Anyone here ever deal with bed bugs?

[slamjoetry]

I've got them right now and it is definitely not helping my mental state. I threw out my bed and mattresses and I still have them and it's driving me crazy. They're probably biting me right now as I type this. Anyone else have experience with bed bugs?

 

[teajay1]

yes. i moved into an apartment with one. they will live in the lining along the edge of your bed. they cluster their bites in one spot of the body. throwing out your stuff isn't enough, you have to spread diatomaceous earth. but even then, they will find ways. they spread into the walls, i had them living between the cracks in the wall. i had them living underneath my wooden desk. they will make a home anywhere.

the only thing that will truly fix your problem is loads of heat, pumped into your home by a professional but we had an apartment and that was too expensive so we just moved and then we never saw a bed bug again :p

 

[Alexei_Kirillov]

I've dealt with bed bugs before, can confirm that they're a psychological nightmare that exacerbates suicidality. Luckily, mine were not in my mattress or bedframe, so what worked for me was putting traps under the legs of my bed and then removing my bed from all other surfaces, including the floor, walls, wires, etc. It's particularly important to make sure that your blanket can't fall off during the night and touch the floor. This way, the only way for them to get onto my bed was via the traps, which they couldn't climb up.

Obviously this did nothing about the infestation, but it did stop the biting. It would be better to deal with them at the source, of course, but in my case I lived in an apartment complex and everytime I called my landlord they would just spray my apartment with pesticides, which didn't help because it was a building wide problem so then bed bugs would just come in from neighbouring apartments. I moved a few months after the problem started lol. I was very careful while moving and haven't had a problem since, though I still maintain precautions to this day.

This reddit masterpost was a great resource I used at the time. Good luck.

 

[Agon321]

This is a very difficult war.
It is not easy to get rid of them from home.
Some people just give up and move out.

The only sensible advice is to hire specialists and thoroughly clean the house.
But to my knowledge, even this is sometimes not enough.

 

[NumbItAll]

Yes, it was a debacle to get rid of them, but I haven't seen one in 10 years now. I basically used steam to kill all the ones I could see, mattress/pillow encasements to trap the ones that were in the mattress already, and diatomaceous earth everywhere to kill anything else around the bed (it's important to isolate the bed and make sure only the bedposts are touching the floor as mentioned). Altogether it took several months to completely end the life cycle. I temporarily slept in another room for some of that time for psychological reasons even though it does nothing to help the problem.

 

[Forveleth]

I got bedbugs a couple years ago. Here are a few tips:

• So all all of the cracks I'm your walls. I got a giant can of spackle and went around my entire apartment, sealing every single crack I could find. I had to go around all of the baseboards and most of the walls where they met the ceiling. You need to do this because when they come into spray pesticides, the bedbugs will just go into the walls to hide from the toxins.
• Put diatomaceous earth everywhere. Surround your bed like you're trying to keep out demons with salt. I also suspended some in water in a spray bottle and sprayed all of my walls with it. The water dries and then it leaves the white powder on the walls and it discourages them from climbing up the walls.
• Clean clean clean! Remove as much clutter from your apartment as you can. Put things away. Seal things away in giant ziploc bags or airtight containers. Also vacuum or sweep frequently. Clean your bedding weekly.
• DO NOT move. I know some people above said they moved, but there is actually a really good chance that the bedbugs will just move with you, and then you have just transferred the problem to a new location. Also don't change where you sleep. Bed bugs are actually incredibly smart and they will just follow you to a different room.
• Get a professional involved. Unfortunately, we've bred them to the point where they're resistant to pretty much everything except some nasty chemicals. So get a professional to come in and spray your house/apartment.
• Know that they can live three months without feeding. Just because you haven't seen one in a couple of days doesn't mean your infestation is gone. So keep up with all of your cleaning and be vigilant for three months after you see the last bed bug.

It's a tough infestation to get through, but so long as you keep your space clean, treated, and stay vigilant, you can outlast them.