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Your story includes many strange details and poor choices.

The one time I encountered bedbugs was also a cheap ass motel. Wtf was I thinking? Never again.

At least I don't ever have to worry if there is an infestation. I'll know. Some people apparently don't get the red welts?

Fucking bed bugs, indeed. I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy except maybe Putin.

They literally cost our entire Spring in tearing our house apart to address them. So much shit moved, tossed out, cleaned, then cleaned again... No idea where they even came from.

At one point our neighbors self treated their bed bugs and it spread throughout the apartment complex and into our unit. In any case, the dog that came to our unit was a beagle. And it made my day in that shitty situation. It was adorable.

At the very least, treat your bed frame and headboard. Remove any skirts around your bed so the only place the bedbugs can access your bed is the treated surfaces. When you do get them it will slow them down significantly. My best advice to prevent them is to avoid using public coat racks at places like work. Edit: also if you thrift clothes or go to yard sales, keep that stuff in a plastic bag that’s tied shut until you can clean it/inspect it

Check the straps of those portable luggage stands first those. They are a favorite location of bed bugs since the don't often get treated. Unroll the straps a little bit to check underneath them next to the tubes.

I don't know if they can adapt to resist diatomaceous earth in any way? It's one of the more common treatments and it just slices them up.

They already have evolved resistance to the chemicals we use to kill them, hence the resurgence.

Edit: from todays Morningbrew:

It’s possible that France really is suffering from a bedbug epidemic. The critters have been making a comeback globally in recent decades after being nearly eradicated in the 1950s using pesticides. Bedbugs have since developed a resistance to these chemicals, and high levels of international travel also haven’t helped.

However, French exterminators are saying that the public might be overreacting.

The creator of the pest control website badbugs.fr told the BBC that 75% of bedbug inquiries his company receives are false alarms. Normandy-based pest controller Romain Morzaderc explained to the Ouest-France newspaper that in 99% of cases, other “nasty black insects” get mistaken for bedbugs.

i think it shows a healthy sense of humility to admit that even the bedbug could unravel this mess at this point

I think this isn’t far-fetched with climate wtfery.

Well, their food chain is us and honestly we're doing a pretty good job of destroying it already.

Yup. Had em 3-4x in this very apartment. First day we discovered them I was hauling my box spring the fuck outside and dumping it by the trash downstairs at 3am while my wife was panicking.

Thankfully been several years since I've seen em and I aim to keep it that way.

The first time it happened, I remember killing everything with fire. I even slept on a plastic covered mattress and did daily vacuuming for like two months. Even worse, the bug bites caused my cat to be extra irritated, forcing him to clean himself nonstop from all the bites and having us lock him out of the bedroom else he go through another "obsessive bite cycle".

It was near impossible since the neighbors didn't care and solved it by moving.

I don't recommend it at all.

Plenty of war around too..