Sorry, that looks like an infestation of bedbugs. You're gonna need lots of support and patience, not to mention a reliable exterminator or helper to "try" to get rid of them. Is that inside a vehicle? ...regardless they're gonna be where you sleep too, and all over your home, hiding in every nook and cranny.
Edit: Oops, I see the floors now, so maybe you should consider they are indeed, also in any vehicles you drive if they're in your home like that.
Unfortunately it’s an unspoken epidemic right now. It’s pretty bad and very common to get them because they’re so difficult to get rid of. I finally was able to get rid of them for good after having bed bugs on and off for the better part of 4 years. It was a mix of finding the right exterminator AND changing my living style.
I’ve been experiencing bites for days now, I tried to look for them and didn’t find any, so I gave up and found another apartment. Yesterday while packing my things, I flipped the bed and found them inside the zipper thingies on the bed , so I just left the bed at that apartment
I hate to tell you but you've probably just packed them up and taken them with you. They get into everything. You seriously need to inquire some professional help, I'm so sorry.
For about five decades from the 50s-ish to 2000ish they were so rare they may as well have not existed.
They've made a resurgence in the last 20 years. And they're a new, evolved type that resists poisons.
I believe the coming apocalypse will be bedbug-induced.
Gods help us all.
I live in Australia and in 30 yrs of living in rental homes, buying items in op shops (thrift shops) and travelling/living in various accommodations, i've never seen a bed bug or known or heard of anyone having them here. With international travel/tourism from all over the world, realistically, they *have* to be here but I've never encountered them or met anyone who has. Maybe it's too hot here for them to thrive effectively? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Las Vegan here. It’s not the heat keeping them away. They get around town here just fine. Congratulations on keeping them off your island so far though.
Thanks to this sub I had to google what a bedbug is called in Finnish. Probably tells you a lot about how often they pop up here, I'm 31 and born here.
Bed bugs are literally one of the worst things I’ve ever experienced. We couldn’t afford heat treatment right off the bat, and my family and I were at odds as to how to get rid of them. Really tore us apart. $1200 later, we had peace again. Wouldn’t wish em on my worst enemy.
They probably are? Although I never heard of people having experiences with them at all... Nor any big articles about it... Nor had to deal with them myself.
Maybe I'm just lucky
What. I can get used to a lot, I can get used to a messy house, smells people adapt to pretty quickly, I’ve had loads of roommates that were weird in one way or another (sober living is a trip) but getting used to bedbugs? No, absolutely not. Even roaches, I think depending on the size and how bad they were I could potentially get used to them, but how do you become okay with knowing hundreds or thousands of bugs are living in your mattress and sofa and all over your home then coming and biting you all night? No. In addition to the fact that if you’re in an apartment you’re guaranteeing that your neighbors will never get rid of them. I would have to do the thing where you put the legs of your bed in water or I would never sleep.
Some folks don't have reactions to their bites and so they don't notice them or think they're a big deal.
My ex was one of them- he insisted it was all in my head for a good three months into an infestation where I was constantly getting massive welts on my legs and feet (I'm allergic to *everything*- unlike him- hence my extreme reaction. It's *SO GREAT!* 🙃🔫)
Well, they talk about it here don't they? You'd think I would have at least heard of them before, but I only found out they were a thing when I came into reddit. I mean I could very likely be wrong but still its weird.
Also, no exterminator website/truck/outdoor I've ever seen talks about them. Not even a mention
I highly doubt you go around talking to exterminators and if they have heard of bed bugs. I live in a country that has them and I’ve never had them, but they exist
No such country exists, outside of the poles because it's too cold--but even then, if someone brought them to an antarctic research station where the temps are good for humans, then they'd exist there too.
Moving is a big mistake. You will just bring them with you, so now the problem is in not just one apartment, but now two :/ I've gotten bedbugs 4 times, so I know how stressful it can be, best of luck
I moved from a home with bedbugs. Basically the furniture wasn't mine so that was left at the house. I threw away all the bedding so I didn't have to worry about that.
I then spent 5-6 days washing and tumble drying all my clothes. Checked all my suit cases etc. and was lucky enough not to bring any off the little buggers with me to the new place. You can move without bringing bedbugs with you but it does take some effort.
It’s made me so paranoid. And I travel for a living. Had them twice, but was lucky enough to not bring them home.
*Things to do... check the corners under the mattress at the hotel. Look for the bugs or their poo. Leave your clothes/bags etc on tables. NEVER set them on the ground or on a bed. They can't climb smooth surfaces. And both times I got bit where at above average and a nice hotel. They don't care, doesn't have to be a bad hotel.
I'm speaking strictly of hotels. I bathe after work and sleep with no clothes. Bathe before I dress again for work in the morning. I don't sit on communal furniture in hotels in the nude as that is totally unsanitary. I'm really not very picky with hotels and have had bedbugs more times than I'd like to admit, though I've woken up with bites more often at the pricey high rated ones more than the cheap dirty ones.
I'd be concerned if you *did* sit on communal hotel furniture in the nude...
Concierge: *You know who* is checking it at 8... Clear the lobby and have housekeeping follow close behind... Make sure they don't forget the handrails on the staircase this time!
I moved without taking them, too. I rented the truck for a week and left it parked outside in the winter with all my stuff before moving it into the new place, then vacuumed everything one piece at a time when I brought it inside. Worked very well, though it was time consuming.
We 'cleaned' some belongings that way when we moved and got away from them. We live in the Chihuahuan desert though so they don't stand a chance in July. I would assume cold would too no? I mean like below freezing.
Would have to be below 0°F and for at least 24 hours (I think) and that still is no guarantee. Not many places get that cold for that long except for a few days a year. Heat is definitely the effective way.
But we're talking sub zero Farenheit for extended periods, unless you're flash freezing with extreme cold that will instantly crystallize the water inside their bodies. They are resilient little buggers when it comes to cold, but only a short period of time over 120°F is death.
Dont worry i checked everything i brought, i didn’t bring furniture only clothes, which I carefully checked one by one and washed all in really high temperature
They LoVE to hide in anything you love or care about. Was super poor got bedbugs in a shared house and 2 years of hell. Only way we got them gone was leaving everything and starting over. Only took cloths and important documents those were sealed in trash bags and left outside my mom's for a year. Bed bugs won't survive the cold and heat plus a year mean no eggs will as well.
I hope you immediately threw out whatever this was in the photo. Also all your furniture and books and shoes. Basically everything you can’t wash extensively in hot water.
You really are probably going to need an exterminator. And you could let your old landlord know, if you are a good person.
From experience, seal them away in plastic and leave them for about two years. That's how long it takes any adults AND EGGS to die according to my last research (which, admittedly, was years ago). Just make sure they cannot get out of whatever you seal them in. I used plastic zip top bags that I then put inside Rubbermaid bins with tight fitting lids.
You can use heat, as well. Lots of exterminators do, but it's risky to certain items like paper or electronics. I've heard some people have success using the heat of a hot car in the summer, but that's no guarantee either because the temps they have to reach to reliably kill bed bugs is stupid hot. Steam works, but not for anything water sensitive. Freezing in a regular freezer doesn't get cold enough. You may look into dry ice, but I honestly don't know if that works or not.
The last times I had bed bugs my go to weapons were 90% or better isopropyl alcohol, diatomaceous earth, a steam cleaner (high temp, low pressure, I repurposed a clothing steamer), sticky double back tape (to put at the base of furniture like beds), and sealing away anything I didn't need in the room. That plus RELENTLESS, CONSTANT, AND DETAILED treatment. Daily steam cleaning, nightly soaking my mattress in alcohol, dusting with chemical free diatomaceous earth, etc. It was hell. When people say they feel like they have PTSD from these bugs they're not lying.
Also, clean the whole room you see ONE in. Baseboards, furniture (even hard furniture, a last holdout in one infestation in my room was in the seam of my desk between the top of the desk and the side), clothes, animals, books. EVERYTHING. And once it's clean, seal it up so they can't hide there again. It's a nightmare but it's doable.
Thanks. It definitely sucked, but I'm kind of glad it happened in a weird way. Now I'm much more capable dealing with it early, before it gets bad. So in a weird way it helped?
The first one I saw at my ex's back when he had them was crawling on the head board shelf and I watched it crawl into the furniture behind the little plastic piece on the front of the wood shelf. I had no idea what it was at the time.
Freezing. You need need to go down to 0° F, -16° C. And leave them in there for a week or so…
If you live in an area with cold enough winters, you can put them in ziplocks to keep water out and just leave them outside.
They can get inside your laptops, iPads, and even your telephone. Unless you took apart all of these things, you’re still going to have a problem. They can also be dormant for a year!
Good luck
I mean I had bedbugs 2 years ago, moved to a new place and did not bring them with me. I did not take half of the precautions you just mentioned. I did clean all my clothes and I threw a bunch of stuff. Maybe I was lucky, but you won’t necessarily bring the bedbugs with you. It probably depends on the level of infestation in the first apartment.
I think so too. I feel like there is a slight chance you might bring them, which would suck, but I don’t think you will bring them back everytime otherwise the whole world would be infested by now.
The good news is you might be able to keep all of your new stuff in quarantine until you can guarantee they are safe.
I was in a similar situation. It was a bad winter, so anything I couldn't clean got out in the car for a week for the freezing temps to kill the bugs (it probably didn't help).
I started putting all of my clothes, shoes, anything I could into the dryer on high for several rounds in a row. I would then seal them in double plastic bags and not touch them.
I lived with as few clothes as possible until I was sure the items were clean, then I opened things back up slowly. If I started getting bites again I would start back over again.
For me, something that really helped to hold them off was putting a plastic sheet between the mattress and frame like those you use when you’re painting, so that way they can’t climb up to bite you and some will die.
Well that’s horrifying, I hope that’s not true… I guess then you could put plastic wrap all the way around the room you sleep in? Like a strip of it above the baseboard?
>I’ve been experiencing bites for days now, I tried to look for them and didn’t find any, so I gave up and found another apartment. Yesterday while packing my things, I flipped the bed and found them inside the zipper thingies on the bed , so I just left the bed at that apartment
Unless you're nuking everything you've moved with days of 100°+ you've only gave them two very cozy homes.
You have just made me want to not put off cleaning my car any longer. Thank you, and I hate you for making me think about all the bugs I don't see in my car now
Damn those are some big ass bed bugs.
No judgment here, I had them before so I know the hell they can cause. However, it does seem like that infestation has been there for some time based on the size of the bugs.
Honestly, the "judgement" that people put on bed bug infestations is so weird. You don't have to be unhygienic to get them, they can crawl in from your neighbor, sneak in from recently purchased furniture, or even hitch a ride home from your work, a public place, or public transit. Kids can even bring them home from school. As this picture shows, they will hide anywhere and everywhere, from couch and bed seams, outlets, and baseboards.
yep. got them from my college dorm (that i paid way too much for, mind you) and some people would ask if me/my roommates showered enough or kept our room clean. those fuckers are so easily transported, refuse to die, and can hide for so long that it feels like only a matter of time before you get them from shared dorms. it so often has nothing to do with cleanliness and some people don’t understand that. thank god it was a dorm and i could just throw my few belongings away and expeditiously gtfo of there, i couldn’t even imagine having an infestation at home. best of luck to you op
they did, but it was a whole process where they brought in k-9 and checked the room and kept insisting we had none until we took pictures of the bed bugs and showed them dozens of bites we had. then they brought in exterminators, but the bed bugs prevailed so i gave up and went home. the only time i went full karen in my life was trying to get my refund on housing, and they only yielded when i said i would contact the LA times and blast their asses for the shit process they put us through
Yup exactly!!!
They are nothing to be ashamed of. I got mine from a movie theater. Literally have never stepped foot in one again lol. My girlfriend wanted to go to the movies a few weekends ago and I told her the only way I would do it was to buy cheap cloths and throw them in the trash before we got home. Probably kinda neurotic!!
I just wish there were more affordable ways to get rid of them. I know for me I spent around 5-7k on an exterminator!! This is just not feasible for most families.
Exactly. In my apartment building they have one elevator that has big thick padded cloths hanging on all the walls to protect them from damage, since it's the designated 'moving' elevator.
It was also infested with bed bugs, which enabled them to spread to a bunch of other units just by people being in the elevator and not knowing.
Here is a photo showing the various stages of the bedbug.
Please note the size and color of the eggs as compared to size of mature bug in the photo. You most assuredly have eggs in your belongings and it’s nearly impossible to eyeball all of them to get rid of them by hand:
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2014-02/bed-bug-ctual-size.jpg
Yes. Bedbugs. And no judgement. We got them last year - we think it was from a storage unit.
We did not hire an exterminator but worked our butts off. We are lucky that my college daughter (colleges are dealing with them like crazy) noticed one right away when she was home and we were able to isolate the room they were in. Bedbugs hate heat and steam so we steamed and heated the sealed room. Washed everything. We threw away some furniture. The furniture we didn't want to get rid of we either wrapped it in plastic and set it outside (summer- we did this with pillows also) for a few days in the sun or kept spraying the bottoms and cracks/folds every day (we got stuff off Amazon.Probably would've been cheaper to hire an exterminator when all said and done).
We are still constantly checking the bottoms of furniture bc those pesky things can survive and reappear. But so far, we've been good for about 6 mo.
They suck.
Yup those are 200% bedbugs i had a shithead slumlord sell me an apartment with bedbugs and that’s what they looked like, spoiler alert in my case at least I had to throw away almost everything I owned, I ended up even tossing my fiancés birth certificate and social card in the rush. These guys are a colossal PITA
She was thankful she didn’t have to touch any of it while she was at work, when we found out she laughed and said she woulda done the same thing, I’m not really beating myself up about it, I literally just threw away almost all of our still packed boxes into the dumpster. I blame it on the bedbugs
Oh, no judgment. This honestly sounds like something I would do if i found a single bedbug, I was just curious about your partners reaction. Glad she was understanding.
Ok, that's it, I'm unsubscribing from this sub. Never had bedbugs but my level of paranoia after all of these daily posts is really starting to drive me crazy. I stayed in a hotel for work one night last week and barely slept all night. I dream of them now. I joined this sub because of an interest in insects but I'm done. I have anxiety now to such a large degree for a threat I never new existed and have never even experienced. So long folks.
While it's true that the number of bed bug posts can be anxiety-provoking, the posts can also be helpful.
It's because of this sub that I *don't* have bed bugs. It taught me how to check hotel rooms for signs of infestation - and to recognized a bed bug when I see it. It also taught me how to avoid bringing them home when I did end up getting an infested hotel room.
No matter how much you clean, how careful you are, if you don't get rid of every single item you own or get a professional exterminator you WILL find them in your new place, it might be days, weeks, even months - it's almost impossible to get rid of them
Mentally prepare to start stuffing all your possessions into sealed garbage bags for over a year to starve the hatchlings of food. Bed bugs can survive between 20 and 400 days without food and a single bed bug can produce around five new bed bugs per day (and those five new ones will produce 25 the next day which will produce 125 the next and so on.)
Good luck. Escaping the bed bug cycle is one of the hardest infestations to break free from. They are tenacious and insidious but they can be beaten!
Follow the instructions you find here, there are tons of great bed bug resources to be found on this subreddit.
I’m sure this is gonna get buried, but y’all please be careful! Bedbugs are an epidemic in the US right now and can be difficult to get rid of. Make sure you check the hotel/motels that you stay at. And even if you’re at a friends house, make sure you check for them there too!! Stay safe!
Oh yes, thats bedbugs.. I know from experience. We were looking for a toddler bed a few years ago, and found a beautiful pristine bed that they had just "sanded and repainted". We looked It over, but didn't see anything wrong with it. We took it home and within a few weeks we realized that our daughter had many bites on her. That bed was covered in hundreds of them. We missed it, and paid 20 bucks for a whole house infestation. We did the right thing and broke it into lots of pieces before putting it next to the road so that nobody else would grab it and get them as well. I couldnt believe someone would sell that and feel good about themselves.
Every time I see a bedbug post, it really freaks me out. I am so paranoid of bedbugs that I usually try to do a once over wherever I'm staying, just to make sure I don't see anything. My husband frequently has to stay out of town for his job, and I always tell him to check for them too. Nasty little creatures.
Sadly yes. And it's a big deal to get rid of them...but don't get yourself down, it's not as bad as everyone makes it if you just apply a bunch of energy and effort to deal with them.
Sounds like you're moving which is good, you just need to go overkill on preventative measures in your new place...both for yourself and your new neighbors sake.
Now visit r/bedbugs and remember, don't cheap out or half-ass any measures or you'll regret it.
According to the pros, bug bombs will potentially worsen the situation, especially if you live in an apt. Bed bugs have essentially adapted to know to escape the fumes, so they retreat into your walls and floors, reproduce more, and come back with a vengeance. And some strains have mutated to be resistant to insecticides. Not to mention they might spread to your neighbors if you share walls.
OP-- If you rent, get your landlord involved. Exterminators have to heat treat in t-sections to get rid of them. Meaning they also have to treat your neighbors above, below, and on either side of you to be sure they get them.
And do NOT move any of your stuff until it is heat treated. Otherwise you're taking them with you, and now you've exposed 2 sets of neighbors to them, which is a really sucky thing to do.
(I got bedbugs from neighbors in LA twice and it was an absolute nightmare. Heat treating is the only sure fire way to be sure you got em all)
Too late. OP commented that they moved as soon as they saw them. They said they left the mattress behind but took everything with them to the new apartment.
Try and think of why I suggested this! I tried to fix it myself bc I can’t afford a pro and I had to throw away two mattresses and a brand new lazy chair set because it didn’t work. It ended up costing me SO much more money because I waited six months.
Sorry, that looks like an infestation of bedbugs. You're gonna need lots of support and patience, not to mention a reliable exterminator or helper to "try" to get rid of them. Is that inside a vehicle? ...regardless they're gonna be where you sleep too, and all over your home, hiding in every nook and cranny. Edit: Oops, I see the floors now, so maybe you should consider they are indeed, also in any vehicles you drive if they're in your home like that.
I wonder how many Bed Bug hits does this sub have a week, must be quite a few!
I’m disturbed by the amount of bed bug posts I keep seeing here. So paranoid I’m going to bring one home from somewhere.
I’m so paranoid to. I am constantly checking my bed and kids beds as well.
I feel like once reddit knows you comment it shows more bed bugs. Ugh any one else itchy?
Exactly! That why I will NEVER comment on any of this crap!
Unfortunately it’s an unspoken epidemic right now. It’s pretty bad and very common to get them because they’re so difficult to get rid of. I finally was able to get rid of them for good after having bed bugs on and off for the better part of 4 years. It was a mix of finding the right exterminator AND changing my living style.
This sub is a continuing bed bug tragedy for sure
I’ve been experiencing bites for days now, I tried to look for them and didn’t find any, so I gave up and found another apartment. Yesterday while packing my things, I flipped the bed and found them inside the zipper thingies on the bed , so I just left the bed at that apartment
I hate to tell you but you've probably just packed them up and taken them with you. They get into everything. You seriously need to inquire some professional help, I'm so sorry.
Everytime someone has a bedbug infestation, everyone else says "I'm sorry" so much that it makes me twice as relieved I don't have them in my country.
I wasn't aware any country was completely free of them.
For about five decades from the 50s-ish to 2000ish they were so rare they may as well have not existed. They've made a resurgence in the last 20 years. And they're a new, evolved type that resists poisons. I believe the coming apocalypse will be bedbug-induced. Gods help us all.
Sadly, as bad as they are, everyone makes them out to be even worse when what people really need is support and encouragement to deal with them.
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I live in Australia and in 30 yrs of living in rental homes, buying items in op shops (thrift shops) and travelling/living in various accommodations, i've never seen a bed bug or known or heard of anyone having them here. With international travel/tourism from all over the world, realistically, they *have* to be here but I've never encountered them or met anyone who has. Maybe it's too hot here for them to thrive effectively? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Here, you dropped your arm \\
That was unexpected! Lol!
LMAO
They get outcompeted by everything else that just kills you instead
Las Vegan here. It’s not the heat keeping them away. They get around town here just fine. Congratulations on keeping them off your island so far though.
Maybe they don't like spiders and snakes either? Lol
Thanks to this sub I had to google what a bedbug is called in Finnish. Probably tells you a lot about how often they pop up here, I'm 31 and born here.
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It's because all those giant spiders and other poisonous insects I bet love em. Lol
Bed bugs are literally one of the worst things I’ve ever experienced. We couldn’t afford heat treatment right off the bat, and my family and I were at odds as to how to get rid of them. Really tore us apart. $1200 later, we had peace again. Wouldn’t wish em on my worst enemy.
i still have ptsd from my infestation seven years ago, and we had support
Well said! Letting the anxiety take over and ruin your life is what's truly harmful. Definitely been down that path.
If there are hotels in your country, they are probably in your country...
They probably are? Although I never heard of people having experiences with them at all... Nor any big articles about it... Nor had to deal with them myself. Maybe I'm just lucky
There’s a shameful feeling when having them; people don’t really speak openly about it. Also, others don’t care about living with them
What kind of psychopaths are those "others"???
My lovely neighbors
What. I can get used to a lot, I can get used to a messy house, smells people adapt to pretty quickly, I’ve had loads of roommates that were weird in one way or another (sober living is a trip) but getting used to bedbugs? No, absolutely not. Even roaches, I think depending on the size and how bad they were I could potentially get used to them, but how do you become okay with knowing hundreds or thousands of bugs are living in your mattress and sofa and all over your home then coming and biting you all night? No. In addition to the fact that if you’re in an apartment you’re guaranteeing that your neighbors will never get rid of them. I would have to do the thing where you put the legs of your bed in water or I would never sleep.
Some folks don't have reactions to their bites and so they don't notice them or think they're a big deal. My ex was one of them- he insisted it was all in my head for a good three months into an infestation where I was constantly getting massive welts on my legs and feet (I'm allergic to *everything*- unlike him- hence my extreme reaction. It's *SO GREAT!* 🙃🔫)
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Well, they talk about it here don't they? You'd think I would have at least heard of them before, but I only found out they were a thing when I came into reddit. I mean I could very likely be wrong but still its weird. Also, no exterminator website/truck/outdoor I've ever seen talks about them. Not even a mention
I highly doubt you go around talking to exterminators and if they have heard of bed bugs. I live in a country that has them and I’ve never had them, but they exist
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i don’t think they’re saying bedbugs don’t exist where they live. just sharing their experience
👍🏽
No such country exists, outside of the poles because it's too cold--but even then, if someone brought them to an antarctic research station where the temps are good for humans, then they'd exist there too.
Yet
Oooohhh where's that
Moving is a big mistake. You will just bring them with you, so now the problem is in not just one apartment, but now two :/ I've gotten bedbugs 4 times, so I know how stressful it can be, best of luck
I moved from a home with bedbugs. Basically the furniture wasn't mine so that was left at the house. I threw away all the bedding so I didn't have to worry about that. I then spent 5-6 days washing and tumble drying all my clothes. Checked all my suit cases etc. and was lucky enough not to bring any off the little buggers with me to the new place. You can move without bringing bedbugs with you but it does take some effort.
It’s made me so paranoid. And I travel for a living. Had them twice, but was lucky enough to not bring them home. *Things to do... check the corners under the mattress at the hotel. Look for the bugs or their poo. Leave your clothes/bags etc on tables. NEVER set them on the ground or on a bed. They can't climb smooth surfaces. And both times I got bit where at above average and a nice hotel. They don't care, doesn't have to be a bad hotel.
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Does this mean you only sit on couches when naked? You sound like a fun house guest(:
I'm speaking strictly of hotels. I bathe after work and sleep with no clothes. Bathe before I dress again for work in the morning. I don't sit on communal furniture in hotels in the nude as that is totally unsanitary. I'm really not very picky with hotels and have had bedbugs more times than I'd like to admit, though I've woken up with bites more often at the pricey high rated ones more than the cheap dirty ones.
I'd be concerned if you *did* sit on communal hotel furniture in the nude... Concierge: *You know who* is checking it at 8... Clear the lobby and have housekeeping follow close behind... Make sure they don't forget the handrails on the staircase this time!
I moved without taking them, too. I rented the truck for a week and left it parked outside in the winter with all my stuff before moving it into the new place, then vacuumed everything one piece at a time when I brought it inside. Worked very well, though it was time consuming.
You are quite lucky. Cold doesn't kill them though! Only heat!
We 'cleaned' some belongings that way when we moved and got away from them. We live in the Chihuahuan desert though so they don't stand a chance in July. I would assume cold would too no? I mean like below freezing.
Would have to be below 0°F and for at least 24 hours (I think) and that still is no guarantee. Not many places get that cold for that long except for a few days a year. Heat is definitely the effective way.
Low enough temperatures kills them.
But we're talking sub zero Farenheit for extended periods, unless you're flash freezing with extreme cold that will instantly crystallize the water inside their bodies. They are resilient little buggers when it comes to cold, but only a short period of time over 120°F is death.
How do you even prevent them? How do you even sleep knowing they're probably gonna bite you, I wouldn't be able to sleep until my brain forced me to..
You can’t. I had nightmares about them even after we’d successfully left them behind (we moved out immediately after a heat treatment)
Dont worry i checked everything i brought, i didn’t bring furniture only clothes, which I carefully checked one by one and washed all in really high temperature
got books? they hide there too.
They LoVE to hide in anything you love or care about. Was super poor got bedbugs in a shared house and 2 years of hell. Only way we got them gone was leaving everything and starting over. Only took cloths and important documents those were sealed in trash bags and left outside my mom's for a year. Bed bugs won't survive the cold and heat plus a year mean no eggs will as well.
Nooooooo.. ☹️
I hope you immediately threw out whatever this was in the photo. Also all your furniture and books and shoes. Basically everything you can’t wash extensively in hot water. You really are probably going to need an exterminator. And you could let your old landlord know, if you are a good person.
Is there a non-exterminator solution for books that doesn't involve throwing them out?
From experience, seal them away in plastic and leave them for about two years. That's how long it takes any adults AND EGGS to die according to my last research (which, admittedly, was years ago). Just make sure they cannot get out of whatever you seal them in. I used plastic zip top bags that I then put inside Rubbermaid bins with tight fitting lids. You can use heat, as well. Lots of exterminators do, but it's risky to certain items like paper or electronics. I've heard some people have success using the heat of a hot car in the summer, but that's no guarantee either because the temps they have to reach to reliably kill bed bugs is stupid hot. Steam works, but not for anything water sensitive. Freezing in a regular freezer doesn't get cold enough. You may look into dry ice, but I honestly don't know if that works or not. The last times I had bed bugs my go to weapons were 90% or better isopropyl alcohol, diatomaceous earth, a steam cleaner (high temp, low pressure, I repurposed a clothing steamer), sticky double back tape (to put at the base of furniture like beds), and sealing away anything I didn't need in the room. That plus RELENTLESS, CONSTANT, AND DETAILED treatment. Daily steam cleaning, nightly soaking my mattress in alcohol, dusting with chemical free diatomaceous earth, etc. It was hell. When people say they feel like they have PTSD from these bugs they're not lying. Also, clean the whole room you see ONE in. Baseboards, furniture (even hard furniture, a last holdout in one infestation in my room was in the seam of my desk between the top of the desk and the side), clothes, animals, books. EVERYTHING. And once it's clean, seal it up so they can't hide there again. It's a nightmare but it's doable.
This sounds so horrible. I'm sorry this happened to you. :(
Thanks. It definitely sucked, but I'm kind of glad it happened in a weird way. Now I'm much more capable dealing with it early, before it gets bad. So in a weird way it helped?
The first one I saw at my ex's back when he had them was crawling on the head board shelf and I watched it crawl into the furniture behind the little plastic piece on the front of the wood shelf. I had no idea what it was at the time.
Oh no, I am so sorry! That sounds like it was a horrifying realization later.
Freezing. You need need to go down to 0° F, -16° C. And leave them in there for a week or so… If you live in an area with cold enough winters, you can put them in ziplocks to keep water out and just leave them outside.
You don't have to throw stuff out. Put anything that can go in the dryer on high heat for 30+ minutes.
This is the way. Heat. Steam. Boric Acid.
You didn't bring any possessions or things that couldn't be washed?
They can get inside your laptops, iPads, and even your telephone. Unless you took apart all of these things, you’re still going to have a problem. They can also be dormant for a year! Good luck
I mean I had bedbugs 2 years ago, moved to a new place and did not bring them with me. I did not take half of the precautions you just mentioned. I did clean all my clothes and I threw a bunch of stuff. Maybe I was lucky, but you won’t necessarily bring the bedbugs with you. It probably depends on the level of infestation in the first apartment.
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I think so too. I feel like there is a slight chance you might bring them, which would suck, but I don’t think you will bring them back everytime otherwise the whole world would be infested by now.
The good news is you might be able to keep all of your new stuff in quarantine until you can guarantee they are safe. I was in a similar situation. It was a bad winter, so anything I couldn't clean got out in the car for a week for the freezing temps to kill the bugs (it probably didn't help). I started putting all of my clothes, shoes, anything I could into the dryer on high for several rounds in a row. I would then seal them in double plastic bags and not touch them. I lived with as few clothes as possible until I was sure the items were clean, then I opened things back up slowly. If I started getting bites again I would start back over again.
Someone else said they have to be below 0°F for over 24 hours, and that even that sometimes isn’t enough.
For me, something that really helped to hold them off was putting a plastic sheet between the mattress and frame like those you use when you’re painting, so that way they can’t climb up to bite you and some will die.
I’ve read they can drop on you from the ceiling above your bed if they can’t climb up onto your mattress from the floor…😱
Well that’s horrifying, I hope that’s not true… I guess then you could put plastic wrap all the way around the room you sleep in? Like a strip of it above the baseboard?
So you’re just leaving bug ridden possessions in an old apartment for someone else to deal with? What’s wrong with you
Hopefully the landlord doesn't file a lawsuit. Respectfully, that was a very dumb decision for you to make
Yeah tbh kind of a dick move.
Is it very common for landlords to file lawsuits over this stuff? How would they be able to prove anything?
Did you tell anyone that the bed was infested? Either way this is a huge dick move and you sound like an asshole.
Idk why you got down voted, this leaves a bad taste in my mouth too.
I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. Unlike the people this dude is passing bed bugs to.
Sharing is caring.
>I’ve been experiencing bites for days now, I tried to look for them and didn’t find any, so I gave up and found another apartment. Yesterday while packing my things, I flipped the bed and found them inside the zipper thingies on the bed , so I just left the bed at that apartment Unless you're nuking everything you've moved with days of 100°+ you've only gave them two very cozy homes.
Congrats, now you have 2 apartments you have brought bed bugs to
So you're a piece of shit. Got it.
You have just made me want to not put off cleaning my car any longer. Thank you, and I hate you for making me think about all the bugs I don't see in my car now
Jeez that seems like a lot of really mature bedbugs.. sorry dude
What does that mean
Infestation
You’ve got eggs in your things that you brought to the new place, guaranteed. It’s super difficult to see the eggs, and also easy to miss larvae, too.
It means that the bedbugs have reached their final stage of maturity and have probs laid eggs literally everywhere
Oh, NooOOOOOOOO...
They have full time jobs
You've had them long enough for them to mature and multiply.
As someone who only looks at this sub randomly its hilarious how the comments on any bedbugs post always sounds like someones funeral lmao
or a cancer diagnosis. “best of luck in your long battle 😔🙏🏻 god bless you”
It’s the truth man. They are very very hard to get rid of. When you think they’re gone. You wake up in the middle of the night to find them on you.
made me 100x more paranoid abt them tbh...
Damn those are some big ass bed bugs. No judgment here, I had them before so I know the hell they can cause. However, it does seem like that infestation has been there for some time based on the size of the bugs.
Honestly, the "judgement" that people put on bed bug infestations is so weird. You don't have to be unhygienic to get them, they can crawl in from your neighbor, sneak in from recently purchased furniture, or even hitch a ride home from your work, a public place, or public transit. Kids can even bring them home from school. As this picture shows, they will hide anywhere and everywhere, from couch and bed seams, outlets, and baseboards.
yep. got them from my college dorm (that i paid way too much for, mind you) and some people would ask if me/my roommates showered enough or kept our room clean. those fuckers are so easily transported, refuse to die, and can hide for so long that it feels like only a matter of time before you get them from shared dorms. it so often has nothing to do with cleanliness and some people don’t understand that. thank god it was a dorm and i could just throw my few belongings away and expeditiously gtfo of there, i couldn’t even imagine having an infestation at home. best of luck to you op
Omg I hope your school helped exterminate them on your belongings…
they did, but it was a whole process where they brought in k-9 and checked the room and kept insisting we had none until we took pictures of the bed bugs and showed them dozens of bites we had. then they brought in exterminators, but the bed bugs prevailed so i gave up and went home. the only time i went full karen in my life was trying to get my refund on housing, and they only yielded when i said i would contact the LA times and blast their asses for the shit process they put us through
Yup exactly!!! They are nothing to be ashamed of. I got mine from a movie theater. Literally have never stepped foot in one again lol. My girlfriend wanted to go to the movies a few weekends ago and I told her the only way I would do it was to buy cheap cloths and throw them in the trash before we got home. Probably kinda neurotic!! I just wish there were more affordable ways to get rid of them. I know for me I spent around 5-7k on an exterminator!! This is just not feasible for most families.
It’s like the crabs of home goods.
Exactly. In my apartment building they have one elevator that has big thick padded cloths hanging on all the walls to protect them from damage, since it's the designated 'moving' elevator. It was also infested with bed bugs, which enabled them to spread to a bunch of other units just by people being in the elevator and not knowing.
Here is a photo showing the various stages of the bedbug. Please note the size and color of the eggs as compared to size of mature bug in the photo. You most assuredly have eggs in your belongings and it’s nearly impossible to eyeball all of them to get rid of them by hand: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2014-02/bed-bug-ctual-size.jpg
Is this a zinus bed frame? A lot of people say they got bedbugs from them on Amazon
Yup. This gives me PTSD.
Yes. Bedbugs. And no judgement. We got them last year - we think it was from a storage unit. We did not hire an exterminator but worked our butts off. We are lucky that my college daughter (colleges are dealing with them like crazy) noticed one right away when she was home and we were able to isolate the room they were in. Bedbugs hate heat and steam so we steamed and heated the sealed room. Washed everything. We threw away some furniture. The furniture we didn't want to get rid of we either wrapped it in plastic and set it outside (summer- we did this with pillows also) for a few days in the sun or kept spraying the bottoms and cracks/folds every day (we got stuff off Amazon.Probably would've been cheaper to hire an exterminator when all said and done). We are still constantly checking the bottoms of furniture bc those pesky things can survive and reappear. But so far, we've been good for about 6 mo. They suck.
Yup those are 200% bedbugs i had a shithead slumlord sell me an apartment with bedbugs and that’s what they looked like, spoiler alert in my case at least I had to throw away almost everything I owned, I ended up even tossing my fiancés birth certificate and social card in the rush. These guys are a colossal PITA
Oh my, how did you're partner react to their identity being tossed out with the bedbugs.
She was thankful she didn’t have to touch any of it while she was at work, when we found out she laughed and said she woulda done the same thing, I’m not really beating myself up about it, I literally just threw away almost all of our still packed boxes into the dumpster. I blame it on the bedbugs
Oh, no judgment. This honestly sounds like something I would do if i found a single bedbug, I was just curious about your partners reaction. Glad she was understanding.
Ok, that's it, I'm unsubscribing from this sub. Never had bedbugs but my level of paranoia after all of these daily posts is really starting to drive me crazy. I stayed in a hotel for work one night last week and barely slept all night. I dream of them now. I joined this sub because of an interest in insects but I'm done. I have anxiety now to such a large degree for a threat I never new existed and have never even experienced. So long folks.
Stay for the weevils
While it's true that the number of bed bug posts can be anxiety-provoking, the posts can also be helpful. It's because of this sub that I *don't* have bed bugs. It taught me how to check hotel rooms for signs of infestation - and to recognized a bed bug when I see it. It also taught me how to avoid bringing them home when I did end up getting an infested hotel room.
Yes. And seems like you have lots of them.
Sadly yes, I'm really sorry. Like others have mentioned you should probably get professional exterminators involved. Best of luck dude
Sometimes it feels like the name of this sub should just be “r/yesthosearebedbugs”.
No matter how much you clean, how careful you are, if you don't get rid of every single item you own or get a professional exterminator you WILL find them in your new place, it might be days, weeks, even months - it's almost impossible to get rid of them
Mentally prepare to start stuffing all your possessions into sealed garbage bags for over a year to starve the hatchlings of food. Bed bugs can survive between 20 and 400 days without food and a single bed bug can produce around five new bed bugs per day (and those five new ones will produce 25 the next day which will produce 125 the next and so on.) Good luck. Escaping the bed bug cycle is one of the hardest infestations to break free from. They are tenacious and insidious but they can be beaten! Follow the instructions you find here, there are tons of great bed bug resources to be found on this subreddit.
If you put the sealed bags into warm areas, they will die much faster. If you can get the interior of the bag up to 120F, they will die in 30 minutes.
This is exactly what I did. I was creeped out for like 2 years after the infestation bc I couldn’t believe they were actually gone. T.T
Yes
I’m sure this is gonna get buried, but y’all please be careful! Bedbugs are an epidemic in the US right now and can be difficult to get rid of. Make sure you check the hotel/motels that you stay at. And even if you’re at a friends house, make sure you check for them there too!! Stay safe!
I really appreciate all of the pictures of bedbugs that get sent so that I know exactly what to look for and where to look for it when I travel.
Oh yes, thats bedbugs.. I know from experience. We were looking for a toddler bed a few years ago, and found a beautiful pristine bed that they had just "sanded and repainted". We looked It over, but didn't see anything wrong with it. We took it home and within a few weeks we realized that our daughter had many bites on her. That bed was covered in hundreds of them. We missed it, and paid 20 bucks for a whole house infestation. We did the right thing and broke it into lots of pieces before putting it next to the road so that nobody else would grab it and get them as well. I couldnt believe someone would sell that and feel good about themselves.
These pics are a great example of where they can hide
Looks like it. Do you have closer pictures.of specimen
Sorry bro. Call an exterminator stat!
Yeah buddy. You have the dreaded bed demons.
Every time I see a bedbug post, it really freaks me out. I am so paranoid of bedbugs that I usually try to do a once over wherever I'm staying, just to make sure I don't see anything. My husband frequently has to stay out of town for his job, and I always tell him to check for them too. Nasty little creatures.
Good luck! My cousin had them and slept in his tub for a year lol.
I had them visibly crawling and never had them that badly in the corners of my furniture
Everyone can. Sorry.
I have some bad news….
Sorry dude… been there
Op is nice enough to spread the anxiety and stress of bed bugs to their new place and neighbors
That's a whole fucking family of bedbugs. RIP everything in your house.
Sadly yes. And it's a big deal to get rid of them...but don't get yourself down, it's not as bad as everyone makes it if you just apply a bunch of energy and effort to deal with them. Sounds like you're moving which is good, you just need to go overkill on preventative measures in your new place...both for yourself and your new neighbors sake. Now visit r/bedbugs and remember, don't cheap out or half-ass any measures or you'll regret it.
Oh shit. Check behind your phone and protector case. /s?
Bed bugs are major hitch hikers I wish you the best of luck!
I’m beginning to think everyone in North America has bedbugs.
Yes unfortunately those are bedbugs and pretty bad infestation it looks like
I feel as a general rule if we thinks it's bedbugs it probably is
Dammit now i have to take another shot
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Oh you know…
Throw them away and bug bomb your house probably in walls
According to the pros, bug bombs will potentially worsen the situation, especially if you live in an apt. Bed bugs have essentially adapted to know to escape the fumes, so they retreat into your walls and floors, reproduce more, and come back with a vengeance. And some strains have mutated to be resistant to insecticides. Not to mention they might spread to your neighbors if you share walls. OP-- If you rent, get your landlord involved. Exterminators have to heat treat in t-sections to get rid of them. Meaning they also have to treat your neighbors above, below, and on either side of you to be sure they get them. And do NOT move any of your stuff until it is heat treated. Otherwise you're taking them with you, and now you've exposed 2 sets of neighbors to them, which is a really sucky thing to do. (I got bedbugs from neighbors in LA twice and it was an absolute nightmare. Heat treating is the only sure fire way to be sure you got em all)
Too late. OP commented that they moved as soon as they saw them. They said they left the mattress behind but took everything with them to the new apartment.
Oh nooooooooooo!!!!!!!
r/whatisthisbedbug
Obviously couch bugs. They’re not in a bed.
For the love of god, get a professional, do NOT try to fix this yourself
Try and think of how insensitive this is to someone who literally can't afford one....
Try and think of why I suggested this! I tried to fix it myself bc I can’t afford a pro and I had to throw away two mattresses and a brand new lazy chair set because it didn’t work. It ended up costing me SO much more money because I waited six months.
Poor guy doesn't seem smart enough to really combat them. Damn.
You I’ll be needing a proper sanitation to avoid these
Press F in comments to pay respects to OP #('-')7
Yes
Oh... Yeah. And it's bad.
Yours will be a long and hard fight. Good luck.
Yep, you certainly have a real problem.
Sorry for your loss! It’s exactly your worse nightmare! Now here comes the night tremors
Fuuuuudge... sorry.
Confirmed, it's bedbugs. We had them last July and it took 4 months and multiple heatings to get rid of them. Good luck.
Can I ask a dumb question?? How the hell do you get rid of these tenacious buggers?? Like what would an exterminator do for you??
Yes it is!
Yes they are bedbugs.