Posted on 03/22/2017 8:03:33 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
That thought has crossed my mind many times.
I have a rednecky habit of keeping my travel clothes, etc. in plastic bags.
This might have saved me from bed bugs. The bugs eat blood but they don’t chew plastic.
Yeah, bedbugs are introduced somehow and they can’t get at sleeping humans and can’t breed and lay eggs before they starve. Bedbugs introduced to a place where they can crawl up easily to feed on sleeping humans can then breed and lay eggs. But many seem to pick them up from hotels, and the beds have legs. Maybe hotels are not where they feed and breed, but are dropped off by folks infested from home. They can go pretty long without feeding.
Freegards
Bedbugs live in the wild and infest raccoons and such?
The diatomaceous earth can be deadly for most to breathe. Have to use it very carefully and wisely. Acts like cement in the lungs.
One study suggested that bed bugs used to be bat bugs. Bats don’t have a lot of fur, so that is plausible.
We used diatomaceous earth to get rid of a huge flea infestation due to skunks setting up under the house. We don’t have carpets, which made it easier. But fleas can live a long time without eating and are damnably hard to kill, so finally we had to use the propane torch outside.
But are they infesting bats now? We have tons of bats around, and skunks, squirrels, raccoons, foxes, etc and have never seen a bedbug but did have a skunk flea problem as above.
Smart and reasonable. Also, doing all laundry and drying it right after you get home from staying in a risky place. I often wonder about my shoes, and spray them with Lysol. Same with luggage/travel bags. Probably futile, but what the heck.
FReegards
American lotteries haven't been around all that long; but bedbugs have. ;^)
One reference says they can live on cats and dogs, though they will prefer people.
It would be more complicated than just coming in from the wild. Something in the wild might get an infestation of them, and then serve as a source of the bugs to people.
2 months to a year.
I don’t think you’ll find bedbugs in the great outdoors; I never have, anyway. Now ticks and chiggers are outdoorsy critters. But bedbugs are like liberals, preferring to mooch in an more populated setting.
They typically get passed by humans in luggage, transported bedroom to bedroom, hotel to home and home to hotel, college dorm to apartment, etc.
Their favored hiding spot is behind wood trim...baseboards in particular.
If you can hit the bugs directly, a lot of common household chemicals will slay them.
It’s the bugs we can’t directly slay that are causing the problems. Most modern insecticides might be a joke to them. They are only looking to eat blood, so they won’t be eating other things that aren’t blood but which might have insecticides on them.
Yeah, that’s my experience. Fleas from wild animals also. But the thing about bats maybe being a possible carrier is interesting. I wonder if the nymphs cling to bat fur or something.
Freegards
Interesting. That sounds like a great idea. Because as you know, one day you never had them and the next you are the unlucky recipient. The bed bugs don’t discriminate against wealth as plenty of wealthy people get them too which I was a bit surprised to hear that when I first heard it.
Well I take it a lot of contact poisons doesn’t work on them very well. Like praying spectracide or whatever around a clean bed/sleeping area.
Freegards
If your friend can possibly afford it, call the exterminator asap - they multiply quickly making it that much harder to rid one's home of them.
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