No, and I hope I never do! I can't imagine anything creepier. Before we went on a recent out of state trip I did some research about them to try to educate myself about what they look like and how to recognize them if they are in a hotel room, etc. There's a website dedicated to reporting the locations in the US and Canada that have been known to be infested with them: www.bedbugregistry.com

The info that I have seen to prevent them is to run every piece of clothing you bring into your house through the dryer. That includes new clothing, and your own clothing brought back home in your suitcase. Evidently heat is the one sure thing that gets rid of them.

It's not just clothing. The also hide in furniture, picture frames, etc. - stuff you can't put in the dryer.

Somebody is going to get rich if they come up with an easy (and safe) way to exterminate them.

I can't tell you how to recognise them or how to treat your home for them but I was almost eaten alive by those little blighters in a top hotel in Cairo, Egypt!
I thought I was being bitten by mosquitos as it was very hot and I was tossing and turning and seemed to be slapping at my legs all night. I woke up with red bite marks in almost straight lines down both my legs. At breakfast the next morning someone in our group said it was probably bed bugs! Eewwww .... how gross! I'd never even heard of them back then. But it would explain why I didn't hear the tell tale "ZZZzzzzzz" noise that mozzies make!
Makes my skin crawl just to think about it!

Yes, it sure sounds gross and almost inevitable, if we believe the reports. I mean - how can you possibly keep from bringing them in if they're everywhere you go (at work, stores, etc.)? If they are, in fact, as rampant as said, surely someone here must've experienced them in their homes....although I hope not for your sake!

At least it's not considered that an area has to be dirty, poor, or unkempt now. But yuck.

It is said that you should not put your suitcases on the bed or furniture..........I don't know how that helps since even the floor seems to be a bad spot for them since they migrate. I have never seen one but I always check out mattress cover very carefully for signs of any thing that isn't supposed to be there. I read that you should check for black specks.......

Here is a link that might be useful: Bed Bug Registry

Thankfully, no... haven't had to deal with them.

No, and we travel quite a bit. I do inspect each room we stay in by looking closely at the mattress--don't know how much good that does but we have been fortunate. I don't think I would visit NYC at this time due to the infestation, though.

You put your suitcase in the tub. They can't crawl on a surface like that.

Yes you can see the adult bedbugs. But how you usually can find them is by looking in seams in your mattress or if you have wooden bedframes, and you will see brown spots or streaks (their excrement). Unless you have a really bad case, you won't always be able to find an actual bug, especially during the day when they are hiding out.

There are different ways to kill them but since my work has been dealing with them a lot (low income housing for homeless folks), our maintenance staff now takes care of it themselves rather than hiring people. They often use Diatomaceous earth and some sort of oil, I think Cedar Oil to treat for the bedbugs. It isn't a one time treatment....it happens weekly for weeks, and on treatment day, every thing in the room (bedding, clothing, etc) that has been exposed must be laundered. It's a huge pain.

Here's some info from my work's "bedbug info page":

Description
A mature bed bug is an oval-bodied insect, brown to red-brown in color, wingless and flattened top to bottom. Unfed bugs are 1/4 to 3/8 inch long and the upper surface of the body has a crinkled appearance. A bug that has recently fed is engorged with blood, dull red in color, and the body is elongated and swollen. Eggs are white and are about 1/32 inch long. Newly hatched bugs are nearly colorless.
Life Cycle
Bed bugs undergo a gradual metamorphosis (change in form) and the young resemble the adult. The young are called nymphs. Under ideal conditions bugs feed regularly when temperatures are above 70ð F. Eggs are deposited in batches of from 10 to 50 in crevices of bed frames, floors, walls and similar household sites. When fresh, the eggs are coated with a sticky substance that causes them to adhere to any object on which they are deposited. Eggs are not deposited at temperatures lower than 50ð F. Eggs hatch in 6 to 17 days but may take as long as 28 days in cooler temperatures. The nymphs begin to feed as soon as they can locate a host. They molt 5 times before reaching maturity and the nymphal period lasts about 6 weeks. There may be up to three generations per year in our climate.
Bed bugs feed for a period of 3 to 5 minutes, after which they are engorged and drop off the host. They crawl into a hiding place and remain there for several days digesting the meal. When hungry again, they emerge from the hiding place and search for a host. If no food is available, the new nymphs may live for several weeks in warm weather, or several months in cool weather. Older bugs may go for 2 months or longer without food.

I just became infected. I had to remove all my clothes from my bedroom and bag them and put them on the balcony. (Not sure even if they are in plastic bags if I will loose belongings because of rain or snow etc) They put special covers on the mattress and the boxsprings and then they said they sprayed. I had to leave the apt (low income housing) for 3 hours. I am 70 years old and can't deal with this. I want to just move to a new place but am in fear of taking them with me. I have not been able to eat or sleep since this started. Just sick. No one wants this to happen to them. I have no idea where they came from but management tells me they can come from another apartment. So this will never go away it seems. Now how do I go forward?

Also when I came home on the news there was a report that one of the local schools are infested. Unbelievable!!!!!!

I've never had to deal with bedbugs, but I have seen them. I was surprised that they were larger than I would have thought. The adults were about the size of a kitchen match head and they look sort of flat. I don't know about the juveniles. I would wash all my clothes in hot water and dry them in a dryer. Then bag them up and keep them bagged until you get rid of them.

I've never had them but know that thrift stores, goodwill ect have outbreaks. Than their taken home on clothing, bedding and furniture. All textiles bought in thrift stores should be treated before entering the home.

Check your around and under you bedframe and night stands as they will hide there also.

I wish you good luck.

I have never had them either,but a really good lady friend said years ago about bugs in general..."it is not a disgrace to get them-its' a disgrace to keep them."

People bring them inside our hospital all the time, I'm sure into other hospitals too. First thing I look at is the mattress and sheets in a hotel.

I hate to even admit it but I had visitors who brought them into my previous home. When they left, they left the bugs for me... I actually read up on them and used 20 Mule Team borax, the laundry powder, sprinkled liberally all around the rooms, around the bed legs and on top of the bare mattresses. I went through a couple of boxes all over the house 2200 sf. Curiously, they were upstairs only, saw no evidence of any downstairs. Anyway I was free of them in about a month or so. It has something about them having a soft belly and when they crawl through it the shards of the borax pierce the belly and they desiccate. ( die) The diatomaceous earth desiccates them as well but I had trouble finding that. The 20 Mule Team is more easily found.

Also, if you are in cold areas, set what is infested out in the below freezing temps for a few days. That is supposed to kill them, too. I didn't do that since I was contending with them when it was summertime. I have heard it works but not experienced it.

I had a close call. I sat in a massage chair at work and was bitten. When I got home I stripped off my clothes, put them straight into the laundry, and showered. No sign of them for a few days but then one morning I woke up with a cluster of bites on my arm. I upended the mattress and fortunately spotted one in the mattress seam-- killed it, stripped the bed and washed all the linen, then, since I had Boraxo in the house, I dusted the bedframe, mattress seam, and floor, even took off the outlet cover and dusted inside with that. The next chance I had I went to Lowe's and bought diatomaceous earth (since I read that it is really the only truly effective substance), but, have never used it since I've had no more problem -- I think it was just the one bug that I carried home, and I got it before it multiplied.

My mistake was in going to my room to strip, and maybe I sat on the bed to take off my shoes and socks. But, if I had stopped elsewhere in the house, I might never have found and stopped the infestation before it was out of control.

If it ever happens again (that I suspect I might have picked one up somewhere) the clothes are coming off outside, and I will spread the D.E. immediately.

I had always thought that they would be hard to see, but this one wasn't -- it was just under the size of a matchhead, brownish, and easy to pick off the mattress.

One effective method to kill bedbugs is heat. Over 120 F. I do not know how much time is required. Heat kills all phases of the bug including the eggs.

We stayed on Cape Cod several years ago in a small vacation house. There was some confusion about when we were going to arrive, and the previous guests were still there. We called around and since it was Saturday nothing on the Cape had any vacancies. The local property manager who was the sister of the owners graciously let us stay in her guest room for the one night of overlap, and that night I woke up several time after feeling something crawling on me, and at one point actually found something crawling on me. I didn't know what it was, but I had extremely itchy bites and have since guessed that they were probably bedbugs.

We use food grade DE all around our home. It kills a host of nasties. Fleas, ants, ticks, and we haven't seen any scorpions since using DE. Food grade is safe around pets and children, so that's why we prefer it over pool grade..

I seen mention somewhere about using borax around the bed area, but pet owners should know its toxic to pets.

Thanks for all your responses. It helps. Now since my infestation on the local news an elementary school has been infested and also a library. My main reason for asking about the infestation is my bed. Will it be safe to sleep on it again. Just the thought of it is making me ill but I can't afford to throw it out and what if I did and bought a new mattress and they return. The mattress has a special cover the exterminator put on and I was told not to remove it. The thought of knowing they are inside and and putting fresh linen on it does not sit well. I'm not young so having to go through everything in my apartment would be/is hard work. The library said they found them in pages of books. I feel it's not the visible but the unseen which is more scarier to me.

Also I feel management and the exterminator don't do a thorough enough job of preventing.

I remember reading that a NYC skyscraper was infested. It was either a law firm or a brokerage firm that started it. Employees would come to the office after a business trip and a stay in an infested hotel and bring their luggage with them to finish out the business day before going home. Badly infested offices resulted..

The only thing to do with bed bugs was I visited this friend a zillion years ago and she had gotten this pull out couch from someone upstairs in her building and I told her when I slept there was bed bugs in it and she didn't believe me, couldn't be and I was getting bitten galore on my legs, not pleasant at all and then I left and she wrote me to let me know you were right bed bugs in it. I told you there was.

Its not a pleasant thing to go through at all, that is the only thing I went through with bed bugs and hope never will again.

we went to a wedding in huntsville, alabama last october and stayed in a high in hotel downtown and i got bedbugs bites, only two, but they were extremely itchy fortunately dh didn't get any i came home and washed everything, didn't bring anything into the house that didn't go through the washer and dryer (highest temps) first threw away the suitcases and even my shoes we are planning a trip to fort worth in april and i am totally dreading even going now......

I just found one on my bathroom shower wall which is tile. Not sure if it traveled through the plumbing. So what am I suppose to do throw out all my belongings and move?

I don't think they can travel thru plumbing. Are you sure it didn't come in on your clothes when you took a shower?

Are you sure it's a bed bug, wnygrl585? That's not a typical place to find a bedbug. Do you have a picture? Maybe it's a bug of another type?

When you have bed bugs you have to treat not just the bed but carpet, upholstered furniture, drapes, pillows under and around furniture. all bedding in the linen closet. Someone talked about this once in the laundry room.

yes its been confirmed by the exterminators. now worse yet is I might have contaminated into living area. Its just a night mare. They are coming again to exterminate after evaluating the areas. its just an never ending nighmare that I feel I can't escape. I am trapped and can't even leave because I can't see what may possibly come with me.

I read an article on Google they can travel thru walls, electric outlets then hide in cracks, clothes, books etc so they do travel and not just on clothes.