Bed Bug Infestation from Used Furniture

Here is an excellent example of why you should not bring used furniture into your home without making sure it isn’t infested (spray it with bed bug powder, at the very least). Bed bugs in used furniture can lead to a complete home infestation.

Leah123, a visitor that took the time to share her nightmare caused by buying an infested chair and mattress. Here is her story:

Several months ago, we were given a chair, and around the same time, my husband bought a used bed at a yard sale. Enjoying my new chair, I was watching TV and saw a bug crawling out of a hole I had never seen before. Over the next few weeks, I saw a couple more and had no clue what they were.

My husband also noticed some black spots on the bed frame he had placed in the guest room, and he sprayed it with bug killer. Well, the next thing we know, we have bites between our thighs that are swollen and itch.

A few weeks later, I saw many more bugs on the chair I mentioned. After reading this website, I discovered they are bed bugs and decided to buy a $39 steamer and steamed the chair like crazy.

A few weeks ago, one of our kids fell asleep in the chair and went to my bed to lie down. I went up 30 minutes later, turned on the light, and there were 5 bed bugs on the pillow around her!

I thought they attached themselves to her before she went to sleep. Then I remembered reading a post here about dots on the wooden headboard that could indicate an infestation and realized my wooden headboard has those unique marker like spots…yeah….so, with the lights off, I used a flashlight and found 3 bugs hiding in cracks of the headboard!

I made a bleach/dawn/water mixture (I think it’s supposed to be alcohol, but this worked for me on contact) and killed them. I also ran a razor blade through the cracks, which came out with blood! So during the last few days, I put Vaseline on headboard and caught a few bed bugs trying to get to me lol….they got stuck trying!

About 3 nights ago, I did that and was reading this site in the dark in my bed, and guess what? Like, 5 were crawling toward me, and I just happened to be reading the story of a dim light attracting them; go figure!! So tonight, I took the mattress and box spring off, and to my dismay, I found several more!

I sprayed a ton of the bleach mixture on any used furniture, my headboard, everything! They were even on the slats of the bed…it sucks!!!! I probably found and killed 50 bed bugs.

Tomorrow I’m getting DE (Bed Bug Dust) and showing them whose boss!
Thanks so much for your site!!! God bless!

Update on my bed bug infested used furniture

Thanks for posting this, and what’s amazing is I didn’t know there was a nymph in the pic of the one on my headboard, eww!! Tonight I tried to puff DE around the baseboards, headboards, box springs, mattress, etc. and did the bleach solution again.

I’ve not been sleeping in there or going in my room for a few days. I need help figuring out how to get the DE out of the bag and into the puffer thing without making a mess. I tried rolling up a piece of construction paper…and I tried a funnel, but it’s like it was too thick and wouldn’t flow into the bottle? So I’ve gotta finish tomorrow.

Thanks for posting my story..oh btw, I rechecked all furniture everywhere else in my home, and all seems ok, and the chair is nothing but ashes now; just dealing with my bed, and hopefully, that will be it. I’m happy I only found 5 alive tonight.

Also, an extremely helpful tool is a sticky lint roller!! Great for those bed slats that had tiny eggs and nymphs on them. Also good for the crevices in the bed frame and seams on the mattress after the dawn/alcohol/water spray….hope this helps someone!

Check for infestations when buying second hand furniture!

Always look for signs of bed bugs before you buy used furniture! If you see droppings on any furniture, consider passing on the purchase! If you do purchase a used mattress, make sure to cover the entire mattress with a mattress encasement designed for bed bugs or dust mites! They will be trapped and eventually die. As for the headboard, that could be sealed in plastic after spraying in bed bug dust and then used a couple months later.