http://www.bedbugregistry.com/
Never. Leaving. House. Again.
We thought we had bedbugs last year after a vacation at a mountain lodge.
But the bedbug-sniffing dogs came and couldn’t find anything.
Stay home then. But, they may still come to you.
I had them once, and it was a straight up nightmare. I thought the bite marks would never leave. It took years, but they finally did.
Years?!? :eek:
I used to do research on bedbugs. Fascinating creatures, but beyond scientific interest I HATE the little fuckers. I was always extremely paranoid about bringing them home from lab and took extreme precautions.
I. Never. Check. Into A. Hotel. Without. Looking. Them Up. On. Bedbugregistry.com
NEVER.
Even so, I do a thorough room check upon checking in (this takes about 30-40 minutes and I have a special kit). I never put clothes in the drawers. I live out of my bag, which stays hung on the hook in the bathroom door. When I get home, the first thing that happens is that my clothes and bag (which is simple canvas) goes directly into the dryer.
I get no enjoyment out of staying at hotels - even nice ones. And I travel a lot.
Itchy now. When I watched an episode of that parasite show (something Monsters Within something), they sprayed some kind of freezing gas in every nook and cranny of the house and its contents, and the woman lived happily ever after. I was hoping this was a miracle cure.
Will that kill them?
Now I’ll never look at a Motel 6 (Sicks) the same way again.
This topic made me look up bedbug on Wikipedia. The section on reproduction is disturbing:
All bedbugs mate via a process termed traumatic insemination. Instead of inserting their genitalia into the female’s reproductive tract as is typical in copulation, males instead pierce females with hypodermic genitalia and ejaculate into the body cavity.
:eek::eek::eek:
DO they really make you itch? I’ve never been bitten, but I thought the bites were supposed to be painful, not itchy.
Yes, heat in the dryer on “High” for about 45 minutes. This is why I don’t use traditional luggage - you can’t do this with a rollerbag. I use a canvas duffel bag.
Bedbugs are actually pretty resistant to cold - I have had some survive for over an hour in a -20 freezer. But they are very sensitive to high heat.
Because of heat sensitivity, some people advocate dis-infesting mattresses by bagging them in black plastic and putting it out in the sun. Don’t do this - it won’t get hot enough in the bag to kill them reliably.
Bedbug bites are similar to mosquito bites.
If bedbugs squick you out then don’t read this.
“Sexually antagonistic coevolution”? Cripes.
[sub]Don’t let Dan Savage hear that one…[/sub]