# Bedbugs!! Piss on the matress store guy!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 22, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341 "2009-03-22T15:29:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/21 "2009-03-22T19:39:43Z")
> [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](#): > > Throw away your mattress and box spring, and put down a perimeter of [Diatomaceous\_earth]([Diatomaceous earth - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous) earth) around where you will be sleeping tonight. I recall reading of a guy who did just this, circling his bed with, if not the earth then something else that bedbugs couldn’t get through. The guy woke up itching in the night, turned on the light, _and the bedbugs were climbing the wall and dropping on to the bed from the ceiling_! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/22 "2009-03-22T20:05:52Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > I opened this thread thinking there was both bed bugs _and_ piss in the bed. I thought he was ordering his army of bedbugs to piss on the mattress store guy. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/23 "2009-03-22T20:46:44Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I asked him, & he said “yes”. > > No consumer news…if anything, the local paper buries stories about advertisers. Then what **Randy Seltzer** said-contact the AG, and any one else who would be in charge of such things. How else could he get the place shut down. Oh, and spread the word-you don’t want them to sell this crap to anyone else. Would **Bosda** have grounds to sue, people? (God, call me naive, but I thought bed-bugs were a thing of the past-I remember my grandfather telling me he and my aunts and uncles got them from some used furniture as kids-but this was back during the Depression.) ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/24 "2009-03-22T20:53:01Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > The guy woke up itching in the night, turned on the light, _and the bedbugs were climbing the wall and dropping on to the bed from the ceiling_! I may never sleep again. If you guys start seeing lots of late-night posts from me, blame **aldiboronti**. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/25 "2009-03-22T21:25:13Z")
> [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](#): > > Is your garage attached to your house? If so, get it out _now_. (If you put it on the curb, put a knife through it so that scavengers don’t take it.) Otherwise, you are just spreading the infestation. Any bug spray you can buy legally without an exterminator’s license (and most of those you can buy _with_ one) will not harm them at all. Throw away your mattress and box spring, and put down a perimeter of [Diatomaceous\_earth]([Diatomaceous earth - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous) earth) around where you will be sleeping tonight. Put all your clothes through the dryer on high heat for 60 minutes. Your household dryer may not be hot enough. You should probably take everything (by everything, I mean every piece of cloth in your house) to a laundromat. Also, don’t just pile the clothes in your car. You need to buy a shitload of those 22-gallon ziploc bags. But get the ones with the actual zippers, the other ones just pop open all the time. (I think you actually want Hefty brand) > I’m not exaggerating. We had B-Bugs twice last year. The second time was because the first exterminator was not a licensed exterminator, and only used 2 kinds of poison instead of 3. Also, not all professional exterminators know how to get rid of bedbugs. Make sure you get a specialist. > > Bill everything to the asshole that sold you the mattress. Prepare yourself now emotionally. We were literally traumatized. Every itch I get gives me flashbacks. Good luck. I’ve removed the mattress from the house, spray/cleaned & vacuumed. The earth is out, as Dad is very hostile right now (I live with my elderly father). To him, I’m the one with the bedbug problem. :smack: Oddly, I don’t think there were more than 1 or 2, as I had relativle few bites, & all in the same place. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/26 "2009-03-22T21:29:04Z")
Dad just told me that he won’t tolerate the box spring on the back porch, & he’d throw me out of the house if I tried to put it there. He is just mean & stubborn. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/27 "2009-03-22T21:51:09Z")
Put the box spring **outdoors, away from** the house. And keep receipts for everything you pay out money for. You should be able to collect everything you spend back from the small businessman. Check that _article_ or _title_ of law, that includes the mattress stuff, to see who’s charged with enforcing it at the state level, and contact them. (State Health Dept.? State Commerce Dept.? Bureau of Consumer Affairs? It’ll charge someone with ensuring it’s enforced; that’s who to contact. Get them on your side – tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/28 "2009-03-22T22:07:50Z")
Before you get all crazy and start pestering lawyers, maybe you should make sure that you really have bed bugs. I just read the Wiki article and I’m a little dubious. Did you actually see them? Bedbugs are visible to the naked eye. You should probably call an exterminator and get an expert opinion as to what is really going on before you make yourself look foolish. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/29 "2009-03-22T22:15:48Z")
[Bedbugs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedbug) And no offense, **Bosda** , but it sounds like your Dad is right to be worried-those little fuckers seem to breed and spread pretty fast. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/30 "2009-03-22T23:42:53Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Before you get all crazy and start pestering lawyers, maybe you should make sure that you really have bed bugs. I just read the Wiki article and I’m a little dubious. Did you actually see them? Bedbugs are visible to the naked eye. You should probably call an exterminator and get an expert opinion as to what is really going on before you make yourself look foolish. I have seen any. Only the bites. **Guinastasia** –Dad is the one that doesn’t care, I’m the worried one. **Poly** –Dad gets too hostile to argue with right now. He refuses to listen. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/31 "2009-03-22T23:48:25Z")
Well, put it OUTSIDE AWAY from the porch. Screw your father, dude. Whatever they are, you don’t want them in the house. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/32 "2009-03-23T00:56:19Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Dad just told me that he won’t tolerate the box spring on the back porch, & he’d throw me out of the house if I tried to put it there. He is just mean & stubborn. Are you fucking insane? Get it away from your house before nightfall! > [@hajario](#): > > Before you get all crazy and start pestering lawyers, maybe you should make sure that you really have bed bugs. I just read the Wiki article and I’m a little dubious. Did you actually see them? Bedbugs are visible to the naked eye. You should probably call an exterminator and get an expert opinion as to what is really going on before you make yourself look foolish. I didn’t find one for 6 months. Then I did. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/33 "2009-03-23T01:29:20Z")
I recommend an intravenous infusion of 10% malathion/DDT blend, in saline solution. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/34 "2009-03-23T01:31:44Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > I recall reading of a guy who did just this, circling his bed with, if not the earth then something else that bedbugs couldn’t get through. > > The guy woke up itching in the night, turned on the light, _and the bedbugs were climbing the wall and dropping on to the bed from the ceiling_! AHHHHHH! I’m reminded of some sort of spooky campfire story. “And the call was coming from inside the mattress!” ---
**Author:** ![Wallet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@Wallet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallet)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/35 "2009-03-23T01:42:18Z")
I started a thread about my bedbug problem about 1½ years ago - it was hell on earth. It took a while for us to find the little bastards, too -the only evidence we had at first was the bites. Look online - you can easily find pictures of what they look like. My advice is to slash and burn - get rid of everything you can! Get large trash bags and start tossing (try to think of this as an early Spring clean-up). This might sound horrifying, but they can be _anywhere_ - behind picture frames, in the joints of dressers and nightstands, even in electrical items like radios. The things you want to keep in the house need to bagged, and pronto. You need an exterminator. Sad to say that bedbugs are making a comeback in many cities, and they know the right poisons to use. Get any pets you might have out of the house. If your elderly father has breathing problems he might have to leave for a day or two as well. We were advised to wear air-filter masks for the first 2 days, and we sent our asthmatic child away for a week. You _can_ get through this, though I’m sorry your father is resistant to addressing the problem. I’m also sorry if my post seemed drastic - I still have nightmares about that time. Good luck! -Wallet- ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/36 "2009-03-23T01:56:25Z")
And don’t even\* think \*about negotiating! ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/37 "2009-03-23T03:38:07Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > And don’t even\* think \*about negotiating! Unless you [negotiate](http://www.moviesoundclips.net/movies1/5th/negotiate.wav) like Bruce Willis in the _Fifth Element_. [sound file] ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/38 "2009-03-23T03:46:44Z")
Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/39 "2009-03-23T03:49:48Z")
Nuke 'em from orbit. Only way to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341/40 "2009-03-23T03:54:12Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > (God, call me naive, but I thought bed-bugs were a thing of the past-I remember my grandfather telling me he and my aunts and uncles got them from some used furniture as kids-but this was back during the Depression.) They’re making a [come back in Chicago](http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/health/chi-0226-bedbugsfeb26,0,3045951.story). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedbugs-piss-on-the-matress-store-guy/490341.md?page=3)