Records and Bed Bugs
RAJ
tenacious local 7,782 Posts
So my wife's cousin has bed bugs and the exterminator said they most likely got them from bringing in old records.
Does any one have any vinyl / bed bug stories or can vouch for the validity of this?
Does any one have any vinyl / bed bug stories or can vouch for the validity of this?
Comments
joking!
I've never heard of bed bugs traveling via records, and I did some research back during the Great Bed Bug Scare in NYC (2005 - present?). I guess theoretically they could get into the record covers and whatnot, but since they feed on people they tend to live by their hosts, so usually bed, clothes and furniture you sit on.
to bring them in via records seems like a real stretch, unless he recently scored a collection from some mangy person who slept on top of his collection. Probably picked them up from visiting a place that was infested (like a crappy hotel or shady whorehouse), or they could've come over from his neighbors depending on where he lives, or via house guests.
I guess there is the chance if records have been store somewhere that was infested like in a garage. Look inside the record covers for any small black dots. That's a sign...
I had a problem years ago when a roommate took a couch from someone who was storing it in the garage (I never except used shit from anyone now unless it's been thoroughly inspected). Now anywhere I travel I always look at the wood (And any mattresses) in a room for small black dots. Once came across it while in Japan and broke the fuck out.
Shit will look like this
Possible, but unlikely I would say.
1. Rent exterminator costume
2. Go door-to-door with a concerned demeanor
3. Stack raer!
!!!
FAKE FIND
I had a scare in my apartment a couple months back (turned out to be a dead German Cockroach) the exterminator was really informative. Basically, the only time you should ever worry about bed bugs in records is if they're stored next to a bed for a long time (see above, maybe). Bed bugs are attracted to your sleeptime exhalations, they can smell it from far away. They wait until you are asleep, and do not generally move around in the light. If you were to bring one in on your shoe, or bag, or what have you, it would travel the length of your place until it found the bed, sometimes taking weeks. Singular minded and smart little bastards. All of which is to say, they are not just going to be hiding out in some records. They are really about that bed life. They don't eat or live in cardboard (like some other household pests).
while very much a true statement, I regrettably can inform people that in many instances they do not live in beds at all. Depending on where your bed is located in the room, they can live very comfortably near the bed and do all their harm at night, without any signs of actually living in the bed.
I unfortunately can attest to the fact that exposed brick (and the various crevices that exist in walls) is a popular hangout for these bastards. Also, bed boards and other furniture near your bed is another place they enjoy to stay.
lastly - sleep tight in knowing that these bastards can live for up to 12-18months without feeding on you. So even when you think you solved a problem (and spent $ thousands trying to do so), they can just as easily chill out for a year and come back to haunt you again.
very good idea to be vigilant in looking out before you score a bunch of records from a place that might have bed bugs. I'd gladly pass up a Skull Snaps if it meant not having to live with the plight of these bugs - not worth it.
are you saying they only come out at night
the lean and hungry type?
Really though, I am about to move. And my records have been stored in a former, empty barn hey loft. This has me thinking I should quarantine them before letting back inside. Yikes
You really don't have to worry about bed bugs if they were in an unoccupied hay loft. Now black widow spiders...
even more dangerous is if those black widows mate with an aggressive new species of spider brought over from the tropics inside the coffin of your old entomologist neighbor.
that's right, I didn't mean to say that they're only in beds - just that they're gonna be in that neighborhood. They're not gonna go hang out in the record room.
Then you are not a true fiend! :zooted:
Yea, for real!
Be careful out there...
Not to flex my knowledge of Arachnophobia but the local dude who led to the small-town spider infestation was actually a photographer hired by the entomologist.
ha! I actually have very vague memories of that movie, at the time it scared the shit out of me. I had gone to see it after a glowing review from my cousin who had seen it and said he couldn't sleep for days afterwards. I watched the trailer on youtube recently though, that movie is straight up comical. I'd probably enjoy watching it again.
speaking of nerd alert, I still recall that in response to the "fear" that this movie had on folks, scientist/entomologist had to ensure persons that the concept of such a jungle spider mating with a "normal" spider was akin to an elephant having sex with a poodle. -- I have no idea why that bit of useless knowledge has stayed with me over these years.
You know, as an 11-year-old I was pretty shaken up, and can still hear that the queen spider's screams after Jeff Daniel's Macgyvered a blow torch with some of the wine in his collection. That said, the science in the film seemed drum tight!
I remember my brain fighting with itself, between being terrified of the spider and thinking "spiders can't scream!"