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How easy is it to infest one's car?
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BuggedInSomerville
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Aug 10 2009 9:56:37
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Hey all,
I discovered on Friday (8/7) that my apartment has bedbugs. I have no idea of the size of the infestation; all I know is that my box spring had two "nests" or "colonies" visible from the exterior, and by that I mean there were two areas on the box that had clusters of waste marks, shedded shells, and eggs. SO FAR (and this is a big knock-on-wood statement), there have been no bugs in any other rooms in my apartment - none in my roommate's room just behind my wall (again, big knock on wood), none in my living room or kitchen...
Anyway, it looks as though I had the critters for a while before discovering them, perhaps a few weeks. I'm not sure whether they got into my clothes, but in any event, how easy is it to transfer them (even just one) to the car? I drive my car about every other day. Since Friday, I've been wearing fresh clothes when entering and changing out of them when leaving my car, and I've done a few quick inspections (under seats, etc.) and haven't found any waste marks, eggs, shells, or live bugs. I'm planning to get it Vikaned for peace-of-mind, but basically, does anyone have any info on how car infestations work, or how hard/easy it is to start a car infestation?
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DragonFlight
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Aug 10 2009 11:03:31
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You mention, if you brought them home. What about your roommate ? I always caution about this, having a roommate can lead to bringing any kind of insect home, most commonly roaches and also bed bugs. I never suggest getting a roommate because even putting bugs aside it can lead to your belongings being stolen, and other uninvited problems. If you have a colony, they can transfer fairly easy, there flat. I remember a story told to me by a employee at a store he had one hiding under his shirt collar and upon combing his hair it came out running near his shoulder, needless to say he didn't bring bed bugs home just that one hitch hiker but he found out that his friend whom he just visited had a colony within his couch. When you see one, you get paranoid because you don't know if it's just a lone ranger.
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BuggedInSomerville
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Aug 10 2009 11:25:05
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No, I'm not wondering if I brought them home or not; I know they're in my home, and my exterminator said many houses on my street have had recent bedbug problems, so I'm guessing that's a piece of the puzzle. I love my roommate and would be devastated if the problem spreads into his room; I'm waiting to meet with a PCO this afternoon to investigate. But my original question is: if I know I had bugs in my room, how easy is it to transfer them to my car if I use my car after work roughly every other day?
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buggyinsocal
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Joined: Jun '08
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Aug 10 2009 11:58:11
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It's hard to give anyone an iron-clad guarantee about much of anything when it comes to bed bugs. After all, what you do with your backpack or bag when you come home is very different from what I do.
I can tell you that I had bed bugs for at least a month and a half before I realized it. I found out when I saw bugs crawling across the bed in the middle of the day.
I live in the Los Angeles metro area now (although I did live in Somerville for a few years, unless you're not in Massachusetts, so hi!), which means I drive just about everywhere, which means daily driving, sometimes multiple trips.
I never got bed bugs in my car.
Is it possible? Sure. Is it likely? No.
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BuggedInSomerville
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Aug 10 2009 13:23:06
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Yay Buggyinsocal, that's very encouraging. Sounds like we had (have) similar infestations - I didn't notice mine until I saw a bug crawling across my comforter at 8 in the morning. I'm guessing I've had the critters for about a month, based on what the box spring looked like. Ewww.
If you don't mind: How did you treat yours? What steps did you take?
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Emmm
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Aug 10 2009 14:02:31
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DragonFlight - 2 hours ago »
You mention, if you brought them home. What about your roommate ? I always caution about this, having a roommate can lead to bringing any kind of insect home, most commonly roaches and also bed bugs. I never suggest getting a roommate because even putting bugs aside it can lead to your belongings being stolen, and other uninvited problems. If you have a colony, they can transfer fairly easy, there flat. I remember a story told to me by a employee at a store he had one hiding under his shirt collar and upon combing his hair it came out running near his shoulder, needless to say he didn't bring bed bugs home just that one hitch hiker but he found out that his friend whom he just visited had a colony within his couch. When you see one, you get paranoid because you don't know if it's just a lone ranger.I dont think I could have gotten through my infestation without my roommate.
Dragonflight, are you a professional? Because if my memory serves me, you're not. So why you'd give such strange and arbitrary advice is beyond me...
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DragonFlight
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Posted 3 years ago
Tue Aug 11 2009 8:12:16
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No, I'm not a professional. I don't know what is so strange about some things I mention it's more common sense. You believe that a roommate can't bring bugs home even the most common one, roaches ??
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BuggyinLA
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Joined: Nov '09
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Posted 3 years ago
Thu Nov 12 2009 6:04:45
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For what it's worth, and I know this won't sound like good news... we had our infestation for about 1-2 months (I think) before we figured it out.
Fast forward in time.
BOTH family cars are infested, including one that is only driven twice a week to re-park it for street sweeping.
How did this happen? I have no idea. How to isolate them and not drive in L.A.? I have no idea.
But moving away from my cluelessness... yes, it is possible to infest a car. I'm told it's not easy, but from my perspective, it seems like we had a VERY easy time infesting ours.
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shaye
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Joined: Oct '09
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Posted 3 years ago
Fri Nov 13 2009 15:01:26
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I too am in that category! Our infestation was only around a month or so based on bites and amount of bugs found, however my truck has them in it! I had figured they came from my mothers things since I transported her laundry to do for her, however now I'm not so sure. Our truck sat all summer, rarely ever driven, windows up...and it got hot this summer. From what I have read on this site, if they had came from my mothers things they would have died off in that heat wave of a truck this summer (wasn't driven but maybe once every two weeks) yet they are there! Now my mom on the other hand had an infested apt bldg to the point that they guy across from hers was forced to have his things hauled off and burned! But my moms truck had nobugs in hers. Guess it really just varies from case to case
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