# Bed bugs



## yen157 (Feb 16, 2012)

Does anyone think about or take precautions against bed bugs when acquiring clothes via trading, ebay, thrift, et cetera? A coworker recently dealt with an infestation and regular washing and/or dry cleaning was not enough so it got me thinking. Anyone else?


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## Langham (Nov 7, 2012)

Happy memories for me of a run-down flat I had in the World's End 30 years ago. A chemist's along the King's Road had the answer to this and other problems.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

I've always assumed, perhaps naively so, that bedbug infestations were largely the result of unfortunate hotel/motel room assignments, as we take the nasty buggers home in our luggage...yes,no?


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## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

I haven't worried about them with used clothing (since I've never bought any) but I do take precautions after coming home from a trip.


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## Canadian (Jan 17, 2008)

My dad had bedbugs, or some kind of nasty creatures which struck in the night and bit him severely. 

Our solution was to leave traps and replace his mattress. We figured the traps got a few. Of course, a new queen size mattress is expensive, but he needed a new one anyways.

I have never had bugs come off used clothing. 

The problem is the very reason you cannot use your own sleeping bag or liner at a hostel. They worry about a dirty bag spreading bugs in a dorm.

Tom


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## silkysmooth (May 30, 2013)

Wow I've never even thought about bedbugs being in used clothing. I'll definitely have to take that into consideration for the future.


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## Langham (Nov 7, 2012)

Lice, fleas and scabies (along with the pupae of the clothes moth) would have to be considered distinct possibilities by those purchasing almost any item of second-hand clothing - certain skin diseases might perhaps also be transmitted in this way. Preventative treatment would include normal washing as well as specific forms of insecticidal powder, together with dry-cleaning and intense ultra-violet treatment. 

​Bedbugs I believe are specific to beds rather than clothing, although they can also hide away in crumbly plaster, coming out at night to drink from their victims.


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## kloss (Sep 4, 2013)

Latex mattresses and pillows covered in high thread-count duvets should limit their growth


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

You should always try to wash your bedsheets when you get the chance.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

Any thrift shop purchase gets cleaned, before it comes into the house. One can never be too careful. We also went to a Tempur-pedic mattress, encased in one of their water proof cases...we were told that was as close to an iron clad guarantee against any incidence of bedbugs as we would be able to find. So far, so good. Knock on wood!


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Langham said:


> Happy memories for me of a run-down flat I had in the World's End 30 years ago. A chemist's along the King's Road had the answer to this and other problems.


Whereabouts? The WE estate was on my beat for about 10 years from 83 to 93. And the scrots from WE were forever screwing that chemist's. MO: breaking in through the very weak thin roof EVERY SINGLE time.


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## Langham (Nov 7, 2012)

Earl of Ormonde said:


> Whereabouts? The WE estate was on my beat for about 10 years from 83 to 93. And the scrots from WE were forever screwing that chemist's. MO: breaking in through the very weak thin roof EVERY SINGLE time.


I shared a very run-down ground-floor flat in Ashburnham Mansions, 1981-84. Perhaps smartened up a bit now, but back then it had a certain 'character'. Not on the WE estate you understand - a bit closer to the river and the Lot's Road power station.

And I assure you, officer, I did not break into the chemist's, even when 'celebrating'.:icon_smile_wink:


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Oh ho, Ashburnham Mansions, I could make your hair curl with some stories of a few residents in there in the late 80s/early 90s. One bloke converted his flat into a workshop to "ring" stolen motorbikes, and to prevent us getting in he wired up his front door to the mains in his flat. When we finally got in there was no furniture to speak of, just engines and MC frames all over the place.


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## Langham (Nov 7, 2012)

There were some very strange goings-on during the time I lived there. Our flat was broken into once. I was going to describe the rather ingenious MO, but have no wish to broadcast the method, and you are probably aware of it anyway. 

There was little in the way of proper furniture in our flat either - just second-hand things from the Lot's Road auction rooms.

I have happy memories of the place, but the circumstances of living there were quite harsh (at one time I had about £30 a week to live on, after rent). My grandmother came to visit me one evening and the experience made her physically unwell.


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