Bed Bugs
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Anyone have experience with these? If so did you call a professional and spend 2,000 or use a DIY method? What were the results?
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Thankfully, even having lived in NYC and the third world, have never needed to deal with them.
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Don't you usually just burn down the house and move to deal with these?
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One thing that I saw about actually dealing with them is use a targeted heater (like a propane garage heater) and point it at targeted items where they tend to live.
Your bed, couch, pillows etc and that kills off the bugs without needing to use pesticides.
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Heating the item and or room to high temperatures for a few hours is what is done most commonly to deal with them.
Of course, a propane garage heater may not be ideal (fumes) so you'd have to find something that did the job without making you pass out. . .
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I've seen it on tv that NYC had a big problems with them few years back. Freezing was usually the best method to kill them. You'd need dry ice snow and some way to spray that onto affected areas. Your local home improvement store might have some solutions too, bug sprays, etc.
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@DustinB3403 said in Bed Bugs:
Don't you usually just burn down the house and move to deal with these?
that's the DIY plan, yes
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@DustinB3403 said in Bed Bugs:
Of course, a propane garage heater may not be ideal (fumes) so you'd have to find something that did the job without making you pass out. . .
A salamander!
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@scottalanmiller said in Bed Bugs:
@DustinB3403 said in Bed Bugs:
Of course, a propane garage heater may not be ideal (fumes) so you'd have to find something that did the job without making you pass out. . .
A salamander!
That's the name, specifically an Electric Salamander.
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@scottalanmiller said in Bed Bugs:
Thankfully, even having lived in NYC and the third world, have never needed to deal with them.
I knew mosquitos in the third world, but let me assure you the mosquitos in Canada are vampires, one of them can sting you like 20 times in 20 seconds and worst of all they are silent
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@DustinB3403 said in Bed Bugs:
@scottalanmiller said in Bed Bugs:
@DustinB3403 said in Bed Bugs:
Of course, a propane garage heater may not be ideal (fumes) so you'd have to find something that did the job without making you pass out. . .
A salamander!
That's the name, specifically an Electric Salamander.
I grew up with a propane one.
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Have a propane one here, in fact.
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@scottalanmiller said in Bed Bugs:
Thankfully, even having lived in NYC and the third world, have never needed to deal with them.
I knew mosquitos in the third world, but let me assure you the mosquitos in Canada are vampires, one of them can sting you like 20 times in 20 seconds and worst of all they are silent
LOL, the third world has it easy with mosquitoes. They carry more disease there, but the quantity of them is nothing compared to Canada, Minnesota, New York, Maine, etc.
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Having lived in the north and in Central America... trust me, the Central American jungle has no mosquitoes at all compared to the north.
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@alex-olynyk said in Bed Bugs:
Anyone have experience with these? If so did you call a professional and spend 2,000 or use a DIY method? What were the results?
Dealt with this issue twice with my wife when she lived in an apartment.
First time - Apartment called Terminix and we paid for half. Had to throw out all mattresses, and a bunch of little stuff. Every single piece of clothing, blankets, pillows was washed and dried.
Used Saran wrap for all books, CD's, DVD's and bagged up all kids toys then stuffed in Zip Lock bags, and then put in large storage containers in my attic which gets pretty hot in the summer. They were left in there for 6 months.
Anything that could be sprayed with rubbing alcohol was, and then bagged and stored in the storage containers.
All of this took about two days to get done and the washer and dryer were put to the test. Probably about $400 worth of time and materials.
Wife bought all the bed bug covers for mattresses and pillows from WalMart. The decent ones are NOT cheap. Three beds and ten pillows came to $400. It is all about the zipper. Make sure the zippers have a fold over Velcro or something.
The second time, same apartment, Apartment paid all of Terminix Bill and we just washed stuff. I believe management made the other tenant who had the initial infection pay the bill (it was in the contract).
She was moving in with me in 6 months later so the 2nd time was no big deal.
If possible, I would go with the heat treatment as it was VERY expensive at the time. The pricing has come down somewhat. You are still going to have to clean though. Nothing you can do about that.
Start with bagging everything up and then move go whichever route you like.
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I know someone here who has a B&B that got them. They had two treatment options, they went with the one that wouldn't be as harsh on their antique furniture, I believe it cost a couple thousand.
I here in the winter here you can just open the windows.
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@scottalanmiller said in Bed Bugs:
@scottalanmiller said in Bed Bugs:
Thankfully, even having lived in NYC and the third world, have never needed to deal with them.
I knew mosquitos in the third world, but let me assure you the mosquitos in Canada are vampires, one of them can sting you like 20 times in 20 seconds and worst of all they are silent
LOL, the third world has it easy with mosquitoes. They carry more disease there, but the quantity of them is nothing compared to Canada, Minnesota, New York, Maine, etc.
When I went to West Africa I was shocked that I didn't see a single mosquito, but one of the people we were staying with still got malaria.
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@scottalanmiller said in Bed Bugs:
Thankfully, even having lived in NYC and the third world, have never needed to deal with them.
I knew mosquitos in the third world, but let me assure you the mosquitos in Canada are vampires, one of them can sting you like 20 times in 20 seconds and worst of all they are silent
Hmm, well they're not that silent. I can open the window at night and hear their collective buzzing.
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From October to May when the sun's gone away
We long for the summer's hot swelter
But with that warm spell comes a creature from hell
Who sends us all running for shelterLast night I went out for a brief walkabout
To view starry heavens above me
When I was attacked from the front and the back
By a demon who took my blood from meHe buzzes and bites, he's a damn parasite
And he ain't no respecter of persons
To him you're just meat, though you're slathered in Deet
And he drives you to swattin' and cursin'Would Pharaoh of old be so cocky and bold
When Moses demanded his freedom
If up from the Nile came the ultimate trial
The attack of the Northern Mosquito?To be sung to the tune of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and don't forget the buzzing part of the song.
