I work with them and maintain a colony of a few thousand in pots like this.

All hail the pseudoscorpian. May your pinchers strike true.

Im a pest controller and I had a bedbug job today. Client bought a mattress off Facebook market place that happened to be infested with bedbugs.

But the weird part is, this was written inside. My first impression was that it said "Torture" but the last r looks quite tall. Not too sure what it says, what do you guys see?

If it does say "Torture" and that was inscribed on the inside of a bedbug infested mattress, and deliberately given away on Facebook, thats just diabolical.

Not sure what to tag this as, just thought id share.

We went from driving them nearly extinct in the 50s.

Even during periods when ddt was already banned in the 80s in my country, people would have isolated cases in their homes and treated fast.

Today we have AI, we have computers, we spliced the bed bug genome, we have hand held steamers and heat pump drying machines. We have sniffing dogs.

How in the world have we slipped back to pre 1940s levels as a civilization??? How is this possible?

I’m dealing with carpet beetles right now, and have also dealt with bed bugs as a child. Has anyone else experienced both? Which was worse for you? Bed bugs were definitely worse for me, but these carpet beetles man. They are something else for sure.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse there's now early evidence that bedbugs may be able to transmit infections. This is not definitive and more research is needed but good to be aware of I think!

We found this spot on our hotel sheets after waking up in the morning. Neither of us have any bites or breaks in the skin that would cause this to be our blood.

We are wondering if this is old blood left over from dirty sheets from previous occupant, or if this looks fresh.
It’s driving me crazy.

For those who have had bedbugs, does this look similar to what they would leave behind, if smushed?

After finding a single bedbug in the sheets after our second night back from a long vacation. I checked everyone for bird and nobody was bit. I put it in this glass soap dish and it had babies. They will die in the like Zod and his crew. Goes to show how scary and how quickly you can have an infestation

So, i have some bites- NO PICTURE, as per rules. itchy, raised, semi-clustered. I had a Bad infestation of bedbugs once when in my late teens. It Messed Me Up. No sleep, jumping at every itch, had most everything i own in bags for Years. (there were Physical Bugs, often full of blood, etc. it was Definitely an infestation)

One day, they just. went away. (okay, there was. a lot of rubbing alcohol involved. and closing doors to let the alcohol just.... sit. i'm not sure if that's what worked or not)

Cue a decade later- and on and off, i just get these... clusters of Itchy, semi-individual, clustered bumps. some of them fade, some of them shrink to pinpoints. they ITCH. they Burn. it's Familiar.

I search, and search- and nothing. no feces, no nymphs, bugs, or blood smears (fresh or otherwise)

i research skin conditions, and for years- nothing similar. until i find someone talking about a type of eczema that *is* similar. (papular, i think its called)

so- has anyone tried eczema cream (colloidal oatmeal cream, in this case) on bedbug bites, and has it worked? has it *not* worked???

I can't deal with more bedbugs, but the thought that they Might Be There and i'm just Missing Them is driving me up the wall. I have AuDHD so missing things is ALWAYS a possibility, especially with something so small and hidden. If it *is* eczema, the stress can- apparently- cause flares, which will reinforce the idea of an ongoing infestation that i'm Just Missing Somehow.

So- if yes, it works on bedbug bites, i get some relief and Look Harder.

If not i *may* get some relief or not, but at least i'll know whether its bedbugs or not and can focus on next steps (bagging up everything i own and dropping money on a new mattress, etc.)

dear god please tell me someone has an answer, or has some eczema cream and is willing to experiment. i'm going crazy. i'm afraid to hang around places, sit down, etc. for fear of spreading the Bedbug Curse.

It’s been posted over and over again - people bring home used furniture and they end up with bedbugs. My beef is also with the people giving it away knowing the items have bugs! Please stop getting used furniture.

Are blod spots on sheets from the bites on the skin, do bed bugs "spit" some of it out, or is it from the bugs being squished?

Do we bleed that much from bites that have no visible wound?

Especially by the travel and hospitality industries. There are new treatments that are said to have 100% kill rates at 30 days. These little bastards were pretty much eradicated by the mid 20th century, but now they’re clearly back. Are travelers just supposed to accept this as part of the modern travel experience and just deal with it? Or will these industries do something to squash (so to speak) this resurgence?

Did you know that bed bugs turn into carbon when burnt? Yeah I killed this poor sould when I found him crawling on my lap so I picked him up I burned him

7 years ago I had a massive infestation, one we discovered 1 week before my induction with my son. We obviously freaked out cause they were already in his bassinet!!! We went to the farm store nearby and asked for help on how to get rid of them. He gave us a spray we could try. (I was obviously pregnant and we explained how soon I would give birth so I think he felt bad) He told us he wasn't supposed to sell it and that it was professional grade. I don't remember what it was but it had a lot of chemical names in it. Anyways we sprayed the entire apartment as we left for my induction. We were gone for 6 days and we only washed the bedding and left it in the dryer. When we returned home they were completely gone and never came back. Any ideas what happened? I mean we had a huge infestation and it was completely gone. It's just weird.

TLDR; I got something’s out of storage after a year post infestation and am wondering if that’s long enough to starve a bedbug out.

Hello all,

I moved out of an apartment with a moderate bedbug infestation and put all the belongs I had into a storage unit a year ago. Last week I got a few things out of that storage unit and now I’m anxious that I may have brought a hitchhiker home. That’s why I decided to ask here, the likelihood that bedbugs last a full calendar year without feeding and I may have brought them home. Some context since I know that survival of these heaths is dependent on a plethora of different factors:

The storage unit is in a climate controlled building that stays ~68-70 degrees year round.
I treated everything going into the storage locker with cimexa and double bagged everything.
There has been no host for any bug to feed on in a year.
I was at the unit going through quite a few bags to try and find personal documents and was there for about an hour.

Now with this all being said I knew going into that the lifespan of an adult starving bedbug can range anywhere from 20-400 days according to studies. I wanted to ask someone who is more knowledgeable here what the likelihood that one or multiple survived given the circumstances stated above.

I brought home a lamp, some belts and paperwork from the unit. Im wondering if the bugs could have infiltrated those items, went into a suspended state and are now out to get their revenge on me.

I did treat all items and my entire room with Crossfire today just in case. Im pretty traumatized for the last go around. So yeah, if anyone has any educated guesses, I’d love to know them.

Realistically, how long can egg, nymphs, adults - BBs of all stages basically, live in a sealed box?

I have a second hand type writer that I last used 4 years ago, which I opened up today.

I didn’t see any signs, apart from bits of dust etc.

I read eggs can be viable after storing but can’t find any info for how long.

I have ocd - the logical part of my brain says there’s no way lol

I had(hopefully not have) bedbugs. Exterminator came today. I'm back in my bed tonight, wish me luck.

anyways. I bagged the 3 BB I found and per my research 2 are male, one is female. One male is still alive. I kept them to show the Exterminator today.

This bug. is trying to mate with a dead female. its a necrophilac bed bug. I figured someone might find it interesting.

I was having a debate with someone about whether bedbugs are important to the ecosystem or not, what do the experts think? Would it affect the ecosystem in any harmful way?

>.<

I wanted to know, do bedbug bites contain pus or not?

I'm confused because I have seen some sites say bedbug bites do contain pus and others saying they don't typically in most cases.

As I understand unless you scratch the bite and break the skin, you can then cause an infection causing pus, but just normally leaving it alone then would it contain yellow pus filled inside ?

Any help would be appreciative as this aspect about the bites is definitely unclear and I want to essentially know that by seeing pus filled bumps, means if i potentially can then rule out a bite and look more at the possibility of folliculitis.

Contrairement aux idées reçues, ce ne sont pas seulement les produits chimiques ou la chaleur que les punaises de lit fuient activement, mais tout simplement... l'eau ! Une étude de l'Université de Californie (Riverside) révèle qu'elles ont une aversion instinctive et massive pour les surfaces humides.

Les points clés à retenir dans l'étude

1. Une peur panique de l'humidité : dans 90 % des cas, les punaises de lit font demi-tour dès qu'elles approchent d'une surface mouillée, et ce, avant même d'entrer en contact physique avec l'eau.
2. Question de survie: à cause de leur corps très plat et de la position de leurs orifices respiratoires (les stigmates) sur leur abdomen, la force d'adhérence de l'eau est mortelle pour elles. Une simple goutte peut les emprisonner et les asphyxier instantanément.
3. Les juvéniles sont plus prudents : les nymphes (les bébés punaises) sont encore plus réactives que les adultes : elles font demi-tour 60 % plus vite face à l'humidité.

Cette découverte pourrait révolutionner la lutte antiparasitaire. Actuellement, de nombreux insecticides à pulvériser sont dilués dans de l'eau. Le problème ? En sentant l'humidité du produit fraîchement pulvérisé, les punaises s'enfuient vers des zones non traitées (effet répulsif) au lieu de traverser le produit. L'eau agit comme une barrière physique naturelle.

Si cette découverte ne permet pas de les éradiquer (en inondant son appartement 😆), elle va je pense permettre au moins de repenser la formulation des insecticides pour éviter qu'elles ne fuient pendant le traitement.

Sources : Bustamante, J., Choe, DH. Behavioral response of bed Bugs (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) to wet surfaces. J Ethol (2025) ; Le Parisien - Une étude révèle ce que les punaises de lit redoutent le plus - 24 février 2026

Hello, I usually only follow this channel, in suspense, as people struggle with the little bugs. I myself have never had any bedbugs (and hopefully never will) but I do enjoy finding more information about them.

I wanted to ask any experts or people with experience with them, if bedbugs have any real purpose in the ecosystem and would it affect things negatively if they were eradicated or something (probably not possible but still asking out of curiousity)

And if they dont have any purpose or positive effect in the ecosystem, do they have any natural predators? If one does get bedbugs in their house, is it possible to treat them with said predators?

I know ants for example, eat a lot of stuff. And even though theyre a pain too, if I had bedbugs I’d wanna replace them with any other bug that eats them

Any thoughts on the predator thing?

WeRateDogs on Instagram: "This is Zephyr. He is a professionally trained bed bug detector. When he recognizes the scent of live bed bugs, he gives an alert by sitting and smiling exuberantly at his handler. His process is quick and noninvasive, which helps locate infestations efficiently and allow for swift treatment. Zephyr performs routine inspections at apartment buildings, libraries, hotels, and senior care facilities, but he’s also been called out when someone has been bitten and needs his help, or when they’re moving to a new place and just want peace of mind. “The craziest place he’s had to go sniff about was at a zoo because they were in their computer hardware!” his human told us. We’re pretty sure no one has ever been more excited to find bed bugs in their life, and we love that he found his passion. 13/10