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Thank you, very helpful. One YouTube video recommends Clorox Clean-Up. How does that compare to alcohol? Just curious. I’m starting the “fight” today or tomorrow.
Aloha,
Wil
It will work about the same. If it comes into contact with a bed bug, then it will kill it. The problem is that it doesn’t necessarily kill eggs, nor does it stay around for long to kill bed bugs that either hatch or that you don’t get the first time. That’s why we recommend diatomaceous earth.
ReplySir,
I would like to know how long a bedbug and/or eggs live or remain viable. I have placed a box spring and mattress in a bedbug mattress cover about 2 years ago. We would like to start using the set again, but are unsure if the bedbugs/eggs that might have remained on them are still alive/viable after that time. The set was stored in the basement during that period, so there were no temperature extremes that might have aided in their demise.
Thanks much for your time and attention to this matter.
Dale Tanda
ReplyThere is some debate on this. In labs, they’ve seen bed bugs live around 2 years without feedings, although that’s probably about the extreme. Typically, they’ll only live a few months without feeding. If I were you, I would dry-steam the mattress and box springs before I used it, but then again, I’m very cautious about this type of thing.
ReplyI know I have bed bugs (on and off for over a year now) but I have no idea where they are hiding. I have attempted having professionals (which were no help whatsoever) as well as my own DIY. I have encasements (Have bought 3 sets for my box spring since they ripped) so hopefully the ones in my boxspring are not getting out again. So, after I found the rip in my encasement and bought a third one, I haven’t seen any on my bed but I still see them dead in the climb ups and around baseboards (like, 6 total or so). I don’t know what to do at this point anymore. I have no clothes here at my house, don’t stay here, vacuum and clean constantly and I have a dry steamer, phantom bug spray, and I am trying to get DE.
What steps should I take? I live in a loft apartment – pretty much a studio type apartment. So I feel like they are in my entire house but I’m not sure? I need help!
ReplyIt sounds like you’ve done just about everything. My one suggestion, since you say that you’ve had them “on and off” for over a year is to really be persistent about treatment for a full 3 months. What I mean is that I would treat everything in the apartment with the dry steamer and the DE at least once a week for 3 months.
You may have already done this, and if so, then I apologize, because I won’t have any better suggestions. Diligence is usually the key, and many people relax a bit when they think they’ve gotten rid of bed bugs, but that often just give the bed bugs a chance to build back up.
ReplyYou know what? That may actually be my problem. Because I have always gotten so relieved when i would stop seeing them so I would relax and be super excited to have my life back. I am getting my shipment today with my DE and duster and more phantom and some nuvan strips. I haven’t seen any since my treatment last week. He told me to apply phantom in 10 days so I am going to do that. So, you suggest that after that I keep putting the DE down once a week?
I think I keep forgetting about the eggs – Damn!
I actually didn’t think about the retreatment and I appreciate your help.
ReplyYeah – that’s my best advice (to put down the DE once a week). Given how hard they’ve been for you to get rid of, I might even dry steam once a week. The dry steamer should destroy any eggs it comes into contact with, but it’s almost impossible to dry steam everywhere in your apartment that bed bugs may live and breed. That’s why the DE is great, because it tends to kill any stragglers, since it lasts for a longer time than sprays do.
ReplyHow do you apply the DE? What’s the best method? What if you have children and pets? Is it safe?
ReplyYou do want to be careful around kids and pets. Make sure you buy food grade DE, which is generally safe, but that said, try to keep your kids and pets from eating it.
I’d sprinkle it everywhere. The point of DE is that it stays around for a while and kills any bed bugs that aren’t killed by your initial treatment, so you want it to be as many places as possible.
ReplyI moved into a house back in Jan. of this year when I moved in I bought all new furniture throughout my house. I didn’t notice anything at first but for the last 5 or 6 months the biting has gotten worse and I’ve even woke up in the middle of the night to find them crawling on my clothes. UGGGGG! I am 9 months pregnant and have three other children 6 yrs and under I am the only on with bites my husband doesn’t have any at all and he sleeps next to me, does this happen? Also I need to be sure that these methods are safe for children and what I can do before my baby arrives. I’m losing my mind trying to get rid of these things please any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
ReplyFelicia,
It’s entirely possible that your husband may not react to bed bug bites. There is a substantial portion of the population that doesn’t react to getting bitten.
In terms of safety, obviously a dry steamer is only dangerous to the extent that it can burn someone if it comes into contact with them. This is a real concern, and I do recommend being very careful when using a dry steamer.
I suspect that you’re more concerned about Diatomaceous Earth. My thought is that DE is generally preferable to and safer than chemical sprays. Diatomaceous Earth actually comes in Food Grade, which is what you should buy. Many grains like wheat are actually stored with diatomaceous earth in order to keep them dry and keep out some pests. What that means is that you probably eat small amounts of diatomaceous earth on a regular basis. In other words, it’s pretty safe. I’m not suggesting that you let your kids eat any DE that you use around your house, but it’s much less toxic than chemicals.
My biggest tip, as always, is that you have to be thorough and keep treating. If you use a dry steamer on EVERYTHING in your house twice in one week and then sprinkle DE everywhere, you’ll likely feel that the problem starts to go away. That’s when you have to be most diligent. I’d use the dry steamer at least twice a month and keep the DE sprinkled around, both for probably 6 or 8 months. If you let up, they’ll come back.
ReplyTHANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU FOR THIS BLOG!!! I tried DE and it worked well. I also tried Eucoclean and it’s 100% all natural. I have my parents, a newborn baby and two pets in the home and it didn’t bother any of us. Thanks again for recommending DE.
ReplyWhat you fail to mention is that DE repels the bed bugs. They will avoid it. Also, I saw a video where one bug was crawling through a pile of it. One person used it liberally all over. A month later, he saw a tiny white bug crawling across his bed! It was a bed bug with DE all over it. These reasons are why I will not try it.
I’ve had good luck with Bedlam. Thing is, you must use it frequently and it can get expensive. I still have them, but they are fewer. After all the research I’ve done and all I’ve tried, I am convinced that the only way to truly eradicate them is by heating the whole house or apt. to 150 degrees F. for hours. Your thoughts on this?
I have a light-infestation of bed bugs. Have no idea where they came from and when I first saw them, I did my best to find their hiding places on mattresses and in the bed frame and eradicate them. I also washed and dried everything in high temperature. That was only 4 live bugs total I found, plus 6 body shells.
It worked for 8 weeks then we started getting bites again, and I found a few alive. Did the same process but now I’m more concerned about eggs and this being just the tip of the iceberg.
I have ordered matrress encasements, DE (food grade), and will again wash everything. I want to use steam but the price of $300 for one is currently out of my budget for the moment. Are there resources to rent one for $50-$75? I saw you mentioned using one weekly for many weeks.
Currently, we suffer maybe 1-2 bites a night, if that.
ReplyOne additional point – I want to avoid using chemicals or fogs because I have two children under 5 in the house who are sensitive to these things.
tnx.
WG
ReplyHi, After having found that I have bedbugs I removed the clutter from my room, vacuumed several times over the past week and threw away my bed and box spring. (They were old anyway). I bought a futon bed since there are only 6 posts that come in contact with the ground then spread the bedbug powder around the entire room along the edges, then caked a nice size pile of powder around the posts touching the ground.
I positioned my new bed a few inches from the wall as well. The only way I could imagine a bedbug getting into my new bed would be for it to jump or fly on to it. So my question is: Can they fly or jump?
Thanks, Rich
ReplyI have bed bugs and know where they are hiding, but their hiding spot is making it hard to get rid of them. I rent a duplex that has wood paneling for walls and the bugs are hiding behind them. My land lady will not hire an exterminator since it states in my lease that any bug problems are my. We have tried numerous sprays, and have every matress and all the pillows in cases and we are still getting bitten, for me it wakes me up at the same time every night. The only way to prevent me from getting bitten is to tuck my pajama pants into my socks, wear a long sleeved shirt and then tuck the sleeves in to gloves that have a velcro closure. Is there any way to kill them behind the paneling without it ruining the walls?
ReplyAm in kenya and i have a big bedbug problem.i cant sleep at night,. Av washed all the beddings and sprayed the bed and mattress but they are still there.help
ReplyHOW CAN I CLEAN THE VACUUM AND THE DRY STEAM VACUUM AFTER I’M DONE CLEANING SO CONTAMINATE ANY PLACE IN THE HOUSE??? PLLLLLLLLLZ I NEED THE RESPOND AS SOON AS POSSIBLE?
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