# Mattress Firm says 8 yrs and your mattress is full of skin/dust mites

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mattress-firm-says-8-yrs-and-your-mattress-is-full-of-skin-dust-mites/551628>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 27, 2010, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mattress-firm-says-8-yrs-and-your-mattress-is-full-of-skin-dust-mites/551628 "2010-08-27T04:16:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![oliversarmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mattress-firm-says-8-yrs-and-your-mattress-is-full-of-skin-dust-mites/551628/21 "2010-08-28T04:40:02Z")

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I’ m glad that I live in a time that this is a question or a problem.

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mattress-firm-says-8-yrs-and-your-mattress-is-full-of-skin-dust-mites/551628/22 "2010-08-28T14:44:24Z")

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> [@JoelUpchurch](#):
>
> > [@pravnik](#):
> >
> > > [@Nametag](#):
> > >
> > > Mites live in mattresses,  
> > > and have tiny mites to bite 'em;  
> > > tiny mites have lesser mites,  
> > > and so _ad infinitum_
> > 
> > That’s awesome. Is that yours?
> 
> It appears to be a paraphrase of Jonathan Swift. Good one thou.
> 
> So nat’ralists observe, a flea  
> Hath smaller fleas that on him prey,  
> And these have smaller fleas that bite 'em,  
> And so proceed ad infinitum.

Actually, more due to Augustus de Morgan:

> [@](#):
>
> “Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,  
> And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.  
> And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on,  
> While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.”

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