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I have even read about bedbug eggs being found in library books, but I don't know what conditions would cause them to be inactive for 6 months.
I read they can live up to a year without food In a colder climate, the average is 4-6months Warmer placesShe has not been in any building other than her home (single family detached) since March. She has been in her car. No doctor´s office, no bus, no nothing.
This may be a question that asks for nothing other than speculation, but does anyone have a guess about how long these critters could have actually been in her house before becoming active and in her bed? In other words, if they came in in the dormant stage, how long does it take them to wake up and start biting? I’m asking because I wonder if it is possible that she brought them in before confinement and it just took them that long to get active. But our stay at home order went into effect on March 15, so it has been five months since she could have brought them in from a doctor’s office, hair dresser, etc.
Maybe the old books are in fact the culprit!
According to the University of Kentucky, bed bugs can survive 2 to 6 months without a meal. In extreme cases, when the temperature drops to 55°F or lower, they may survive a year or longer.
just to say - there are other bite markings that can look like bed bugs, such as harvest mites/chiggers and fleas, which your friend may have picked up if outdoors sitting in grass or cuddling a pet. They don't usually follow the classic bedbug Aleutian-archpelago-cluster-pattern, but it's not always that easy to differentiate. If the bites only follow after sitting out in grass etc, that might also point to this explanation. I've experienced something similar myself.She sent a picture and there is no doubt.
To help prevent the bedbugs from traveling to another location with you on your next trip on hot sunny days put the bag out. You can get the temperature up high enough to kill the bugs.Never again will my backpack be in my house.
Store it in black plastic bag in my garage.
To help prevent the bedbugs from traveling to another location with you on your next trip on hot sunny days put the bag out. You can get the temperature up high enough to kill the bugs.
Your comment about melting got me thinking about cooling with dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) but then that would be cooling down the killing heat. That's no good. But then I thought that since carbon dioxide is heavier than air if it were placed in the bag with the top open just a little then the air would float out leaving little oxygen for the bugs and that should kill them. Time for a web search.The big black bag goes out in the sun for a few long stints of direct summer sunlight. I suppose I could take out the first aid stuff to save it from melting, but I like having the absolute assurance that I have not opened anything at all after arriving home.
Have there been studies to show that the interior contents of a full backpack can reach 50C for 20 minutes?You can get the temperature up high enough to kill the bugs.
Have there been studies to show that the interior contents of a full backpack can reach 50C for 20 minutes?
Maybe, maybe not. I think that a tightly enclosed container is more likely to heat up in the sun. (Think about a car with the windows closed). However, I have no idea about the heat transmission into a tightly wadded sleeping bag, for example. If you spread everything out in the open, it will not heat up much higher than the air temperature. Putting things loosely into a couple of black plastic bags, closing them tight, and then putting them into the hot sun for an hour or two would be your best bet. But I am still curious what studies have been done.Maybe I should unzip the pack, and shake everything out loose into the bag?
After many years with bedbug bites and a bit of anxiety upon returning home, last year I developed my “routine,” which unfortunately I have not been able to repeat this year.
My husband brings a big black plastic bag and clean clothes to the airport. I change clothes in the bathroom and put them and my backpack in the big black bag. The big black bag goes out in the sun for a few long stints of direct summer sunlight. I suppose I could take out the first aid stuff to save it from melting, but I like having the absolute assurance that I have not opened anything at all after arriving home.
I have done that, many times. It is an interesting challenge to my faith in science to let go of that urge, and trust the evidence that 20 minutes at 55°C will suffice.(At the highest setting, several times over).
I'm too lazy at the moment to look for a study but it seems to me that, like pasteurization, a longer time under slightly less than optimal temperature should do okay. 50 degrees for 20 minutes? Maybe 45 degrees for 8 hours a day over 7 days will do the trick.Maybe, maybe not. I think that a tightly enclosed container is more likely to heat up in the sun. (Think about a car with the windows closed). However, I have no idea about the heat transmission into a tightly wadded sleeping bag, for example. If you spread everything out in the open, it will not heat up much higher than the air temperature. Putting things loosely into a couple of black plastic bags, closing them tight, and then putting them into the hot sun for an hour or two would be your best bet. But I am still curious what studies have been done.
Lowe's has a spray.A good friend who thinks that since I’ve had bed bugs four or five times, I must be an expert, called me to say she thinks she has bed bugs in her bed. She sent a picture and there is no doubt.
Aside from not knowing how in the world she could have picked them up, since she has been nowhere since March, she is a bit freaked out at the prospect of how to get rid of them. She has an appointment set up with one of the national chains, Terminix, and they presumably will tell her what to do.
But I am just wondering if there are wise ones out there who have been through this, and if so, what particular tips you might have for my poor friend.
Thanks and buen camino, Laurie
But that's no reason to fear or fight them, he adds. Bats have many useful roles, from pollinating flowers to controlling insects. And virus outbreaks are not inevitable as long as humans keep their distance. "These viruses will only emerge in people if we continue encroaching into bat habitat, hunting and eating them, and otherwise making contact with them,”
From what I heard, completely third hand of course, I thought that was the case for most of the continent’s native wildlife.In Australia ... can cause a number of viruses and infections.
That is very interesting! A slight clarification - the kidney bean leaves don't kill the bedbugs, they trap them, and the leaves need to be removed and destroyed each day. Good clues for scientists developing trapping materials, but I'd still get the professionals in to eliminate an infestation!If she or a neighbor has beans growing in the backyards, bean leaves spread out where the infestation is, can kill them ...or so it says: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scie...-bite-by-using-tiny-impaling-spikes-18427074/
An old friend of mine lives in a converted barn in Wales. It is quite smart and has all the mod cons, but it is shared with a few bats. Of an evening sitting comfortably in the upper level, enjoying a quiet glass of wine and there will be the occasional quick furtive whoosh and a flutter. The family have lived there for about thirty years and brought up three children, all in peaceful co-existence - but I might be casually checking the furnishings for little critters next time I visit...Bats are hugely beneficial, so it's worth giving the alternative places to roost so they don't intrude on attic space.
Not any beans, but specifically kidney beans. This is fascinating. Like an organic roach hotel for bedbugs.beans
You learn something everyday!Not any beans, but specifically kidney beans. This is fascinating. Like an organic roach hotel for bedbugs.
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