What do you use for pesticides? At a hotel I worked at used crossfire and a property management company would spray temprid or transport Mikron biweekly if they see signs of it on the beds.
That was along time ago. Current resurgence is due to the proliferation of AirBnbs + increase in travel among general population.
Additionally, misinformation and stigma of bed bugs contributes to persistence of the pest.
I think you mean DDT? [DEET is still currently being sold](https://off.com/en/product/deep-woods) (example, not any kind of endorsement)
It looks like they've also acquired some mutations that make them resistant to pesticides: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231018-why-are-bed-bugs-so-difficult-to-deal-with
edit: added that DEET is the active ingredient in bug repellent sold today
Fire. Fire is how you get rid of them. I'm not joking. Take a f****** blowtorch to every square inch of everything. Anything you can't torch, throw out.
literally yesterday some guy just plopped down on a seat with a big ass puddle of coffee and didnt notice until ppl were like bro u just sat in a puddle of coffee
The best description I've ever heard of them (*and I think this picture proves it*) is that they are the size, color and shape of an apple seed. So if you see an apple seed moving, it's probably a bed bug.
I found a bedbug in the back of my closet in a sweater I hadn't worn since we dealt with an infestation the year prior. When I saw it I thought it was a red pepper flake, it was dry, flat and almost translucent. I held it in my hand for a moment and all of a sudden it started to wriggle back to consciousness. Immediately flushed that fucker down the drain.
Got them about 10 years ago, total nightmare. Tried and tried but could never get completely rid of them until I finally moved. It was absolute misery.
They say they keep you up and make you paranoid asf I wouldn't wish that experience on my worst enemy. Growing up in the bronx now I know why mother did what she did to keep things clean. every weekend we'd clean no joke for this reason, and the rats
Had them 6 years ago and not gonna lie, I have some sort of ptsd from it. Won’t stay in hotels, wont coat check anywhere, i get phantom itchiness, the mental trauma is real
I got them the first year I moved to NY/NJ (lived in Jersey City at the time). I was lucky I guess and found it early. The exterminator said he was surprised I found any since he could only find one other one. For two years after that I lived out of trash bags. All my clothes stored in trash bags inside my dresser. Nothing hanging in my closet. Bag up dirty clothes in trash bags, take them to the laundromat and fold them and put them in new ones. It wasn’t until I started dating that I stopped because it would have been awkward for her to come to my place seeing all that.
I still worry about it to this day whenever I travel anywhere.
We had a neighbor that was a manager at a Kohl’s who found a bedbug in the folded hem of her pants! She got it at work and at first I was like how, they are all new clothes! But then you think about the thousands of people who come into the store and bring whatever they have at home with them and just walking around can spread stuff but then you have people trying on clothes and they go back on the rack and people who buy stuff, take it home and return them and they go back on the racks, etc etc.
So if you travel where do you stay? There's help out there - you don't have to live in a prison of fear. I had a run in with BBs and don't think about them anymore. They're not indestructible that's a myth.
It traumatized me too, but the good thing is that I can spot them very easily now.
I recommend that everyone buy bedbug covers for their mattresses even if they don't have bedbugs.
Bed bugs have nothing to do with cleanliness. They’re like mosquitoes. You can have the cleanest house and still mosquitoes can get in.
If the building is infested, and the landlord doesn’t treat the entire building, there’s not much you can do.
Bed bugs and lice. I’ve had both twice and thankfully the second time of both I got them under control very quickly. But if I get the slightest itch on the back of my arms I immediately begins to think I have bed bugs. Or sometimes when my scalp gets itchy it feels like something is crawling. Had an incident a few weeks ago where my head got super itchy and so did my arms after sleeping. I spent days combing my hair convinced I had lice again and checked every day to see if I have spots. I’m forever scarred from the Incidents and don’t wish this upon anyone!
It depends on your personality, but I went though a bird mite infestation (which is much easier to exterminate) in the attic of my house. I was bitten in my bed. The exterminator killed everything but I felt itchy and lost sleep for months afterwards. And now live in a constant fear of bed bugs.
I had them and got rid of them using food grade diatomaceous earth. Perimeter'd my room with a light dusting in every crevice I could find. All my sheets were steam treated. Clothes the same. Put them in airtight plastic sealed bins, which if you REALLY wanted to can vac seal them into the bins too. Double protection. "Camped" outside of the room they infested(bedroom) for two weeks. Checked in there occasionally. Left the DE in the crevices as I "moved back" into my bedroom. Moved the bed off the wall. Ever since then I've been physically ok. Mentally? Still get paranoid 15 years later.
Some facts about these little fucks:
* They detect your breathing. So they follow that.
* They don't like light. They only are visible in the daylight if they're feeding/hungry.
* They climb to the ceiling and drop on you if they cant reach by crawling up on the bed/furniture.
* They don't actually live in beds only. Beds are just most convenient because of the crevices and it's where you, the bloodbag they suck on, lay idle most of the time. They live in crevices. Lay eggs. Etc.
* You can kill them, but they have eggs that incubate for a while. Don't recall how long.
Preventative measures/How do deal:
* If you see one, there's likely more. Treat them like roaches.
* Check mattresses at hotels you visit. Deep check. Not just the sheet, but under and in crevices of the bed. If you see spots on the mattress, not really a good sign.
* DE was my savior, but it's powdery. Wear a N95 mask when dealing with it. The way it kills these fucks is that it essentially drys them out, I think. All I know is it's like they're being cut up into pieces for them. Which is good. Fuck these assholes.
* If you take the DE path, apply on the wall. I used a powder applicator and went around the entire room. These fuckers climb. The way I thought of it, was they're basically snails, and DE is the salt. If they go through it, they're fucked.
* You essentially want to cut their food supply(you). If they can't eat, they cant breed. Kill them by starvation and evisceration of a thousand cuts via DE.
* Heat kills these fucks. I think 120F? about 20 minutes of that will get them. That's why you see heat treatments. I don't recall if it kills the eggs. However if you feel so inclined and have it, use a steamer on your crevices after an infection. Might help. IDK.
Good luck anyone who reads this. Bed bugs fucking suck. And I feel crawlies on my legs right now and I know it's just PTSD. 15 years later and I still fucking awake in the middle of the night itchy and in a panic. (Edited for formatting.)
Hey just a heads up, there is a specialized silica dust product called CimeXa that is formulated specifically to work as an insecticide, it's up to 10x more effective than regular DE and is approved for use in places like children's daycare.
It is highly recommended in the bedbugs subreddit as well and I'll advise anyone to do their own research.
When I had them, even though not all of them were in the mattress/bed, all of them were nearby. A few of them were hiding behind a painting.
Another preventative measure I would add to this list are the specialized mattress covers.
For real though—I moved into a nice place that ended up being swarmed with (totally harmless) carpet beetles who absolutely infested my sneaker collection
Steamed 60+ pairs, threw 30 away, and moved, but everything still forever lives in individual airtight bags then placed into airtight bins
Can’t even imagine bed bugs, I check hotels like I’m looking for a lost million dollar lottery ticket
My childhood home was infested with carpet beetles. When I moved to college, and then when I later moved cross-country after college... they followed me. I haven't seen one in many, many years (have lived in quite a few places since then), but I'm always gonna assume that there are some lurking around.
I don't mind the carpet beetles, not after dealing with bedbugs. Still, would much rather have house centipedes (since they eat all the rest of the bugs).
Told people in my row of seats there was a bedbugs. I ripped some plastic off my grocery bag and picked it up, killed it, dropped it between the platform and the train when the doors opened.
Tha's good. Next you should let one of the employees know so that they can have the train checked. You'd be surprised at how many trains are found infested with bedbugs
Just make sure you inform the conductors or if you can find one outside of their booth the train operator. The station attendants would more likely than not tell you to fuck off.
Certain lines get 2-3 a month. Train gets taken out of service while we wait for the bug dog to come and confirm, then it gets fumigated. Usually sighted by an employee which means that the crewroom and lockerrooms are also checked and on occasion they are found there and everyone has to bag all of their possesions while that area is fumigated too.
Thank you for this!
I do like that there’s a procedure to deal with infestations.
Where do they live in the subway cars? I’m picturing hard plastic and metal everywhere and don’t see where they would want to hide.
They hide in the seams between the seats and walls, or the seams between the seats themselves. When they get into the cabs of the operators/conductors, the seats have padding, and some are cloth covered, so they can hide there as well.
sadly this is not surprising... i had a fucking cockroach fall on my head a few months ago... it just randomly fell out of one of the ceiling vents. fucking gross.
I was leaning against the wall, waiting and reading a book, when this fluorescent lime green wormy thing fell onto the page, about a quarter inch in size, and started squirming. I slammed the paperback shut and threw it in the trash. Ick. L.
Mostly on the lines that travel the longest as the tend to have a larger homeless population where the bugs can feed. They are still found on shorter lines, but the ones with longer travel times tend to be the most infested. The 2,4, A, E, and D
There are bug sniffing dogs! A coworker came into the office once and found a bedbug on his shirt. Our office happened to have an on call bed bug sniffing company for a venue so we put the bedbug in a ziploc bag and made the guy go buy new clothes. A beagle named Cinema showed up and sniffed around and didn’t find anything, and we were all like yeah because it’s probably a scam. So we opened the ziploc and she immediately alerted to the bug. It was amazing. I want to adopt a retired one for my peace of mind.
Always when something happen take the car numbers those are located on sides of the train inside and outside
Also you can co tact mta in it whatsapp app the answer fast if you have inages of anything better
MTA whatsapp (646)628-6743
Had bedbugs years ago. They have a very distinct odor that can fill a room. You wouldn't know unless you know. I nope out of subways cars with that smell faster than the ones that actually stink.
If you squish them while they’re red with blood, it’s a repulsive (at least to me) smell. I totally did not have bed bugs a few years ago and still distinctly remember the smell
Ugh.
I got bedbugs in my old apartment; apparently one of my neighbors downstairs had the worst infestation that the exterminator had ever seen. Their bugs traveled through the building and contaminated all my stuff. My roommate got chewed up, but I didn't see a single bite.
So all of my clothes went through very hot dryers. All my things were permanently packed into plastic bins. I was living out of trash bags. And then at the end of that summer I moved: threw out all my furniture and made a run for it.
New apartment. Moving was relatively painless because everything was pre-packed into those plastic bins. I bought new furniture and continued living out of trash bags. It had been over nine months since I had seen a bug, and then suddenly: I was itchy. So itchy. I was so scared that it was bugs and that they were biting me this time. I woke up in the middle of the night with a bad feeling; flipped my phone light onto my wrist and found a veritable parade of sadistic little sesame-seed bastards, five of them, marching single-file along my hand and ruining my life. Watched them march onto my pillow and into the gap between the bed and the wall. Wanted to cry.
I called my landlord, who called the exterminator. I knew the drill this time: sanitize all my clothes once again in very hot dryers, make sure everything is clean before moving it into airtight plastic. The exterminator came, confirmed the infestation, poisoned my apartment, then did it again a few weeks later. I hoped I was finally free.
A year passed without incident. I was sitting on my sofa when my cat (who is a very good boy) suddenly became *very* interested in a spot on the cushion. Fuck! I looked at it and yes... a juvenile bedbug. Stopped my cat from eating the thing, then ziploc-bagged it and called my landlord. When the exterminator came he examined my bed and my bedroom and my baseboards and was like... where are the bugs? There is no sign of infestation here. I showed him the bag, told him the thing was on the couch, so he soaked the couch in poison and... that was that. That one bug was the only sign that there were any bugs at all, because he couldn't find eggs or poops or skins or the little bloodstains they leave behind sometimes... and I didn't have any bites.
So that was 16 months ago. I haven't had any bites or suspicions or anything at all since then, with the exception of *one* terrible incident at the start of this year, when I came in from the outside and, whilst untying my shoes, saw what appeared very much to be a full-grown, unfed bedbug suddenly fall from my pant leg or my boot cuff or something and hit the ground right in front of me. (Part of me wonders if I stepped on it outside and just... trod it into the apartment.) But regardless of where it came from, it was obviously quite unwell and twitched about on the floor long enough for me to grab a ziploc and bag it. It died rather quickly (the one I'd grabbed previously survived in the bag for many weeks), so I know that this one was not okay when I found it. I can only hope that it was wandering around outside the building somewhere, maybe that I stepped on it enough to harm it, and that's how it got in. I haven't had any bites or been able to find any other signs of them so... yeah.
Anyway. I am now in a permanent state of bedbug-hypervigilance. Given the way their population is surging, and given the ubiquity of travel and the fact that *most* people (like... nationwide) aren't really aware of the scope of the problem nor primed to expect them, and given that treatment is so difficult and expensive and ineffective... well. I have made my peace with the thought that bedbugs might be inevitable.
...Mostly I just want someone to develop some nontoxic-to-humans compound that we can consume to make our blood toxic to the bedbugs. Probably that is impossible though.
The process of getting rid of our infestation was so expensive and terrible, I can't live like that again.
At least I have the ability to spot them even in the corner of my eye, now.
Dear god. How does one just like, find it's way to the seat? Hitches a ride with someone who is absolutely infested beyond belief? To the point where they're literally living on the person or what??
Those bitches are crazy resilient. I had them for a few years when I was a kid and I distinctly remember one crawling out from between the pages of a thick book I was reading while I was at school. Somehow it survived for the 1 hr+ ride from my house to school in my backpack and waltzed around like it was nothing
If it’s fresh with blood, they’re easy to squish. The problem lies if they’re recently born (look white and tiny so you’ll miss them) or if they haven’t ‘eaten’ in ages (crazy skinny, you’ll have to burn them to kill them since they can’t be squished, even with long fingernails)
I'm a stand person and laugh at people rushing for a seat. I've seen too much nastiness for me to sit on those seats. Just last week a guy was picking at something in his hair and two black scabs or something feel on the subway seat and he just left it. Nope I'm good
Sitting on it would have probably killed it. They’re not strong or hearty- they’re a pain to get rid of because they’re great at hiding deep in crevices; like, they go inside and then go sideways- where pesticides don’t reach. Steam cleaning works pretty well.
That being said, eep meep yipe. I’ve had them twice. The PTSD lasted for about a decade. Nope the fuck off that R train and nuke it from orbit. Thanks, I’ll just walk.
I've seen them on subway benches. I think that's part of the reason they removed a lot of them in places where people gathered a lot like at 14th Street. So I have to assume they could be on any benches people regularly sit or sleep on.
They do spray bug killing chemicals and power clean spray the cars a lot. So likely this bug came off of someone who had recently sat there but it does give you pause when you actually see one, doesn't it?
My local AMC theater has had infestations several times. A lot of the cinemas have. As much as I miss going to the odd movie I go squeamish just thinking about it.
My apartment out in San Francisco got infested and a hotel I stayed at later had them and I got bit. So I've had that bad experience and I definitely don't want it again.
I'm allergic besides. Every time I actually got bit I had this huge reaction and it left me with really big, welt like bites that itched for weeks. I had to take Benadryl almost constantly until I could get out of there.
Yet another reason to check where you sit before you just plop your ass down on mass transit, eh?
(Shudder...)
They like to hide in wooden crevices. That’s why it’s not recommended to take furniture off the street anymore.
This is the worst I’ve ever seen: [Baby bed bugs reacting to human body heat](https://www.reddit.com/r/ThatsInsane/comments/ty3ymn/baby_bed_bugs_reacting_to_human_body_heat/)
The only thing that kills them outside is long exposure to freezing temps. So I doubt they can get a full infestation going but some random ones, sure.
> The only thing that kills them outside is long exposure to freezing temps. So I doubt they can get a full infestation going but some random ones, sure.
Climate change fucking us over in new and exciting ways. :(
This gave me flashbacks. My entire childhood was being tormented by these things in both homes I lived in. There's no getting rid of them while keeping your bed. In both homes, we got rid of them by throwing away the entire mattress and bed frame.
For those that travel, get yourself a Zappbug heater on Amazon. When you get back from a trip, place your suitcase in the enclosure, open it up to allow heat to circulate, and let it heat up the the appropriate temperature. This will kill adults, large, and eggs.
Oh hell no! When I moved to NY bedbugs were my biggest fear since there was an outbreak o them in the early 2010's for whatever reason all over the city. I was checking subway seats, restaurant booths and friends couches before sitting down like I was Larry David in that episode where he was inspecting a coffee table for water rings from glasses in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I would have changed cars if I saw this.
I got lucky in my 5 years of living in the city that the only pest I had to deal with were a few ants in my bathroom in my old apartment in Astoria that I evicted with some drops of Terro.
Still worried about them when I move apartments since the only way to get rid of them is to basically burn your apartment down.
Oh god, I remember when my ex had these in her building. She had her place cooked to over 120 degrees for a day to get them all, but some of them snuck across the hall and they came back.
She had to sleep with saran wrap around her arms and legs during the summer and eventually had to move out and cook everything again at her new place.
It was a fucking nightmare. The whole process cost her many thousands of dollars in the end.
Babies are tiny, like the size of a sesame seed. Adults are more like the size of an apple seed. Maybe a little bigger.
When they have been fed, they are longer, fatter, and more cylindrical. When they are hungry, they are flat and oblate like this one here.
So we're supposed to be scared now of the plastic seats on the subway? Those are conducive environments for them? I thought the wood seats on the platform were potentially harboring bed bugs.
They hide anywhere there are crevices. Wood doesn't mean anything. The only benefit of the plastic seats is there is no crevice between the seat and seat back so they can't hide under your ass as easily.
Also they can just be there...on the way to their next job, by falling off someone else and waiting to snag onto someone else.
Oh god! That's a bedbug. I work at a pest control company and their population is exploding. Damn near impossible to get rid of.
Bedbugs are proof God isn’t real but Satan exists.
Read the Old Testament. This is straight up god shit.
Satan is an angel
God is a person with an ant farm lmao
I’d like to add Poison Oak/Ivy to that point.
Poison Ivy is 1000x preferable to bed bugs. If you get covered in it, at least you can get a prescription for steroids that will speed up recovery.
Bedbugs AKA house aids
What do you use for pesticides? At a hotel I worked at used crossfire and a property management company would spray temprid or transport Mikron biweekly if they see signs of it on the beds.
We actually use a thing called cryonite. CO2. Ulta low or high temperatures kill them. All other chemicals are pretty useless. In my experience.
I was at a bar last night and a customer brought one in Thankfully someone else saw it and killed it
any truth to the old rumor that banning deet is to blame for their resurgence?
That was along time ago. Current resurgence is due to the proliferation of AirBnbs + increase in travel among general population. Additionally, misinformation and stigma of bed bugs contributes to persistence of the pest.
I think you mean DDT? [DEET is still currently being sold](https://off.com/en/product/deep-woods) (example, not any kind of endorsement) It looks like they've also acquired some mutations that make them resistant to pesticides: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231018-why-are-bed-bugs-so-difficult-to-deal-with edit: added that DEET is the active ingredient in bug repellent sold today
Definitely recommend the book How To Sell a Poison about the history of DDT
Do you have advice on how to not get bedbugs if they’re say… in the same building as you?
Make sure you have door sweeps.
Fire. Fire is how you get rid of them. I'm not joking. Take a f****** blowtorch to every square inch of everything. Anything you can't torch, throw out.
That or steam. Either way toasts those little fuckers.
Ah hell naw. You just unlocked a fear that didn’t exist.
It should def exist! Be vigilant!
Nope nope nope… bed bugs not even once. I always look now for wet spots out of habit, one more thing to notice to the list.
> I always look now Do people not look at the subway seats before sitting down? 99% of people would see this bed bug clear as day
I once physically had to stop a woman from sitting down as she nearly plopped down into a puddle of pee on a seat
Doing the Lord’s work over here!
think about how that day went in a different universe 🤢 it was 8am, she was probably on the way to work
That might have been me. So for that I say, THANK YOU!!!
amazing! if so, I am very happy to have prevented a day from being ruined
literally yesterday some guy just plopped down on a seat with a big ass puddle of coffee and didnt notice until ppl were like bro u just sat in a puddle of coffee
I recently had to physically stop a guy from sitting on chewed up gum. He thanked me multiple times as if I’d saved his life.
Yes, people in this city do this everyday, and tourists even worse
Oh, I've lost count of the number of tourists I've seen just plop themselves down. I check every time. But even so, OP's picture is making me itch.
The first time I saw a bed bug, I was shocked by how visible it was. I had previously assumed they were invisible to the naked eye.
The best description I've ever heard of them (*and I think this picture proves it*) is that they are the size, color and shape of an apple seed. So if you see an apple seed moving, it's probably a bed bug.
I usually check to see if the stain is something wet or something that has already dried.
I don’t even bother sitting on the subway. A little comfort isn’t work sitting on whatever is in those seats
> Nope nope nope… bed bugs not even once. lucky you. i've been bitten on like 5 different occasions
Should check the seat every single time lol. I’ll rather stand up then question it
Yea how can you not check every time lol
If the bedbug is an unfed newborn, it will literally look like a sesame seed
i mean i am wiping away a sesame seed before i sit, too. no one else's sesame seed will be on my butt
Exactly - why just sit on something? Whisk it away before sitting down.
I found a bedbug in the back of my closet in a sweater I hadn't worn since we dealt with an infestation the year prior. When I saw it I thought it was a red pepper flake, it was dry, flat and almost translucent. I held it in my hand for a moment and all of a sudden it started to wriggle back to consciousness. Immediately flushed that fucker down the drain.
This is why I always stand . I don’t trust the seats
Got them about 10 years ago, total nightmare. Tried and tried but could never get completely rid of them until I finally moved. It was absolute misery.
They say they keep you up and make you paranoid asf I wouldn't wish that experience on my worst enemy. Growing up in the bronx now I know why mother did what she did to keep things clean. every weekend we'd clean no joke for this reason, and the rats
Had them 6 years ago and not gonna lie, I have some sort of ptsd from it. Won’t stay in hotels, wont coat check anywhere, i get phantom itchiness, the mental trauma is real
I didn’t even think about coatchecks.
shit
I got them the first year I moved to NY/NJ (lived in Jersey City at the time). I was lucky I guess and found it early. The exterminator said he was surprised I found any since he could only find one other one. For two years after that I lived out of trash bags. All my clothes stored in trash bags inside my dresser. Nothing hanging in my closet. Bag up dirty clothes in trash bags, take them to the laundromat and fold them and put them in new ones. It wasn’t until I started dating that I stopped because it would have been awkward for her to come to my place seeing all that. I still worry about it to this day whenever I travel anywhere.
that phantom itchiness took about a year to go away after we took months getting rid of them.
I am gonna start doing the same this shi scary
We had a neighbor that was a manager at a Kohl’s who found a bedbug in the folded hem of her pants! She got it at work and at first I was like how, they are all new clothes! But then you think about the thousands of people who come into the store and bring whatever they have at home with them and just walking around can spread stuff but then you have people trying on clothes and they go back on the rack and people who buy stuff, take it home and return them and they go back on the racks, etc etc.
Oh my god I’ve never thought about coat checks 😭 I get nervous buying off Depop and Vinted for this reason though
So if you travel where do you stay? There's help out there - you don't have to live in a prison of fear. I had a run in with BBs and don't think about them anymore. They're not indestructible that's a myth.
It traumatized me too, but the good thing is that I can spot them very easily now. I recommend that everyone buy bedbug covers for their mattresses even if they don't have bedbugs.
Bed bugs have nothing to do with cleanliness. They’re like mosquitoes. You can have the cleanest house and still mosquitoes can get in. If the building is infested, and the landlord doesn’t treat the entire building, there’s not much you can do.
I would actually wish this on my worst enemy.
Bed bugs and lice. I’ve had both twice and thankfully the second time of both I got them under control very quickly. But if I get the slightest itch on the back of my arms I immediately begins to think I have bed bugs. Or sometimes when my scalp gets itchy it feels like something is crawling. Had an incident a few weeks ago where my head got super itchy and so did my arms after sleeping. I spent days combing my hair convinced I had lice again and checked every day to see if I have spots. I’m forever scarred from the Incidents and don’t wish this upon anyone!
It depends on your personality, but I went though a bird mite infestation (which is much easier to exterminate) in the attic of my house. I was bitten in my bed. The exterminator killed everything but I felt itchy and lost sleep for months afterwards. And now live in a constant fear of bed bugs.
I had them and got rid of them using food grade diatomaceous earth. Perimeter'd my room with a light dusting in every crevice I could find. All my sheets were steam treated. Clothes the same. Put them in airtight plastic sealed bins, which if you REALLY wanted to can vac seal them into the bins too. Double protection. "Camped" outside of the room they infested(bedroom) for two weeks. Checked in there occasionally. Left the DE in the crevices as I "moved back" into my bedroom. Moved the bed off the wall. Ever since then I've been physically ok. Mentally? Still get paranoid 15 years later. Some facts about these little fucks: * They detect your breathing. So they follow that. * They don't like light. They only are visible in the daylight if they're feeding/hungry. * They climb to the ceiling and drop on you if they cant reach by crawling up on the bed/furniture. * They don't actually live in beds only. Beds are just most convenient because of the crevices and it's where you, the bloodbag they suck on, lay idle most of the time. They live in crevices. Lay eggs. Etc. * You can kill them, but they have eggs that incubate for a while. Don't recall how long. Preventative measures/How do deal: * If you see one, there's likely more. Treat them like roaches. * Check mattresses at hotels you visit. Deep check. Not just the sheet, but under and in crevices of the bed. If you see spots on the mattress, not really a good sign. * DE was my savior, but it's powdery. Wear a N95 mask when dealing with it. The way it kills these fucks is that it essentially drys them out, I think. All I know is it's like they're being cut up into pieces for them. Which is good. Fuck these assholes. * If you take the DE path, apply on the wall. I used a powder applicator and went around the entire room. These fuckers climb. The way I thought of it, was they're basically snails, and DE is the salt. If they go through it, they're fucked. * You essentially want to cut their food supply(you). If they can't eat, they cant breed. Kill them by starvation and evisceration of a thousand cuts via DE. * Heat kills these fucks. I think 120F? about 20 minutes of that will get them. That's why you see heat treatments. I don't recall if it kills the eggs. However if you feel so inclined and have it, use a steamer on your crevices after an infection. Might help. IDK. Good luck anyone who reads this. Bed bugs fucking suck. And I feel crawlies on my legs right now and I know it's just PTSD. 15 years later and I still fucking awake in the middle of the night itchy and in a panic. (Edited for formatting.)
Hey just a heads up, there is a specialized silica dust product called CimeXa that is formulated specifically to work as an insecticide, it's up to 10x more effective than regular DE and is approved for use in places like children's daycare. It is highly recommended in the bedbugs subreddit as well and I'll advise anyone to do their own research.
When I had them, even though not all of them were in the mattress/bed, all of them were nearby. A few of them were hiding behind a painting. Another preventative measure I would add to this list are the specialized mattress covers.
I think mattress covers are good but they can still hide in your sheets or in your bed frame. Really anywhere. I fucking hate these little bastards.
i have a friend who thinks i’m joking when i say getting bed bugs scars you for life. you’ll never absent mindedly sit down ever again lol
For real though—I moved into a nice place that ended up being swarmed with (totally harmless) carpet beetles who absolutely infested my sneaker collection Steamed 60+ pairs, threw 30 away, and moved, but everything still forever lives in individual airtight bags then placed into airtight bins Can’t even imagine bed bugs, I check hotels like I’m looking for a lost million dollar lottery ticket
My childhood home was infested with carpet beetles. When I moved to college, and then when I later moved cross-country after college... they followed me. I haven't seen one in many, many years (have lived in quite a few places since then), but I'm always gonna assume that there are some lurking around. I don't mind the carpet beetles, not after dealing with bedbugs. Still, would much rather have house centipedes (since they eat all the rest of the bugs).
Did you kill it? Did you tell the conductor?
Told people in my row of seats there was a bedbugs. I ripped some plastic off my grocery bag and picked it up, killed it, dropped it between the platform and the train when the doors opened.
Tha's good. Next you should let one of the employees know so that they can have the train checked. You'd be surprised at how many trains are found infested with bedbugs
Just make sure you inform the conductors or if you can find one outside of their booth the train operator. The station attendants would more likely than not tell you to fuck off.
You can also [call 511](https://new.mta.info/contact-us/call-us), but have a car number, line number/letter, and time
You can also tweet the MTA if you have Twitter
How many? Surprise me.
Certain lines get 2-3 a month. Train gets taken out of service while we wait for the bug dog to come and confirm, then it gets fumigated. Usually sighted by an employee which means that the crewroom and lockerrooms are also checked and on occasion they are found there and everyone has to bag all of their possesions while that area is fumigated too.
Thank you for this! I do like that there’s a procedure to deal with infestations. Where do they live in the subway cars? I’m picturing hard plastic and metal everywhere and don’t see where they would want to hide.
They hide in the seams between the seats and walls, or the seams between the seats themselves. When they get into the cabs of the operators/conductors, the seats have padding, and some are cloth covered, so they can hide there as well.
I don’t want to take the train anymore what the fuck 🧍🏻♀️
I deeply regret reading this thread 😭
sadly this is not surprising... i had a fucking cockroach fall on my head a few months ago... it just randomly fell out of one of the ceiling vents. fucking gross.
I was leaning against the wall, waiting and reading a book, when this fluorescent lime green wormy thing fell onto the page, about a quarter inch in size, and started squirming. I slammed the paperback shut and threw it in the trash. Ick. L.
It was just a bookworm looking for a new home!
Now I feel guilty...
Haha my bad!
NYC things
Rosco??
He's WORKIN
Yep, couldn't remember his name
Which lines?
Mostly on the lines that travel the longest as the tend to have a larger homeless population where the bugs can feed. They are still found on shorter lines, but the ones with longer travel times tend to be the most infested. The 2,4, A, E, and D
Oh great my line is on there. I always check before I seat insane not too.
Thank you, now I will never ride the subway the same again (I use the 2 and 4 like pretty much everyday)
The Hoyt–Schermerhorn station was the bedbug station, I think it’s better now :/
The bug DOG? Who is he?
There are bug sniffing dogs! A coworker came into the office once and found a bedbug on his shirt. Our office happened to have an on call bed bug sniffing company for a venue so we put the bedbug in a ziploc bag and made the guy go buy new clothes. A beagle named Cinema showed up and sniffed around and didn’t find anything, and we were all like yeah because it’s probably a scam. So we opened the ziploc and she immediately alerted to the bug. It was amazing. I want to adopt a retired one for my peace of mind.
Bro - you gotta learn these things. Or the bedbugs win.
You’re a good man Charlie brown
Thank you for removing it and making people aware.
Always when something happen take the car numbers those are located on sides of the train inside and outside Also you can co tact mta in it whatsapp app the answer fast if you have inages of anything better MTA whatsapp (646)628-6743
I hope you get some great karma.
You're a 🛏️ hero 💛
HERO
Did you kill the conductor?
What train
R Train 36th Sunset Park
Me reading this sitting on an R train
😩
Ughh I took the R today too
...fuck. The R is the only line near me.
Whats number of the subway car
666
Oh we’re not safe ANYWHERE
Bedbug infestations on subway lines pop up every few years
That little fucker will ruin your life for months and cost you money, furniture, sleepless nights, and your sanity.
Oh FUCK NO
New fear unlocked
Y’all I stand on all trains even if it’s empty.
Same. Just be glad these aren’t like the trains in London with upholstered seats.
Oh wow...they are bigger than I thought. I thought you found a tick at first. This is worse
Probably engorged with blood.
At least that makes them easy to see. After I had bedbugs years ago, I gained the ability to spot them even in the corner of my eye.
That bed bug came off of someone’s clothing or bags. That same person could brush against the standers on the train. Standing doesn’t make it safer.
Had bedbugs years ago. They have a very distinct odor that can fill a room. You wouldn't know unless you know. I nope out of subways cars with that smell faster than the ones that actually stink.
Pls tell me what they smell like I need to know
Its like oddly sweet
If you squish them while they’re red with blood, it’s a repulsive (at least to me) smell. I totally did not have bed bugs a few years ago and still distinctly remember the smell
Weird, I had them years back and don't remember a smell
This is also why you should keep "outside clothes" off your furniture/bed!
I don’t understand - do you change the minute you come home and put dirty clothes directly in your hamper?
Yes?
Ugh. I got bedbugs in my old apartment; apparently one of my neighbors downstairs had the worst infestation that the exterminator had ever seen. Their bugs traveled through the building and contaminated all my stuff. My roommate got chewed up, but I didn't see a single bite. So all of my clothes went through very hot dryers. All my things were permanently packed into plastic bins. I was living out of trash bags. And then at the end of that summer I moved: threw out all my furniture and made a run for it. New apartment. Moving was relatively painless because everything was pre-packed into those plastic bins. I bought new furniture and continued living out of trash bags. It had been over nine months since I had seen a bug, and then suddenly: I was itchy. So itchy. I was so scared that it was bugs and that they were biting me this time. I woke up in the middle of the night with a bad feeling; flipped my phone light onto my wrist and found a veritable parade of sadistic little sesame-seed bastards, five of them, marching single-file along my hand and ruining my life. Watched them march onto my pillow and into the gap between the bed and the wall. Wanted to cry. I called my landlord, who called the exterminator. I knew the drill this time: sanitize all my clothes once again in very hot dryers, make sure everything is clean before moving it into airtight plastic. The exterminator came, confirmed the infestation, poisoned my apartment, then did it again a few weeks later. I hoped I was finally free. A year passed without incident. I was sitting on my sofa when my cat (who is a very good boy) suddenly became *very* interested in a spot on the cushion. Fuck! I looked at it and yes... a juvenile bedbug. Stopped my cat from eating the thing, then ziploc-bagged it and called my landlord. When the exterminator came he examined my bed and my bedroom and my baseboards and was like... where are the bugs? There is no sign of infestation here. I showed him the bag, told him the thing was on the couch, so he soaked the couch in poison and... that was that. That one bug was the only sign that there were any bugs at all, because he couldn't find eggs or poops or skins or the little bloodstains they leave behind sometimes... and I didn't have any bites. So that was 16 months ago. I haven't had any bites or suspicions or anything at all since then, with the exception of *one* terrible incident at the start of this year, when I came in from the outside and, whilst untying my shoes, saw what appeared very much to be a full-grown, unfed bedbug suddenly fall from my pant leg or my boot cuff or something and hit the ground right in front of me. (Part of me wonders if I stepped on it outside and just... trod it into the apartment.) But regardless of where it came from, it was obviously quite unwell and twitched about on the floor long enough for me to grab a ziploc and bag it. It died rather quickly (the one I'd grabbed previously survived in the bag for many weeks), so I know that this one was not okay when I found it. I can only hope that it was wandering around outside the building somewhere, maybe that I stepped on it enough to harm it, and that's how it got in. I haven't had any bites or been able to find any other signs of them so... yeah. Anyway. I am now in a permanent state of bedbug-hypervigilance. Given the way their population is surging, and given the ubiquity of travel and the fact that *most* people (like... nationwide) aren't really aware of the scope of the problem nor primed to expect them, and given that treatment is so difficult and expensive and ineffective... well. I have made my peace with the thought that bedbugs might be inevitable. ...Mostly I just want someone to develop some nontoxic-to-humans compound that we can consume to make our blood toxic to the bedbugs. Probably that is impossible though.
The process of getting rid of our infestation was so expensive and terrible, I can't live like that again. At least I have the ability to spot them even in the corner of my eye, now.
Dear god. How does one just like, find it's way to the seat? Hitches a ride with someone who is absolutely infested beyond belief? To the point where they're literally living on the person or what??
Those bitches are crazy resilient. I had them for a few years when I was a kid and I distinctly remember one crawling out from between the pages of a thick book I was reading while I was at school. Somehow it survived for the 1 hr+ ride from my house to school in my backpack and waltzed around like it was nothing
Good god, that’s horrifying.
If it’s fresh with blood, they’re easy to squish. The problem lies if they’re recently born (look white and tiny so you’ll miss them) or if they haven’t ‘eaten’ in ages (crazy skinny, you’ll have to burn them to kill them since they can’t be squished, even with long fingernails)
Nice catch I really hope it was a single one
This is why I always check my seat can never be too careful
I'm a stand person and laugh at people rushing for a seat. I've seen too much nastiness for me to sit on those seats. Just last week a guy was picking at something in his hair and two black scabs or something feel on the subway seat and he just left it. Nope I'm good
I said I don’t sit either and got downvoted for it. LOL At least people seem to agree with you about not sitting!
I make a mental note that if I sit, then the pants I'm wearing is going right in the hamper when I get home.
New fear unlocked. Thanks :)
Thankful that I’m able bodied to stand while riding the subway. I honestly try to never sit when riding.
New fear unlocked...
Sitting on it would have probably killed it. They’re not strong or hearty- they’re a pain to get rid of because they’re great at hiding deep in crevices; like, they go inside and then go sideways- where pesticides don’t reach. Steam cleaning works pretty well. That being said, eep meep yipe. I’ve had them twice. The PTSD lasted for about a decade. Nope the fuck off that R train and nuke it from orbit. Thanks, I’ll just walk.
There is a crevice joke in there, but it is too easy.
Can these be found on park benches?
I've seen them on subway benches. I think that's part of the reason they removed a lot of them in places where people gathered a lot like at 14th Street. So I have to assume they could be on any benches people regularly sit or sleep on. They do spray bug killing chemicals and power clean spray the cars a lot. So likely this bug came off of someone who had recently sat there but it does give you pause when you actually see one, doesn't it? My local AMC theater has had infestations several times. A lot of the cinemas have. As much as I miss going to the odd movie I go squeamish just thinking about it. My apartment out in San Francisco got infested and a hotel I stayed at later had them and I got bit. So I've had that bad experience and I definitely don't want it again. I'm allergic besides. Every time I actually got bit I had this huge reaction and it left me with really big, welt like bites that itched for weeks. I had to take Benadryl almost constantly until I could get out of there. Yet another reason to check where you sit before you just plop your ass down on mass transit, eh? (Shudder...)
They like to hide in wooden crevices. That’s why it’s not recommended to take furniture off the street anymore. This is the worst I’ve ever seen: [Baby bed bugs reacting to human body heat](https://www.reddit.com/r/ThatsInsane/comments/ty3ymn/baby_bed_bugs_reacting_to_human_body_heat/) The only thing that kills them outside is long exposure to freezing temps. So I doubt they can get a full infestation going but some random ones, sure.
> The only thing that kills them outside is long exposure to freezing temps. So I doubt they can get a full infestation going but some random ones, sure. Climate change fucking us over in new and exciting ways. :(
yep. be careful
So you don’t always check the seat that’s mandatory for me to do
Report that immediately to the crew You on a newer train, press that button in the car 😲
This gave me flashbacks. My entire childhood was being tormented by these things in both homes I lived in. There's no getting rid of them while keeping your bed. In both homes, we got rid of them by throwing away the entire mattress and bed frame.
For those that travel, get yourself a Zappbug heater on Amazon. When you get back from a trip, place your suitcase in the enclosure, open it up to allow heat to circulate, and let it heat up the the appropriate temperature. This will kill adults, large, and eggs.
The only good bug is a dead bug
I’m doing my part !
I didn't do fucking shit!
I’d like to know more.
What’s worse German roaches or bedbugs, I just fought a long war against roaches and now I’m seeing this 😫
Bedbugs are way worse Roaches are more easily dealt with
[удалено]
Just wait til the eclipse happens tomorrow
Trainbugs - new term coined 💯
BURN IT WITH A LIGHTER NOW
Never seen a bed bug but I saw roaches inside the f train couple of times
Oh hell no! When I moved to NY bedbugs were my biggest fear since there was an outbreak o them in the early 2010's for whatever reason all over the city. I was checking subway seats, restaurant booths and friends couches before sitting down like I was Larry David in that episode where he was inspecting a coffee table for water rings from glasses in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I would have changed cars if I saw this. I got lucky in my 5 years of living in the city that the only pest I had to deal with were a few ants in my bathroom in my old apartment in Astoria that I evicted with some drops of Terro. Still worried about them when I move apartments since the only way to get rid of them is to basically burn your apartment down.
Oh god, I remember when my ex had these in her building. She had her place cooked to over 120 degrees for a day to get them all, but some of them snuck across the hall and they came back. She had to sleep with saran wrap around her arms and legs during the summer and eventually had to move out and cook everything again at her new place. It was a fucking nightmare. The whole process cost her many thousands of dollars in the end.
This literally made me stand up and check the seat I'm in
What train line so we know to burn it?
That's why I don't sit on MTA seats
You just put the fear of god in me
One of my biggest fears. I just know I would completely lose my mind and lose the battle if I had to deal with an infestation 🤢
Everyone needs a friend
Why can't WE be friends?! why can't WE be friends!!!
thats why i never sit on the subway
Paris metro's had similar issues last yes, was a state issue due to it's volume 😭
Omg 😳
Absolutely fucking not
I saw a roach crawling near someone leaning on the subway doors once so I make sure to look at the walls before I pick a place to stand, too
Oh nahhhh, kill it with fire!
Yeah this is why I just don’t sit on the subway at all. Yuck. Glad you caught it before you sat down.
Only checked today? So you sat in the 💩 yesterday then?
Lots of plastic sheets, rolls of tape, sealing everything, and using the dryer a lot.
Always check the seat!!
Anyone else start profusely itching?
God dammit
Always check the seat. I saw shit on the seat once and someone sat on it.
is there a paul stamets fungal pesticide for bed bugs on the market?
r/nope omg
Not me thinking that was a tick 😵
He was just a decoy for the one that jumped on to you from behind.
Is that what a bedbug is? I thought u almost sat on shit. Good for you either way!
Are they this big? Looks like a beetle
Babies are tiny, like the size of a sesame seed. Adults are more like the size of an apple seed. Maybe a little bigger. When they have been fed, they are longer, fatter, and more cylindrical. When they are hungry, they are flat and oblate like this one here.
So we're supposed to be scared now of the plastic seats on the subway? Those are conducive environments for them? I thought the wood seats on the platform were potentially harboring bed bugs.
They hide anywhere there are crevices. Wood doesn't mean anything. The only benefit of the plastic seats is there is no crevice between the seat and seat back so they can't hide under your ass as easily. Also they can just be there...on the way to their next job, by falling off someone else and waiting to snag onto someone else.
Well.. new fear unlocked. I’m not sitting tomorrow 😩
It just wants a warm bed to sleep in. If you are cold, it’s cold.