Bed bugs & CPAP

We have them.

I've been told that they are very fond of CPAPs. Does anyone have any experience with them & CPAP therapy? Specifically, what, other than a thorough heat & chemical treatment of the house, can we do to discourage them, as it relates to my CPAP, from eating us alive. We are replacing a ton-load of furniture. Thanks

ephraimh wrote:I've been told that they are very fond of CPAPs.

The person who told you that is misinformed.


How to control bed bugs - https://www.epa.gov/bedbugs/do-it-yours ... ug-control

"Have been told"---just curious--by whom?
Somebody trying to sell you a service or product?
Trust no one with a dog in the fight.
There is nothing in a cpap for bedbugs to feed on.
As for the heat attracting any--your machine has a filter--please change it frequently.
Otherwise the system is closed.
Use HOT water to wash your headgear--that is the only place anything can hide.

ephraimh wrote:We have them.

I've been told that they are very fond of CPAPs. Does anyone have any experience with them & CPAP therapy? Specifically, what, other than a thorough heat & chemical treatment of the house, can we do to discourage them, as it relates to my CPAP, from eating us alive. We are replacing a ton-load of furniture. Thanks

You have been listening to a fool! They also aren't attracted to a ton load of furniture, if you have them they are all over your house even in the walls. You need a professional, but there are many crooked ones out there. Go to Google and learn about them and what it takes to move them out. Jim

Trust no one with a dog in the fight.
Bad advice always comes from one who has his hand out.

They will hide anyplace dark, and they especially like tight little nooks like the seam in your mattress, joints in your bed frame, etc.
They're also attracted by CO2 from your breath, and heat. So I think they'd be more likely to be attracted to your CPAP while you're using it then when they're hiding.

Regardless, they're a PITA to get rid of - good luck.

I thought you had to "cook them" to kill them. A professional exterminator tents and heats your house after removing all flammable and meltable items.

They nest anywhere close to a food source (people). Getting rid of furniture is easier than fighting them. When they are still localized to where they feed (bed, couch, chair) just about any of the popular kill-on-contact DIY tips work. (like Lemon Raid or alcohol) If they've traveled at all, diatomaceous earth spread in crack and crevices is good. Just take proper precautions for pets and don't put it where it can be airborne and be inhaled. Whether a CPAP machine attracts them or not I can't say. Plastic isn't generally their first choice. The closer the machine is to you, the more likely they could choose to hide out there. I would consider some sort of sticky barrier and or residue type treatment between you and the machine just in case any are there and try to get to you. Finding their nesting source will be the most important factor in preventing their return. While the thought is disturbing, one way to do that is to bait them. Turn the lights out and lay down. Give them a chance to come out to feed then turn a light on real quick and watch which way they run. Denying them food will only cause them to travel and be harder to contain. Bedbugs can be beat, but it's best to start early and be merciless and OCD level in your attack. Learn about the life cycle of bedbugs so you can anticipate when an undiscovered batch of eggs might hatch so you can be ready for the next wave of battle. Good luck. If they have become an infestation, like in the walls, I doubt anything short of professional help will suffice. But I swear by the diatomaceous earth.

DH's cousin threw out all of his furniture twice. I wondered why he couldn't have just put everything in a tent in his back yard with an electric heater in there. I would cry if I had to part with my furniture.

Cardsfan wrote:I thought you had to "cook them" to kill them. A professional exterminator tents and heats your house after removing all flammable and meltable items.

You can also kill them with low temp, 0 Degrees to 5 below zero F. for a few days.

I has a house I rented, go infested, I never knew it was. He smoked badly, when he moved, I open the windows turned off the electric and let it sit for 2 years, I went in, the window sills were covered with exoskeletons and dead bed bugs and eggs, my boy was going to move in. He cleaned up the mess and repainted. The basement was overrun with spider webs, it looked like a haunted house on Halloween. After the clean up they all were gone. The spiders ate the bedbugs, I never ran into what ate the spiders, I don't want too. Jim

According to the nursery song, a bird would get the spider.
I would presume the bird flew away. (Time to fix the window.)

chunkyfrog wrote:According to the nursery song, a bird would get the spider.
I would presume the bird flew away. (Time to fix the window.)

We are civilized here, we have screens, last thing we need is bird crap and lice in the house. Jim

Sorry to tell you but it is my belief that I was a bedbug target thanks to my cpap ... I have a dream station that I have had now for three years .. we were ‘blessed’ w bedbugs .. we discovered at the end of August, just a few weeks after my brother died. The stress level .. although different types for these two events .. has been almost equally high. It is now November and we have had professional treatments 3 times as they were all in our bed. King platform with clothing drawers underneath!! Disgusting!!
Last trip the pest control said I might want to put electronics from bedroom in clear sealed bag in sun. Yup that was another hiding place. What do they like!?? Breath !! Well so there you go.. I don’t know how to post photos but I have some. I do use SoClean as well. I would love to be wrong and know where to take my cpap to be cleaned but until then I haven’t used it now for 2 nights. Ordered zquiet mouthpiece in meantime while I figure out new machine or what to do. BEDBUGS ARE THE WORST THING EVER !! Demon bugs !

Any creepy-crawly infestation is a true horror.
I "received" head lice about the same time as I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
I think the lice were at least as disturbing as the cancer.
Your mileage may vary, of course.

ephraimh wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 08, 2017 9:58 am

We have them.

I've been told that they are very fond of CPAPs. Does anyone have any experience with them & CPAP therapy?

If you HAVE bedbugs, it ISN'T your CPAP machine they'd be interested in.