Bed Bug Check

[presley]

It seems like anytime I watch Hotel Impossible, there are bed bugs. I never check my rooms for bedbugs, but I probably should.

If you normally check for bedbugs, what do you do? I know to look at the mattress seems for blood, but are there other things that need to be checked like the sofa, etc?

 

[artringwald]

Here's a good article on how to inspect your room for bed bugs:

http://www.bedbugs.umn.edu/travelers/inspecting-your-hotel-room-for-bed-bugs/

 

[easyrider]

Bed Bugs are easy to find using a lint brush on the end of bed where the pillows are. The end meaning the perpendicular edge of the top. The area beneath the head board is another good place to look.


Bill

 

[WinniWoman]

My germ-a-phobe brother-in-law brought bed bug spray with him this past summer when he stayed with us for two weeks in our timeshares.

I never ever even considered checking for all the traveling we have done.

 

[VegasBella]

I rarely check for bed bugs but I do look around. I always try to keep my luggage away from the bed and ideally on a luggage stand.

 

[dioxide45]

We never check. I have watched every episode of Hotel Impossible except the new season and only a few have had bed bug issues. Consider that these are distressed properties where they don't invest in proper pest control and monitoring. While no property is immune, those with proper controls in place will take care of issues before a guest knows there is one.

 

[billymach4]

I am obsessed by the thought of bringing those nasty things home with me. The first thing I do is check for the bugs. I inspect the pillows, I strip back the sheets and inspect the piping of the mattress, also look around the headboard.

Call me neurotic, but I also take along a container of diatomaceous earth!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPImOq6gVMs

https://www.diatomaceousearth.com/diatomaceous-earth-bed-bugs/

 

[billymach4]

Why don't you people check for Bedbugs when you travel? UGH! Upscale timeshare or roadside motel! Bedbugs have made a big comeback! Please check!

 

[moonstone]

We don't even bring our luggage into the hotel-motel room / timeshare unit until I have thoroughly checked. We have stayed in some pretty sketchy motels on our biannual trips to Florida (DH hates paying big bucks for 8hrs in a room) and I've never seen any sign of them. I carry a good flashlight and packing tape and press it into the folds of the mattress piping as well as along the baseboards & behind pictures. Whatever is there will stick to the tape.

As previously mentioned bedbugs can be found in very upscale hotels as well as in theater seats and restaurant chairs. From what I hear they are a real pain to get rid of once you get them, so I don't mind a bit of effort to prevent them!

~Diane

 

[mdurette]

I rarely check for bed bugs but I do look around. I always try to keep my luggage away from the bed and ideally on a luggage stand.

It is my understanding that the luggage rack is another hot spot for bed bugs to hide. Your best bet is not to bring the luggage in or keep it on the tiled kitchen/bathroom floor.

I do check for them a bit. I just pull the sheets and check the piping of the mattress up by the headboard.

As for the bed bug spray.....my MIL purchased some for us a few years ago. I never used. My thought is if there are bed bugs, I want to get bit and know about it so I don't bring them home with me.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Just some food for thought for the nay-saying posters:

I paid $1500 for ONE spray treatment (3 applications) to attack a bedbug issue this past August. In a small 2 bdr apartment. First treatment

First you have to PREPARE for the treatment by removing ALL assess to the edges and corners of the unit. All bedding stripped, bagged, and taken plus all clothing to a laundry service to be washed (HOT water conditions) and dried on HIGH. Bring in to laundry in one set of sealed bags, emptied and placed after cleaning in a NEW set of bags and sealed. Remove any paper products (love to hide in and behind books, pictures, wood, cabinets). If you think you are a savor or still have your HS stuff ... get a dumpster and clean out the house, attic and basement.

Then the exterminators arrive and put on MOON SUITs .. tyveck booties, jumpsuits, head gear, gloves and tape all seams & openings. 2-3 hours to apply the chemicals to every nook, piece of furniture, crack in moldings plus powder stuff behind every outlet and switch plate cover. Every piece of electronic equipment is a NEW home for the critters... so throw out all of that stuff. And consider throwing out all "Soft" goods , like mattresses, sofas, recliners, etc. The first treatment, YOU must stay out of house for 6 hours (nasty chemicals).

Next 2 treatments after 10-14 days are more like touch up searches. Again, more spraying ... keeping everything bagged for like 6+ weeks. Anything you use (like wearing) ... wash HOT water and dry on HOT setting and bag & seal (tape) ... don't even THINK about placing in your dresser or closet .. dark places with cracks.

And recommend to ANYONE in your house or who you visited to get a profession exterminator to inspect their homes and cars ... you can hire a DOG trained to find the bedbugs ... excellent sniffers and better than a guy with a flashlight.

And after ALL that ... and the high school dropout's pronouncement ... we think we got it ... expect a reinfestion in MOST homes.

The ONLY treatment with GREAT results is HIGH HEAT ... think $4500+ for a 3 bdr apartment where they bring a BIG HEATER (tractor size) and run it for 3 days straight piping the HOT air into your house... 140+ degrees ... manned 100% of the time by an operator.

And remember, your car can be infested, your job site, the kid's school, your friends' houses or cars, the theater seats, the diner ... any place YOU or the family comes into contract with.

Other solutions:
Abandon your home and cars for 6-8 months. Starve the critters as they only live and breed by sucking human blood (one food source).

Live in a very cold climate and wait for a deep freeze .. under 25 degrees for 3 solid days. Remember to turn off ALL electric (no lights) .. drain the pipes and freeze out the basement and attics.

Preventative actions:
A) get your home inspected every 3 months or less with the dog sniffing team. Then, if you have a problem, it will be limited to a room or bed or sofa or small area of the house/apartment.
B) keep people out of your home and keep you (and family) out of any place with "soft goods" surfaces.
C) listen to the gossip ... no business or school is going to post a sign saying "Bedbugs found HERE" ... so check anyplace (like a timeshare, motel, rental car) you are going to sit or put your pocketbook, briefcase, suitcase, computer down on. Bedbugs seek warm & dark places where there is motion ... looking for a human blood ... there ONLY food source

 

[taterhed]

Uh, at the risk of being ridiculed....

My wife and I have been world travelers for over 20 years now. We've stayed in places you would not (because we didn't have a choice). I have 'hot-bunked' in group living spaces and shared bedding and towels (yup, pretty gross).
I have been exposed to bed-bugs (to the best of my knowledge) only once. It was in an 'upscale' Japanese hotel in Guam. I stripped my clothing (all my soft goods, suitcase stuff etc...) and washed/dried until hot and crispy. No critters followed me after the trip.
My wife has been exposed to bed bugs at least 3 times. I think they were all in Europe (UK and Germany?) but one may have been domestic. Again, washing, drying and disinfecting all soft goods. No critters followed her either. Funny, the German hotel denied it ever happened. Right after they had the room commercially disinfected!
After our experiences, we decided to get mattress and pillow covers for our bed. that way, we can (hopefully) defeat the enemy quickly should they ever reach our home shores.... We don't have carpet.

IMHO: carry a lint roller and a flashlight. Two very useful tools. Peel the sheets, roll, inspect and look for spots/blood and human hair. You would not believe the number of times we've found 'clean bedding' that was actually quite used when you inspected near the foot area of the bedding. Or, the mattress I found that had HUGE bloodstains on the side and top. If you find something ugly--reject the room.

I think you should be more concerned about getting Hepatitis eating oysters in the bar....

 

[billymach4]

I think you should be more concerned about getting Hepatitis eating oysters in the bar....

I don't eat oysters at the bar!

Now I need to pack a flashlight and lint roller!

 

[VegasBella]

Other solutions:
Abandon your home and cars for 6-8 months. Starve the critters as they only live and breed by sucking human blood (one food source).

Actually, they prefer humans but they will feed off other animals if they have to. In fact, one of the reasons they have spread so much recently may be due to poultry farming and transport.

"humans are not the only animals on whose blood bedbugs feast—they seem to have a taste for chickens' as well, Vaidyanathan noted. And we have conveniently created massive poultry operations in which the bugs can thrive. In fact, 'you can collect them by the bucket off the walls of a poultry house,' he says. "

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/genetic-bedbug-inbreeding/

 

[NHTraveler]

Never eating chicken again...lol

 

[taterhed]

Never eating chicken again...lol

Bedbugs is not the reason to avoid commercial chickens, but there are plenty!

 

[NHTraveler]

Bedbugs is not the reason to avoid commercial chickens, but there are plenty!

If we all actually saw the way things were processed in most areas of the food industy, obesity would not be a problem in the US. The only time I would shy away from something is if I actually found something prior to eating.

 

[suzanne]

I had an issue with bedbugs in Lone Pine, Calif. hotel last November. I now carry a black light flashlight with me where ever I travel. I was so afraid of them following me home that I left my luggage on my balcony and unpacked it from there and put items directly into washing machine on hot wash along with hot dryer. My condo is carpeted and I did not want them getting into it. My beds both have zippered protective mattress and box springs covers on them as do all my pillows. I also carry a zippered pillow protector with me to use in hotel rooms. I then throw it away when checking out. One experience with the critters was enough for me. After reading the posts above I will also take a roll of tape with me from now on as well.

Suzanne

 

[wilma]

I had an issue with bedbugs in Lone Pine, Calif. hotel last November. I now carry a black light flashlight with me where ever I travel. I was so afraid of them following me home that I left my luggage on my balcony and unpacked it from there and put items directly into washing machine on hot wash along with hot dryer. My condo is carpeted and I did not want them getting into it. My beds both have zippered protective mattress and box springs covers on them as do all my pillows. I also carry a zippered pillow protector with me to use in hotel rooms. I then throw it away when checking out. One experience with the critters was enough for me. After reading the posts above I will also take a roll of tape with me from now on as well.

Suzanne

Really, lone pine! I spend a lot of time in lone pine and wonder which motel.

 

[Panina]

Unfortunately you can do everything right and still not detect bedbugs in a hotel/timeshare if they were recent occupants of the unit.

I went to a timeshare that I had been to before, always very clean. Checked as usual for signs of bedbugs, none. Second day in, during day, my hubby was bitten, smacked it, and it was a bedbug. Management came and in front us stripped the bed, checked the crevices, turned over the mattress, no sign of others. Then checked the boxspring and flipped the boxspring, no evident sign still. Stood the boxspring up and started checking the inside, underside of the boxspring and a second one was found.

We had to leave the room, give them a set of clothes to clean, given another room and could not get anything we had until the next day. The room and contents were all heated. The company that did the treatment said the bedbugs took resident not longer the within the last two weeks.

I freaked as I am so careful. I even have a bedbug insurance policy with my homes pesticide contract. I actually called them because I was afraid even with treatment I would bring them home.

The sad part is my pesticide company told me bedbugs are everywhere and then told me what I should do every time I travel.

Place all my clothes in plastic bags and wash everything every trip. Lots of people just hang up clothes they didn't wear with the bedbug.

Do not bring luggage into bedrooms, best to unload outside house or in garage if you can. I can't so the alternative is I have a white folding table in my hallway I unpack from.

The most important thing I was told is inspect visually and by feeling your luggage as you pack to leave and when you unpack at home. I was told most bedbugs can be found this way.

In addition I was told being aware always catches a bedbug problem quickly if you bring them home, found quickly they are easier to eliminate.

And I was told bedbugs are brought home from restaurants, trains, theatres ,etc, they are everywhere

 

[suzanne]

Really, lone pine! I spend a lot of time in lone pine and wonder which motel.

It was the older section of the historic hotel on the main street. I was on a group tour. No one else in my group had any issue with them or if so they didn't say anything.

 

[wilma]

It was the older section of the historic hotel on the main street. I was on a group tour. No one else in my group had any issue with them or if so they didn't say anything.

The dow villa? interesting, i stay in the motel section there and never had a problem. The older historic section of the bldg attracts more backpackers and budget travelers.