I think my kid's camp bedding got bedbugs last summer. If I wash it, is it ok?

[Anonymous]

I only read the header but why didn't you light it on fire last year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I only read the header but why didn't you light it on fire last year?

Why would I do that? There were no signs of bugs at all when I washed them and put them in the bin.

[Anonymous]

OP here
I've been googling "basement insects" and I'm wondering if they could possibly be termites? It looks like termite bodies are longer (instead of round like the bedbugs) which is what these bugs look like. Since they are dead, I don't know if they've shriveled or something that have changed their body shape.

[Anonymous]

Op here
The color and body shape look more similar to the "Dealate Reproductive" stage in this illustration.

[Anonymous]

OP I’m pretty laid back about this sort of thing, but if you’re not sure of the bug idea just run to target. It’s not worth it.

[Anonymous]

OP I would burn the house down trying to get rid of that stuff are you kidding?

Dump it all and buy new, so not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Could they be some kind of carpet bug?

[Anonymous]

Set it all on 🔥
Spray the bin with alcohol (70%)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh my god toss it all and the bin

this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How tiny?

The bedbugs are actually not that tiny, about the size of an apple seed. If all you are seeing are tiny little things, those are likely some other pest.

These are probably smaller than an apple seed, but not much. Also, when I google photos of bedbugs, the pictures show bugs that are more round-shaped than what I am seeing. The bugs I have seeing are more elongated, and a grey-ish brown...whereas the bed bug photos I see look more reddish brown.

They get their color from the blood they suck. When new, they are white/grey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How tiny?

The bedbugs are actually not that tiny, about the size of an apple seed. If all you are seeing are tiny little things, those are likely some other pest.

These are probably smaller than an apple seed, but not much. Also, when I google photos of bedbugs, the pictures show bugs that are more round-shaped than what I am seeing. The bugs I have seeing are more elongated, and a grey-ish brown...whereas the bed bug photos I see look more reddish brown.

They get their color from the blood they suck. When new, they are white/grey.

OP here.
Thanks. Yeah, if they've been in a bin for a year, they haven't had any blood to suck.
I'm going to trash it all just to be safe. I'll send him to the camp with just sheets and no mattress pad, because the pad seems like there are more layers for gross things to get imbedded/hide.

[Anonymous]

Short version:

Long version:

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last summer my high school kid went to a 1 week academic based camp at a university, and the students were housed in dorm rooms. He brought his own bedding, including a mattress pad. After he got back I washed it, put it in a large plastic bin with a lid, and stored it in the basement.

He'll be going to a similar thing next week so I just got the bin out of the basement, and noticed a bunch (dozens) of little brown things all over the mattress pad. I'm pretty sure they are dead bugs! I tried taking photos but I can't really get a good enough pic--they just look like tiny brown lumps. They are definitely not alive.

I have the mattress pad in the washer on hot right now...since they are obviously dead, will the mattress pad be ok? Or should I just trash it? The sheets were stored in the same bin and at first I didn't see anything on the sheets...but as I've unfolded them, I'm finding some. I guess I have the same question about the sheets--if I was on hot, and these bugs are obviously no longer alive--the sheets are ok?

I'm surprised to find these, because at last summer's camp he was the only student in his room, no roommate. The dorm mattresses are those kind that a lot of dorms use--with a blue rubber-like outside... not like regular home mattresses.

Did the bus just suffocate in the sealed bin? Die of starvation? It's been about a year since I first put them in the bin (and didn't open the bin until just a few minutes ago) so there's no chance of any live ones still hanging out in there, right? The bin was in an unfinished basement storage room, stacked on top of/underneath other bins (mostly Christmas decorations) and we haven't seen any other signs of bed bugs in our house at all.

Ugh, now I feel itchy all over.

Bed bugs can live an entire year without any blood or dead skin cells.
They do not die of starvation. They only die if exposed to direct heat of something like 150 degrees for an extended amount of time. They don’t just die.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just reread your post. Get rid of your sheets as well. You dryer might not be hot enough to kill everything.

Bedbugs can live for a year or two without feeding! Unlike lice, which die faster if they don't feed.

No they can't. Seven months is the outside time.

I doubt they are bedbugs and even if they were, they are dead now.

You’re incorrect. Bedbugs can live a year or longer dormant.

[Anonymous]

“Bed bugs can go without feeding for 20 to 400 days, depending on temperature and humidity. Older stages of nymphs can survive longer without feeding than younger ones, and adults have survived without food for more than 400 days in the laboratory at low temperatures.”

https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7454.html