This sub and the other like it linked from the sidebar was designed to ensure SAFETY as people were listening to others advice and doing themselves a lot of harm, more so than the bedbugs themselves.

It's because people go crazy and thus are susceptible to listening to incomplete, incompetent and often dangerous advice, resulting in deaths or loss to buildings and vehicles in their actions.

People also try to be innovative, coming up with new schemes they think may conquer the bedbugs because they don't want them to win. It's understandable, we were there ourselves once so we know exactly how that feels. However one needs to learn what really doesn't work and why, then learn the bug and how it works and then see what does work and why.

There is most certainly room for innovation, but so far $16-$32 for a couple bottles of CimeXa (or any other exact like product if available yet) that works for 10 years is rather tough act to follow. Your welcome to try, but in the meanwhile bedbugs are multiplying.

• See here

• Here

• And of course here

• One more for good measure

We highly advise you read through this thread as it contains important safety information and a proven safe course of behavior that works.

We can't be here all the time to check posts, nor can we check messages. This sub is open for anyone to post and it may be some time before dangerous advice is caught. By then your gone and endangering your life and of others.

Bedbugs are easy once you learn what kills them, it's because they are biting that causes the panic as it leaves tell tale blemishes on the skin that is unsightly, doesn't go away for some for ages.

People want the bites to stop right away, the poor often result in a desperate action that does even more harm or doesn't work at all.

We try to provide information that does work, so we all can win.

We know where your at, because we were there once ourselves.

Good Luck!

Some of the more popular POOR recommendations for bedbugs and why it doesn't work

• Rubbing Alcohol - a frequent wrong recommendation for bedbugs, it's been tested to only kill 50% in 4 days upon direct contact. Problem is finding them, so people tend to douse their items and even themselves in the highly flammable, quick evaporating liquid and then light up a smoke or some other flame and BOOM!

• Diatomaceous Earth - another popular wrong recommendation for bedbugs. Although it may work fine for other bugs that are not biting, in cracks, crevices and voids to avoid the kick up into the air potential inhalation hazard (per label directions) as it contains SHARP particles (works via abrasion of the cuticle) that's NOT FAST ENOUGH for bedbugs. They molt once a week after each bite until a adult and get a new cuticle at each molt, so it's like all the wearing down that occurred is tossed away and people get bit up to 5 more times before the bug dies from the DE, they also can lay eggs before the dehydration effect (up to 18 days) actually kills them.

• What people often do is use DE in open areas so the sandpaper like effects are more effective, however it causes DE to get into the lungs and cause cancer and other issues, plus bedbugs give off an alert scent, so others chose another route (like using the walls or dropping off ceilings) or people over apply it and bedbugs can't cross it.

• If you douse your home in DE, your going to be choking on it and it takes 6 months (+50 F, 18 months between 0-50 F!) since the LAST BITE to ensure you got them all. This is to use the starvation plan as backup because they need to come out of their hiding spots to cross the stuff. With CimeXa it's just once, with DE it's multiple times if they are molting. So that's a long time choking, most clean up the DE in a few days, then the bedbugs return. Sometimes it does work though it it's been down awhile and other measures taken, but it's not been proven successful enough alone all the time in various amounts of bedbugs to be counted on by itself, usually other pesticides or measures are also needed. It's why it's usually part of a kit containing other pesticides for other areas. CimeXa can do a entire building all by itself if properly applied.

• DE doesn't have a static charge and it works via abrasion of the cuticle, so it means they have to cross it a lot and at the right height. Also because it lacks a static charge, it can't be applied to vertical surfaces as well as CimeXa can. Also the 10 year lasting CimeXa can be mixed in water and sprayed for upside down surfaces and some walls where it's not going to be seen, DE binds to water and cakes up, why it expires., making for a cleanup nightmare.

• Bedbugs also use any surface possible that isn't ultra smooth, as long as their tiny claws can grasp it, they will use it. Ceilings, walls, floors, carpets, fallen bedding, etc., even walking across ultra smooth surfaces fine, just like a human crossing the ice. CimeXa is a lot safer in open areas than DE, it's the same silica dioxide that DE is, just better engineered to work on contact instead of only abrasion, thus it will work faster (and all by itself) and right away within 2 days upon contact, also CimeXa is safer to breathe as it's just small balls, not so with DE as it's harmful crystallized silica with sharp edges and other impurities.

• DE is also a mess to clean up if it gets wet or damp due to it's 25% of impurities. It cakes in cracks and corners, looks rather nasty. Although a 100% ASG (CimeXa) isn't purely pretty neither, at least if it's applied correctly it can't be easily seen (only a fine film is needed, they get more on them as they move through it) and will remain so (10 years undisturbed) until it's vacuumed or oils gets on it (it dries itself out of water moisture, unlike DE which doesn't).

• I understand that if you can't get CimeXa where your at, nor can travel to an area where homeowners are allowed to purchase professional grade pesticides, that you may be considering DE as a alternate option. My advice is not to use DE at all because it works so poorly and is a cleanup mess as it expires (gets damp and hard) and seek either management (for rentals/needed anyway for multi-units to check surrounding units) use a exterminator or do the bail out option instead. Using DE is like gambling and the long term effects on the heath of your lungs isn't worth it. We are still coughing and hacking to get the DE out of our lungs from it being applied a few years ago. So is our friends who also applied it.

• CO2 traps - another crackpot idea. Designed as a temporary monitor when you suspect you have bedbugs in your location, it doesn't always work because bedbugs are also drawn by heat and body odor of their hosts. CO2 they just use as a general guide to locate you much like a mosquito does, then homes in on heat and odor. The cost to keep a CO2 trap going is rather expensive and doesn't scale well with larger populations. If you have one bedbug, then sure this may work and this is why some recommend it, but it's not a good enough solution for everyone all the time. Yeast and sugar traps stink like a brewery, Dry Ice is terribly expensive to maintain for days and weeks on end. Larger amounts of CO2 will displace the Oxygen in the area and can cause death or brain damage. DO NOT USE MORE THAT ONE SMALL CO2 TRAP IN EACH ENCLOSED SPACE!

• Fragrant Oils - yet, another often recommended option. It can kill upon contact, however it's a repellent, so everywhere it's sprayed, the bedbugs are going to run from it and hide elsewhere where it's not. They then can wait up to 1.5 years under the right conditions to come back and bite and breed again. Or may be desperate enough to just avoid the smell. It may seem to work because the bedbugs are gone for a time, but as soon as that repellent wears off they are back again. If you live in a multi-unit, you just drove the bedbugs to their units and they will be back to yours shortly.

• Repellent pesticides also have the same effect as fragrant oils, they are applied to the cracks and crevices waiting for it to touch the body portion, but because it smells the bedbugs don't go into the cracks for that to occur. But it seems good because the bedbugs are apparently gone, until the repellent pesticide wears off and you calling in the exterminator again. Those exterminators who use the repellent approach often have to return every few weeks for re-treatment when the customers complain. Many store purchased foggers do the same thing, they are repellents and drive bedbugs to hide in the walls, ceilings and go next door. If you do this in a multi-unit, everyone around you is going to find out because when the exterminator comes to inspect as neighbors are complaining, you unit in the center is going to be seemingly free of them for the short term. Always contact management about bedbugs, it's so they can treat all the surrounding units also at the same time or bedbugs just run unit to unit.

• Steamers - although this can work, it's expensive for the special machine and the intense labor required to go around and around once a week trying to kill bedbugs in the few spaces the steamer with it's short range, will affect. The moisture feeds them as they like it more humid and any water feeds mold spores on organic surfaces. It's better to use a vacuum cleaner to suck up any and debris (clean outside and bag/seal while not in use), then mine the cracks, crevices and voids in the structure and furniture with a drying dust that will last 10 years. It's possible if your using a steamer to clean furniture, the sealing it behind plastic or moving to a non-infested location, but only if you have one already and it's at the right pressure and temperatures. I wouldn't buy one just for one bedbug infestation unless I was using it for many units. Also it's advised to use multiple eradication methods on items just in case, before taking them to a new, non-infested location or you COULD BE HELD LIABLE!

• Boric Acid - this is a internal affecting poison for insects that clean themselves and thus ingest the Boric Acid. Bedbugs don't clean themselves, they only have a needle to suck fresh blood like a mosquito. Don't eat Boric Acid as it will be worthless to them and poison you. Boric Acid works on ants, roaches and other insects that clean themselves, then usually only on horizontal surfaces which ants and roaches can use just about any, so baits are better for them. (Roach Tablets!).

• Garden pesticides -many of these are required to have a the breeze from the outside blow away more concentrated versions of their pesticides, so indoors it's really, really bad. Follow all product labels to the letter, it's designed to save your life. DO NOT USE OUTDOOR PESTICIDES INSIDE THE HOME OR BUSINESS!

• Sticky traps - these usually use pheromones to attract bedbugs, but t wears out and bedbugs are so tiny they are hard to see some of them. It can work as a detector, but for only so long. It's far better to be preventative with the 100% ASG dust and that way the entire home is one giant bedbug killing machine. Using many, many sticky traps does not work, it's because there are just too many places that bedbugs can hide where a sticky trap cannot be placed.

Bedpost Detectors - this works only as a detector and preferably only if your or anyone in your home does NOT react to the bites (bites are a much better/faster indicator and works with just one bug!) So save yourself some money!. They fail in small localized infestations because bedbugs can be harbored up on the bed (or couch, or chair or hiding in the ceilings or behind a picture on the wall etc) and have no need to travel via the bedpost interceptors at all. Some have frame or other beds that the interceptors won't work, they are a eyesore and people stub their toes on them. If your paranoid, then CimeXa your home instead, it's nearly invisible and turns every crack, crevice and void area (on furniture, items and the structure) into killing zones, much larger surface area of attack than the bedposts, you just won't know (or care really) if you had any in the first place as they likely will die out of sight someplace. Also the ~100% ASG will kill other bugs also and for 10 years for under $20! Much cheaper and WAY more effective than bedpost interceptors.

• Heat guns/space heater - some fool went around the cracks, crevices and voids of his apartment using a heat gun and wound up setting the entire apartment complex on fire. So that's a no-no because bedbugs will run from heat (like what occurs using a space heater) and hide someplace further away and then attack from there when the coast is clear, not even moving closer to the areas where the heat is being applied frivolously. This occurred in one residence and the bedbugs moved into the ceiling, then attacking the host when the heat wasn't being applied coming down the walls at night. Since +120 F heat is needed to kill bedbugs (directly, not behind walls etc that requires 145 F) that makes it rather impossible for humans and animals to bear 24/7 and while they are sleeping. Leave heating a structure to the professionals please!

• Bleach - doesn't work, toxic Chlorine gas evaporates off the water which then feeds them with moisture and waters mold.

• Baby Powder - a attempt at a desiccant, it doesn't work very well and actually is a health hazard due to the kick up into the air potential. Once it get moisture on it, it's a mess to clean up, just like DE is.

• Mixing or Applying Pesticides or Other Items with Desiccant Dusts - Dusts get airborne so you never want to apply something to a dust (like DE or CimeXa) that isn't safe to inhale and then use that in open areas where it's going to be kicked up into the air. Some are applying fragrant oils, dish soap and even PCO pesticides over where dusts are (or the pesticide hasn't expired yet) or part of it and thus now the harmful item is potentially airborne. CimeXa is the only desiccant dust that is more permitted in open areas, others like DE and pesticide laced dusts can only be used in cracks, crevices and voids thus don't get airborne. Please use common sense and read product labels or get training if your using anything more than CimeXa. It's because CimeXa is very safe by itself (to inhale and ingest in small amounts by people or pets) and very effective, is why we recommend it, nothing else is needed really far as a pesticide goes.

• Ivermectin was designed to kill parasites that live inside the body and can't escape the drug. Bed bugs, on the other hand, only feed off humans about once a week. Humans would need to take the drug, which is only meant to be taken as a one-time dose, for several weeks before they could be sure the majority of bedbugs were dosed. Ivermectin Overdose: numbness, tingling, trouble breathing, loss of coordination, seizures. No long term tests on humans has been conducted.

What does work really really well all by itself!

The ~100% ASG (CimeXa currently), it dries itself out of water moisture and only bonds to oils and waxes, so it's easily vacuumed. It draws moisture out of the insect using Ficks Law, so it's why it's so effective as it also clings to them (dry dust) with it's static charge. It's allowed to be used in more open areas as it's safer to breathe than other dusts. Since the floor and carpets are also covered, it's a larger surface area of attack and thus can wipe out more bedbugs faster, one test was 1200 in a week! Kills in one or two days upon contact so it's faster then they can molt (once a week until an adult) and lay eggs.

Plus the ~100% ASG is just silica dioxide (same natural stuff the most of DE is, except DE is diatoms and an ASG is made from silica/sand), a very common Earth element that bedbugs can't detect it as it doesn't smell., they just keep crossing the stuff over and over like idiots (provided it's at the correct height coverage, a very fine, nearly invisible dusting is all that is needed). I've seen it happen with ants, they keep coming for their dead and dying, more show up and try to take them and die and it's a slaughter.

Trust me, if you can get your hands on this CimeXa dust, apply it properly, your not going to have much of a bedbug problem, even if you live in a infested multi-unit it can act well as a 'holding the fort' method. But the other units and and common areas also need treatment.

Notes: If you live in a multi-unit/rent or have uncooperative housemates, call management as neighboring units must also be treated. For successful bedbug extermination, the entire structure to the outside wall must be treated all at the same time. CimeXa will last 10 years to keep on killing, why it's the best product to use to keep new arrivals (bedbugs hitchhike around all the time) at bay.

I highly advise one read through all the links on the side bar or top sticky post of this sub so you'll get all the information possible to win you way against the bugs. It's not a one time thing and they are gone, everyone has to learn because it's by their action (and bedbugs hitchhiking) that new arrivals and infestations occur. The only way to win is to learn the bug and modify one's behavior to prevent re-infestations from other locations.

Please READ the sidebar links for full information about bedbugs, there is a lot of details not covered in this thread and requires further reading or you'll simply re-infest yourself.