Bed Bugs. How scared of them are you?

Both diatomaceous earth and cimexa are safe around pets, although I'd keep them away for an hour or so just to let the dust settle.

Diatomaceous earth works too slowly to eradicate them. It takes about 10 days to dry them out but until they're fully grown they moult every 3-5 days so they keep getting a fresh start. Once they are adults DE will kill them in 10 days but that's plenty long enough for them to mate and lay eggs. It's useful as one part of a strategy as it will limit the population a bit.

CimeXa works in a similar way - it dries them out - but it only takes 1-3 days so they don't survive to adulthood and the breeding cycle is broken.

https://www.pctonline.com/article/pct0814-silica-gel-research-bed-bugs/

They've got it on Amazon at the moment:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ROCKWELL-CXID032-CimeXa-Insecticide-Rockwell/dp/B0085HRWI8

I recommend watching some YT videos to see how to apply it.

Popping back to echo another poster re Diatomaceous earth... it's an excellent preventitive/treatment. Buy a big tub from Amazon and sprinkle it into the cracks of floorboards, under the mattress etc. It's natural and not toxic (you can actually eat it tho God knows why ) although they say not to breathe it in when you scatter it.
It works because it literally dries out the bugs if they touch it and they die.
After our experience with bedbugs , and once the house was treated we put a good dusting in all the places they could ever hide, just in case we ever picked them up again travelling!

I am utterly paranoid about them and have developed OCD after having encountered them in both America and Italy. Fortunately we didn’t bring them home with us but I have had to put lots of measures in place to reduce the risk of them coming into our home.

We have a chest freezer in the garage that is just for freezing things before they come into the house. All luggage and clothing or soft furnishings go in there for a week. Any clothes we buy get frozen before they come in the house. Second hand books (which DH insists on buying) are also frozen for a week. DH travels a lot for work. On the day he’s returning I put a change of clothes by the back door and when he gets back he strips in the garage, puts everything in the freezer and puts on the clean clothes before coming in the house.

Unfortunately my paranoia means that I can’t cope with anyone staying here anymore so no more sleepovers for the DC and I’m uncomfortable just having visitors popping in. I’m currently very anxious as DH gave friends and their luggage a lift back from the airport the other week. He refused to put their luggage in bin bags before they went in the boot so I’m worried we’ll have them in the car and then we’ll bring them into the house. I’ve also struggled with having a DC at uni as worried that they’ll bring bed bugs back and when they’re only home for a couple of days I can’t freeze their stuff!

I worry constantly about picking up bedbugs in pubs, restaurants, hairdressers etc and don’t enjoy going out anymore. And yes I know that this is not a normal level of worrying and I’m currently waiting for a counselling appointment!

We have a huge garage freezer, our luggage goes in there when we get back from holidays.
I work in community health and I've been in lots of houses with bed bugs and also fleas.

DS stayed in a hotel last year in London and found bed bugs - he came home and sealed his ruck sack and clothes in bin bags and put them in garage freezer for a week so that we didn’t get infested - thankfully it worked 😊

In terms of other people’s descriptions, no, they weren’t!

I was bitten by some in an expensive UK AirBnB. Stayed there for two nights, and got 27 bites. They were extremely uncomfortable, the worst bites I've ever had, and I had to throw away my suitcase and clothes. I've been paranoid about them when staying at hotels since.

I have them & have tried to get rid of them. Next I will chuck out my bed and mattress and carpet and burn the place down!!!!

Ok I won't burn the place down but I will chuck out my bedroom furniture (they need replacing anyway).

My son got bitten by them, then developed impetigo he was a mess, took ages to clear and he has some scars, so I have first hand experience and they are a nightmare.

Can I add this was not from our home, but we had to pay to get our own place treated.

We had them, either picked up on holiday or on public transport. Took a while to get rid of them but not worried about having them again.

There are things I avoid and precautions I take strictly in order not to risk bedbugs. My very clean and house-proud friend picked them up either at church or in a gym locker and found it nearly broke her to get rid of them.

Another friend's brother came back from travelling in Asia, and as he'd reported suspected bedbug bites on an overnight stop-off in a swish hotel in Dubai on the way home, she made him strip butt naked on her drive when he returned home from the airport to stay at hers, and -no word of a lie- had him burn his handluggage and clothes in the front garden before letting him enter her house. I don't think that was excessive, having seen how our other friend struggled to get shot of her infestation.

My husband brought some home from a trip many years ago. It happened before he lived with me but he's still paranoid. Diatomaceous earth is your friend. It kills them and their nest mates. Have a look on YouTube for more scientific and comforting explanations of this. I dust some over the laundry and even our own mattress whenever we come back from a trip.

I had a boyfriend with bed bugs. It split us up in the end. His housemate brought them back from travelling, infected his whole flat. They hitched a lift in BF’s overnight bag and infected my whole flat too. We spent £100s fighting them but just couldn’t get rid of them. They bite you on the neck at 5am. Nasty little fuckers.

This was London about 15 years ago.

The relationship ended and never been bothered by them since. Stayed in multiple hotels etc all fine.

I think you have to be pretty unlucky to encounter them but if you do watch out.

I've travelled all over including Africa, India and South East Asia and I only met bed bugs once-- in a hotel in Manchester! I was bitten before they moved my room, I never thought that I mightve taken them home. Luckily I didnt.

All the time. I travel in the UK with work.

Do things like use hard luggage, don't put it on bed etc. But realise now I'm quick to unpack and unworn clothes go straight into the wardrobe. I might start a quarentine!

Never ever thought of them, I am however sat here itching haha

Ha, I take the Tube daily and sit down.

I wasn’t worried until I read this. Dd returns home today after hostelling round Europe. I think I might fumigate her now. 😂

We don't sit on the Underground in London because apparently that's quite a common source of infection.

Never think of them..Ever. And I travel in hot countries.
Why make ife hard?

You know you can't get rid of bedbugs by being relatively clean and washing your sheets?

Enough that although for ecological reasons I try to buy all my furniture second hand, this does not and will never extend to any soft furnishings.

I have had them twice, both times on holiday (in nice, clean places). I have a massive allergic reaction to them, So although others only had a few red spots, I was covered from head to foot in bright red, beyond itchy patches, which took weeks to go away.

I am quite paranoid about them now.