.

they weren't exactly in a row, but I only vaguely remember them cause it was 3 am and they were gone when i woke up

but yeah there was no evidence of anything in the mattress or box springs. I found one creature near the window that might have been a spider or might have been a bed bug, I dunno, I killed it. it didn't really look like the pictures I saw online but didn't entirely look like a spider either.

anyway I was more concerned about j's reaction than actually dealing w/ the bugs

no such thing as an overreaction when it comes to bedbugs

FUCK

Oh dear. Are you sure?

For sure. Waiting for the super to call the building property place and arrange for the exterminator to come by.

Last night we noticed two on the box spring, then investigated the rest of the room and found another 10 or 15. We put all of our clothes into plastic bags but haven't washed them yet. I wish the bug guy would just come by and deliver the news so I can get on with ruining my weekend.

Oh man I'm sorry to hear that. I was warned to be very careful about being in and out of people's houses all day (hospice gig)--avoid bringing coats and bags and stuff in; keep change of clothes in the car and swap out before coming into own home. I do exactly none of those things in actual practice :(

Yeah, go actually carry out that routine seems so tedious, I can believe anyone would do it!

#shitpeoplewithbedbugssay

ugh i'm so sorry.

I used to dread getting bedbugs SO much, and I still dread it, but I felt much better when an exterminator once hand waved and told me "bed bugs are easy- it's fleas that are the real pain in the ass to get rid of".

I'm still in denial I think. I think the worst part will be hogging the 3 washing machines for the whole weekend (there are 3 for the entire building - around 60 units)

Oh, also when word gets out that we have bed bugs an everyone else completely hates us

they won't hate you, they just won't ever come over

i'm sorry to hear about your situation
stay strong karl!

Do NYC neighbors really still condemn bed-bug-havers? Where the fuck do they think the bed bugs came from? Spontaneous generation in your apartment alone?

It's ok. Feels like a rite of passage that I've been lucky enough to avoid until now.

Ugh, just had a daydream about one of the bugs filling himself up with my blood, and then she returns to the mattress and has a make out sesh with the husband bug and my blood flies around the box spring. After an appropriate bed bug gestation period passes, a squealing newborn emerges from a pool of my blood.

In some ways I am most powerful as the provider and deity for this community of parasites! *drop d tuning drone*

I don't actually know if the neighbors will be mad or not, but I'm just assuming they will. I've read too many polls about what American think about basic scientific facts to have any faith that they'll understand where bed bugs come from. :(

xp that is actually less horrific than the reality of how bedbugs reproduce: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traumatic_insemination

(trigger warning for that link if u couldn't already tell)

i recommend that you do not luxuriate in the horror -- just take care of business and move on
otherwise, it can become kind of all-consuming (and insomnia-inducing, at least for me)

and yes, people all over the country will still turn up their noses at finding out their neighbors/friends have a BB infestation

xp that is actually less horrific than the reality of how bedbugs reproduce: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traumatic_insemination

(trigger warning for that link if u couldn't already tell)

― example (crüt), Friday, February 27, 2015 11:12 AM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that is fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked up

gotta say BED BUGS live up to the hype. they are as bad as ppl say.

Once you have gone to INSANE-seeming lengths to get rid of them (and you should), I gotta rep for a product called Fabriclear which is a nontoxic spray, easy to find in stores/online. It works, but I recommend using a whole bottle every 2-3 weeks until you're SURE they're gone for good.

i stayed in a hostel in amsterdam about 10 years ago and in the days following it all these tiny bites emerged everywhere on my body, it was terrifying. figured it was bed bugs but i did not carry the infestation with me, thank fucking god

could've been fleas if the bites were small and they didn't haunt you for impossibly long periods of time

1. Get a mattress & boxspring cover so either they're in or they're out but they're not both. If there were any inside they'll be dead in a year or by the next time you move, which is the only time you'll ever take the cover off anyway.
2. Dryer dry or freeze or dry-clean everything. (Things like books that can't be washed can go in plastic bags in the freezer.)
3. Whatever kind of spray works and you're comfortable with its level of toxicity.
4. Diatomaceous earth sprinkled around the baseboards and bed and stuff.

It's kind of a long-term job meaning you go back and do it again in 1 week, then 10 days, then 2 weeks, etc, but you don't have to throw away the entire contents of your apt like some people used to do!

JESUS CHRIST BEDBUG COITUS WTF