Photo: Akos Nagy (Shutterstock)
Nobody wants bed bugs. You don’t want bed bugs. The hotel you’re staying at doesn’t want bed bugs, but there’s a good chance they have them. We’ve got tips for checking your hotel room for bed bugs, but what to do if you do find some? You don’t want to risk bringing these guys home.
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Be careful from the start
When you first enter your hotel room, don’t drop your suitcase or yourself on the bed. The same goes for the couch or anything upholstered. Roll your suitcase into the bathroom and leave it there for now. You can leave your purse on the countertop or even a table, but to be honest, the safest place for all your belongings right now is the bathtub.
Bed bugs can be in any type of hotel, so don’t assume that the hotel you’re in is so nice or so clean that you don’t need to check it out. The details of where and what to look for, are here. In short: Pull up the bed sheets and mattress covers by the corners and inspect for stains or gritty black or brown matter.
Bed bugs live in dark crevices, out of sight, but they come out for blood meals (aka you) every night. They can hide in and around beds, so can headboards and picture frames; Also check the edges of these. And despite the name, they can also reside in non-bed furniture like sofas. So check these places.
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This is what a bed bug looks like
If you find signs of bed bugs on the mattress or elsewhere, take a minute to double-check your suspicions. There are many websites that will give you all the gory details of what a bed bug infestation looks like, so I’ll spare you the pictures here. This FAQ from Reddit’s bed bug forum provides a good overview of what you are looking for and also includes information on several similar species that are not bed bugs.
Because to be honest: a lot of people I don’t know what bed bugs look like. If you see a bug in your hotel room, it’s fair to suspect bed bugs, but make sure you double-check your observation if you just happened upon one an ant, a carpet beetle or a cockroach. These guys might not be the best housemates, but they’re nothing compared to the horror of potentially bringing home a bed bug infestation.
Well, just because you’ve found ants or roaches doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. You might have roaches and bed bugs. Just say.
What to do first
Alright, so you’ve found what you’re pretty sure is bed bug evidence. First thing I would do after realizing what I found (or about to do) is take clear photos just in case they are useful when filing your complaint or asking the corporate office for a refund .
Next, your luggage! Is it in the bath If so, it’s safe for now. If not, put it in the bath. It’s possible for bed bugs to crawl into your pockets and thus hitch you home. If there’s a chance they snuck in while you weren’t looking (for example, if you only find the bugs after you’ve been in the room for a few nights), treat your suitcase as potentially contaminated until you it thoroughly can clean it and everything in it. But that’s for later.
Now you have to decide where you’re going to spend the night, because ideally it’s not that bed bug-infested hotel room. Contact the reception and explain the problem. Some states have legislation require that all rooms with bed bugs be eradicated before anyone can use the room again. You can assume the hotel will try to move you to another room or let you cancel the reservation and go somewhere else.
If they want to move you to another room, ask for it to be as far away from the infested room as possible. A room directly next door or directly above or below can also be infested. Insist on inspecting the new room before agreeing to stay there.
Another thing to do while a hotel employee is apologizing to you: ask for garbage bags. If you have bed bugs in your suitcase, you don’t want to take them to your next accommodation. And if you haven’t, you might understandably be particularly paranoid about the possibility. Wrap your bags in plastic for the rest of your trip.
How bad is it to stay in a bed with possible bed bugs?
What if you have no other choice or discovered the bugs after already spending a night in the cursed room? How Bad Is It To Wake Up With Bed Bug Bites?
The good news is that bed bugs do not transmit diseases through their bites. They may be transferrable Chagas disease through their feces, although the normal vector of this disease is the bed bug’s relative, the kissing bug. What this means for you: Do not scratch your bed bug bites until after you have washed the skin around them.
Okay, now time for the bad news. Bed bug bites are no fun. Most often there are several bites in clusters or in a row. They look a bit like mosquito bites and itch. You won’t notice anything while being bittenbut you may notice itching the next day or even a few days later.
If you’ve been bitten by a lot of bed bugs, you may be desensitized to them. Or maybe you’re just lucky – people’s reactions vary, and some people don’t react at all.
If you have to stay in a place where there may be bed bugs, get a plastic sheet and put it on the bed and don’t let it touch the floor or the surrounding area (pull the bed away from the headboard). You can put clean sheets on top of the plastic, but make sure your sheets don’t touch the floor. It is relatively safe to sleep on such a plastic-covered bed.
How do you stop it from bringing bed bugs home?
Okay, let’s talk about this suitcase. Bed bugs can climb into it for hiding, but they can also follow the smell of your dirty laundry. If you can’t wrap your whole suitcase in plastic, at least pack your laundry.
Sort your laundry while still in the infested area. Anything marked “Dry Clean Only” should skip the washing machine, but is usually safe to put in the dryer. Sort the rest of your laundry in the usual way and plan to wash them on the hottest, harshest settings that won’t destroy your clothes. If something can be washed in hot water, by God you will wash it in hot water. Seal the laundry before taking it home or to the laundromat; If there are bugs in the pockets, you don’t want them to crawl out.
At home or at the next place you get the opportunity to clear everything out of the suitcase and Vacuum the entire suitcase, inside and out, including all pockets and nooks and crannies. Do this outdoors if you can, and seal off the dirt when you take it out of the vacuum.
The University of Minnesota has a guide to washing clothes to kill bed bugs. Pro tip: 30 minutes in the dryer on high heat will kill the bugs. You can use this treatment on clothes that don’t need to be washed or that shouldn’t get wet (like dry-clean only ones).
By the way, be careful with these bags. The guide has instructions on how to seal the empty, used bag so no bugs can escape from the rubbish inside. And you should immediately put your clothes in clean bags (don’t trust the folding table at the laundromat) and have them sealed until you’re in a place you know is bed bug-free.
What about things I can’t wash?
Here’s another bit of good news: while bed bugs may be difficult to find, killing them is fairly easy. They don’t do well in extreme temperatures. One way to kill them is to leave your stuff in a hot car or garbage bag for a few days and let the summer sun bake them to death. (The University of Minnesota says the heat isn’t reliable enough; the The Texas A&M extension supports the technique as long as you can take the contents of the bag to 120 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour. I suspect this approach works better in Texas than Minnesota.)
Freezing is also an option. To kill bed bugs, you have to be them four days below freezing; Consider using a thermometer to monitor the process, especially for large items where the surface may be cold but the inside may not. The University of Minnesota warns that outside temperatures aren’t usually consistent enough for things to freeze by simply leaving them outside during the winter. a real freezer will do the job better.
Hard-surfaced items, such as wooden or plastic toys, can be wiped clean. However, watch out for cracks and crevices; The little guys like to hide. It’s possible to gas small objects with kits that you can purchase if you can’t find another way to kill the bugs.
