precautions

[allen]

What type of precautions does everyone take to prevent getting bedbugs
and other creepy crawlies on your body while you are dumpster diving?

 

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[Rawhide]

OMG, heck I just live with em. They are so small and they just want a little. After a while I hardly notice them. It lets the birds I let fly around the house have something to play with then eat. Of course the cats eat the birds every so often, but that's just life.

Sir, I believe in recycling. I dig in the dirt for fun so I should not have posted. But with all the dirty nastys in the world today, why would you expose yourself to that? I don't think I ever met a old dumpster diver......think about it. As a farmer I can tell you the dirt is good for you. Rolling around in used sanitary pads, spoiled food, and every other nasty thing I can imagine is not allowed. I have issue with dog droppings while detecting. So my short answer is, DON'T.

If you must, get a set of overalls, and rubber boots. Spray car and boots with bleach water after each dive. Don't take anything home, get a storage locker and keep it all there. Even the overalls and boots. Lysol is good for the little bugs. Bed bugs seem a little harder to get rid of. So don't get them in the first place. First time you have spend weeks getting rid of a infestation you will see how expensive that is.

You forgot to mention other bugs like roaches, fleas that lay eggs. Then there is scabies and other sorts of stuff I shiver thinking about.Im sure all our tnet scientist will tell me how wrong I am. I don't care, I know better. You realize you can even get worms? Go wash your hands right now lol.

 

[allen]

After reading that I had to go shower, twice!!! LOL

 

[Baltimore]

I've only ever grabbed stuff off of the top of dumpsters. I think its a common sense thing; if it looks disgusting, don't do it. If it's at the bottom of a dumpster, covered in rotting food or something, it's not worth it. Unless there's a pile of gold at the bottom, just skim the top. Truly diving is rarely ever worth it.

 

[StoneWhisper]

About the only thing I worry about, is needles or broken glass.. Take things slow and wear latex gloves or even the chemical gloves. Have a good pair of glasses on and open and look into every pocket.

 

[Don't Blink]

We leave most items in the car for a couple of days. High heat is supposed to kill pests. It has worked for us so far, no pests.

 

[jerseyben]

OMG, heck I just live with em. They are so small and they just want a little. After a while I hardly notice them. It lets the birds I let fly around the house have something to play with then eat. Of course the cats eat the birds every so often, but that's just life.

Sir, I believe in recycling. I dig in the dirt for fun so I should not have posted. But with all the dirty nastys in the world today, why would you expose yourself to that? I don't think I ever met a old dumpster diver......think about it. As a farmer I can tell you the dirt is good for you. Rolling around in used sanitary pads, spoiled food, and every other nasty thing I can imagine is not allowed. I have issue with dog droppings while detecting. So my short answer is, DON'T.

If you must, get a set of overalls, and rubber boots. Spray car and boots with bleach water after each dive. Don't take anything home, get a storage locker and keep it all there. Even the overalls and boots. Lysol is good for the little bugs. Bed bugs seem a little harder to get rid of. So don't get them in the first place. First time you have spend weeks getting rid of a infestation you will see how expensive that is.

You forgot to mention other bugs like roaches, fleas that lay eggs. Then there is scabies and other sorts of stuff I shiver thinking about.Im sure all our tnet scientist will tell me how wrong I am. I don't care, I know better. You realize you can even get worms? Go wash your hands right now lol.

That was one of the strangest posts I have ever read... Either way that is some good advice and it really creeped me out thinking out the nasty stuff you can get by dumpster diving.

 

[allen]

Thank you all for posting on this topic.

 

[Nickleanddime]

That's why I don't dive apartment dumpsters or dumpsters that has food in it that'll rot.

 

[mjm579]

Hopped over from the garage sale finds. Needed a little change of pace. Bedbugs are also a concern in two of my fav past times - yard sales and thrift stores.

My husband owns his own pest control company and he tells me some rather disturbing bed bug tails. It was so bad one time that I made him disrobe in the foyer, put his clothes (including his shoes) in a trash bag, and shower, before doing anything else.

That being said, these little buggers are close to invincible (short of chemical, cryo, or high temp steam treatment). He brought some home in a glass baby food jar and tightly closed the lid. They were still alive (no oxygen) for nearly 4 months.

The best thing to do is wear lighter clothes (hard to do when DD, but it might save your home from infestation) and inspect, inspect, inspect anything and everything you bring into your home. Wicker furniture is the worst! Hubby tells me that the bed bugs like to hide out in the head boards or around the box spring, more so than the mattress. I guess they lay their eggs in the nooks and crannies and only come out to the mattress to feed.

 

[mjm579]

Continued -
Gloves are also a good call. Some sort of latex or nitrile are a good start, but you should really invest in some better leather or other "cut" resistant gloves to wear over them. This is less about the bugs and more about the glass, metal, other potentially dangerous objects you might encounter.

Wash your clothing immediately, the hotter the better. This goes for the dryer setting too. You could also throw your clothes in a bag and put them in the freezer for a few hours (say, overnight) since cold temperatures also do the trick. Steam treatment also works, but for simplicity, use high heat and/or freezing cold temperatures and you should be good to go.

The steam trick can help for large items, but sometimes this is better left to the experts.

Happy digging my friends.

 

[cyberdan]

Hopped over from the garage sale finds. Needed a little change of pace. Bedbugs are also a concern in two of my fav past times - yard sales and thrift stores.

I recycle computers and once brought home a black widow in one with an egg sac in the corner. Needless to say 3 weeks ago when someone offered me 5 computers that have been sitting at the side of his house for years I turned him down.

Actually this was a true hoarders house with the contents being sold by the "kids'. When I first walked into the house someone was actually shoveling used cat litter piles from the living room carpet into buckets. Nothing in the house was more than 3-4 feet deep so it would not qualify to be on that TV show. Every square foot of the property was covered with stuff.