# Whats Up With BEDBUGS? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495 "2006-09-21T00:15:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/1 "2006-09-21T00:15:51Z")
All of a sudden, everybody has them! I had never heard of them-but now, all of the local extirminators are booked up-spraying for bedbugs! Why have they re-emerged? It reminds me of the Rolling Stones “Shattered”…“rats on the east side, bedbugs uptown”. How easy is it to get these things in your house? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/2 "2006-09-21T00:46:24Z")
Where are you located at? Is this something local or a nationwide crisis? I haven’t heard about this. Great, now I am going to be up all night imagining bedbugs crawlign all around me. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/3 "2006-09-21T00:47:53Z")
All you have to do is sleep in a bed with bedbugs and you wind up carrying them to the next bed. Hotels seem to be involved with the most recent problems. For reasons that are obvious if you think about it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/4 "2006-09-21T00:49:06Z")
Supposedly they frequent hotels, and are transmitted by getting into traveler’s clothing, luggage, etc. I stay in a heck of a lot of hotels and I thoroughly check every bed I sleep in. I’ve NEVER found a bedbug, or been bitten to my knowledge, and they’re not microscopic by any means; look hard and you should be able to find them. I’m sure I’ve stayed in a room with a bedbug or two but you’d think a guy who spends a night or two in 80 hotels a year would notice. Having said that, if in fact the resurgence is as bad as people say and it’s not just hysteria, I cannot help but notice that it has exactly coincided with this new policy hotels have of not changing your sheets every nighit. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/5 "2006-09-21T01:18:07Z")
[QUOTE=Amp] Is this something local or a nationwide crisis? [/QUOTE] Lots of places have em. New York City, Baltimore, San Jose, Saskatchewan. The news is [lousy with stories](http://news.google.com/news?q=bed+bugs&num=50&hl=en&ie=UTF-8) of their comeback. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/6 "2006-09-21T01:30:24Z")
I don’t really care much about bedbugs that much anymore since I discovered the wonders of [dust mites.](http://www-micro.msb.le.ac.uk/video/mite.html) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/7 "2006-09-21T12:57:18Z")
Just this morning I passed a hardware store on 6th Avenue that had a hand-written sign reading “WE HAVE BEDBUG SPRAY.” Except the letters were so oddly spaced it looked like “WE HAVE BEDBUGS PRAY.” ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/8 "2006-09-21T15:38:19Z")
I’ve had bed bug bites. Very itchy and annoying. I never could see the critters, or understand why they were snacking on me but not my hubby. We were in Bali at the time. I thought they were mosquito bites, another traveller identified them and told me to tell the people at the guesthouse. I did, and they dragged all the mattresses out into the hot tropical sun for the afternoon. Apparently this is the accepted cure throughout the tropics. Anyway, it worked, I didn’t get another bite. I can’t see North Amerikans be comfortable with any cure that doesn’t involve chemical warfare, though. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/9 "2006-09-21T15:41:40Z")
Warning: half-remembered science anecdote. I heard or read a while back that the bedbug resurgence was partially because of the success of Combat-style roach bait in killing roaches. The roaches, the theory went, ate the bedbugs (or larve). When Combat and other anti-roach products of similar stripe became popular in the 90s, the roach population crashed, the bedbugs had fewer predators, and their population exploded. So what’s the Dope? Is this true, plausible, or just the result of all of that crack I smoked this morning? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/10 "2006-09-21T15:48:28Z")
From what I’ve seen, the reemergence is due to a reduction in the use of pesticides. They were pretty much under control until recently. Hotels are the big issue. A consultant here got some very bad bites after staying at a Hilton Garden Inn not far from here, so it isn’t just the run-down hotel stereotype (this hotel had been in operation no more than a year or two). Dust mites are creepy, but they don’t bite you. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/11 "2006-09-21T16:22:57Z")
[QUOTE=vibrotronica] Warning: half-remembered science anecdote. I heard or read a while back that the bedbug resurgence was partially because of the success of Combat-style roach bait in killing roaches. The roaches, the theory went, ate the bedbugs (or larve). When Combat and other anti-roach products of similar stripe became popular in the 90s, the roach population crashed, the bedbugs had fewer predators, and their population exploded. So what’s the Dope? Is this true, plausible, or just the result of all of that crack I smoked this morning? [/QUOTE] The way _I_ heard it (…), it’s due to DDT and other high-powered pesticides being discontinued (remember when they used to fumigate entire buildings with poison gas?). Instead, more local, targeted forms of insecticides are used to off critters like roaches, that are so specific they don’t kill off bedbugs as a corollary effect (i.e., food-based bait traps that ants and roaches eat but bedbugs don’t). Since nobody has given much thought to bedbugs in a generation or two, they’ve quietly been able to recover their numbers. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/12 "2006-09-21T16:33:09Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] From what I’ve seen, the reemergence is due to a reduction in the use of pesticides. They were pretty much under control until recently. Hotels are the big issue. A consultant here got some very bad bites after staying at a Hilton Garden Inn not far from here, so it isn’t just the run-down hotel stereotype (this hotel had been in operation no more than a year or two). [/QUOTE] Yeah, I’d actually read bed bugs were a bigger problem at high end hotels where international travelers would inadverdently carry them in with their luggage. The motels on the interstate don’t have bedbugs 'cause they only have travelers from the US. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/13 "2006-09-21T16:41:43Z")
here in waltham, MA, the problem is so bad that the city has instructed anyone putting out a mattress/furniture out for the trash pickup, must display a sign prohibiting anyone from taking it. Rental properties are infested-the local exterminator told us he’s busy for the next 3 months… It seems to be an epidemic-and I’ve heard that a LOT of tony NYC hotels have the problem, too. The scarey thing-the bugs can live for over a year between meals! Years ago, the stae of MA had very strict laws about used furniture-it had to be fumigated to kill off any bugs residing in it-I wonder if the recent problems are due to those laws not being enforced? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/14 "2006-09-21T18:29:58Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] I stay in a heck of a lot of hotels and I thoroughly check every bed I sleep in. I’ve NEVER found a bedbug, or been bitten to my knowledge, and they’re not microscopic by any means [/QUOTE] I’ve read that in the daytime, they hang out in the corners of rooms, and come onto your bed only in the middle of the night. Is that not right? How did these critters evolve? Human beds are a relatively recent invention in the evolutionary timescale. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/15 "2006-09-21T18:44:08Z")
[QUOTE=CurtC] IHow did these critters evolve? Human beds are a relatively recent invention in the evolutionary timescale. [/QUOTE] There are other related bugs, other related hosts: [Couple wages battle against bat bugs Insects invade family’s home, hunting for blood](http://www.redding.com/redd/nw_local/article/0,2232,REDD_17533_4971664,00.html) > [@](#): > > Bat bugs are a close cousin of the bedbug – the nonfictional pest of nursery-rhyme fame – that feed on slumbering bats instead of snoozing humans. But, if bats aren’t around, bat bugs will go after human blood. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/16 "2006-09-21T18:46:50Z")
[QUOTE=CurtC] I’ve read that in the daytime, they hang out in the corners of rooms, and come onto your bed only in the middle of the night. Is that not right? How did these critters evolve? Human beds are a relatively recent invention in the evolutionary timescale. [/QUOTE] Um, they eat your blood, not your mattress or bedframe. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/17 "2006-09-21T18:53:40Z")
[QUOTE=CurtC] I’ve read that in the daytime, they hang out in the corners of rooms, and come onto your bed only in the middle of the night. Is that not right? [/QUOTE] [Bedbug habits:](http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2105.html) > [@](#): > > Bed bugs hide during the day in dark, protected sites. They seem to prefer fabric, wood, and paper surfaces. They usually occur in fairly close proximity to the host, although they can travel far distances. Bed bugs initially can be found about tufts, seams, and folds of mattresses, later spreading to crevices in the bedstead. In heavier infestations, they also may occupy hiding places farther from the bed. They may hide in window and door frames, electrical boxes, floor cracks, baseboards, furniture, and under the tack board of wall-to-wall carpeting. Bed bugs often crawl upward to hide in pictures, wall hangings, drapery pleats, loosened wallpaper, cracks in plaster, and ceiling moldings. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/18 "2006-09-21T22:01:36Z")
[http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef636.htm](http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef636.htm) “Another likely sign of bed bugs is rusty or reddish spots of blood on bed sheets, mattresses, or walls. Heavy infestations may have a musty or “buggy” smell, but the odor is seldom apparent and should not be relied upon for detection.” I am creeped out and must go home and check immediately. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/19 "2006-09-22T00:58:00Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] All of a sudden, everybody has them! I had never heard of them-but now, all of the local extirminators are booked up-spraying for bedbugs! Why have they re-emerged? It reminds me of the Rolling Stones “Shattered”..“rats on the east side, bedbugs uptown”. How easy is it to get these things in your house? 😕 [/QUOTE] A short history of bedbugs. Adam had em! A lot of them are newcomers to these shores brought in/as carry ons with immigrants and visitors from afar. The old fashioned treatment was saturating the seams of matresses etc. with kerosene. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495/20 "2006-09-22T01:00:25Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] All of a sudden, everybody has them! I had never heard of them-but now, all of the local extirminators are booked up-spraying for bedbugs! Why have they re-emerged? It reminds me of the Rolling Stones “Shattered”..“rats on the east side, bedbugs uptown”. How easy is it to get these things in your house? 😕 [/QUOTE] A short history of bedbugs. Adam had em! A lot of them are newcomers to these shores brought in/as carry ons with immigrants and visitors from afar. The old fashioned treatment was saturating the seams of matresses etc. with kerosene. You really have a few bites so you can appreciate the discussion. They are easier to acquire that to get shut of! :rolleyes: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-bedbugs/373495.md?page=2)