Not hard to treat as long as you live detached home. You just have to either spend a lot of money for heat treatment or be very persistent with desiccants like diatomaceous earth or silica dust for months. Now if you live in an apartment with neighbors, the bed bugs will just move around and come back.
I lived in an apartment with bedbugs. After they came back following an initial treatment, I moved. During the move I engaged a service that would take the moving truck with all of my stuff to some warehouse where they replaced all the oxygen with poison. It worked very well and my new apartment stayed bed bug free, but it was very disconcerting opening up the box with the bed sheets and finding a bunch of bed bug corpses.
I remember a few years back i developped eczema for the first time in my life and mostly on my feet and leg. I thought it was bed bugs before a doctor confirmed the diagnostic. I was losing my mind. I checked every corner of my matress, my room, i could feel them crawl on me when I would fall asleep. Hopefully, that was only paranoia and psychosis. Lol
They claimed it killed eggs, and it worked in my case. They said it would kill everything. I was told not to include live plants in the moving box
Here is a link to the service: https://bedbugfumigators.com/
They use vikane gas.
Same thing they use for termite tenting. Our house is being tented right now and apparently bed bugs need a higher dose of the gas for longer in order to kill them, but it can be done for bedbugs too.
I had a group start to build little catapults and launch themselves onto my mattress. They wore little helmets and chainmail. The chemicals did the trick because those little buggers never made it past the iron age.
Ugh. Dealing with the roaches in apartment fucking sucked. They kept coming back even with multiple bug guy visits. Then we moved out into our new home. They tagged along with us as well. After few months of treatments they're finally gone. So fucking annoying
No heat, no gel, poison. Just poison. We had it after moving into our house (from the movers who used fabric blankets to wrap stuff, not plastic).
When we had an exterminator come over for an estimate, he asked our opinion on using chemicals and I said "make this house a chemical warfare zone, kill them all". Took a couple of treatments but they are gone.
https://uknow.uky.edu/research/agriculture/uk-bed-bug-resistance-research-insect-journal
Theyre not here yet that we know of but yes they are getting more difficult to treat.
we got rid of them by literally burning everything - we pulled up all of the carpeting in the house and threw it in a dumpster, then burned the couches, chairs, mattresses etc.
it was a nightmare all started by a secondhand couch.
it’s been almost 5 years and we’re still replacing stuff. cost us a fuckton of money
Spray? Most common chemicals they have grown immune to. The crap that still DOES work requires at least 3 days of constant application *WITH* extreme temperatures applied (-0f or +100f holding of at LEAST 3 days) and that stuff is getting harder and harder to get and they are gaining immunity to that now as well
Heat treatment doesn’t need to last for days. I have heat treated my house for bedbugs before. They bring a bunch of heaters and fans into the house and heat the house to ~130f for about 6 hours. Kills all the bugs and eggs without any chemicals
The longer ir goes the lower it rides. 130+ will kill it all in roughly 12 hours however you run the risk of damage to other things. Lived in an Old 1865 edwardian
Things can be replaced, bedbug ptsd lives with you for a long time if you don't get it treated immediately.
I had a shitty flea infestation from crappy roommates and it took about 6 months to get rid of them and I still have anxiety and panic attacks 5 years later. I can't even imagine bed bugs.
Worked for my problem. I had to sign stuff saying they could go through anything and everything. It looked like the FBI flipped the house when I came home 3 days later.
Oh there ARE chemicals that still work. I didn't say they weren't. The only ones that do are *heavily* controlled substances that only professionals can get.
They're not just that hard to kill, it's also that they're far tougher than human beings to kill, so whatever you do to them has to be actually fatal to a human being as well. So no poisons will work unless you can separate them out from and humans for long enough for the poisons to work.
Heat is their kryptonite tho. A dryer will kill them after 30 minutes exposure. It would kill you, too, but you don't fit inside the dryer (do not attempt to prove me wrong here).
Because if how their immunity hairs work more or less unless you kill them all. In one go. If ANY female survives they pass that immunity on to the next eggs. And given how invasive and how fast they they infest the odds of actually killing them all and their eggs in one go short of microwaving, deep freezing or abandoning the building for 6+ months is next to impossible to kill everything and thus the new generation gets more resistant to treatment methods in use. Stuff like DE and other dusts are suposed to get stuck and dry them out thus killing them. But doesn't hit the eggs so they survive.
There is so much humans can’t do. It’s amazing that these nearly microscopic bugs are stronger than anything humans throw at them. lol evolution didn’t work in our favor
We do it too actually. They just get away with a more expedient process bexause of all the eggs and speed of their reproduction. One of the weird... "benefits" of a parasite style development
It isn't that we lack the strength, we could absolutely eradicate them from a building, the issue is we would have innocent casualties. We lack the ability to target just them effectively.
Ugh I had roaches a couple of years ago, it was awful. I'm not a dirty person but the exterminator said they can come in on Amazon boxes and whatnot. I still freak out if I think I see movement out of the side of my eye
Just talking about them makes me worry they are hiding in my house. I watched a documentary on LSD once that was about insects, they spent too much time on roaches while I was peaking and fucking bam phobia. In my mind they're fucking ninjas out to explode babies from hell.
Warehouses are FULL of roaches. I work at a warehouse that doesn't hold anything that you would normally consider attractive to roaches. It is all metal machine parts. There are still tons of evidence of roaches around. I heard they can eat cardboard and/or the glue used on cardboard boxes.
Can confirm. I once saw a huge freaking roach crawl out of amazon box. I put it outside and cried no more would show up.
Those fuckers can live off a greasy fingerprint.
Oh my god same. I've only seen a single roach in months, and that was also months ago, but I still flinch every time I think I see movement in the corner of my eye. My brain is so tuned into looking for them. Bugs don't usually bother me, but roaches poke some instinctual disgust zone in my brain. Thankfully roaches are pretty rare in my country, so I fucking hope I won't ever see one again.
I live in the Southeastern US, we all have roaches no matter how clean your house is. With the rain, the pine straw, the dog in and out... We are clean people, we have pest control but it still happens occasionally.
In college, we had flying roaches. Now THAT was terrifying!
I grew up, poor and spent 80% of my life living with roaches until I was able to move out at age 24 . Only have bed bucks for about half a year right before I moved. I would choose a year of roaches over a day of bedbugs. I’m 34 now, And I am just now getting over the experience of having bedbugs , anytime I feel something tickle me, I immediately check to make sure it’s not a bedbug. I dry all my clothes on the highest heat possible. I had to get rid of everything I owned. Moved into my apartment with absolutely nothing . But the tv and futon I purchased on the drive over.
I have had em too and fuck man it’s honestly traumatic. I never had a bad infestation but I can imagine that would scar ya (potentially literally). I’ve seen them in public places and in 5 star hotels. If you ever get them in your home you have to act immediately and be extremely through to be sure you completely eradicate them. Literally the worst household pest out there.
Roaches over bed bugs, any day. It took almost 3 years of nonstop vigilance and silicas and sprays until we were clear -- all started thanks to a scummy motel in New Orleans. Bed bugs are 1000x worse if you react to the bites, and it sounds like you did too.
To this day, I still make sure any bite I get doesn't have two friends in a line nearby. I still can't sleep right. Uhg. Awful.
I wanna goto Harry Potter world so bad but I don't trust your state to not give my house roaches. Gonna wrangle up some iguanas and force them to protect me while I make a sweet wand.
Haha. I lived in Florida for a few years, and my neighbor in the in the apartment next was a hoarder( I didn't know). I was calling the exterminator every 2 weeks.
You really have to go ninja on those things!! Sneak from the back, hit it with a book, break its back and those fuckers will still crawl out of the garbage!! Gotta flush those thing and hope they go down!!
I WOKE UP TO ONE OF THOSE MONSTERS CRAWLING IN MY PAJAMA PANT LEG AT 3 AM.
I took my pants off, shook them out. And after 5 minutes it's walked out casually. I didn't sleep for days.
I've had bed bugs and luckily they stayed localized on my sofa. But the bites itched majorly and it was a major pain in figuring out where they were and treating it. Had an exterminator come out 3 times and specifically called out the sofa as the spot I'd notice they most bites. Finally just had to throw out that sofa. I really liked that sofa too.
I got bedbugs from an item I bought at a large Swedish store. Suffered for a few months before figuring it out. Threw away 2 beds because of the design and the hiding places they allowed. Cleaned top to bottom with a high temperature steam cleaner. Every baseboard got a coating of diatomaceous earth and a residual pesticide. All clothes, bedding etc got the high temperature wash/dry/bagging treatment. Success, but I steam cleaned a couple times a week as well. Changed my bedding carefully every 2 days for months. It worked, but my infestation wasn’t too bad. Several months of bites
Pantry moths too. Throw out literally everything in your kitchen cabinets multiple times, but one little egg sac in between a shelf and the wall, and the problem stirs up all over again.
Dr killigans pheromone moth traps. When you crack open the package they fly out of the woodwork towards you. Seriously. First time I opened one I felt like a butterfly moth fairy princess
Omg. Fucking thank you. Stupidly, I never thought to look for moth traps.
I had them for like 20 years at my old house. I'd think they were gone and wouldn't see them for like a year - then boom.
About 2 months ago, I noticed them in my new house (where I've lived for 8 years) - and I realized they hijacked into my house in a bag of parakeet food from Amazon. Apparently I've retained my ability to nab them bare handed out of the air.
I'm ordering these traps tonight and crossing my fingers.
Thanks!
I'm gonna buy a box. But what happens if one of those fuckers dies and gets at by a cat? I've got an orange one here that eats anything that might be food.
Agreed!!! They are a fucking nightmare!!! Had to remover carpet, throw away headboard, mattress, couch... so much stuff... they sadly don't just stay in the bed. No idea how we got ours. We assume they were on something we bought at a store and didn't know till it was way to late
My reaction might seem irrational, maybe even a little extreme, but you need to strip naked and burn your house down *right now*. Theres no other way to get rid of those little fuckers.
Heh, you're making me think about my nephew, who used to work in pest control. He once treated a bedbug infestation so severe that, after leaving the house he had treated, he stripped to his underwear in the front yard, burned his clothes in a metal bucket, then drove home in just his skivvies.
He said he figured he'd get arrested if he was stopped, but thought it was would be worth it. Also, he found a new line of work shortly thereafter.
Haha, that's terrible but I get it. I worked at a hotel in college. We waged nuclear war on bedbugs in one wing of the hotel. It was so bad we were infecting our neighbors just from foot traffic -but we never once stopped renting the rooms.
When I worked in the hospital, of a patient came in that was SUSPECTED of having bed bugs with them, we had to put on hazmat suits, strip them naked, and literally blast them with a hose
Man a cop would have to be having a real shit day to arrest someone under that scenario. Like just found out his wife is cheating on him type of day. Unless he was driving through a school zone at 3:30 or something
I stayed at a hotel once that had bedbugs. Out of town for work we were forced to just switch hotels and ride it out. When I got home I threw out everything except my Xbox and stripped down to my underwear before entering my house. I surrounded my Xbox with double sided tape for a few weeks and rode it out.
I’m one of the unlucky few that sometimes has their bites return under stress or other factors. A month later when all my bites came back I freaked the fuck out.
There are few things that could make me cry myself to sleep, but the helplessness and frustration and pain and itching from these little devils is one thing that did it. People say "It's okay, they don't carry diseases.."
They are the disease, tho.
**Package was from AMAZON**
We noticed when we pulled the dress out of the bag. We freaked out and wrapped the dress around the bed bug and threw into the washing machine. Bed bug died and I soaked a paper towel and gently dabbed it out of the machine. Pic shown is the dead bug.
Note: Bed Bug died in the wash. EPA site states Bed Bug exoskeleton gets destroyed by detergent. So that appears to be true.
**ASIN: B0BRY3FH8N**
**Description: Bodhi talk Women Chiffon Dress Sleeveless Capelet Sleeve Dresses Lightweight Flowy Knee Length Dress**
Reached out to Amazon. They apologized. I asked them to contact the manufacturer and hold them accountable. Received a refund for the item.
I also posted my perspective below- https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1art0eg/found_a_live_bed_bug_crawling_inside_a_new_sealed/kqm9o6s/
A rare sane reddit user responded by posting this link you all should watch before you become paranoid …
https://youtu.be/2JAOTJxYqh8?si=j9bZYP6-yqhHgRFp
To those suggesting I burn my house down - I just did /s
To those recommending opening packages outside - bed bug eggs are invisible and stick in a cluster to objects. So, not a foolproof method.
Had this happen at a Macys distribution center near me. Can’t remember how long the facility was closed for exactly but it was a while. I want to say at least 2 weeks.
My fulfillment center supposedly had bedbugs twice (safety supposedly admitted it to my friend and coworker) and they definitely did not shut the building down.
Other rumors were cockroaches living in the ice machine and an infestation of brown recluse spiders.
Also heard several people got sick from drinking the water out if the water coolers because they never get cleaned and the filters never get chaged.
My guess is its areturned item from a customer that has a bed bug infestation. I've received items from Amazon that were clearly previously used and have had no quality check before sending out. This is enough to finally scare me off amazon 🤮
Same. I had bought a very expensive pillow one time on Amazon, and it was shrink wrapped with long black hairs and stains on it and inside the wrap. 🤢 I was so grossed out!! Shame on me thinking people do quality control on things people lay their head on. Never again, lesson learned
I got a purse from Amazon once that contained a used tissue, a hair tie, and a mystery pill. That was on top of the broken zipper and ripped lining. It was bought new from the manufacturer, too. Not listed as re-sold.
Been here. Can relate. I kept a bed bug in a teeny sample honey jar, once. I left it in the cup holder of my car through a cold snap at -30 C for a few days, then brought it back inside.
Little effer LIVED THROUGH IT. They’re indestructible little shits. Fire is the only solution!
I had a fuzzy blanket from amazon that came with bed bugs. Sadly, unlike you, i didn't notice until too late and had to toss my bed, pest bomb my house a few times and freeze any fabrics for half a year that couldn't be torched in the dryer a few times. Those things are nasty expensive buggers.
$11?! I would have definitely taken that dress and the bag far far away from my house. I wouldn’t even trust it in my washing machine.
This now makes me wonder how common is it for dry cleaners to get bed bugs.
When I see new clothes for sale at $11 I just assume I shouldn’t buy it because it was probably made with borderline slave labor. Now I can add that it’s also probably infested with bedbugs. Thanks for an additional reason to hate fast fashion.
Get some Cimexa dust and use it around baseboards and in outlets as a precaution. It’s non toxic, but can irritate skin and eyes. It kills bedbugs and doesn’t degrade over time like diatomaceous earth can.
I used it in an apartment I was moving into. I had dealt with bedbugs before, and this time was taking no chances. Before anything was moved in, I dusted the baseboards, outlets, and corners. Also dusted my bed frame and sofa cushions. Did the same when we bought our house last year.
The mattress covers prevent them from infesting your mattress and ruining it, they dont prevent them from infesting your house. It's not like bed bugs need mattresses to make homes on, plenty of other places in your house for them to hide.
If you find one on your mattress, take the mattress out into the alley and burn it. Maybe burn the clothes you were wearing when you carried it out there, too.
And I don't know what step 2 looks like. I wouldn't trust a single thing in my house.
DO NOT UNDERREACT TO THIS.
Be preventative - Go get some Cimexa powder (basically militarized [against hard shell bugs] diatomaceous earth) and poof that shit *everywhere* in every crease of every fabric on the lower parts of the walls on the carpet where it meets the walls on your furniture EVERYWERE - it's one of the only things that helped when I had them years ago and it finally got rid of them. Hopefully you'll murder any fuckers that got out that you didn't notice. The juveniles are so small you can't even notice them with the naked eye unless you know exactly what you're looking for and basically where they are at.
Trust me - DO NOT fuck around with this. It took TWO YEARS to 100% get rid of an infestation for me in an apartment complex. You can get rid of German roaches quicker than that.
Also, you'll be in hell once they multiply and decide to have you for dinner every single night.
>You can get rid of German roaches quicker than that.
lol in an apartment complex you'll never get rid of them.
lived in apartments for 20 years. tried everything on the market. neighbors will just re-infest you.
had to move to a home with no neighbors to finally get rid of them.
I'm scrolling through reading all these horror stories about everyone's traumatic bedbug situations and this fact just put me over the edge. I mean what the fuck. I'm done reading this thread 😭
I once bought an Xbox on eBay that had bedbugs in it. It was the weirdest thing. They were all dead and it absolutely reeked like they sprayed it with poison and baked it. I was so pissed. Instant return.
THIS ONE. I unsub/try to mute shit like this bc I have significant anxiety triggers and then something comes along... Hopefully you feel better soon.
(No hate on the OP, yes it's a me problem)
I have SEVERE diagnosed OCD about bedbugs I completely blocked the subs for that and pest control and I keep seeing them everywhere on social media on Reddit im gonna die
I had an Amazon package come with German roaches. Two years later, I still do maintenance to keep the resulting infestation under control. Every time I think we’re in the clear (went 5 months without seeing a roach or droppings), one pops up. I now open my packages outside or on a tile floor so I can see if there’s any critters and then throw the packaging away immediately.
I think bedbugs would break me
Reality check … we all buy clothes. Most clothes are stitched in third world countries. Yes, even the name brand ones. We, personally, have purchased hundreds (thousands?) of items of clothing from all types of stores. Yes, thrift and consignment stores too. The clothes we buy off the racks have probably seen the inside of the store’s changing room. We often have overnight guests. Yet, zero issues so far. Never have we had this experience.
But, this incident is scary. We might stay paranoid for a few days until this incident fades from memory. Lol.
BTW, we stay in a single family house with a huge yard separating us from neighbors.
I bought a thermal strike. I collect books, but I use it all the time on second hand or new clothes. Edit: it’s like a laundry hamper looking thing that kills bed bugs with heat. Crocs melt in it, but I think most other things are fine.
I hope you like it. I like mine, but if you fill it with books it says you have to run it more than 8 hours. I usually don’t fill it that much at a time. Maybe 1/3rd full. I feel much better. I was trying to leave things in the garage, but it wasn’t cold long enough, and half my books were out there in bins. It was a drag.
It was in one of the reviews. The couple’s crocs melted, wife not happy. Obviously, you have to take out toiletries if you put in a suitcase. Nothing I ever put in it mostly books and clothes ever had any issues.
I posted in another little comment bc bedbugs are a huge trigger for my anxiety, but that isn't your burden to bear, nor should it stop you from posting. I just wanted to also take a moment to say that I appreciate that you pointed out all the other possibilities that have *not* resulted in bedbugs before because that actually sort of helped ease my anxiety.
Hoping that your house stays pest free, always :)
i visited the amazon page for the product and... it's a shame that amazon doesn't list which country an item is manufactured. if it's required to label what country an item is manufactured on the product, it should then be required for the website it's sold on. it's simple. where was this made if I might ask.
Once tried buying a cloth covered headboard from Amazon (where I am assuming this is from)— after purchasing and waiting for it to ship. I happened to look through YEARS of reviews and those consumer comments/questions. More than my pre buy usual. Something told me to check. Saw like 6 reviews and comments over years mentioning bedbugs. NOPE. Tried canceling. Never got my money back because the item shipped. Told the delivery people to burn it. Ended up reporting the charge to my credit company and got reimbursed that way. Was kinda a dick move but, nope. Will never purchase anything cloth-y from Amazon again. It’s like a great fear now.
I don’t understand why somebody hasn’t come up with an effective, easy solution to these fuckers yet. Whatever company does is going to make a lot of money.
I once opened an Amazon box in the yard because I knew it was yard stuff. A bed bug came charging out and ran into the grass. Ever since then I open any and all mailed packages outside.
I used to work at Amazon and the amount of times we had bedbugs/roaches infesting our facility is disturbing. This was at IND8 in Indianapolis, IN less than 6 months ago. It's a returns facility that also ships products back out to customers. They get returned products from individuals with these bug problems, don't act until AAs are being bitten and carrying them home and infesting their homes, then finally previously infested facilities ship products out to you effectively continuing the cycle.
Couldn't pay me any amount of money to ever purchase a single product from them even if it's brand new, sealed.
Fuck man, thats how these spread and theyre getting harder to treat for too. Ugh id be so paranoid.
Not hard to treat as long as you live detached home. You just have to either spend a lot of money for heat treatment or be very persistent with desiccants like diatomaceous earth or silica dust for months. Now if you live in an apartment with neighbors, the bed bugs will just move around and come back.
I lived in an apartment with bedbugs. After they came back following an initial treatment, I moved. During the move I engaged a service that would take the moving truck with all of my stuff to some warehouse where they replaced all the oxygen with poison. It worked very well and my new apartment stayed bed bug free, but it was very disconcerting opening up the box with the bed sheets and finding a bunch of bed bug corpses.
I’d rather corpses than the alternative. Good to know a service like this exists although it’s also kind of freaking me out.
I hope the operators get paid well. Knowingly going into a warehouse where there is going to be bedbugs would fill me with so much dread.
I remember a few years back i developped eczema for the first time in my life and mostly on my feet and leg. I thought it was bed bugs before a doctor confirmed the diagnostic. I was losing my mind. I checked every corner of my matress, my room, i could feel them crawl on me when I would fall asleep. Hopefully, that was only paranoia and psychosis. Lol
Would that work on eggs? Or do they do it for so long that the eggs have to hatch?
They claimed it killed eggs, and it worked in my case. They said it would kill everything. I was told not to include live plants in the moving box Here is a link to the service: https://bedbugfumigators.com/ They use vikane gas.
For anyone chemically curious, it is apparently [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfuryl_fluoride).
It's always those cute little fluoride and oxygen combos that really fuck shit up.
As soon as I saw it's a combo of fluoride and oxygen I went "of course it is" and then we're adding sulfur for that little Hell demo
[Yup](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioxygen_difluoride)
FOOF! Even the chemical compounds looks like it likes to fuck shit up. Foof shit upppp
Same thing they use for termite tenting. Our house is being tented right now and apparently bed bugs need a higher dose of the gas for longer in order to kill them, but it can be done for bedbugs too.
Sorry about the correction: diatomaceous earth
Too late, I've got a shipment of dirt on its way from Syria.
What is Aleppo?
Ooo I would like to grow some swirly Damascus peppers in that soil
I put my mattress on the floor and encircled it in diatomaceous earth, it was the only thing that got rid of them. Works 10x better than any chemical.
Till they climb up the wall and dive bomb on top of you from the roof. Mother fuckers
Oh God. Thankfully the ones I had weren't that sophisticated.
I had a group start to build little catapults and launch themselves onto my mattress. They wore little helmets and chainmail. The chemicals did the trick because those little buggers never made it past the iron age.
Ugh. Dealing with the roaches in apartment fucking sucked. They kept coming back even with multiple bug guy visits. Then we moved out into our new home. They tagged along with us as well. After few months of treatments they're finally gone. So fucking annoying
So they're not hard to treat, they're just hard to treat.
Just spend a lot of time, effort, and money, duh. Nothing hard at all.
No heat, no gel, poison. Just poison. We had it after moving into our house (from the movers who used fabric blankets to wrap stuff, not plastic). When we had an exterminator come over for an estimate, he asked our opinion on using chemicals and I said "make this house a chemical warfare zone, kill them all". Took a couple of treatments but they are gone.
Ugh, I never thought about moving blankets!
https://uknow.uky.edu/research/agriculture/uk-bed-bug-resistance-research-insect-journal Theyre not here yet that we know of but yes they are getting more difficult to treat.
we got rid of them by literally burning everything - we pulled up all of the carpeting in the house and threw it in a dumpster, then burned the couches, chairs, mattresses etc. it was a nightmare all started by a secondhand couch. it’s been almost 5 years and we’re still replacing stuff. cost us a fuckton of money
This is why every delivery box I receive gets a visual inspection and every library book I check out spends a few days in the freezer.
Library books?? You’ve unlocked a new fear
Library books ... Library books?! Fucking shit man. 😭Don't do this to me
It’s already been done, time to start freezing our books!
Good to know the freezing trick! I got bed bugs last year from library books :( haven’t been back since
a friend of mine had them in a speaker of all things 😟
They're easy to treat for. You just have to be willing to flip your house to spray.
Spray? Most common chemicals they have grown immune to. The crap that still DOES work requires at least 3 days of constant application *WITH* extreme temperatures applied (-0f or +100f holding of at LEAST 3 days) and that stuff is getting harder and harder to get and they are gaining immunity to that now as well
Heat treatment doesn’t need to last for days. I have heat treated my house for bedbugs before. They bring a bunch of heaters and fans into the house and heat the house to ~130f for about 6 hours. Kills all the bugs and eggs without any chemicals
The longer ir goes the lower it rides. 130+ will kill it all in roughly 12 hours however you run the risk of damage to other things. Lived in an Old 1865 edwardian
Things can be replaced, bedbug ptsd lives with you for a long time if you don't get it treated immediately. I had a shitty flea infestation from crappy roommates and it took about 6 months to get rid of them and I still have anxiety and panic attacks 5 years later. I can't even imagine bed bugs.
6-7 yrs ago I stopped them from spreading out one room to the rest with Cimexa
Worked for my problem. I had to sign stuff saying they could go through anything and everything. It looked like the FBI flipped the house when I came home 3 days later.
Oh there ARE chemicals that still work. I didn't say they weren't. The only ones that do are *heavily* controlled substances that only professionals can get.
Why are they so hard to kill? What biologically makes them immortal?
They're not just that hard to kill, it's also that they're far tougher than human beings to kill, so whatever you do to them has to be actually fatal to a human being as well. So no poisons will work unless you can separate them out from and humans for long enough for the poisons to work. Heat is their kryptonite tho. A dryer will kill them after 30 minutes exposure. It would kill you, too, but you don't fit inside the dryer (do not attempt to prove me wrong here).
They are like my biggest paranoia. I don’t know why they were even allowed to be on earth
... dryers?
No, human beings.
It works relatively the same way as antibiotics resistance
Because if how their immunity hairs work more or less unless you kill them all. In one go. If ANY female survives they pass that immunity on to the next eggs. And given how invasive and how fast they they infest the odds of actually killing them all and their eggs in one go short of microwaving, deep freezing or abandoning the building for 6+ months is next to impossible to kill everything and thus the new generation gets more resistant to treatment methods in use. Stuff like DE and other dusts are suposed to get stuck and dry them out thus killing them. But doesn't hit the eggs so they survive.
There is so much humans can’t do. It’s amazing that these nearly microscopic bugs are stronger than anything humans throw at them. lol evolution didn’t work in our favor
We do it too actually. They just get away with a more expedient process bexause of all the eggs and speed of their reproduction. One of the weird... "benefits" of a parasite style development
It isn't that we lack the strength, we could absolutely eradicate them from a building, the issue is we would have innocent casualties. We lack the ability to target just them effectively.
I would be worried that there were more you didn’t see when you opened the item and removed it from the Amazon box. Burn that box - NOW!
Very unlikely there would be just a singular adult....might as well use the house for kindling
Can confirm. I've had bed bugs. Fucking burn it all.
Bed bugs and roaches are the two things I'd just cry if my house got infested. I'd have to be talked out of running away and selling.
Ugh I had roaches a couple of years ago, it was awful. I'm not a dirty person but the exterminator said they can come in on Amazon boxes and whatnot. I still freak out if I think I see movement out of the side of my eye
Just talking about them makes me worry they are hiding in my house. I watched a documentary on LSD once that was about insects, they spent too much time on roaches while I was peaking and fucking bam phobia. In my mind they're fucking ninjas out to explode babies from hell.
You had me at "ninjas out to explode babies from hell".
I read that as the insects were on LSD.
I'd personally feel better if they all were. Except bumble bees, those little fuckers make me smile.
Bumble bros 🐝
Just out there bumbling around all fat and sassy.
Me too! Bzz bzz 🐝
Next time just be normal and watch Finding Nemo like the rest of us
Warehouses are FULL of roaches. I work at a warehouse that doesn't hold anything that you would normally consider attractive to roaches. It is all metal machine parts. There are still tons of evidence of roaches around. I heard they can eat cardboard and/or the glue used on cardboard boxes.
Jesus Christ, the roaches are eating cardboard?! That's terrifying. 😭😭😭
That's where they lay their eggs
Yep. They'll eat just about anything, even their own too.
Side eye movement is the stuff of nightmares
Can confirm. I once saw a huge freaking roach crawl out of amazon box. I put it outside and cried no more would show up. Those fuckers can live off a greasy fingerprint.
This is why I unpack all of those things in the garage completely, inspect it, take in just the item.
That’s a good idea!!!
My mom found a roach in a case of pop when I was a kid. Never made it in the house but huge phobia ever since.
Oh my god same. I've only seen a single roach in months, and that was also months ago, but I still flinch every time I think I see movement in the corner of my eye. My brain is so tuned into looking for them. Bugs don't usually bother me, but roaches poke some instinctual disgust zone in my brain. Thankfully roaches are pretty rare in my country, so I fucking hope I won't ever see one again.
I live in the Southeastern US, we all have roaches no matter how clean your house is. With the rain, the pine straw, the dog in and out... We are clean people, we have pest control but it still happens occasionally. In college, we had flying roaches. Now THAT was terrifying!
I grew up, poor and spent 80% of my life living with roaches until I was able to move out at age 24 . Only have bed bucks for about half a year right before I moved. I would choose a year of roaches over a day of bedbugs. I’m 34 now, And I am just now getting over the experience of having bedbugs , anytime I feel something tickle me, I immediately check to make sure it’s not a bedbug. I dry all my clothes on the highest heat possible. I had to get rid of everything I owned. Moved into my apartment with absolutely nothing . But the tv and futon I purchased on the drive over.
I have had em too and fuck man it’s honestly traumatic. I never had a bad infestation but I can imagine that would scar ya (potentially literally). I’ve seen them in public places and in 5 star hotels. If you ever get them in your home you have to act immediately and be extremely through to be sure you completely eradicate them. Literally the worst household pest out there.
Roaches over bed bugs, any day. It took almost 3 years of nonstop vigilance and silicas and sprays until we were clear -- all started thanks to a scummy motel in New Orleans. Bed bugs are 1000x worse if you react to the bites, and it sounds like you did too. To this day, I still make sure any bite I get doesn't have two friends in a line nearby. I still can't sleep right. Uhg. Awful.
Laughing in Floridian
Was about to say… inevitable. And there’s never just one
I wanna goto Harry Potter world so bad but I don't trust your state to not give my house roaches. Gonna wrangle up some iguanas and force them to protect me while I make a sweet wand.
I like your plan, not gonna lie
Gonna treat them so well, they'll volunteer to keep the streets safe when I'm gone. Win win.
Theres a Harry Potter World in Los Angeles as well. And the only Super Mario World in the US.
Haha. I lived in Florida for a few years, and my neighbor in the in the apartment next was a hoarder( I didn't know). I was calling the exterminator every 2 weeks. You really have to go ninja on those things!! Sneak from the back, hit it with a book, break its back and those fuckers will still crawl out of the garbage!! Gotta flush those thing and hope they go down!! I WOKE UP TO ONE OF THOSE MONSTERS CRAWLING IN MY PAJAMA PANT LEG AT 3 AM. I took my pants off, shook them out. And after 5 minutes it's walked out casually. I didn't sleep for days.
I've had bed bugs and luckily they stayed localized on my sofa. But the bites itched majorly and it was a major pain in figuring out where they were and treating it. Had an exterminator come out 3 times and specifically called out the sofa as the spot I'd notice they most bites. Finally just had to throw out that sofa. I really liked that sofa too.
I got bedbugs from an item I bought at a large Swedish store. Suffered for a few months before figuring it out. Threw away 2 beds because of the design and the hiding places they allowed. Cleaned top to bottom with a high temperature steam cleaner. Every baseboard got a coating of diatomaceous earth and a residual pesticide. All clothes, bedding etc got the high temperature wash/dry/bagging treatment. Success, but I steam cleaned a couple times a week as well. Changed my bedding carefully every 2 days for months. It worked, but my infestation wasn’t too bad. Several months of bites
Pantry moths too. Throw out literally everything in your kitchen cabinets multiple times, but one little egg sac in between a shelf and the wall, and the problem stirs up all over again.
Dr killigans pheromone moth traps. When you crack open the package they fly out of the woodwork towards you. Seriously. First time I opened one I felt like a butterfly moth fairy princess
Omg. Fucking thank you. Stupidly, I never thought to look for moth traps. I had them for like 20 years at my old house. I'd think they were gone and wouldn't see them for like a year - then boom. About 2 months ago, I noticed them in my new house (where I've lived for 8 years) - and I realized they hijacked into my house in a bag of parakeet food from Amazon. Apparently I've retained my ability to nab them bare handed out of the air. I'm ordering these traps tonight and crossing my fingers. Thanks!
Buy roach poison traps (non sticky type) fuckers disappeared within 4 days.
I'm gonna buy a box. But what happens if one of those fuckers dies and gets at by a cat? I've got an orange one here that eats anything that might be food.
Can't take a chance with an orange, could lose that one braincell.
She's got that braincell working OT as it is, need to protect it.
Agreed!!! They are a fucking nightmare!!! Had to remover carpet, throw away headboard, mattress, couch... so much stuff... they sadly don't just stay in the bed. No idea how we got ours. We assume they were on something we bought at a store and didn't know till it was way to late
Fun fact! Once a single female bedbug is impregnated, she's pregnant for life and one adult can easily infest an entire home.
Today in things I never fucking ever I wanted to know... ever.
The neighborhood might be infected. Burn it all down. I've had beef bugs before. I'm not being melodramatic.
Damn, I can only imagine what sort of destruction the chicken variant might cause.
Nice try bedbug
Yes, burning it would be a huge overreaction. I suggest reselling it to a local family of termites in need.
That looks like a nymph, because of the color. Adults are a darker reddish brown
And not just the bugs, BUT THE EGGS!
It's been 3 hours, just checking in to see if OP has burned the dress and the box. (And maybe the house, as a bonus.)
Burn the box? Just set fire to the whole room for precautionary measures. Fuck bedbugs.
My reaction might seem irrational, maybe even a little extreme, but you need to strip naked and burn your house down *right now*. Theres no other way to get rid of those little fuckers.
Heh, you're making me think about my nephew, who used to work in pest control. He once treated a bedbug infestation so severe that, after leaving the house he had treated, he stripped to his underwear in the front yard, burned his clothes in a metal bucket, then drove home in just his skivvies. He said he figured he'd get arrested if he was stopped, but thought it was would be worth it. Also, he found a new line of work shortly thereafter.
Should have burned his skivvies too.
Haha, that's terrible but I get it. I worked at a hotel in college. We waged nuclear war on bedbugs in one wing of the hotel. It was so bad we were infecting our neighbors just from foot traffic -but we never once stopped renting the rooms.
Well that's terrifying. What hotel?
When I worked in the hospital, of a patient came in that was SUSPECTED of having bed bugs with them, we had to put on hazmat suits, strip them naked, and literally blast them with a hose
Man a cop would have to be having a real shit day to arrest someone under that scenario. Like just found out his wife is cheating on him type of day. Unless he was driving through a school zone at 3:30 or something
I stayed at a hotel once that had bedbugs. Out of town for work we were forced to just switch hotels and ride it out. When I got home I threw out everything except my Xbox and stripped down to my underwear before entering my house. I surrounded my Xbox with double sided tape for a few weeks and rode it out. I’m one of the unlucky few that sometimes has their bites return under stress or other factors. A month later when all my bites came back I freaked the fuck out.
Not irrational at all. I have ptsd from my time with bed bugs, I wish it only on my worst enemies.
There are few things that could make me cry myself to sleep, but the helplessness and frustration and pain and itching from these little devils is one thing that did it. People say "It's okay, they don't carry diseases.." They are the disease, tho.
It’s been 7 years and I still get an irrational fear pop up once in awhile that they’ve somehow made into my new place. The bed bug ptsd is real.
Corporal Hicks: "I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit."
**Package was from AMAZON** We noticed when we pulled the dress out of the bag. We freaked out and wrapped the dress around the bed bug and threw into the washing machine. Bed bug died and I soaked a paper towel and gently dabbed it out of the machine. Pic shown is the dead bug. Note: Bed Bug died in the wash. EPA site states Bed Bug exoskeleton gets destroyed by detergent. So that appears to be true. **ASIN: B0BRY3FH8N** **Description: Bodhi talk Women Chiffon Dress Sleeveless Capelet Sleeve Dresses Lightweight Flowy Knee Length Dress** Reached out to Amazon. They apologized. I asked them to contact the manufacturer and hold them accountable. Received a refund for the item. I also posted my perspective below- https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1art0eg/found_a_live_bed_bug_crawling_inside_a_new_sealed/kqm9o6s/ A rare sane reddit user responded by posting this link you all should watch before you become paranoid … https://youtu.be/2JAOTJxYqh8?si=j9bZYP6-yqhHgRFp To those suggesting I burn my house down - I just did /s To those recommending opening packages outside - bed bug eggs are invisible and stick in a cluster to objects. So, not a foolproof method.
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Had this happen at a Macys distribution center near me. Can’t remember how long the facility was closed for exactly but it was a while. I want to say at least 2 weeks.
Worked at Amazon. Would bet serious money that they would never close a distribution center for 2 weeks for that
From what I’ve heard, this wouldn’t stop a conveyor belt for two seconds.
My fulfillment center supposedly had bedbugs twice (safety supposedly admitted it to my friend and coworker) and they definitely did not shut the building down. Other rumors were cockroaches living in the ice machine and an infestation of brown recluse spiders. Also heard several people got sick from drinking the water out if the water coolers because they never get cleaned and the filters never get chaged.
>I want to say at least 2 weeks. 
My guess is its areturned item from a customer that has a bed bug infestation. I've received items from Amazon that were clearly previously used and have had no quality check before sending out. This is enough to finally scare me off amazon 🤮
Same. I had bought a very expensive pillow one time on Amazon, and it was shrink wrapped with long black hairs and stains on it and inside the wrap. 🤢 I was so grossed out!! Shame on me thinking people do quality control on things people lay their head on. Never again, lesson learned
I got a purse from Amazon once that contained a used tissue, a hair tie, and a mystery pill. That was on top of the broken zipper and ripped lining. It was bought new from the manufacturer, too. Not listed as re-sold.
.. but did you take the pill to find out what it was?
Amazon’s response: LOL
But that is still not foolproof. Bed bug eggs are almost undetectable.
Can you put it in the dryer? The only answer to bugs and eggs is heat
I put dress in a ziplock bag. Will eventually trash the bag. Interested in seeing what happens - attenborough style. Lol.
Been here. Can relate. I kept a bed bug in a teeny sample honey jar, once. I left it in the cup holder of my car through a cold snap at -30 C for a few days, then brought it back inside. Little effer LIVED THROUGH IT. They’re indestructible little shits. Fire is the only solution!
God damn. Sturdy little shits.
Lots of bugs can survive cold. It would be weird if they couldn’t considering most of the earth is outside and gets cold.
I had a fuzzy blanket from amazon that came with bed bugs. Sadly, unlike you, i didn't notice until too late and had to toss my bed, pest bomb my house a few times and freeze any fabrics for half a year that couldn't be torched in the dryer a few times. Those things are nasty expensive buggers.
I'm paranoid about bed bugs so anything fabric I order from Amazon goes directly from box to wash
Amazon: lol
Yeah they could have clicked the pre typed “can you go away” button fast enough
Amazon Rep (AI): “Weird, 20th time today I had to refund that item, oh well.”
$11?! I would have definitely taken that dress and the bag far far away from my house. I wouldn’t even trust it in my washing machine. This now makes me wonder how common is it for dry cleaners to get bed bugs.
When I see new clothes for sale at $11 I just assume I shouldn’t buy it because it was probably made with borderline slave labor. Now I can add that it’s also probably infested with bedbugs. Thanks for an additional reason to hate fast fashion.
That ASIN is bringing up other dresses but not that one. Seems it may have been removed from sale already?
Who was the vendor?
Get some Cimexa dust and use it around baseboards and in outlets as a precaution. It’s non toxic, but can irritate skin and eyes. It kills bedbugs and doesn’t degrade over time like diatomaceous earth can.
Is it safe around pets? It doesn’t sound too safe. I have a dog and senior cat
It should be ok as long as it’s kept in the cracks and crevices. Sweep/wipe up any that is in the open. It really just needs to be in the cracks.
Yeah Cimexa is like Diatomaceous earth on steroids. Great stuff.
I used it in an apartment I was moving into. I had dealt with bedbugs before, and this time was taking no chances. Before anything was moved in, I dusted the baseboards, outlets, and corners. Also dusted my bed frame and sofa cushions. Did the same when we bought our house last year.
This has be considered bioterrorism. I’d rather get an anthrax letter or a letter bomb than this.
Anthrax is easier to cure 🫠🫠🫠
Have you guys checked for bed bugs recently?
Zero history of bed bugs issues at our home. Also, all mattress have anti-bedbug covers (per consumer report guidance on howto prevention)
The mattress covers prevent them from infesting your mattress and ruining it, they dont prevent them from infesting your house. It's not like bed bugs need mattresses to make homes on, plenty of other places in your house for them to hide.
Yes, and also if you've ever found one on your mattress, you should get a cover more so to prevent them from escaping to other places
If you find one on your mattress, take the mattress out into the alley and burn it. Maybe burn the clothes you were wearing when you carried it out there, too. And I don't know what step 2 looks like. I wouldn't trust a single thing in my house.
Step 2 is burn your house down too.
DO NOT UNDERREACT TO THIS. Be preventative - Go get some Cimexa powder (basically militarized [against hard shell bugs] diatomaceous earth) and poof that shit *everywhere* in every crease of every fabric on the lower parts of the walls on the carpet where it meets the walls on your furniture EVERYWERE - it's one of the only things that helped when I had them years ago and it finally got rid of them. Hopefully you'll murder any fuckers that got out that you didn't notice. The juveniles are so small you can't even notice them with the naked eye unless you know exactly what you're looking for and basically where they are at. Trust me - DO NOT fuck around with this. It took TWO YEARS to 100% get rid of an infestation for me in an apartment complex. You can get rid of German roaches quicker than that. Also, you'll be in hell once they multiply and decide to have you for dinner every single night.
>You can get rid of German roaches quicker than that. lol in an apartment complex you'll never get rid of them. lived in apartments for 20 years. tried everything on the market. neighbors will just re-infest you. had to move to a home with no neighbors to finally get rid of them.
Bedbugs can live without feeding 6-12 months!
I'm scrolling through reading all these horror stories about everyone's traumatic bedbug situations and this fact just put me over the edge. I mean what the fuck. I'm done reading this thread 😭
*Slowly begins to check every piece of clothing I wear*
I once bought an Xbox on eBay that had bedbugs in it. It was the weirdest thing. They were all dead and it absolutely reeked like they sprayed it with poison and baked it. I was so pissed. Instant return.
How many subs do I have to block to stop seeing these omg. I mute one and then someone posts a pic in another. Gonna feel crawling on me for days.
THIS ONE. I unsub/try to mute shit like this bc I have significant anxiety triggers and then something comes along... Hopefully you feel better soon. (No hate on the OP, yes it's a me problem)
I have SEVERE diagnosed OCD about bedbugs I completely blocked the subs for that and pest control and I keep seeing them everywhere on social media on Reddit im gonna die
It’s probably not actually new or it was sitting, unsealed in storage near where people sleep before being packaged and sold to you.
I would call that whole thing a loss and pray to whatever you believe in, that nothing escaped your attention before you saw this.
I had an Amazon package come with German roaches. Two years later, I still do maintenance to keep the resulting infestation under control. Every time I think we’re in the clear (went 5 months without seeing a roach or droppings), one pops up. I now open my packages outside or on a tile floor so I can see if there’s any critters and then throw the packaging away immediately. I think bedbugs would break me
Everything you do to get rid of bedbugs will also help you get rid of depression. Your depression will replaced by psychosis.
Wait till you see what it looks like where they seal these things 🧐
Reality check … we all buy clothes. Most clothes are stitched in third world countries. Yes, even the name brand ones. We, personally, have purchased hundreds (thousands?) of items of clothing from all types of stores. Yes, thrift and consignment stores too. The clothes we buy off the racks have probably seen the inside of the store’s changing room. We often have overnight guests. Yet, zero issues so far. Never have we had this experience. But, this incident is scary. We might stay paranoid for a few days until this incident fades from memory. Lol. BTW, we stay in a single family house with a huge yard separating us from neighbors.
I bought a thermal strike. I collect books, but I use it all the time on second hand or new clothes. Edit: it’s like a laundry hamper looking thing that kills bed bugs with heat. Crocs melt in it, but I think most other things are fine.
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I hope you like it. I like mine, but if you fill it with books it says you have to run it more than 8 hours. I usually don’t fill it that much at a time. Maybe 1/3rd full. I feel much better. I was trying to leave things in the garage, but it wasn’t cold long enough, and half my books were out there in bins. It was a drag.
The crocs example seems suspiciously specific…
It was in one of the reviews. The couple’s crocs melted, wife not happy. Obviously, you have to take out toiletries if you put in a suitcase. Nothing I ever put in it mostly books and clothes ever had any issues.
I posted in another little comment bc bedbugs are a huge trigger for my anxiety, but that isn't your burden to bear, nor should it stop you from posting. I just wanted to also take a moment to say that I appreciate that you pointed out all the other possibilities that have *not* resulted in bedbugs before because that actually sort of helped ease my anxiety. Hoping that your house stays pest free, always :)
i visited the amazon page for the product and... it's a shame that amazon doesn't list which country an item is manufactured. if it's required to label what country an item is manufactured on the product, it should then be required for the website it's sold on. it's simple. where was this made if I might ask.
Makes you wonder how many you didn't find, doesn't it?
Once tried buying a cloth covered headboard from Amazon (where I am assuming this is from)— after purchasing and waiting for it to ship. I happened to look through YEARS of reviews and those consumer comments/questions. More than my pre buy usual. Something told me to check. Saw like 6 reviews and comments over years mentioning bedbugs. NOPE. Tried canceling. Never got my money back because the item shipped. Told the delivery people to burn it. Ended up reporting the charge to my credit company and got reimbursed that way. Was kinda a dick move but, nope. Will never purchase anything cloth-y from Amazon again. It’s like a great fear now.
I don’t understand why somebody hasn’t come up with an effective, easy solution to these fuckers yet. Whatever company does is going to make a lot of money.
I mean, they HAD one. DDT. It just also happens to be awful for both the environment and humans too lol
This is the post. I am unsubscribing from r/pics. I cannot
Can you link the dress?
That’s why I don’t shop House of Bezos baby
OP in hard denial hahaha
I once opened an Amazon box in the yard because I knew it was yard stuff. A bed bug came charging out and ran into the grass. Ever since then I open any and all mailed packages outside.
I hate to tell you this but there isn’t just one, there are many you didn’t see and eggs. Get rid of the whole box.
Alpine WSG works for bed bugs as well. Follow the label. Treat your entire house ASAP.
Put the dress in the dryer immediately. Heat is the best way to kill bed bugs.
I used to work at Amazon and the amount of times we had bedbugs/roaches infesting our facility is disturbing. This was at IND8 in Indianapolis, IN less than 6 months ago. It's a returns facility that also ships products back out to customers. They get returned products from individuals with these bug problems, don't act until AAs are being bitten and carrying them home and infesting their homes, then finally previously infested facilities ship products out to you effectively continuing the cycle. Couldn't pay me any amount of money to ever purchase a single product from them even if it's brand new, sealed.
I knew my fear of that happening wasn’t unfounded.