Bugged!
 

Howdy yall ☺

My sister is having to clear out her house so it can be sprayed for bedbugs she picked up in a motel. YUCK! In clearing out her "junk room" she found two vintage sewing machines and a small serger that she didn't even know were there, or where they came from. She is going to give them to me, but of course I'm worried about those nasty bugs possibly living in them. Since my she-shed/quilting studio won't be ready to move into for at least a year once I get started working on it, if I put the machines out in the un-air-conditioned shed, will the summer heat kill anthing that might be in them? Any advice will be very much appreciated!

Donna

I have never dealt with them, and I pray i never have to.
I do know they use heat to kill them, but i am unsure if a shed would be hot enough?
Personally, i don't think i would take the risk, but that's me.

I read some place that when you stay in a hotel that may have bedbugs it is best to leave your suitcase in the trunk of your car for a few days to let the heat kill them. I don't know if that really works but they were talking about it because there were several towns in So. Cal. that was having problems so it was in the news.

Do you have a county extension service you can call? They might have the answer or maybe a public health office? It would be nice to know for sure so you don't have to worry about it.

here's a good article on getting rid of the bugs DIY http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/bed-bugs.htm

My husband and I got scabies from a hotel in NJ. a big name brand too. won't mention any names. The dr. didn't think we got it there. but while visiting out of town family, we stayed there. My In laws got it too. the cure, a cream anti bug lotion.

Occasionally we'd have books returned to the library that were infested with bedbugs. We knew to quickly put the books into multiple plastic bags, tape them shut and dash out the back door to toss them on the picnic table until we could write down the barcodes. They then went into the dumpster. We never got bedbugs in the library but it grossed us out. My daughter's BIL & DH run a rental business at a beach in the US. Even though they have expensive home rentals they still find bedbugs once in a while.
I did find this on the web:
Without a doubt, bed bugs can survive over a year. They can also survive that time without a blood meal.
If I really wanted the machines I'd call a pest control and see what suggestions they have!

As far as I know the heat needs to be 400 degrees to kill bed bugs.

I found this article online: http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Bed-Bugs

It appears you could enclose the machines in clear plastic bags and place them outside in the sun for several days. I would put silica gel in each plastic bag too.

I would bag them in a heavy duty plastic bags and check with your local authority.