bedbugs

[Allan Adler]

I realize that discarded electronics found on the street can be useful,
if only for parts. However, I was told recently that there seems to
be a resurgence of bedbugs in the US and that one of the places they
can turn up is in discarded stuff found on the street. So, I'm wondering
how one might deal with this problem, e.g. is there a way to kill all
life inside the electronics before bringing it into the home? One thing
that occurred to me was to put the found object in a plastic garbage
bag and open some kind of spray can or cartridge of some sort, and leave
the bag sealed for 24 hours before opening it. I don't know if that would
work on bedbugs, nor what to use. Moreover, even if it kills the bedbugs,
they might already have laid eggs and the eggs might not be killed by
this procedure.

Does one have to abandon scavenging for discarded electronics?
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler <ara@zurich.csail.mit.edu>
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My actions and
* comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near Boston.

 

[Kevin Kilzer]

On 07 Oct 2004 16:04:03 -0400, Allan Adler <ara@nestle.csail.mit.edu>
wrote:

I realize that discarded electronics found on the street can be useful,
if only for parts. However, I was told recently that there seems to
be a resurgence of bedbugs in the US and that one of the places they
can turn up is in discarded stuff found on the street.

What would they eat?

A neighbor once gave me an oak dresser, telling me that it was full of
roach eggs. She was moving out because of the "roach problem" and
refused to take the dresser with her. I locked it in the back of my
truck for 3 months. When I took it out and looked more closely, I
found that all the "egg sacks" were drips of varnish from a previous
owner!

It is really a nice dresser.

Kevin

 

[Allan Adler]

Kevin Kilzer <kkilzer.remove.this@mindspring.com> writes:

I realize that discarded electronics found on the street can be useful,
if only for parts. However, I was told recently that there seems to
be a resurgence of bedbugs in the US and that one of the places they
can turn up is in discarded stuff found on the street.

What would they eat?

Like the characters in Soylent Green, they eat people, or rather nibble
on them. I think they like blood. I'll readily admit there are no people
inside the discarded radio, except possibly for the little man inside who
makes the dial light up and who is occasionally asked to perform as a one-man
band, but I was told that bedbugs can survive on only one meal a year.
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler <ara@zurich.csail.mit.edu>
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My actions and
* comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near Boston.

 

[E. Rosten]

Kevin Kilzer wrote:

On 07 Oct 2004 16:04:03 -0400, Allan Adler <ara@nestle.csail.mit.edu
wrote:


I realize that discarded electronics found on the street can be useful,
if only for parts. However, I was told recently that there seems to
be a resurgence of bedbugs in the US and that one of the places they
can turn up is in discarded stuff found on the street.


What would they eat?

Nothing.

Bedbugs can survive for very long periods without food.

-Ed



--
(You can't go wrong with psycho-rats.) (er258)(@)(eng.cam)(.ac.uk)

/d{def}def/f{/Times findfont s scalefont setfont}d/s{10}d/r{roll}d f 5/m
{moveto}d -1 r 230 350 m 0 1 179{1 index show 88 rotate 4 mul 0 rmoveto}
for /s 15 d f pop 240 420 m 0 1 3 { 4 2 1 r sub -1 r show } for showpage

 

[Clarence]

"Allan Adler" <ara@nestle.csail.mit.edu> wrote in message
news:y934ql6b8i4.fsf@nestle.csail.mit.edu...

I realize that discarded electronics found on the street can be useful,
if only for parts. However, I was told recently that there seems to
be a resurgence of bedbugs in the US and that one of the places they
can turn up is in discarded stuff found on the street. So, I'm wondering
how one might deal with this problem, e.g. is there a way to kill all
life inside the electronics before bringing it into the home? One thing
that occurred to me was to put the found object in a plastic garbage
bag and open some kind of spray can or cartridge of some sort, and leave
the bag sealed for 24 hours before opening it. I don't know if that would
work on bedbugs, nor what to use. Moreover, even if it kills the bedbugs,
they might already have laid eggs and the eggs might not be killed by
this procedure.

Does one have to abandon scavenging for discarded electronics?
--

Is one of your legs longer than the other?
Someone has been pulling on one of them.