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Protecting Yourself from Bedbugs: 5 Things You Need to Know
Bedbugs have become a big concern for frequent travelers. How to protect yourself when you're on the road.
Posted 10/ 1 10 at 4:30 PM | 5 Things You Need to Know, Business Travel, Legal Issues, Environmental Services, Health, Retail, Travel
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Having to take your shoes off for a security guard. Paying $50 because your luggage is a few pounds too heavy. Jet lag. What we used to complain about when traveling seems quaint compared to what everyone's suddenly worried about: bedbugs. As we've seen in recent months, bedbugs love to hitch a ride with travelers, and can wreak havoc on homes and businesses, resulting in thousands in clean-up costs and plenty of mental anguish.Worried about picking up those little critters in a some strange hotel and bringing them back to your home or office? Here are five things you need to know.
1
Check your hotel room for signs of bedbugs.
That's the first thing you should do. The Better Sleep Council suggests storing your luggage on a tabletop, luggage stand or other hard surface. Then, if you truly want to rest easy, start looking for signs of bedbugs. It won't be pretty. After all, you're about to dismantle the focal point of your hotel room -- your lovely, comfortable, relaxing bed. But if you're so inclined, remove the sheets and blankets and examine the seams of the mattress and the upper edge of the box spring for any signs of bedbugs or their droppings.
How can you spot red flags? Look for dark spots or stains. Examine the seams and corners at the head of the bed. The National Pest Management Association offers similar advice, adding that if you do find any signs of bedbugs, alert management immediately. If you elect to stay at the hotel but change rooms, for obvious reasons, make sure your new room isn't next to the possibly infested room.
How can you spot red flags? Look for dark spots or stains. Examine the seams and corners at the head of the bed. The National Pest Management Association offers similar advice, adding that if you do find any signs of bedbugs, alert management immediately. If you elect to stay at the hotel but change rooms, for obvious reasons, make sure your new room isn't next to the possibly infested room.
2
Store your luggage in a big plastic bag.
Missy Henriksen, vice president of public affairs for the National Pest Management Association, suggests actually keeping your luggage zipped up and sealed in plastic, if you're truly concerned about bedbugs and want a surefire way to keep them from sneaking into your suitcase. It's an extra step, and a pain in the neck, but it's a virtual guarantee that if you bring bedbugs home, they won't be coming in your luggage.
3
Do your homework.
Charla S. Kucko, director of marketing and communications for the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester, travels frequently and has some solid advice for anyone about to book a hotel room -- do some research. "I type the hotel name and 'bedbugs' in the search bar, because if people have had a negative experience, they will often complain about it online," Kucko says. "I also visit TripAdvisor.com to read hotel reviews and see if there are any posts there about bedbugs." The user-generated Bed Bug Registry provides an additional way to search affected locations.
4
Bedbugs aren't just in bed.
We tend to think of bedbugs being in hotel rooms. Unfortunately, that's not the case. "Remember, wherever we go, bedbugs have the opportunity to come along with us," warns Michael Colongione, president and owner of New York-based GotchA! Bedbug Inspectors. "Travel is one of the key factors in why we are currently dealing with a bedbug epidemic. My advice to anyone who travels is to make sure, when staying in a hotel and using airline transportation, to wash all clothing that has been worn and all items in your carry-on luggage using a high temperature and dry using high heat, prior to placing these items back into your dressers and closets."
Another place bedbugs can sneak aboard your clothing? Rental cars. Colonogione is a paid spokesman for Pronto Plus, a preventative spray that kills bedbugs and their eggs. If you're truly worried, you could always carry that around with you and spray your luggage and clothing at will.
Another place bedbugs can sneak aboard your clothing? Rental cars. Colonogione is a paid spokesman for Pronto Plus, a preventative spray that kills bedbugs and their eggs. If you're truly worried, you could always carry that around with you and spray your luggage and clothing at will.
5
Be careful when you get home.
After you return from a trip, you might be so relieved to be in a bedbug-free zone that you forget you should still take some precautionary measures to ensure your home stays bedbug free. As Colonogione suggests, wash your clothing pretty much as soon as you enter your home. Store your luggage in the garage or basement -- somewhere far away from where you do your day-to-day living. Even more effective, especially if the suitcases are in the main part of the home, vacuum your suitcase immediately or before you bring your luggage inside. Sure, it's the last thing you'll want to do after returning from a long, exhausting trip, but if you're truly bedbug wary, you really can't argue with Colongione's logic: "It's always best to be proactive before entering your home.
Geoff Williams is a frequent contributor to AOL Small Business. He is also the co-author of the book Living Well with Bad Credit.
Geoff Williams is a frequent contributor to AOL Small Business. He is also the co-author of the book Living Well with Bad Credit.
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Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Thank you, GOEFF WILLIAMS,
for publishing this article, which will vindicate those of us, who continue to be taunted for being:
" over reactive, paranoid, clean freak, hen- pecker, and other derogatory labels ",
for not allowing our housemate(s) to bring Anything in the house when he/they arrive home from ANY travel, (over the last 30 yrs).
Soon, I hope you post " Innoculations .. get them BEFORE you get sick !! "
signed- "being sooooo ridiculous and other derogatory labels"
What is DE?
It's a fossil flour. And it penetrates the shell of the bug. It dehydrates them within minutes. The product is awesome!
DE is Diatomaceous Earth, it works great for killing all kinds of creatures, and it also works great for polishing glass. It is also a HIGH ORDER CARCINOGEN,,, that means it causes cancer. It is like asbestos, the particles are very sharp and once ingested they never stop cutting tissue. Hence you get cancer and die because you are afraid of a little bug. Just take some very small vials of flea and tick repellant for dogs and rub it around on the mattress, you'll never see the little things anyway. And just about any bug repellant with DEET will work also...
My husband's job set up the Motel Rooms he would go to when traveling out of town. We became infested with these bugs! Our lives changed. I can't tell you the hell we went through. We were clean people! But these things have no mercy. We tried everything when we came to a site called www.naturalproductsdm.com We purchased the 50lb bag of DE and it worked! After a year of suffering. Trying everything but the expensive exterminators we found dead bed bugs. I cried. I just broke because nothing else worked. All under 100 dollars. It was the best investment of my life. I just thought if you were reading this article and you were struggling.. you might want to go to this site. It changed our lives and we are finally healed and bed bug free. Good Luck!
Living and traveling through S.E. Asia [where they got me] and the world. The Mrs. more than mildly attractive than myself, They leave her in peace. While they have fiested on me and don't just go away. It has been the better part of 12 months them chomping the flesh.
Carlo This happened to my husband and me for the first few months. Then they began biting me. This product on www.naturalproductsdm.com is the best. You have to cover everything in your bedroom. It will be a mess .. and leave it there. Vacuum a few days later. But I promise you my husband's bites are healed and so are mine. We haven't seen anymore of those bugs since we treated the rooms. But I will tell you secretly .. we leave it down under our bed and around the walls.. because I don't want them back!
Everyone... Also remember they are not just in your bed. They crawled up to the tops of our curtains and it seemed that's where they were laying eggs. Ladies and Gents. You will have to wash everything in hot water.. then treat your rooms and the window seals with DE. Don't forget when you put your curtains back to apply DE to the tops of your curtains. IT WORKS! www.naturalproductsDM.com
I've got to tell ya, you had better get some education on DE before you start dusting your house with it. I use it for scorpions, but I am very careful where it is applied and I would never use it inside my home. If you're worried about your luggage get some flea and tick collars for dogs and tape them somewhere to your bags. I owned a hotel for years, and the bedbugs came with the Europeans, sorry guys, as politically incorrect as that sounds, it's the truth. We started stapling flea and tick collars to the box springs of our beds and the bed bugs left with their respective carriers.
i got the crabs once from someone and instead of going to an expensive doctor i just went to the store and got Hartz Mountain flea and tick powder. Worked in one day.
Too funny, a friend of mine got the crabs from a Mexican hooker once. We were in the NAVY and he definitely did not want to go to medical and have this in his medical record so he did the exact same thing... Hartz flea and tick powder for horses.... True story
I got bitten in a hotel in S.E.Asia this year for the first time ever.I found out how to kill them. Turn the lights out and when they bite you squeeze them between you thumb and forefinger. Another way, if it is your home, is to crank up the heat to over 120deg.f The little buggers will not survive.Go to Vegas or? for a day or two and no more mattress guests
Anyone hear of DDT??? It was banned because of junk science and an emotional novel by Rachel Carson in 70's. That was how the EPA got started .. on a "lie"! Big Surprise! Well, now a young doctor named Dr. Rutledge Taylor has done a documentary exposing the TRUTH about DDT and how it is safe for humans and birds alike. Time to bring it back. If you can't get to see the film, at least check out www.3billionancounting.com and see how many people have died because of this ban. DDT got rid of bed bugs back in the 40's .. I think he said. Anyway .. if we brought DDT back .. we would NOT have to deal with bed bugs. Get going .. find out the facts for yourself!
PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE TO BE FILTHY TO GET BB THEY ARE SMALL AT A BABY ROACH AND GROE TO LESS THEN 1/2 IN .AND YOU DO NOT FEEL THERE BITE AT ALL. MY TENANT THOUGHT SHE HAD ROACHES. I SAW SMALL DROPINGS IN THE UPPER WALLS. THINKING IT WAS MOLD FROM WATER LEAK. WHEN I TRIED TO CLEAN IT IT LOOKED LIKE FECIES. I REMOVED HER PICTURE WHERE SOME WERE. THEN I FOUND THEM IN THE BEDDING. WE GOT RID OF THE BEDS THEY WERE ALSO IN THE COUCH AND CHAIRS. ALSO UNDER RUGS.IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE THEM YOU CAN LAY DOWN A DROP CLOTH FOR A FEW HR. FLIP IT OVER AND SEE WHAT HAS ATTACHED ITSELF TO THE CLOTH.
Where do these little boogers originate from..? Filthy people...? I have never had them, and I
hope to God I never do. They sound horrible.. Like a cockroach, which is all over the southland.
Go out side and you get the Nile virus mosquito.. Seems something is always trying to get us
from the beginning of time..LOL Glad no TRex..!!
The bedbug problem we are facing reminds me of a 1950 horror movie - where nature goes wild. I believe we have brought this on ourselves. Many people think we should begin using DDT again. Bedbugs, I'm certain, would not be killed by DDT but rather they would probably eat the stuff. What you'll wind up with would be something like bedbugs on steroids. We need to look at this as an imbalance in nature and look for safe chemicals to eradicate them - if possible! Meanwhile, don't wait until you see the critters - you will get bites before you see them. They really suck!
Always consult a professional its almost impossible to get rid of Bedbugs without consulting an expert. By all means try it yourself if you think you have only a few but if you are in a block of flats then you probably are out of your depth. I have been in the pest control business for over 20 years and regularly treat premises for bedbugs where the client has tried to deal with it themselves but this ineviitably ends up costing more. For more info www.pest3.com
Diatomaceous earth is not repeat not a carcinogen or cancer causing. It is a common material used for filtering pools, it is used in water plants to filter your water you drink. It is only dangerous to bugs and hard shells as it scrapes them and damages the insects shells. It will kill ants, fleas, bedbugs, roaches etc. It is available in pool shops in large bags. It is a useful insect killer that is not dangerous to use around the house and pets. Check it out.
Borax powder will also kill bedbugs but is less effective. Borax when mixed with sugar water and set out will attract ants and will kill entire colonies in a few days as it kills their queens.
Stay home if your paranoid... Most hotels are doing their best and recognize the negative publicity that would come about if clients report bedbugs and spread the word....
To EJ COX: I agree with you that diatomaceous earth (DE) is not carcinogenic, but it can be harmful to people. If inhaled repeatedly, it can cause lung problems (silicosis). It is composed of the silica (quartz) shells of prehistoric oceanic diatoms. I would not want to coat my bedding with it, or have it spread throughout my house in furniture and carpets. As you stated, it kills fleas and other pests because the sharp silica edges scratch through the protective bodies of the pests. It can do the same thing to your lungs.
this article and topic seem to be ongoing for weeks.....only parasites we need worry about is the parasitic fed reserve