Getting rid of bed bugs from a semi truck sleeper berth

Totally! Party on Garth!

 

Holy S!
Because I'm on mobile (mostly) I didn't realize you were from Augusta. Small Maine.

 

Lol small Maine big city

 

I got the bigger one........ the BIGGEST one.

 

I had an infestation of bedbugs in a company truck several years ago. I started with over the counter insecticides with no effect. The company's solution was to put me in a room for 24 hours while they put a heavy duty ozone generator in the truck. I think it killed some of the live ones but a week later eggs hatched and they were back in full force.

I did a little (actually a lot) of internet research and developed a two prong attack: I stopped at a Lowe's home improvement store and found food grade diatomaceous earth (DE) in the garden department. I sprinkled the white powder liberally on both sides of the mattress and in all the nooks and crannies where the buggers were hiding.

On a microscopic level, the crystals of DE lodge between the chitin plates in their exoskeleton and the insects die (slowly) from dehydration. DE is non-toxic and environmentally benign, but when its all over you'll be vacuuming your cab for a while.

The second attack was thermal. Bedbugs are intolerant of hot temperatures, and prolonged exposure to temps in excess of 120 F degrees will kill them. I purchased one of those big dial outdoor thermometers for about ten bucks. I then parked the truck in a truck stop in Bakersfield CA on a hot day (abt. 100F). I parked facing the sun, rolled up the windows, set the idle and turned on the heater full blast. I had the big thermometer set up on the dash where I could read it from the outside. Then I went in the truck stop to cool off. After about an hour I checked the temp and it was up to 130 F. I let this continue for 2 or 3 hours.

No more bedbugs!

 

The challenge is they hide in crevices as thin as a credit card and adults can go dormant for up to a year. Eggs are tiny and white, very hard to see. Bugs can climb and eggs can be stuck on all except slick surfaces like glass, smooth plastic, metal. But they can climb a painted wall or textured plastic. They don't jump or fly, but can scurry fast or burrow deep when disturbed. Heat kills bugs and eggs in 5 seconds at 120 - 130 degrees = 40 min in a dryer on high heat, so it penetrates clothes and bedding, including pillows. A heat gun is NOT safe - will damage / ignite plastic and synthetic fabric. Use a steam cleaner (look online for the ones made for bugs) on mattress and seats. Move 1 foot / second, from top to bottom - so if any flee, they will drop where you can see them. A truck in the hot sun on a hot day will get up air to 140 degrees in an hour, but not reach where all the bugs are. You can hire an exterminator to heat the space for several hours at 140 degrees. Killing live bugs is easy with a alcohol in a spray bottle, so go hunting with a flashlight and kill what you find. Then vacuum real good, esp. every crack and crevice. Do this and heat bedding weekly for at least 3 to 4 months. Seriously. Check daily for new bites. Look for new black or rusty dots (poop) or light brown casing (molted shells) when you clean. Get a bed bug proof mattress cover so they can't infest inside the mattress. Any that are already in it will be trapped and starve in a few months to 1 year. Pesticides to toxic too sleep, eat or sit with all day, they only last 2 weeks and don't kill eggs. However, the bugs will die in a few days by drying out if they walk through either diatomaceous earth (DE) powder or silica powder (Cimexa). DE is less effective, but the food grade version is cheap and safe enough to eat. Cimexa is non-toxic, but irritates lungs. Can be safe if you are careful to apply it where it won't be blown around and you don't breathe it when applying. Get a puffer tool (look online for DIY bed bug stuff) and apply a SMALL amount of dust in every single crack and crevice. A very light dusting you can hardly see works great. If you can see the dust, it is not effective.The bugs will not walk through a thick pile, so it's a waste. One treatment lasts for years, unless you vacuum it up. The dust will eventually kill the adult stragglers and newly hatched bugs over many weeks / months. When you have been free of bites and saw no bugs, new poop or castings for 3 months, you are probably free of them.