Bed Bugs...Concerned or Not?

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

I'm probably going to regret this, but what do you guys think about the recent bed bug hysteria that's going on? Is it something that's just getting exposure now that "rich" people are getting it, or do you think these little critters are primed take over the world on our blood?

 

[defunctzombie]

I'm not concerned about it. A couple years ago I had terrible bites all over my legs that could have been from bed bugs but I NEVER, EVER saw or found any critters. My new mattress has been in this new house for a while, my cat is inside only, and nobody comes to my room so I'm not at risk for bed bugs.

Stink bugs on the other hand... PA has trouble with them this year. They're even at my campus.

 

[Pyrax]

Not at all concerned about bed bugs.
Clean your bed, that's the advice I'd give.

 

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

I'm not concerned about it. A couple years ago I had terrible bites all over my legs that could have been from bed bugs but I NEVER, EVER saw or found any critters. My new mattress has been in this new house for a while, my cat is inside only, and nobody comes to my room so I'm not at risk for bed bugs.

Stink bugs on the other hand... PA has trouble with them this year. They're even at my campus.

I believe bed bugs can come in from the outside through cracks in your house and such, though that is probably less likely than being tracked in manually through persons or used furniture (for god's sake don't buy used furniture). It may also be a problem in buildings and units that are attached to one another, which is increasingly becoming a more common living space today,

Stink bugs...ughhh another pest we have to deal with, and this one is more obnoxious than ever.

I truly believe bugs will outlive the human race.

 

[Michael24]

They've never concerned me. I clean and change my bedsheets regularly, and I keep my room fairly clean. I've never had a problem. The only bites I've ever occasionally woken up with are mosquito bites, but even those have been kind of rare.

 

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

They've never concerned me. I clean and change my bedsheets regularly, and I keep my room fairly clean. I've never had a problem. The only bites I've ever occasionally woken up with are mosquito bites, but even those have been kind of rare.

Not to be some hysterical doomsayer, but the point of the recent paranoia is that even CLEAN, RICH, UPPER CLASS people are getting bed bugs. That's the hysteria--that even those so-called "cleaner" elites are getting it now (when poor, lower class, "dirty" people had it, nobody cared and it never got reported). But now that those "upscale" people have it,,,it's NEWS! Howard Stern recently had a problem, and it wasn't just on the bed, it was in his building, his car...

(Okay, I just degenerated into a class rant there...)

 

[GWOtaku]

Never heard of this before today. Don't care, not worried. Nothing would change even if I were concerned. Life goes on.

 

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Never heard of this before today. Don't care, not worried. Nothing would change even if I were concerned. Life goes on.

It seems to be mostly a New York and Toronto thing I guess.

But I believe some of this is driven by class, as I mentioned earlier. When they stayed in lower class housing, nobody in the news cared. When some of the rich elite got the problem (as well as some news station offices such as CNN) they blew it open.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

I thought the deal was that they were in hotels and the people who wouldn't expect to get bed bugs were picking them up there. That's probably wrong, that's just the impression I got from the news.

Anyway, they won't kill you, and I have no particular phobia about bugs. If I get 'em I'll just get rid of them.

 

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

I thought the deal was that they were in hotels and the people who wouldn't expect to get bed bugs were picking them up there. That's probably wrong, that's just the impression I got from the news.
.

The CNN and Time Warner offices in NY were recently infested and had to be evacuated for about a week to "fumigate" them. So they don't just reside in beds. On the other hand, take another look at that: the two biggest media agencies having a pest problem. 1 + 1 =....

I'd be really pissed if I had it. Not because of the danger factor, but the cost. The amount of money spent on pest control (they can really go up pretty high). And the possibility of lost possessions when having to discard items in the house.

 

[jph139]

I haven't heard of or met anyone personally who has ever had bedbugs, nor have I seen any reports of them anywhere in Massachusetts, really.

So, no, I'm not concerned.

 

[Temple Fugate]

I became aware of the problem bedbugs pose about a year ago when my lower Westchester apartment announced they would be bringing in dogs to check for bedbugs. The building is divided in two halves, either one only accessible from the basement or lobby. The half I wasn't living in had a persistent problem that still existed when I moved out two weeks ago. My half? Never had a single bug.

But my new apartment is infested with spiders. Creepy, but at least they don't try to bite me while I sleep.

 

[AdamYJ]

Nah, because I sleep tight and don't let them bite.

 

[Gold Guy]

So far, my beds have been free of bed bugs. Maybe I'm just lucky.

 

[DisneyBoy]

Apparently, they can hide themselves in the spaces between cardboard, making them most likely to spread those shipments of boxes and such. Honestly, I think they could become a big problem, but hope they won't for me. I do think the media is latching onto it a bit because it's starting to affect them in particular...