View Full Version : Bed Bugs
Mother Natures Son
05-30-2017, 19:05
As you may know, PA is the top state (On the trail.) for Ticks. Now it has come out that it is also a top state for Bed Bugs! Gross!! Be careful out there. As anyone noticed that Bed Bugs are on the rise?
Sarcasm the elf
05-30-2017, 19:32
Lovely little buggers, eh?
They're practically a national epidemic, the problem is that everyone is too embarrassed to talk about them and nobody wants to admit to having had them, so it's hard to tackle the issue in an organized way. I had them years ago and the exterminator that we hired even warned us not to tell anyone because people often flip out and refuse to have contact with people that have had an infestation. Ironically, I only discovered I had them because a close friend discovered he had an infestation and immediately warned me to check my house as well.
As far as the A.T. goes, now whenever I go to a hotel or hostel I check under the mattress and around the tag, as well as around the curtains for signs of bedbugs. I also try to keep any personal items hung on hooks or luggage racks away from the bed.
Greenlight
05-30-2017, 19:41
We massacred bed bugs years ago with DDT. But Rachael Carson, God lover her, reversed the dynamics on that. There are new strategies for bed bug extermination now days, but the problem is no less worrysome. Ewww. They're just gross.
Lovely little buggers, eh?
They're practically a national epidemic, the problem is that everyone is too embarrassed to talk about them and nobody wants to admit to having had them, so it's hard to tackle the issue in an organized way. I had them years ago and the exterminator that we hired even warned us not to tell anyone because people often flip out and refuse to have contact with people that have had an infestation. Ironically, I only discovered I had them because a close friend discovered he had an infestation and immediately warned me to check my house as well.
As far as the A.T. goes, now whenever I go to a hotel or hostel I check under the mattress and around the tag, as well as around the curtains for signs of bedbugs. I also try to keep any personal items hung on hooks or luggage racks away from the bed.
gross!
there are similarities between bedbugs and ticks (drinking blood)... last time I checked, bedbugs don't carry lymes disease....yet
fwiw
bedbugs are insects, have 6 legs
ticks are arachnids, have 8 legs
https://ipmsouth.com/2012/04/16/the-difference-between-bed-bugs-and-ticks/
Old Hillwalker
05-30-2017, 21:20
I have been the victim of bedbug attacks several times while staying in public lodgings in Spain and Scotland over the years. I now carry a silk sleeping bag liner that I treat with Permethrin before every trip. They are still crawling out from crevices in the night, but as long as vulnerable parts of your body are in the treated sack, they seem to leave you alone. Late, after a busy summer on the Camino de Santiago they are almost in epidemic quantities in a lot of the heavily used Auberges. Some lodging staff work very hard to keep them out. Many places have rules for no packs on beds, even no packs in sleeping rooms. No disease transmission yet, just lots of red itchy bumps. There are reports of some pilgrims on the Camino having to be hospitalized due to thousands of bites.
gracebowen
05-30-2017, 23:19
Ive had them. They are not fun. Nor could I afford an exterminator. Thankfully I live in a mobile home. Heat at 118 will kill them in in 20 min. 90 to kill the eggs too. On a 110 degree day we loaded up the pets and people turned the ac off and left for the day. Came home cooled house and went in. It worked. No more bed bugs.
Bed bugs don't discriminate - the only time I've had them was in a fancy NYC hotel.
StubbleJumper
05-31-2017, 10:33
I have been the victim of bedbug attacks several times while staying in public lodgings in Spain and Scotland over the years. I now carry a silk sleeping bag liner that I treat with Permethrin before every trip. They are still crawling out from crevices in the night, but as long as vulnerable parts of your body are in the treated sack, they seem to leave you alone. Late, after a busy summer on the Camino de Santiago they are almost in epidemic quantities in a lot of the heavily used Auberges. Some lodging staff work very hard to keep them out. Many places have rules for no packs on beds, even no packs in sleeping rooms. No disease transmission yet, just lots of red itchy bumps. There are reports of some pilgrims on the Camino having to be hospitalized due to thousands of bites.
Same problem on the High Pyrenees Route. Rather than sleeping in a tent, most people in France and Spain pay ~$20 to spend the night in mountain huts (often these huts can house as many as 100 hikers per night). With so much traffic in and out of the huts, it's inevitable that bed bugs are introduced. The better managed places prohibit packs in sleeping areas and use plastic/rubber mattress covers. But once a place gets bed bugs, it seems like a devil to get rid of them.
For me, it's just one more reason to spend the night in my tent rather than in a dormitory. No snoring, no farting, and no bed bugs!
oh WoW! this is a new twist LOL there actually was a couple hostels where it crossed my mind..
Lovely little buggers, eh?
As far as the A.T. goes, now whenever I go to a hotel or hostel I check under the mattress and around the tag, as well as around the curtains for signs of bedbugs. I also try to keep any personal items hung on hooks or luggage racks away from the bed.
What's to stop bed bugs from nesting in shelters?
absolutely NOTHING! actually in a shelter bed bugs would be the least of my concerns LOL everything else is living in the shelters LOL. Once i slept in a shelter alone and when i woke the socks i took off to air out over night were gone when i woke LOL guess mice made a nest with then...
Sarcasm the elf
05-31-2017, 14:09
What's to stop bed bugs from nesting in shelters?
I'm not an expert, however my understanding is that 1) Bedbugs feed nearly exclusively on Humans and 2) Bedbugs do not survive long term in single digit (f) temperatures. These two factors would make it unlikely for them to survive long over the winter. I do suppose that it would be possible to have a seasonal infestation in the warmer months.
Starchild
05-31-2017, 15:33
I'm not an expert, however my understanding is that 1) Bedbugs feed nearly exclusively on Humans and 2) Bedbugs do not survive long term in single digit (f) temperatures. These two factors would make it unlikely for them to survive long over the winter. I do suppose that it would be possible to have a seasonal infestation in the warmer months.
Add to that spiders are effective predators of bed bugs and wilderness shelters are a pretty ideal habitat for spiders, being able to 'patrol' the spots where bedbugs hide and rest between feedings.