I got a free laptop at a garage sale.
Took it home, turned it on and looked around.
They'd been researching Bed Bugs.
I took it outside while I decide what to do with it.
Very low probability that it harbors bed bugs, but the
consequences are dire if it does. The laptop is worth
about what it cost...nothing.

Assuming there are eggs in there,
If I stick it in a plastic bag, will the life cycle
eventually end? How long?

Next best option is to stick it in the oven at 118F for
90 minutes. Don't think it will like that much.

It's hazardous waste, I can't just put it in the trash.
Local thrift store will take it, but they don't want
bugs any more than I do.

Any suggestions before I fire up the oven?

mike wrote:
I got a free laptop at a garage sale.
Took it home, turned it on and looked around.
They'd been researching Bed Bugs.
I took it outside while I decide what to do with it.
Very low probability that it harbors bed bugs, but the
consequences are dire if it does. The laptop is worth
about what it cost...nothing.

Assuming there are eggs in there,
If I stick it in a plastic bag, will the life cycle
eventually end? How long?

Next best option is to stick it in the oven at 118F for
90 minutes. Don't think it will like that much.

It's hazardous waste, I can't just put it in the trash.
Local thrift store will take it, but they don't want
bugs any more than I do.

Any suggestions before I fire up the oven?

Put it in a sealable container with a chunk of dry ice . Leave the
computer in the sealed container for a month or so , any eggs should have
hatched by then I'd think . The CO2 being heavier than air will displace
all the oxygen , no oxy equals no life .

--
Snag

On 8/14/15 11:29 PM, mike wrote:
I got a free laptop at a garage sale.
Took it home, turned it on and looked around.
They'd been researching Bed Bugs.
I took it outside while I decide what to do with it.
Very low probability that it harbors bed bugs, but the
consequences are dire if it does. The laptop is worth
about what it cost...nothing.

Assuming there are eggs in there,
If I stick it in a plastic bag, will the life cycle
eventually end? How long?

Next best option is to stick it in the oven at 118F for
90 minutes. Don't think it will like that much.

It's hazardous waste, I can't just put it in the trash.
Local thrift store will take it, but they don't want
bugs any more than I do.

Any suggestions before I fire up the oven?

A spray called Proof, using the oil of the neem tree, works. Dr. Dini
Miller is an entomologist at Virginia Tech. She put a cloth with 90
eggs, along with adults and nymphs, into a hard drive. She sprayed 40ml
of neem oil into a wash cloth, put it in a plastic bag with the hard
drive, and left it sealed a week. None survived.

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 14 Aug 2015 23:10:49 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

mike wrote:
I got a free laptop at a garage sale.
Took it home, turned it on and looked around.
They'd been researching Bed Bugs.
I took it outside while I decide what to do with it.
Very low probability that it harbors bed bugs, but the
consequences are dire if it does. The laptop is worth
about what it cost...nothing.

Assuming there are eggs in there,
If I stick it in a plastic bag, will the life cycle
eventually end? How long?

Next best option is to stick it in the oven at 118F for
90 minutes. Don't think it will like that much.

It's hazardous waste, I can't just put it in the trash.
Local thrift store will take it, but they don't want
bugs any more than I do.

Any suggestions before I fire up the oven?

Put it in a sealable container with a chunk of dry ice . Leave the
computer in the sealed container for a month or so , any eggs should have
hatched by then I'd think . The CO2 being heavier than air will displace
all the oxygen , no oxy equals no life .

Good idea. Even without the dry ice, woudlnt' a heavy clear plastic bag
sealed tightly and enough time give anything inside time to hatch and go
looking for food. They need blood or something. . Wouldn't even
bedbugs be visiible through the bag?

You could put a note on the thing, in the bag, and give the whole thing
to a hamfest and let them decide. Look at
http://www.arrl.org/hamfests-and-conventions-calendar . Put in your
zipcode and there wil be one near you on a Sunday morning (rarely on
Saturday) Maybe tomorrow. I'm going to one tomorrow. He said he wanted
my NIB win98 printer for someone. .

Where do bedbugs lay their eggs anyhow. I thought it was the mattress.

Hmmm. The average life span of the bed bug is 6-12 months and they will
feed every 10 days or so during this time. Bed bugs can survive many
months without a blood meal and they reproduce in an unusual fashion.

But that's after they've eaten once or more. Surely newborns have to
eat a lot sooner.

http://www.k9bedbugtracker.com/Appearance.html
Bed bugs hatch from eggs and pass through five nymphal stages (instar)
before becoming adults capable of reproduction. Nymphs and eggs are
especially tiny, but still visible to the naked eye.

Adult bed bugs are about 3/16-1/4 inch long, broadly oval, flattened
(when unfed), brown to reddish brown bugs. They have a 3-segmented
piercing, sucking beak, which rests along their underside when they are
not feeding

Bigger than I thought.

Bed bugs can move quickly. An adult bed bug can travel about 4 feet a
minute and a nymph can travel about one foot a minute.

Bed bug eggs are tiny, pearly white and barrel shaped. They are about
the size of a couple of grains of salt. Eggs are covered with a sticky
substance that cements the egg to whatever surface it is laid on, making
them difficult to remove.
Nymphs resemble adult bed bugs. Newborn nymphs are about the size of a
poppy seed and are very pale, almost transluscent. Nymphs require at
least one blood meal to molt, shedding their exoskeleton/shell, and move
to the next level of development. They pass through five instars or
nymphal stages before becoming adults. At each stage they increase in
size and darken in color, becoming more similiar to an adult bed bug.

Both nymphs and adults change color and size after feeding, young nymphs
or instars will turn bright red with blood and adults will assume a more
reddish brown color.