Secondhand beds and/or bedding, and bedbugs?

[melissel]

Would you/have you gotten this kind of thing via secondhand? I didn't thing anything of it and was trying to get some new bedding for my DD1 that way, until someone posted a warning about bedbugs on our local Freecycle. The very idea freaks me out completely! And now our DD2 is kind of getting ready for her own bed so I was thinking about maybe trying to get a twin mattress for her. But ugh!!!! Am I being overly paranoid? Is there some way to treat that stuff for bugs before bringing it into the house?

TIA!

[~Megan~]

I think there are bedbugs on everything. I know you can vacuum out your mattresses to help with bed bugs and to get rid of shedded skin and what not.

When we bought dd's bunk bed it came with the mattresses and she threw in the sheets even though we didn't want them.

The mattresses were covered with a fully plastic cover and an absorbant pad on top too. I figured we were safe as we could pull off the covers if we wanted and replace them.

[mossimo12]

I don't think bedbugs are on everything. I think dust mites are on everything. I wouldn't worry about dust mites, bed bugs I would be grossed out by.

Per Wikipedia
Adult bedbugs are reddish brown, flattened, oval, and wingless, with microscopic hairs that give them a banded appearance. A common misconception is that they are not visible to the naked eye, but adults grow to 4 to 5 mm (one-eighth to three-sixteenths of an inch) in length and do not move quickly enough to escape the notice of an attentive observer. Newly hatched nymphs are translucent and lighter in color and continue to become browner and molt as they reach maturity. When it comes to size, they are often compared to lentils or appleseeds.

As for getting a used mattess, I would say just check it out carefully. I have heard of people getting practiclly new mattesses from freecyle. On the other hand I have a matress that I got from my grandmother that I am just thowing out because it is too gross to even put on freecyle.

Sarah

[KariM]

I slept for nearly 20 years on a very old mattress (from the 1940s). Never had a problem with bedbugs, etc. But that was back in the '70s and '80s.

Like the PP mentioned, adding mattress covers can help a bit as can vacuuming. There are pesticides which can be used on bedding, but I wouldn't use them myself.

These days I tend to shy away from used upholstered furniture unless I'm planning on re-upholstering it because my sister had a problem with some used living room furniture and roaches.

[wytchywoman]

If you are super concerned about bed bugs ( or lice for that matter as the mattress could potentially be infected with that) here is what I would do:
1)Invest in VINYL matress covers, not the cloth ones because the weave is big enough for bugs to crawl through, vinyl weave is not big enough and they get trapped.
For the next twenty -thirty days( roughly the life and hatching cycle of most parasites):
2) Vaccuum the mattress
3) After vaccuuming spray the mattress well with a mixture of 1/2 water, 1/2 vinegar and ten drops tea tree oil, that will kill just about anything.
4) Replace vinyl covers after mattresses have air dried.
5) While Matresses are air drying you can run all the bedding in the dryer for 30 min on high heat. if there was anything that could have gotten onto the bedding it will be killed this way.

All of these steps, except the vinyl cover, can be used for any kind of upholstered furniture too. If you really aren't worried about it, just do the routine once or twice to disinfect the mattress. If you aren't sure or think there is a possibility something could have been brought in with the mattress, I would do the above for about a month.

Namaste,

Michelle

[FiddleMama]

I was wondering about this too because I was hoping to request a pregnancy pillow/body pillow on Freecycle but I'm a little creeped out by it.

[Thalia]

I have a friend who has bedbugs in her apartment that spread from another apartment in the building. It has been an absolute NIGHTMARE for her to get rid of them. Bedbugs are definitely coming back and I wouldn't underestimate this as a potential problem. The problem is that they crawl into tiny cracks in your furniture in the morning, so they are really hard to get rid of. I would not take a bed or a mattress from Freecycle any more because of this. However, if you are just taking something that can be washed in a machine, you are probably okay.

[A&A]

Since DDT was banned, bedbugs have made a resurgence. They can be in used clothing, as well.

You can pick them up in hotels, too.

A local firefighting unit here picked up bedbugs from the homeless shelter and inadvertently took them back to their firehouse. Now they refuse to go into the sleeping area of the homeless shelter.....if someone needs their help they have to come to the lobby.

[melissel]

Ick ick ick! My aunt once suggested my oldest was being bitten by bedbugs (long story, she's a little wacky and I spent days freaking out about it and going over my DD's room with a fine-tooth comb. Of course, I've never seen anything, and it's been a few years. Even so, I wouldn't want to go through that again. I decided that we'll go for bedding, but not a bed (bought a SWEET quilt set on eBay yesterday, great price). I keep going back and forth on whether or not to start transitioning DD2 into her own room, but I think she's just a bit too young for it yet. So instead we'll just save our money for a mattress and an affordable Ikea bed or something.

Thanks everyone. It's a hard decision for me, because beds and matresses pop up on Freecycle every day here, so I know I could have one for free. But, you know, I just don't know if that's worth the stress!

[2Sweeties1Angel]

EW! I could've lived forever thinking bedbugs were a myth. WHY did I have to open this thread???!

[melissel]

Originally Posted by 2Sweeties1Angel

EW! I could've lived forever thinking bedbugs were a myth. WHY did I have to open this thread???!

I felt that way after I read a long thread about pantry moths in Natural Home & Body Care not long ago. Just what I needed, another pest to worry about...

[cristeen]

Barrier cloth covers, which have a very tight weave, and protect from dust mites will also work against any other pests. You can get the kind that fully enclose the mattress and zip closed.

That being said, there's a reason it's illegal to sell a used mattress.

[Nature]

After our recent being bitten but never seeing any bugs fiasco... I will probably never get beds, linens, or clothes off freecycle again. Its just hasn't been worth the emotional and mental stress that it caused. We're pretty sure that it originated from the downstairs neighbor, but since we'll never know... I'm not going to be buying those kinds of used things again. I just can't.

*maybe* clothes. Because I can put those directly into the washer and dry on high heat. But nothing else.

Oh, and bedbugs are not only in linens. If you have an infestation they are in everything. Wood, clocks, radios, books, toys, doorknobs, cracks, picture frames, everywhere.... and since they can hibernate and not come out for 18 months.. one could be hiding, and then resurface and start the whole cycle all over again. :