Why Are Bed Bugs So Hard To Kill? Scientists Uncover Genetic Survival Secrets

A huge gigantic story outlining herculean efforts to irradicate bed bugs. And we still have bedbugs.

Can they been seen? I’ve heard they’re as large as an apple seed, so I would assume yes?

I’ve heard they’re as large as an apple seed

Correct but they didn't hatch that size. By the time they are the size of an apple seed, they have been breeding and the dark appleseed color means they are full of someone's blood.

We never tried the diatomacheous earth. Montag813 reports good results using diatomaceous earth for their infestations. I considered it for our infestation but due to the widespread nature of our infestation, I opted for "do it yourself heat treatment".

To me, the juvenile bugs are the greater problem than the mature, easier to detect appleseed sized ones. The juvenile bugs are tiny like a grain of sand and can be difficult to detect. They may get on you while you are sitting on the couch. Then, when you get up from the couch, go into the bedroom, sit on the bed to take your shoes off they may hop off onto the bed. In this scenario, any traps the bed posts are sitting in will have been of no effect as the bed became (re)infested via human carrier.

For local treatment of items like mattresses and box springs, 70 percent rubbing alcohol kills them on contact. Use the $5 "pro grade" spray bottle from Home Depot. The $3 standard grade spray bottles don't last long with the alcohol. Be careful about not getting the alcohol on varnish... we made that mistake.

But heat really gets them. They can survive the washing machine but the 130+ degree temps in the dryer kill them. Summertime temps inside a parked car sitting in the sun can also kill them.

For our house infestation, I got a few portable electric heaters at a local thrift store along with some box fans, ordered about 6 inexpensive wireless thermometers on Amazon. Turned the household HVAC off. Unplugged electronic devices in the room being heated. Put the thermometers between mattresses and box springs, inside drawers, inside jacket pockets, on the floor, etc. Turned the heaters and fans on and waited for all thermometers to hit 130F or higher then waited a couple of hours. From time-to-time I went into the room to visually make sure everything was ok, reposition fans and/or thermometers. Repeated the process room, by room. For the larger common areas, I added a kerosene and propane torpedo heater to help get the space up to 130F and higher.

Heat treatment sounds scary at first but 130F-160F temps are far from flammable.

It's also important that everyone in the house understand what bedbugs are, how they spread and follow anti-bedbug protocol.

I believe that they came for south America this time around.

Once a year I buy a big bag of DE a put it all around the fenced in yard where we keep the beagles.
DE kill ticks too.

I got a few bites on me after staying in a pretty expensive hotel.
My wife who was in the same bed didn’t get any.

I NEVER unpack my luggage at any hotel ever anymore.
I always put the bag on a luggage rack off the floor.

When we got home I left the bags in the garage.
Took all the clothes and immediately into the washer then dryer on high heat.
Then the carry on bags went in the dryer too.
Plus a back pack I had brought went in the dryer.

I also called the hotel and spoke to the manager.

Wow, thank you.

The rest of four related keywords, sorted:

Lice DNA records the moment Europeans colonized the Americas [11/18/2023]
Head Lice on South American Mummies Shed Light on Ancient Virus Spread [12/30/2021]
Head Lice on South American Mummies Shed Light on Ancient Virus Spread [12/30/2021]
Who invented clothes? A Palaeolithic archaeologist answers [05/25/2013]
How a Leafy Folk Remedy Stopped Bedbugs in Their Tracks [04/12/2013]
Bed bugs evolved unique adaptive strategy to resist pyrethroid insecticides [03/14/2013]
Head and body lice appear to be the same species, genetic study finds (Cooties is Cooties) [04/09/2012]
Earliest Human Beds Found in South Africa [12/09/2011]
Lice DNA Study Shows Humans First Wore Clothes 170,000 Years Ago [01/09/2011]
UF study of lice DNA shows humans first wore clothes 170,000 years ago [01/06/2011]
Lice hang ancient date on first clothes: Genetic analysis puts origin at 190,000 years ago [04/23/2010]
Freedom from lice may have led to modern allergies [04/22/2009]
Heirloom Diseases [08/27/2010]
Human Evolution: Tale of the Y [08/10/2008]
Lice From Mummies Provide Clues To Ancient Migrations [02/06/2008]
In Lice, Clues to Human Origin and Attire [03/07/2007]
Pubic Lice Leapt From Gorillas To Early Humans [03/07/2007]
Gorillas Gave Humans 'The Crabs' [03/07/2007]
Napoleon's lousy defeat revealed [01/03/2006]
New Study Identifies Louse-Borne Diseases That Ravaged Napoleon's Army [12/15/2005]
Extinct humans left louse legacy(Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens) [10/16/2004]
Lice offer clues to origin of clothing [08/20/2003]
Why Humans and Their Fur Parted Ways [08/19/2003]
Smithsonian Preserves the World's Ticks [03/24/2003]

Bedbugs are like the world’s tiniest squatters. You can’t live with them and you can’t kill them.

The other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, alpha:

An Alternative Timeline for the Colossus of Rhodes [12/26/2024]
Called 'Most Significant Item from Time of Christ,' Bone Box of Jesus's Brother Makes Its Way to US [12/25/2024]
Christopher Nolan to Adapt Homer's Odyssey in Next Film [12/27/2024]
Exceptionally Well-Preserved Anglo-Saxon Sword Found in UK [12/27/2024]
1,500-Year-Old Shipwreck Discovered Off Ancient Greek City in Turkey [12/25/2024]
500 Years Later: Kochi's Silence On Vasco Da Gama's Death Anniversary [12/24/2024]
MrBeast to Rent Ancient Egyptian Pyramids to Explore Parts 'That No One's Seen Publicly' [12/24/2024]
The mysterious Ksar of Draa in Timimoun [12/25/2024]
President Harry S. Truman was forced to vacate the White House for years. [12/27/2024]
Rare oil lamp with Temple menorah found from time when Romans barred Jews from Jerusalem [12/27/2024]
The sperm whale 'phonetic alphabet' revealed by AI [12/26/2024]
2000 Year-old Scrolls Read With Scanner 10 Billion Times Brighter Than The Sun [10:41] [12/23/2024]
Was St. Nicholas a Real Person? [12/24/2024]
Washington's Address to Congress Resigning his Commission (241 years ago today) [12/23/2024]
Israelites Came To Ancient Japan [03/27/2003]
(an old topic that just got the refreshed GGG links msg)

Bring back DDT. It worked wonders on bed bugs!

Bedbugs are like the world’s tiniest squatters. You can’t live with them and you can’t kill them.

You can kill them. See my post #23 above.

True; even if the owners spray a lot. When I stayed at a long-term motel I learned to bag the mattresses and keep a cup of water on the night table to drown the super ones who overcame that. Despite all that pesticide resistance the bastards drown in less than a minute.

I believe the bed bugs, like previously eradicated diseases, have been spread by illegal aliens.

I’m okay with being half right.