How does one prevent themselves from getting bedbugs?

The community college nearby had to be shut down due to bedbugs. The report closing and fumigating one building, and they don’t even have dorms!

I intend to take a class there for fun next semester, but frankly, it has me worried. I never thought bedbugs would come to my little city. I figured it was an NYC problem.

So how does one go about preventing bedbugs? It seems there’s tons of info once you have them as to how to get rid of them, but what precautions can I take towards prevention in daily life? I don’t travel much, so there’s not much risk of me picking them up from a hotel. Would allergenic covers for my mattress and pillows prevent anything? I take my shoes off as soon as I enter my apartment. Should I be inspecting my clothes after I take them off, or as soon as I enter my home? Washing clothes in hot water?

Personally, I don’t sit on upholstered, wood, or rattan (or similar) furniture - only plastic or metal. If there are no suitable chairs I stand. I don’t go to movie theaters. I don’t put my stuff on the floor or on the benches in fitting rooms (I hang everything). I check the clothes I buy carefully and wash them as soon as I get home. I am cautious when I am in other people’s homes. If I have people over (not often) I don’t have them throw their coats etc… on the bed - I have a dedicated closet they can hang things in than could be sterilized if necessary.

There was just a thread on this with some advice.

Yeah, but the other thread is just about hotel rooms, not about being at home (I just read through it all. Very useful for when I travel, thought).

And I’m not going to stop going to a movie theater for them, sorry! It was more about bedbug proofing my own apartment.

Don’t entertain at home, and when you get in throw everything in the dryer. Clean frequently and throw out the vacuum bag. Put your pillows and mattress in those special anti-allergy zip-up cases.

Short of never leaving the house, I don’t think you can truly prevent them. It’s scary and it’s frakkin’ me out!

Short of never leaving the house and refusing all visitors, I don’t think you can ever be safe from them. Bedbugs (misnomer) are tiny, they travel well, they’re **extremely **hearty bugs (can live 1 yr on 1 blood meal! 1 preg female can create a 30,000+ infestation in <6mos!) & they’re resistant to most pesticides.

Having endured a head lice nightmare twice when my daughters were in elementary school, these superbugs are frakkin’ me out! The head lice trauma scarred me permanently, I guess a bedbug infestation would send me over the brink into entomophobic insanity. :confused:

Short of never leaving the house & refusing visitors, I don’t think you can ever be safe from them. They are tiny, they travel well, they’re ***extremely ***hearty bugs (can live 1 yr on 1 blood meal! 1 preg female can create a 30,000+ infestation in <6mos!) & they’re resistant to most pesticides.

The info on how to get rid of them would no doubt be ineffective & it’s not recommended trying to DIY. Seriously, a professional is required b/c even pro strength pesticides leave them unphased. Pros are resorting to high-temp & steam heat in order to kill them but it provides zero prevention from re-infestation.

Having endured a head lice nightmare*** twice ***when my daughters were in elementary school, these superbugs are frakkin’ me out! The head lice trauma scarred me permanently, I guess a bedbug infestation would send me over the brink into entomophobic insanity.

JFC, please excuse the triple post. I’m not a noob, just FUBAR.

They had a thing on the news in Chicago today 10/29/10. They found bed begs at the Chicago Public School headquarters, Willis (Sears) Tower, Chase headquarter and on the CTA Subway.

I’m live in a low rent building so I’m just waiting to be invaded. I can still see my neighbors bringing in stuff from thrift stores (shudder!!!)

Bed bugs love wood, so avoid that. If you have a bed, get a metal frame. If you have a wood frame, get some bed bug protectors for the legs. You can check YouTube to see how to maket these cheaply at your house.

Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is the best prevention. If you get it, make sure you DO NOT get pool grade. This is not good for humans and is dangerous. You WANT the food grade DE.

I got a huge bag from ACE for only $10.00. If you have it delivered to the store and pick it up it’s free delivery.

DE works because it is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock that is easily crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder.

It feels like talc and it’s pretty harmless. There is a lot of misinformation on the Internet about it, 'cause people confuse the food grade with the pool grade, which isn’t harmless.

DE works by having the insects crawl through it. It cuts their exoskeletons and they die.

It’s great because once you put it down, that’s it. You don’t have to touch it again, ever. It will work, unless it gets wet. It doesn’t work when it’s work.

The problem is you have to get the bed bugs to crawl through it. People want them dead not alive and crawling. DE also works on ALL insects and anything with an exoskeleton, so if you use it outside, it will kill good bugs like bees and butterflies and such.

You also want so puff a small power in cracks and baseboards, you can just your mattress with it (put a sheet over it). Don’t put clumps of it, just a fine dusting. You WANT the bugs to crawl through it.

Sprays like Bedlam work and leave a weeks worth of residual. If you use a spray you need to follow directions and you might want to alternate sprays.

Bed bugs are actually pretty easy to kill. A shot of rubbing alchohol will kill them. It’s the eggs that are the problem. If you kill the bugs the eggs will hatch.

Heat is the best weapon. As long as it’s above 120ºF (49ºC) will kill the bugs and their eggs. So a steamer (go slow over each area) or steam carpet cleaner will kill them.

Washing your clothes in hot water and putting them in a drier (over 120ºF) for an hour cycle will kill the bugs and their eggs too. An iron on hot will also kill any bugs in clothes, and dry cleaning kills them too.

Your best prevention would be DE. Put it down in every crack and every entry place the bugs may crawl.

As for mattress covers. They will seal the bugs in or out. I would definately buy one if you get a new mattress, it’s a cheap investment for a new mattress. Make sure you get the kind that are certified for bed bug prevention, as it has a special way of locking the zipper.

I see it becoming a real problem if they are riding the subways and buses in Chicago as anyone can pick them up and bring them home.

Remember bed bugs eat YOU, not food or anything else. Reducing clutter helps as they can’t hide. They can’t climb metal either, at least not very well, so a metal frame is good if you’re thinking of getting a new bed.

Vikane is a gas used to treat bed bugs and a whole bunch of other bugs like termites, if you need it. It’s very effective but you have to seal off the whole building.

You should NEVER use a fogger as it will just cause the bed bugs to run away, then instead of having them localized you get them all over the place.

On the plus side, bed bugs do not transmit disease. This has been one of the reasons why the problem isn’t getting the attention it should. Because they don’t transmit disease they are not a public health hazard, so they are low on the priority list.

Awesome advice, thank you. I have a metal bedframe and I’ve inspected the mattress and all over using others’ advice. I’ll get a mattress cover this weekend. If I buy anything I’ll leave it garbage bag tied up till I wash it.

I have a small, 6 unit apartment building. Most are grad students and none of them would dream of buying used clothes. If bedbugs start becoming an issue in Pittsburgh apartment buildings I’ll get some of that earth stuff. I’m just trying to prevent getting them from public places.

How on earth did we get them so badly in the first place? Was it all immigrants bringing them over?

This is such an ignorant statement, I don’t even know where to begin. You come off as seriously xenophobic. I’d be hard-pressed not to punch someone who said that IRL.

Not to mention, unless you’re Native American, we are ALL immigrants here.

  1. Even the Native Americans are immigrants here.
  2. Anybody born in “America” is a Native American.

Best wishes,
hh

Bedbugs are rampant in Edmonton, Alberta, as well. I checked http://bedbugregistry.com/ …there’s nearly 80 buildings around us with reports…including ours. The management company is on top of the situation, though, spending nearly 45 grand to spray the entire building, along with the continued monitoring. So far, so good…nothing for 6 months now. After reading the stories on the registry, I’m happy to live in a place where the owners of the building care enough to do everything possible to control and hopefully eradicate the problem.

I second the Diotomaceous Earth. When my last building had them, I dusted that shit everywhere possible, and never got them, even though my next door neighbor did.

Bedbugs don’t care if your’re apartment is clean or not. If you have them and sleep on your couch, they will just infest that, instead. I’ve heard about them in movie theatres and clothing stores and (eek!) on the buses…but what can you do? I can’t hide at home and never go anywhere.

One tip, from the exterminators: If you’re doing laundry in a communal laundry area, do NOT leave your basket on the floor or on the washers and leave for the rest of the cycle. Take it back to your suite. They also suggested running all new clothes through a hot dryer cycle for at least 20 minutes before bringing them into the apartment.

Seriously? I mean, I’ve never had bedbugs and I don’t want to have them, but I think this is, er, a bit extreme. A lot extreme. As is the “I’m freaking out!” tone of the thread. They are little bugs that bite you. That’s it. They’re not Death Wasps from Outer Space.

This is dumb too. It’s a reasonable question to ask, since there didn’t used to be a lot of bedbugs here and now there are. Recent outbreaks of communicable diseases have in fact come from other places - it’s not racist to say so.

I am an entomologist who worked for years on the little fuckers. I don’t work with them anymore, but am a nationally-recognized expert - some of you have probably seen or heard me interviewed on television or NPR about them.

I’m not saying you need to do this. I’m saying I do this because I am paranoid. But for fairly good reason.

It is extreme, but that’s where my comfort level is. Yours is probably different.

After reading his post in my thread (mentioned in post 2, I believe), I’m not surprised he what he does (not) do…

Dumb question: what eats bed bugs?

House centipedes, cockroaches, and this lovely fellow, known as an assassin bug.

http://www.uoguelph.ca/pdc/Factsheets/Insect/AssassinBug.htm