Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bedbugs and infestation

Avoiding a bed bugs infestation

grrarrgh00 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:14:13 -0800

I just woke up from a night in my Amsterdam hotel room and realized my bed has bed bugs in it. How do I make dead certain these things don't return with me to the US? Also, what should I expect from the hotel? I've spent the last two nights in a boutique hotel in Amsterdam.

Last night, I came back to my room and relaxed for a while reading on the bed. When I got up, I saw that there were bites down the back of one arm, but I didn't pay much attention; I thought an ant might have gotten into my jacket or something. I slept through the night, but when I woke up, I discovered another bite on my other arm. I suspected something was up, got up immediately, and inspected the sheets. I saw one dead bed bug, and several more live ones crawling around. (Ick.)

I'm downstairs in the lobby now, waiting for the hotel's housekeeping manager to arrive. I imagine I need to get all of my clothes laundered; they were on a seat touching the bed all night. What should I do with my luggage? How do I get into a set of uninfested clothes (I'm currently wearing the outfit I wore last night when I got in)? What other steps can I take?

Also, do you have any tips on interacting with hotel management about this? What should I expect from them? If they offer to launder my things, should I let them?

I had originally planned to transfer to another hotel today (this hotel was covered by the conference I was speaking at; I had previously reserved another room for myself at a place in a different part of town). Should I call them and explain the situation? Is there a chance I could get my things treated well enough today that bringing the infestation with me wouldn't be an issue?

Thanks much for your help with this. These things are so nasty.

sleep tight and pleeeeaaase don't let the bedbugs bite.

purplefiber — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:49:05 -0800

The upstairs neighbors have bedbugs. My roommate and I really really really don't want them! Are there any preventative measures we can take? Bonus points for non-chemical solutions.

Oh crap! So much for trying to be frugal.

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:51:05 -0800

Can you get bedbugs from thrift store clothes? So I was on the train home tonight from a successful trip to the thrift store when I felt something itchy on my thigh. I looked down and there was a tiny, barely visible orange bug crawling on me. I flicked it off and didn't think much about it until a minute or so later I had another itchy feeling on my arm. I looked and there was a larger, nastier looking, but still orange bug on my arm. Weird, right?

A minute later a lightbulb goes off and I'm wondering if the bugs are coming from my bag of loot from the thrift store.

When I get home, I immediately dispose of the bag outside, strip and wash both my thrift store items (a top and a skirt) and everything I was wearing except for my backpack in hot water and detergent. Then I put myself into a very hot shower and shampoo my hair thoroughly (since I was pulling clothes over it in the dressing room).

I googled bedbug and the picture looks just like what I remember seeing on me on the train.

Questions: How likely is getting bedbugs from thrift store clothing? Assuming it's possible, do you think I'll be okay, given the actions i took immediately after retuning home? And finally, do you think once the clothes are washed and dried it's okay to keep them or is that a really bad idea?

Practicing Bedbug Awareness

macinchik — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 11:02:30 -0800

What are some practical measures for minimizing bedbug exposure during domestic (US) hotel stays? Having read all the posts here about what a problem bedbugs are becoming, I would like to do what I can to keep from bringing them home after staying in a hotel.

Things I can think of to do are:

-rip sheets and blankets off of bed and inspect mattress and headboards for rust stains and other signs of a bed bug presence. only introduce luggage into room if this search comes up negative

-keep luggage and all clothes in the bathtub, a place that bedbugs might eschew in favor of locations closer to the bed

-sleep naked

-instead of using luggage, use plastic or paper bags which can be disposed of before coming back home, and then wash all clothes with hot water and bleach

I realize I am being a little apocalyptic here but from what I've heard these things are the very devil to get rid of, once installed in a residence.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Traveling bedbugs

np312 — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 09:19:37 -0800

Can bedbugs survive an airplane flight if they hitch a ride in your (checked) luggage? I got into a conversation with my mom the other day about backpacking in Europe, and how some of the hostels I slept in had bedbugs. Now, I live in NYC, which is going through a crazy bedbug epidemic that I have so far (thankfully) avoided. But it has made me super vigilant and paranoid about the bugs infesting my apartment.

So my question is: if I stay in hostels abroad and make sure that the clothes I wear on the plane home have no bedbugs on them, what are the chances that any of the little suckers who might have snuck into my suitcase/duffle would survive the pressure/temperature changes of flying in the belly of the plane?

Just something I've always wondered. Thanks!

I'm terrified I'll be plagued with bedbugs for the rest of my life ...

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 15:13:58 -0800

I am seeking emotional tips to handle dreading the recurrence of a somewhat traumatic event, when it is relatively impossible to predict whether or not said event will actually reoccur. Details inside. I beg everyone's pardon, in advance, for the length. I am posting this anonymously due to the stigma still surrounding bedbug infestation; even though there is really no 'fault' attached to it, I'd really rather not have someone Google me in the future and discover this little gem. Hope it'll go through.

The backstory:

I recently found out my apartment has been infested with bedbugs, probably since late May or early June. Until recently, I thought they were mosquito bites, but my doctor diagnosed them correctly.

Practically, I am proceeding step-by-step as best I can. My landlord had wanted to use a pest control service who I believe would have simply fumigated the apartment with, from what I understand, would have been standard fumigation chemicals, which are ineffectual with bedbugs; I got her to agree to go halfsies on this company, which I felt was more reputable, as it has operated in my metropolitan area since the late 1880s (that's not a typo) and has actual experience treating bedbugs.

The exterminator will spray my apartment and my empty furniture twice, once on the 22nd to kill 90% and once two weeks later to catch the remaining 10% that are in the walls. A family member is assisting me in the extremely work-intensive preparation required: we will have to empty numerous bookshelves and videoshelves and a fairly packed closet, move all furniture away from the wall, and clean all clothing or fabric that can be put into a washing machine.

For the two weeks in-between the two sprayings, I will find myself living in an odd state, with most of my belongings packed away and almost all of my furniture in a tight concentration in the middle of the apartment, as I can't foresee moving everything back on my own only to move it back out again two weeks later for the second spraying.

The problem:

I am terrified that I will never escape these damn bugs ever. And when I say terrified, I mean that my appetite's disappeared, I occasionally shiver for no reason at all, and I had a moderate panic attack already. But this is a tricky terror to vanquish, given that it has some basis of fact to it.

The exterminator says that there are three main causes of bedbug infestation he has seen: purchase of used furniture, being somewhere that was severely infested and bringing some with you, or travel within a building from another apartment. We can eliminate the first one, as I've purchased no used furniture in nearly a decade.

That leaves the remaining two. As I live in one of the bigger cities in America and use mass transit daily, it is certainly a possibility that the second option was the cause. If this is the case, the possibility of reinfestation is close to nil, as the procedures he's doing should rid my apartment of all bedbugs, including the hard-to-spot nymphs.

But most of the 'basis of fact' of my terror lies in the third option. The exterminator says that if they did indeed come from another apartment, the possibility of reinfestation within a few months is 70-100%. My landlord is going to spray, but I'm relatively certain she is not spraying every apartment, and I'm also not certain of the efficacy of the chemical she's using.

The quirk:

It may sound counterintuitive, but aside from the physical discomfort of the bites (lessened significantly since we removed the boxspring), I don't think the bugs themselves are the cause of the terror. If I spot and can catch them, I squash them and clean up the bit of blood on my hands. I really don't find myself afraid of the bites or of the bugs themselves (aside from the moment of revulsion).

When I try to determine what is inciting the cause of fear and panic, the best I can do is that they seem centered more around (a) the thought of having to do such extensive physical work yet another time [I am unfortunately quite morbidly obese and extremely physically weak and unconditioned], and (b) the possibility of this being a continually repeating curse -- of running into these again here, of accidentally bringing an infestation along to a new apartment, of running into these again into a new apartment or a new home.

(Additional causes of the panic seem to center around (a) the disruption to my usual 'routines', (b) panic surrounding the idea of doing necessary things without the necessary supplies (i.e. sleeping on the wood floor if my cat punctures a loaner air mattress, once we toss the infested mattress, which I'll do prior to the spraying), and (c) the continual drain of funds from replacing items that must be thrown away, i.e. mattress, boxspring.)

What I'm doing already:

I am fortunate enough to have access to both physical and mental health care; my therapist knows of my problems (and indeed talked me down from a moderate panic attack on Sunday morning), and I've left a message asking my physician to consider prescribing some sort of anxiety-reducing medication. Additionally, given my metropolitan area's local landlord-tenant ordinances, I think I could argue before a municipal court to get out my lease if they did come back, but then I'd still be concerned I might bring them elsewhere or run into them elsewhere, given the fact that my research indicates both that they are hitting my metro area somewhat strong, but evidently are on a national upswing as well due to the higher use of gel bait and the outlawing of DDT.

A few final educational notes, considering I'm hoping this can be posted anonymously (and thus will not be able to reply to questions). If I'm wrong on any of this, let me know, but this is what my research has turned up, and part of what makes this so scary: bedbugs infestations have nothing to do with cleanliness (think ticks, not roaches); they are attracted by exhaled carbon dioxide; due to their shape, they can hide in a million different crevices and cracks and are willing to travel nearly 100 feet to reach their food; they don't seem to be particularly slowed down by winter; they can survive up to 18 months without a meal.

Finally, I acknowledge and am very grateful that this situation is not far worse than it could have been: there are far worse things to dread reoccuring than bedbugs, and while I am not rich, I am not so close to the poverty line that I cannot handle this, albeit not without significant financial inconvenience. Furthermore, this is not a building that traditionally has had problems with bedbugs, thank God. I'm aware of all this, but sometimes terror does not behave rationally.