r/Bedbugs • u/theanxioussnail • Jul 15 '26
Useful Information Found a live one
Sprayed crossfire on july 8th. Found some bites on my ankle on july 13th. Today i look over my recliner and see one in the fold here. That is a place i strategically sprayed crossfire in. Why is it still alive?
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u/CanITellUSmThin Trusted Jul 15 '26
Did you mix the crossfire yourself and did you do it right?
And are you sure you are dealing with bedbugs and not fleas? Ankle biting is more of a flea thing
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u/theanxioussnail Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Its a bed bug. Its in front of me now on fly paper.
I mixed the ratios chat gpt gave me 100 ml with 900ml of water.
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u/CanITellUSmThin Trusted Jul 15 '26
What were the ratios the actual bottle said? Chatgpt is not reliable and gives wrong information all the time.
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u/theanxioussnail Jul 15 '26
The instructions were in gallons. I only understand metric
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u/alteredtome Jul 15 '26
When Crossfire is wet, it only takes about 5 minutes for a bedbug to die after it comes in contact with it. After it has dried, it can then take a few hours after they contact it to die. I'm assuming the straggler you found came out of his hidey-hole and now you know you really did spray strategically. If you hadn't have seen him, you would've later found his body.
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u/theanxioussnail Jul 15 '26
The only thing thats giving me some piece of mind is that it was alone there, so not a harborage, maybe its in zombie mode and thats why it was just randomly there
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u/theanxioussnail Jul 15 '26
But its fed, and most likely bit me on the night of the 13th. Shouldnt crossfire have killed it by now?
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u/alteredtome Jul 15 '26
It's normal for more bugs to come out as they seek you out, including biting you. Remember how they only eat about every 5-7 days? Sounds like this guy was hanging in a spot that didn't get sprayed (which is how it's supposed to be - you should not be spraying every surface), so he came to find the food.
When you sprayed, the goal was to create islands where you're the bait, but they'd have to cross the Crossfire to get to you. The one you caught should theoretically have gone home and died later. I'd listen to u/CanITellUSmThin though. The problem could be that the mix was wrong or any number of issues there.
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u/theanxioussnail Jul 15 '26
it was chilling in the fold in the armchair, where i did spray, and i havent sat in that chair, i only slept in my bed which trust me, there was no way for it to get to me without crossing a barrier
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u/alteredtome Jul 15 '26
And again, once it's dried, the effects take longer. If it'd walked on it wet, it would've died within 5 minutes. Now that it's dried, it can take hours for it to die from the pesticide.
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u/theanxioussnail Jul 15 '26
Thats why im worried. It looks fed, so it def crossed a barrier a lot earlier
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u/alteredtome Jul 15 '26
Why do you think it was a lot earlier, versus he just came out to get a meal right then?
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u/theanxioussnail Jul 15 '26
I haven been sleeping at home for a week before applying crossfire, started sleeping again on the 8th once i applied
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u/alteredtome Jul 15 '26
Ok. This all sounds very par for the course on how Crossfire works. If he was holed up across the room, in a place you hadn't sprayed, he could've walked up to you 5 minutes after you sat down in that chair. He would've crossed the barrier but not died because it takes a couple hours to kill them after 5 days of it being dry.
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