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Isolating Bed - What did you put in the bowls
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TorontoBugged
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Joined: Aug '07
Posts: 147
Posted 2 years ago
Tue Sep 4 2007 15:22:20
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Just wondering what everyone used to put in the bowls underneath their bed legs.
Water vs. Mineral Oil
What is the benefits of using Mineral Oil?
From what I read it a petroleum product (as is Vaseline) so I would prefer not to have to buy/use this. And I would think that is also flammable.Has anyone found bb in the mineral oil or water bowls? Is this actually successfull?
Also if my bed frame/legs are made of solid pine wood, is putting them in water or mineral oil OK?
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buggeroff
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Joined: Jul '07
Posts: 180
Posted 2 years ago
Tue Sep 4 2007 22:05:45
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I used mineral oil because my bedframe is steel and I didn't want it to rust. I would think oil would be preferable to water for a wood bedframe for similar reasons. If you have a moral objection to mineral oil, corn oil would work too, but food oils will turn rancid in warm weather, so you would have to replace it from time to time. Also, I don't know if it would attract roaches (probably not an issue in a detached house) or ants (these can get into any building). Mineral oil might be flammable, but I didn't see a warning on the bottle of it I bought.
I have not found any BBs in the oil, though I've found miscellaneous other bugs there. I also have double-sided carpet tape around the outside of the bowls abnd the occasional bug gets stuck there, too. I regard the absence of BBs in the oil as a good sign. I don't want to trap bugs - I want them not to be in my house.
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Jessinchicago always used Tea Tree oil which had the advantage of both being an oil and being an oil bed bugs don't like.
I would not say it is a repellent, as some claim, since I don't think it is that strong. But they don't like it and as I understood it, Jess was happy to make them more miserable. ;-)
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TorontoBugged
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Joined: Aug '07
Posts: 147
Posted 2 years ago
Wed Sep 5 2007 17:37:27
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Thanks you two for the advice. I just re-thought putting wooden bedframe legs into any liquid. It just won't work. I think I will put maybe just put a layer of DE on the bottom of the bowls.
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nyjammin
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Joined: Apr '07
Posts: 664
Posted 2 years ago
Wed Sep 5 2007 17:42:10
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Toronto, try Murphy's Oil Soap, dilute it first like 3x water to 1x Murphy's. Murphy's kills bb's and it's also great for wood. I dunno if it'll damage the legs if the Murphy's is left on for a long period of time though. Maybe you can test a piece of spare wood and put that in the diluted Murphy's and see how that goes to see if it'll hold up.
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TorontoBugged
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Joined: Aug '07
Posts: 147
Posted 2 years ago
Wed Sep 5 2007 17:47:40
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Thanks NY. I'll experiment and see how strong the smell gets.
The smell of Murphy's is pretty strong and my mom already told me the upstairs smelled bad when I applied it full concentrated with a cloth to the wood floor under my desk.Is that the concentration to use in order to kill the BB? 3 to 1? I guess I was using too high a concentration hence the smell.
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nyjammin
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Joined: Apr '07
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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Sep 5 2007 18:48:32
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Wow, full strength! When I wash my floors with diluted Murphy's the smell lasts for days. I could just imagine your house smelling like a Murphy's Oil soap factory :) lol. Anyways, if 3 to 1 to still too strong, you could try for 4 to 1. Don't make it too weak, though. I didn't think of the smell when I was thinking of that idea. Sure, see if you could do an experiment and see how it goes.
I just thought of another idea. If you prefer the mineral oil instead, maybe you could get some sorta plastic bag, not too big or too small. Make sure it has no holes in it so it wouldn't ruin your bedlegs. Put the bedlegs in the plastic bags like you would put a stick in a bag. Take out most of the air and wrap the plastic around the leg and put a rubberband towards the top of the bag to hold the bag in place. Now the bedlegs are protected by plastic and then you could put the legs in the bowls of mineral oil, etc. I just thought of this and never tried this so I don't know if this'll work. I dunno if the mineral oil would make holes in the bags or make the plastic bags weak eventually to seap onto the bedlegs. Or maybe you could use a string instead of a rubberband because I think that the rubberband, over time, becomes old and just snaps and is not rubbery anymore. Also, w/the rubberband, how would you replace it? You would hafta take the bedlegs outta the bowls and, well, it sounds like too much trouble. I would go for the string instead.
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bugsbite
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Joined: Aug '07
Posts: 60
Posted 2 years ago
Wed Sep 5 2007 19:09:59
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Please be careful if anyone uses Tea Tree Oil and has cats - it can be toxic to them.
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TorontoBugged
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Posts: 147
Posted 2 years ago
Wed Sep 5 2007 19:59:19
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NY, LOL. Yeah I guess the scent du jour will be Murphy Oil soap for a while. I don't mind the smell actually but I don't want the bed to disentegrate on me one day.
The plastic bag idea is good too but it sounds like a lot of work. I'm thinking that the plastic would dissolve At some point as well. I think I'll just hope that they can't scale the steel bowl walls.
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nyjammin
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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Sep 6 2007 19:27:47
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Ok. Maybe de in the bed risers instead of murphy's or any of the oils? You can also dust your bedlegs and bedframe w/de into the cracks on top of that. Then let them climb the metal bowls and into their measly little deaths by swimming in de.
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TorontoBugged
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Joined: Aug '07
Posts: 147
Posted 2 years ago
Fri Sep 7 2007 13:46:37
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I think I'm going to stick to the DE in a bowl. Sounds yummy for us but not for BB!
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Marrowneress
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Joined: Sep '09
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Posted 1 month ago
Wed Sep 23 2009 23:41:11
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I actually have a metal bed frame. Lysol 4 in 1 in bowls would work.. I know when you spray them with it they go down almost instantly. So I imagine it would be the same affect! Happy Killing!
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