Wondering how to avoid bedbugs when traveling and while staying in hotels?
Learn specific steps for checking a hotel room for bed bugs. This FAQ on searching a hotel room (from New York State Integrated Pest Management’s bed bug FAQs) is brief and excellent. NYSIPM also provides a printable Travel Card on this topic (click for a PDF) which you can carry with you. This CBC Marketplace report on bed bugs is long (15 minutes or so) but is a must-see for learning about bed bugs in general and learning how to search a hotel room for bed bugs.
And you have to know what bed bugs and their signs look like. You can look at our photos of bed bugs page and signs of bed bugs here, and at photos of fecal stains on a hotel headboard and hotel mattress here.
Keep your luggage on the luggage rack (not bed or floor); first carefully check to see the luggage rack is free of pests (look at it from top to bottom, and under the straps). Check the mattress, headboard, frame and pictures (as much as possible), following these instructions.
For more helpful tips, click to download this PDF of this comprehensive article by entomologists Steven Kells and Jeff Hahn of the University of Minnesota, which describes the steps you should take if you’ve been exposed to bed bugs (but is also helpful on how to search for and avoid them in the first place).
Before you book a room, Google your hotel’s name and “bedbugs” and “bed bugs”; if you haven’t chosen one yet, look them up on tripadvisor.com. There, customers review hotels. If they had bad service, a small, outdated room, or (gasp!) bedbugs, you’ll hear about it. If you see one nasty report, of course, take it with a grain of salt. But multiple bad reviews, or reviews which repeat a particular critique, can be bad news. I have used tripadvisor many times and find the reviews useful not just to reassure me there are no bed bug reports at a hotel, but also to find good, moderately priced hotels, and a real insight into what rooms and service and location are like. Their highest ranked hotels are not always expensive and I have been very pleased when I have chosen them.
Some sufferers suggest purchasing a bottle of Kleenfree and using it in your hotel (spray mattress, etc.) I personally would not do this; Kleen free kills bed bugs you can see–if they’re sprayed directly. But it does nothing for bed bugs who are hiding, as they tend to do. (If you can see bed bugs, you should not be in the room! Leave! Insist on a bed bug free room, and take precautions when you get home to make sure you did not bring bed bugs home.)
You might want to use hard-sided luggage, if possible without zippers. Bedbugs love cloth and they are so thin zippers won’t necessarily keep them out. To be extra safe, seal your items in an XL ziploc bag inside the suitcase; in the hotel, keep the ziploc sealed. (If it isn’t air-tight, it is not bug-safe.) I like travel Space Bags, which zip and then roll to eliminate excess air. It means you can pack a lot more stuff in a smaller case, which makes the case heavy but easy to manipulate. Or you can leave some room in a larger case for bringing things home.
Another option is to seal your entire suitcase, garment bag or other luggage item in a BugZip. This is specially-designed for the purpose of sealing in luggage during your hotel stay. There are also drawer liners which you can use if you want to pack items into a hotel or cruiseship drawer.
You can click below to buy BugZip encasements via US Bed Bugs; enter coupon code BBFREE for free shipping! Note: because we have an affiliate advertising relationship, part of your purchase goes to support the running of this site, at no additional cost to you.
Ottawa PCO David Saunders suggests leaving luggage in your car and then doing laundry offsite before going home (source).
When you get home, visually inspect your suitcase and contents. Do not unpack your suitcase on the bed. Choose a light colored table or even the tub, so you can see what you’ve got. Do it quickly, in case there are any bed bugs inside. Remove all clothes into XL ziplocs and seal them until they can be washed and dried on hot or dry cleaned. You should do this when you come home from a trip whether you’ve encountered bed bugs or not. If you have encountered bed bugs, seal the suitcase up in a bag and throw it away.
If you haven’t seen signs of bugs, just unpack directly into a washing machine (wash and dry on hot hot hot). Deal with the case, too: you may not see young bed bugs. If you have some kind of bedbug approved pesticide, use it. Kleen-free (linked above) sprayed all over the suitcase is a good option. Or sealing it in a bag and freezing it for a few weeks might be an option for some.
Most of all, don’t stay home. The world is a beautiful place. You can get bedbugs without leaving your home if someone else’s home is attached. So get out there and enjoy the world. But be careful out there.
You can also see this section on bed-bugs.co.uk or this discussion on Metafilter.
You can see photos and links to purchase other recommended items like XL ziploc bags and Kleen Free on our Useful Stuff page.
Non-FAQ portion of the post:
As someone on Bedbugger yahoo group said, “You know the woman on that box has a bedbug problem, if she carries her ice skates and football in a sealed XL ziploc bag.” We do have fun on the Bedbugger yahoo list. And nothing says fun quite like enormous re-closeable plastic bags.
I try not to think of the landfill. The alternative: repeated spraying with not-so-effective pesticides to eradicate these monsters, also hurts the environment, so avoiding bed bugs is a green thing to do, even if you need to use a few plastic bags in the process.
If you have tips for avoiding bedbugs while traveling, please leave a comment and tell us!
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How about these additional “extreme” measures to consider:
- Throw away the clothes and shoes you traveled in before returning your home
- Throw away your luggage before entering your home (or .
- Bring lots of ziploc bags in larger sizes with you and immediately bag any souvenir items you purchase on your trip. That way you can safely bring them into your home. Maybe dust a little DE into the baggies before you leave, but be sure to do that safely, if you do.
Do the above by choosing cheapo and/or old clothes and footwear and luggage before you go on your trip.
Next: Have a set of clothes and shoes ready for you in a bag at your front door for when you return from your trip. When you get back home, open your front door a crack, grab the bag, then head for the nearest YMCA or gym/sports facility that has showers. Carefully discard your clothes (tied tightly in double garbage bags–you don’t want to risk infesting the facility!), take a hot shower (do NOT get tempted to use lice shampoo or any topical insecticde no matter how paranoid you may be feeling as they are quite toxic) and then get dressed in your clean 100% bug-free clothes.
Go home and rest easy.
As inconvenient and extreme as these proposals sound, look at it this way: you know that the BBs come home with travelers in their luggage and clothes and (gross!) sometimes presumably on their person. That’s the only way they can get in to your home.
It’s true that you won’t look terribly elegant with old or cheap luggage, and you won’t be able to bring your favorite clothes with you, but…
Throwing all your travel stuff away will still be MUCH MUCH CHEAPER than dealing with a bedbug infestation. And it won’t ruin your health due to overexposure for months on end to insecticides. And it won’t ruin your social life due to not being able to visit any of your friends and relatives nor have anyone over to your home. And you won’t have to worry about infesting your workplace, your car, etc. And you won’t have to throw away your bed, sofa, etc. And so on!
An alternative for the brave to throwing it all away would be to carefully and safely triple bag your travel stuff — before entering your home! — and put it all away in your basement for the next 2 years.
I bet most people will think these suggestions ridiculous, but for those of us who’ve been bedbugged one too many times, this might just be the way to travel stress-free next time… I know I personally can no longer face hotels. I just won’t. Puts a major cramp on my lifestyle as in my line of work I am expected to travelto conferences at least once a year. And I love to travel. One thing I now always try to do is try to find a person (friend, or friend of a friend) with whom to stay who lives in the city I’m going to. Though of course, eventually everyone will have bedbugs, and so that option (limited as it already is) will be out, too! (sorry for that last bit of cynicism!)
What do others think?
P.S. You could also opt to sleep in the tub at the hotels you stay at. Not that the BBs can’t detect your presence and hunt you down (that happened to me when I had BBs in my home in France: I fled to the tub for respite, and they found me there), but if you’re only staying a night or two, they may not realize you’re there. If you can tolerate a thin mattress, you could also travel with a roll-up foam mat, which is great because a) you could sleep on it in the tub and b) those mats afford very little in the way of hiding places for stowaway BBs.
Just some crazy ideas I thought I’d share!
Overbugged, this FAQ is not specifically for people who think they have encountered bed bugs in their hotel rooms, but simply for those who are trying to avoid them. If you find them, then i’d say pull out all the stops!
So I would not say your methods were too extreme for someone who had actually found they stayed in a room with bed bugs. If you encounter bed bugs in your room, then you want to be abslutely sure of not bringing them home. Throwing things away is indeed cheaper than an infestation.
However, for people just going to hotels, where the room is inspected and no bed bug signs are found, they may not need to throw away shoes, clothing and suitcases. If you have not encountered bed bugs on your trip, I do not think you need to do this. I always check my hotels on tripadvisor for bed bug reviews, then book, then inspect the room. Sure, you can have bed bugs and see no signs, but they are not in every room of every hotel. I have had a number of pleasant hotel stays recently, and while I inspected the room, and used ziplocs in my suitcase, I did not feel the rooms were infested.
What’s more, sometimes what you might consider extreme precautions can actually cause a problem. Let me give you an example from your suggestions: the YMCA. If you live in an area where bed bugs have taken hold (whether it’s NYC or Cincinnati or Vancouver), the YMCA, and other gyms in neighborhoods with lots of bed bugs are probably a likely point of infestation. If there’s no evidence you were exposed to bed bugs in the hotel, why go to the YMCA or gym and use a locker that itself might be infested? (If it makes you feel more confident, bag your clothes, rush into the shower at home, and dress there.)
Bed bugs do hitchhike, but taking some precautions (room inspection, stuff in bags) means they’re less likely to. To raise your confidence level, you might consider using some DE (food grade diatomaceous earth) in the cracks of your home, and encasing your bed carefully, so if you ever do bring one home, it has a hard time taking hold.
Hi Nobugsonme,
I didn’t want to make that first post too long, so here is a little more detail about my personal experience, which is why I have dreamed up those “extreme” precautions.
My husband and I had a major bedbug infestation a few years ago when we lived in France. During that ordeal, I became, by default, and like pretty much most people who get bedbugs, an unofficial “expert” on BB management , simply due to the massive amounts of research I needed to do to get us successfully through and out of the ordeal. In the end, even after pesticide treatment which we paid for, our flat was so badly infested (and it seemed the building was, too) that a) the flat was actually condemned by the city hygiene department (yay!) and b) we moved. We fled with about 5% of our (heavily treated) belongings. We lost the rest of our stuff (clothes, furniture, etc.), but had no regrets as we did not bring the bedbugs to our new place (which we had fumigated befoe moving in). Fortunately, our real home was in Canada, and our stay in France was temporary so the stuff we had with us was not our “real” possessions anyway. Lucky us!
With that ordeal behind us, we obviously hoped we wouldn’t have to encounter BBs again. And since then we have taken all reasonable precautions and then some. For example, when traveling, we try to stay at campsites or friends’ places. When a hotel stay is inevitable, I ALWAYS google the hotel+ bedbugs, and check travelers’ reports on trip advisor and other similar sites.
However, this March 2007, my husband had to go to NYC for a conference, and needed to stay in a hotel. The one he found that had a vacancy, proximity, and a rate he could afford was the Hotel Newton. It seemed like a nice, clean middle-priced hotel. (As everyone here knows, bedbugs don’t discriminate between cheap, middle and expensive hotels…)
So I researched it. Checked it out online relentlessly but no there were no travelers’ reports about bedbugs or any other kind of significant problem; in fact people described is as rather a gem, being clean and affordable.
So still agaisnt my better judgement (I just don’t want to take chances! bedbugs ordeals are just not worth it!) my husband goes to the Hotel Newton, and stays there 2-3 nights (can’t remember now). He placed his suitcase and belongings in the XL Ziploc bags that I gave him. However, the weather was very wet so he had to leave his shoes and suit jacket out to dry. The jacket he placed on a chair overnight.
He saw nary a sign of bedbugs inthe hotel room. He did the bedding and bed check.
Yet when he returned, he brought bedbugs home with him!
So this is why I personally now have a problem with assuming that “no evidence of bebdbugs in the hotel room” means no bedbugs…. Now this of course, is our experience, and hopefully not the norm, but now you can see where i’m coming from!
We started noticing our bites within a week. Like many people, though, we didn’t pay real attention until the 3rd week. We then had to finally banish our other hopeful theories about what was producing the itchy red bites all around our ankles and sides of our torsos… It so happened that we were a little lazy during that period in terms of our bedlinen changing and so our bedsheets had stayed on somewhat longer than they usually do. And when we checked for blood spots, we saw bloodspots galore! Absolutely no doubt about what was biting us.
The only place they could have come from was NYC’s Hotel Newton. Other than that there’s always a very remote chance that a person can pick up bedbugs on the airplane, but the standard source way still in this scenario is hotels.
I have left a report about this on Tripadvisor (so if you read of Hotel Newton bedbugs there–that’s me!).
So there you have it. In spite of all precautions, we got them again.
So that’s why, having been “twice bitten” as they say, I am most “shy” of any possible source of infestation!!
And we are still dealing with this infestation. Our home has been treated several times since March by the best PCO we could find in the small town we live in in Illinois. He is from TERMINIX and is doing the very best job he can; TERMINIX was the only firm whose staff has attended seminars and recent conferences on bedbug control. Our CPO is determined to help us get rid of them, so we’ve no complaints. And of course, we are following all possible precautions re clothes, etc.
The infestation is now at that stage where the new generation is coming out approx. once a month to feed on us.
Key to success–as reported on this website–is to use yourself as bait and have a varied arsenal of weapons to throw at them, and that’s what our PCO has been doing. Our PCO just treated the bedroom last week with a new cocktail that includes Nylar (egg development inhibitor) so our fingers ar etightly crossed.
**
Re the YMCA or sports faclity: of course you would not use the locker!!!
Gotta run now–I’m late for an appoitnment.
Cheers,
overbugged!
Let me clarify my previous statement, Overbugged, I think staying in a NYC hotel especially warrants care. Since I live in NYC, I was not thinking of that, but I would be very wary of staying in a hotel here.
I think that people can also learn to carefully search luggage (and of course, bag everything else) on their return. If your luggage is not searchable, then you might want to replace it. Also, you might be able to put soft luggage in a dryer for 20 minutes.
I am not saying you should not follow all the precautions you mention, but we do each have to decide what we can live with. I also think that, sadly, bed bugs are easily picked up and you can get them in all kinds of ways besides staying in a hotel. Taking extreme precautions all day every day is too much for me. But yes, a NYC hotel does warrant extreme precautions.
I do think it’s true that your husband may have gotten bed bugs from the airplane, airport, car service, taxi, rental car, subway, or anything else he did on the trip, but I grant that the hotel is a prime suspect.
Anyway, I am doubly sorry you went through this twice! I hope it is gone soon. (Is your PCO coming every two weeks? Since the eggs actually hatch within 10-14 days, many PCOs now think this 2-week follow-up is key.)
Yes, we and our PCO have also recently come to the same conclusion about 2 week intervals.
And yes, as I mentioned from the get go, the “extreme proposals” I made are *definitely* only suggestions for those who really really don’t want to risk it at all. Not for everybody. Most people ought not to be as unfortunate as us!
The suggestion to put soft luggage in the dryer is excellent! You could do that with all your clothes too upon returning home from trips. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that — we of course routinely (during this infestation) put everything “dryerable” in the dryer on hot for a long long time (60 min. minimum, depending on the items). That would certainly be an alternative to throwing it all out!
Yes, it’s totally sad but true that bedbugs can be picked up in many public places… virtually anywhere that people sit down or even remain still for a while is technically possible… and documented, from cinemas to restaurants and beyond… And what I said in my post, btw, was that you could indeed get them onboard a plane, just that it is still currently far less likely a source than overnight accomodation. I’ve even read one man’s account of getting bedbugs from an airplane. Scary. I don’t really have any thoughts as to how to take precautions against that, other than to put your things in the dryer when you get home… or discard them.
***
I just wish some brilliant scientist would come up with some (safe!) pill we could take that would innocuously alter the taste of our blood so that bedbugs would find it unpalatable! I’ve heard of something like this being done in the context of plant chemistry where they changed something in the plant’s makeup which then made it repellent to its parasites. Maybe some day, that’ll be an option for fighting bedbugs… in a brave new world!
In the meantime, keep fighting the good fight everybody,
Overbugged!
I always check trip advisor before booking a hotel. The hotel I got the bbs from didn’t have any bed bug reviews, so mine was the first. Interesting thing is that after I posted mine, someone else posted one. I think many people who DO react to bites just assume they were bitten by mosquitos or spiders, like I thought the first time around. Anyway, I also emailed the owner of the hotel to let him know about his problem so he could treat for the bbs. He emailed back, somewhat apologetic, but mostly told me how “disappointed” he was in my review on trip advisor! he was offended that I said I wouldn’t recommend his hotel to a friend. (By the way – he knew about the problem and didn’t deny it.) I was fair in my review, stating that besides the bed bugs, the place was charming and clean, but it’s not a risk I’m willing to take! He said he had several cancellations after I posted my review and was basically blaming me. He said because of me, I was going to shut down his little family-run hotel. Can you believe the nerve!?!? This guy doesn’t realize people aren’t canceling because of ME. They’re canceling reservations because of BED BUGS. He said “you’re taking away our business and sending people to other hotels that might possibly have bed bugs as well.” Yeah, but I’d rather take my chances at a “might possibly” than at a hotel I know has them for sure!!! UGH. Couldn’t believe this guy. He should be thanking his lucky stars I didn’t try to sue him!
CaliCal…At any point in the conversation did he say he was going to exterminate??? Please do not feel any guilt in exposing him…Its people like him who don’t take bed bugs seriously who are contributing to the spread…I feel like emailing him and asking him what steps they are taking to exterminate..AND if he got cancellations..you should feel proud of yourself..you did a good deed…
Cali,
When others threaten to sue, simply posting a negative tripadvisor review–which the managers are fully able to respond to on the site, by the way (tripadvisor allows that) is a kindness.
He’s a jerk.
I DO sympathise with hotel owners, just as I do with anyone else whose finances are messed up by bed bugs. But hotel owners have to get proactive.
The smart ones will consider regular inspections, maybe a contract with a bed bug dog to walk through (so they can display a certificate saying as much–which is not 100% guarantee they’ll ALWAYS be bed bug free, but if the dog walkthroughs and PCO inspections are regular, it would go a long way. Many customers would love to stay somewhere like that.
I thought I was being nice by telling the hotel owner that I don’t blame him – that bed bugs can be brought into the hotel at any time by guests. But, he quoted me and then asked if I knew that, why I would post a negative review (and went on to say I was ruining his business.) Any rational person should understand – I’m just trying to help others, and if I’ve prevented one single person from bringing these pests into their home, I feel I’ve done my job! I didn’t ask the guy for anything. Not a refund, not compensation for treatment of my home, pain & suffering, etc. All I wanted to do was make sure he was aware of his problem. I’m not sure what steps he’s taken to rid his hotel of the bb’s. A new review on trip advisor says these people kept their reservation, and when they showed up, they asked. They were told “Yes, there was a problem, but it’s been taken care of.” (Not sure what that means, exactly.) They didn’t get any bites….that they know of.
Well, we’re told many (some say most) do not react to bites. So they have have gotten them and not reacted.
But here’s the thing: a hotel can be infested in any number of rooms. It might be one, three, ten, or all, you just don’t know. If the other reviewers got another room, it may have been bed bug free.
Anyway, the hotelier is doubtless very stressed and panicking. You did the best you could, but don’t feel bad for warning others.
could someone tell me what bed bug skins look like or better yet where to see a picture. also, my exterminator says that the black spots would not show up on sheets as the bugs dont go where they eat. i continue to get black ink spots on white sheets. i put a brand new white sheet on and the next day there were three obvious black spots in a cluster. This coupled with the fact that my last set of white sheets ended up with diffused black spots and some little red/rust spots makes me think i have bed bugs. i had them once before and may have come in contact with original source, although i am really not sure of this. i had several bites and showed four of them to dermatologist who confirmed that they were bites. he said that this being bite season, he didnt know if they were BB bites. he said look at sheets. that is when i found spots. then later i spoke to exterminator who said forget the spots, show me the bites- which were gone because some time had passed. i went crazy the last time. i feel like it is happening all over. it seems like unless i catch the bug, no one believes me. Last time they finally said i had BB, when one ended up in my cast. They took cast off arm and there was the bug. Help!
That’s the second time in five minutes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bedbug1.JPG
(bed bug on left, cast skin on right)
People find lots of black specks on sheets, as well as on furniture, and even on their arms. Bed bugs poop everywhere.
Dermatologists often can’t recognize bed bug bites. The FAQs should help. good luck!
Hi,
I spent the last 3 weeks wondering what was up with the random marks on my arm. Then the large random welts. My arms, ankles, face, neck, etc. Went to the Dr. who mentioned bed bugs and asked if I traveled recently – I did, short trip to Boston last month. So I looked in my room, all over the bed, under, night tables, etc – not a one! Yet the bites got worse and worse and I got crazier by the bite trying to blame something, someone. I couldnt find one single bed bug in my room/home.
After going crazy thinking it was every random bug I saw outside, then to the point where I began to blame (in my insane head only!) my already weird neighbor … who I concluded must be a witch who put a hex on me. Yes, I realize how insane that sounds. The theory matched my state of mind.
So I had my boyfriend (who doesnt live with me) sleep in my room for 3 nights to see if it was bed bugs since I couldnt find any. Wouldnt you know he didnt get a single bite? That next night I slept in my bed (alone) and got the h*ll bit out of me! gah. I’m so mental at this point that I thought the bugs actually had emotions and were mad at me for not being in the bed so the assault on my right arm that night was their revenge. lol.
That’s when I got MAD. REALLY MAD. I went to town on the internet, gathering every piece of info I could get my hands on. I literally went into my room, took the bed apart, threw away everything under the bed (notice how you never really need anything you put under the bed?) vacuumed the hell out of my room and every crevice I could get to from the walls to the carpets to the furniture, threw away everything (including vacuum bag) in a nearby dumpster. Guess what? I FINALLY found a BIG bed bug a few hours later! I must have disturbed their rest…aww! (insert sarcasm font –>here)
And by big, I mean he was a nice, fat plump one … with a tummy full of MY blood. It took everything in me not to smash that SOB. However I trapped him on some sticky tape instead and made him suffer, his legs were flailing around (poor thing!), until the exterminator could identify it as a bed bug.
He came out the same day with a ton of BedLam, did a great job spraying it in every crack and crevice in my bedroom. I began to get worried they might be in my couch or my son’s room (which are on other stories of my house) — but upon serious inspection, the exterminator said “Nope. They must really love you” — not a single sign of them anywhere else in the house OR the suspect luggage. He told me that if they have a really reliable and regular host, they really dont need to bother to go anywhere else. grrr. He also mentioned it’s a mild case b/c there werent any droppings or stains anywhere — but I know mild cases can quickly turn into serious cases.
So now I’m at the stage of treatment, exterminator coming out once/week. As much as I HATE getting into bed each night, I know sleeping anywhere else in my house will make the lazy SOB’s come looking for me, further infesting my home, so I suck it up and sleep in my bed. I have noticed less bites since the exterminator came a few days ago, but I am aware this could be a long process.
So. I have a few questions since I am a BB newbie:
1) Any suggestions or experience you can share as to “how to survive/keep your sanity” during the treatment phase, physically and psychologically? (like, do I talk to the bugs and by telling myself I am befriending them I will sleep better despite the bites? lol). Seriously, the mental pressure of all this is worse than the physical.
2) Does ANYONE have or know of someone who has a success story of a mild case being treated timely, and the BB going away for good? (I’m looking for SOME hope anywhere I can get it!)
3) I went out and bought the vinyl/zipper bags for my mattress and spring mattress. I’m worried though that instead of just trapping what might have already been on the mattresses & keeping new one’s out, that they could find a crevice along the seems, or if there is a tiny rip somewhere — and that I might be actually making the matter worse by providing them another hiding place – inside the bag! Should I take them off & look inside – or get rid of them – ???
Any & All of your feedback is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
-bugged out in PA
Dear bugged out in PA
I’ve experienced bedbugs twice and I can totally relate to your concerns and anxieties and even the frieked-out supernatural and consipracy theories! You are so not alone!
With regard to the anxieties, I was actually lucky enough to have been prescribed a medication called Atarax which works wonders. I cannot say enough good things about it.
It’s actually an antihistamine which my doctor prescribed to help reduce the itchiness and inflammation of the bites. But happily, one unexpected side-effect of Atarax is that it really soothes anxiety as well.
And to top it all off, it acts as a sleeping aid if you have trouble falling asleep (I wonder why anyone dealing with bebugs might have *that* problem
).
And, I experienced no side effects whatsoever with it. If I took an atarax at night to get to sleep, the following morning, I was able to wake up no problem, and my brain was completely lucid (i.e., none of that brain fog you hear about being associated with many sleeping pills).
I normally do not touch prescription medicine (with the exception, say, of antibiotics if they are really really necessary). But this one, I consider a godsend during that difficult period while waiting for the infestation to die off.
Given how perfectly it addresses the bebdug sufferer’s issues, I wonder if its manufacturers will eventually clue in to this and market it specifically at that population!
Given my aversion to drugs, I ended up taking it only occasionally, when things got really difficult (like occasions when, knowing that if I got into bed I’d be totally unable to fall asleep knowing bedbugs were waiting for me to do just that; or, finally sinking into an exhausted slumber for 30 seconds only to awaken violently to look for the bedbugs I feared might be already crawling on me–I’m sure others can relate!) but even just having it on hand made me feel a little less hopeless during the ordeal…
As the pesticide treatment plan progresses, the bites will lessen and lessen until one day there are no more… you can hang in there until then.
One final word of advice–an appeal really–is TAKE CARE OF YOUR LIVER, AND YOUR ALL-AROUND HEALTH WHILE YOU ARE GOING THROUGH THIS.
Due to the introduction of pesticides in your environment, a bedbug ordeal puts a tremendous strain on your liver and your immune system, among other things. To make matters worse, smokers and drinkers are, understandably, going to smoke and drink a little (or a lot) more than usual during this time.
As well, all this anxiety and stress really hits the immune system hard, too.
Not to mention that pesticides increase cancer risk. Yikes.
And don’t believe the lies that the insecticides are “safe.” Alas, it just ain’t true (the exception being diatomaceous earth). Yet we bedbug sufferers simply have no choice but to bombard our living and sleeping environment with poison. Very dangerous.
So take all precautions you can to boost your liver health and general health during this time.
Basic protocol to follow–at the very minimum: LOTS & LOTS of Vit C daily, and liver support in the form of milkthistle or a multi-ingredient compound.
Hope this helps.
Overbugged
Hi bugged out in PA and Overbugged,
Thanks for the tips Overbugged. Bugged out has started a thread in the forums if anyone else wants to give advice or support.
Well, I’ve read enough. I’m not staying in motels any more. I’ll sleep in my car.
If I can’t do that, or camp, or stay at a friend’s, I won’t go. The kind of hotel I can afford is not the kind that would make any effective efforts to eliminate bedbugs, should they ever get them, which seems statistically inevitable given the number of people that pass through.
Count me out!
-v.
I noticed bedbugs 0 picked up from a hotel before I knew anything about them – in January and have been fighting the problem ever since. It took until May to even get the landlady to send in an exterminator, while I kept them at bay with Diatomaceous Earth and by wrapping my futon in extra-strength plastic. In addition to having to take everything to the laundromat, the exterminators required that EVERYTHING in my 5-room apartment (except for the kitchen and bathroom), my 100s of books and Cds, VHS tapes, etc, be taken off shelves and out of drawers, even if there was no activity. My living room now looks like a huge garbage dump, I can’t find anything. When they finally came, they took about 40 minutes haphazardly spraying around the baseboards, moldings, the mattresses and the futon frame, a process which was repeated 3 weeks later. For 2 months we had peace, but now they are back, and seemingly coming from somewhere around my desk and computer equipment. I am not getting bitten in bed, but caught 3 craeling either on my desk or the carpet underneath in full light late in the evening. My bedroom is also my home office, full of furniture, an old carpet, lots of crevices in the everywhere. How am I EVER going to get rid of them?
handcuffed,
I assume you’re in a multi-unit building? If so, did the PCO carefully inspect every unit on top, under yours, and on every side? If activity ceased and then started again, there’s a good chance they are coming from your neighbors.
There’s also a chance they were reintroduced IF you kept your stuff sealed a while and then returned it after treatment.
You need the PCO to come back, and return at 10-14 day intervals until they’re gone. And you really need all neighbors inspected. Even if they do not KNOW they have bed bugs, they may have bed bugs.
Yes, I am in a multi-unit building, and the adjoining apartments were not inspected. I had left for 2 months in the summer, and everything is still bagged. My roommate was here though, unpacked some things. She is not getting bitten though in her room, she claims. I don’t quite trust her to really have thoroughly cleaned and inspected everything, washed everything. She is moving out October 1st. I keep imploring her to be thorough, so she doesn’t take the problem with her and spread it. Once she is gone I will have her room sprayed again, throw out the mattress (which is encased, but just to be sure), the dresser, probably should also polyurethane the wooden floor which is full if cracks? Besides the bugs I am left with a big financial problem – which roommate wants to move into a place which had bedbugs? I will leave most of my stuff sealed for at least the next year, so the problem will be very obvious. Moving stuff into storage presents a big problem as well, since I live in a 5th floor walk-up and there is lots of heavy stuff like books. Moving to another place is not really a possibility with the sky-high rents in NYC. All of this because a pretty nice hotel in Gaithersburg didn’t take care. After I was bitten there I washed everything before even returning home, sprayed the suitcase with insecticide, washed things again here, but obviously that wasn’t enough. We proably never had many, at the height of it maybe 5 bites a week, but even 1 bug is too many and I just want to be rid of this problem. My life has been an absolute nightmare since January.
And one more question, unrelated to the issue above – besides tripadviser and such, is there one site where people can report bedbug problems in hotels, with date, so one can instantly check whether a particular place is affected? I think this would be of tremendous value to the travlling community, and maybe even force hotel staffs to be more vigilant. How easily they can travel between rooms in vacuum cleaners, for instance. Are there products out there to prevent thaty, like pesticide treated cleaner bags?
Any pressure on priceline to make sure their accomodations pass inspection? I have a feeling that some of the “deals” you get there are because people are cancelling reservations in infected places and am very afraid to use their services now.
bedbugregistry.com takes reports of North American hotels and such.
I would not use priceline simply because I like to screen hotels on tripadvisor.com before booking.
No, nothing is being done, yet. We’re in early stages of seeing anyone who does not have (and has not had) bed bugs giving a hoot about them, but I do believe that is shifting.
Also, “inspection” isn’t going to offer any security where hotels are concerned, unless they are being inspected after each guest leaves, and probably using a bed bug dog in addition to a human. Humans trying to spot a small infestation is very difficult.
Updated with David Saunders’ idea.
Thank you for the excellent tips. I forwarded this page to my parents. They seem to think if a motel is “nice” or they “always stay there” that they don’t have to worry.
My apartment had beg bugs last summer and I was a wreck. I became obsessed and would not even sit on a chair anywhere public. I felt like the victim of something horrible that no one can ever relate to, unless they experience a similar ordeal. The bugs did not come from a hotel, but from a neighbor in the building.
I eventually moved myself out, destroyed my clothes in hot wash, and threw away some things. It was just me, I did not bring any furniture since I was not the apartment owner to begin with.
I have since gone to 2 hotels since being bed bug free. The first was bad, it was summer and I was being bit by SOMETHING either in the room or outside and naturally, feared bed bugs. Nothing came home with me. Yes I did check the bedding, but the room was old and dark and hard to see so I still had worries.
The time after it was a very clean hotel. I felt safer than before, but still checked. I check the seams of the beds, the actual sheets, look around the drawers at little spaces. I don’t go crazy but I do look.
Now I am going to a hotel, my third since the bugs, and though it’s always on my mind I am NOT the crazy person I was after experiencing a bed bug problem. I will check the bedding, check cracks, check whatever I can but I realize now that excessive paranoia is pointless. If I see no evidence of bugs in my room, why am I going to destroy my clothing with heat when most of my stuff is cold wash only? Why am I going to purchase bug spray, hard luggage, clothes I can throw away?
This is excessive worry. I understand the paranoia, because I have been there and I know the mental and physical anguish, but I think it’s excessive, and paranoia completely. Don’t let them destroy you. Use common sense about the cleanliness of the room, and check. If nothing is found, just try to relax and enjoy your trip. I understand bed bug sufferers won’t be able to do this, but if you don’t suffer from this because you have had a previous proble, don’t get yourself all worked up.
Mop,
Thanks for your comments!
Your experience is similar to my own. I have stayed in many hotels and searched the room and taken some precautions, but I still enjoy travel.
We possibly encountered bed bugs at a resort, my husband did not beleive it and brought the luggage in. The children were waking up with bites so I isolated the beds, now we have no more bites in the morning but get bitten during the day or evening while laying on the carpet or sofa. The bites are sometimes so close together that they appear to be a spider bite, but I’m sure they are not since we’ve had several of these bites. Does this sound like bed bugs?
we just arrived in a rental home total stay is for two weeks. I woke up with little red spots all over me. I went to the dr who said bed bugs were prevalent here. we still have a week to go. what do I do now to help prevent more bites or taking them home. I bought a sovenier shirt for my nephew. should I toss it?
HI Tracy,
I really hope this response reaches you in time to help.
To be on the safe side, everything you brought with you to the rental home should be treated to ensure bed bugs are not brought into your home. You should also take precautions to avoid infesting your car!
You will see several relevant FAQs in our travel section about how to avoid taking bed bugs home with you.
The general advice would be this:
Anything you remove from the rental home should be sealed in clear bags. Thick contractor garbage bags tied in an airtight manner, or XL ZIplocs if you have access to them, can be used.
Take all washable items home in sealed bags and either wash and then dry on hot (until bone dry). OR simply dry dry items on hot. That takes much less time, if items do not need washing. However, give some thought to thick items. Comforters, pillows, stuffed animals and the like provide a lot of insulation for any bed bugs or eggs secreted within. It is hard to know how long to heat them in a dryer. If you travel with these items potentially infested, to wash/treat at home, then they are sealed to prevent bed bugs getting in the car. Some people might use a Packtite (see below) or even discard such items to be safe.
Non-washable items are tricky. You can carefully inspect them visually, if you spend some time learning about bed bugs and their signs, but keep in mind, bed bugs hide easily. They can hide in a seam or crack the width of a credit card — so hiding in the seam of a suitcase or duffel is not a problem. Visual inspections are more reliable for items you can inspect thoroughly. You might want to inspect and/or treat at the other end, preferably before you take items inside (if you have a yard or other space outside).
It may be possible to run cloth suitcases, duffels, and such through a dryer on hot, but they should travel bagged to avoid infesting the car.
Some people use a Packtite to decontaminate entire suitcases of washables and non-washables and/or to treat non-washables (in batches). It costs about $295 but can be used to decontaminate most items (if they fit) and can be be re-used as a preventive after future trips. You basically put items inside, plug it in, and heat it just hot enough to bake bed bugs, but not hot enough to damage most items. Again, take extra precautions when heating thick items, which will take a long time. Use the temperature censor to monitor internal temps, preferably inside the thick item. (You can learn more about Packtite here.)
People who are leaving the house to get in a car or other vehicle should be wearing freshly laundered clothing (don’t dress and sit down or stand around). Even shoes should be run through the dryer if possible. Purses and other items are suspect.
The size and location of the infestation may have an impact on whether or how many of your items were infested. Be especially suspect of items stored near or on beds or sofas/upholstered chairs/other seating. Bed bugs can infest dressers, or crawl into bags left on the floor.
All of this may sound drastic, but it is well worth the effort not to take bed bugs home. Please come to the forums if you have more questions or need support!
i travel prepared after getting bitten multiple times, once in nyc and again london. i pack a couple of large bugzip bags for my belongings, i take an allersac for sleeping and i carry a small container of food grade diatomaceous earth if i am staying more than one night. i sprinkle it around the bed feet and on the baseboards in back of the headboard. sounds paranoid but it only takes 15 minutes and makes me feel better.
Anyone try this yet? Instead of sleeping on regular bed, use a standalone hammock with both ends of rope and shaft coated with sticky tapes (bed bug are unable to jump or fly). Do this over a period of several months to deprive them of their food source.
Report back if any of you are successful with this method or not.
jeremy,
BugZips may help protect your luggage in a hotel room.
However, I am not familiar with the allersac. I am not sure how this 100% cotton travel sheet “shields you from bed bugs” as the authors of this website claim: http://www.allersac.com/
I am not aware of any bedding which will prevent bed bugs from crawling inside and biting you. They can crawl inside a t-shirt, so why not inside a travel sheet-sac?
Also, food grade Diatomaceous Earth can be used to kill bed bugs. However, we’re told it takes them up to 10 days to die. It might be more useful to take precautions with your luggage and other items brought from your travels, and to carefully apply DE to crevices in your home, in case you ever bring one in (from anywhere — they can be found in your city or town too). If you do use DE, be sure and take the necessary safety precautions, and apply appropriately and sparingly for best results — our DE FAQ is a good place to start your research.
I also recommend everyone learns to search a hotel room for bed bugs, per the information in the post above. An ounce of inspection is worth a pound of cure!
arlanda,
You describe a way of “isolating” a hammock, much like other forms of bed isolation. (Techniques for “isolating” — or simply “protecting” — a regular bed can be found here.)
You may not realize this, but if bed bugs are deprived of the food source sleeping in a bed, they will move on to other areas of the home. You probably sit in a sofa, easy chair, or dining room or computer chair — bed bugs can crawl up on any of these surfaces and bite you. If you were to isolate every bed and chair in your home, bed bugs may attempt to crawl up your leg and bite you as you sit on the toilet, or stand in the kitchen. It would be hard to deprive them of all feeding opportunities.
The methods in this FAQ include ways to keep bed bugs from biting you while also catching samples of any that attempt to do so, with inexpensive ClimbUp Interceptor bed bug traps. This, along with bed bug treatment, will help you get rid of the problem and maintain your sanity.
My bedbug hotel protection comparo:
I have been bitten before so I know what it feels like.
I started a new job for a small hardware importer. i was paired up with a co worker to pitch a company in NYC. because we are small our budgets are small. we were booked into a mid level hotel in Brooklyn.
My co worker is a real mach kinda guy, beer and football, still whistles at women, very embarrassing to be around.
we shared a suite, he gave me the bed because of my age and bad back, he took the pull out. we arrived very late because of flight delays. after unpacking i start my bedbug routine, checking the mattress, headboard, laying down an allersac, spraying the perimeter of the bed area with eco bug spray , pulling the bed away from the headboard, and placing bedbug cups under the bed legs. i found a couple of spots on the mattress but no actual bedbugs so i figured the room had been treated and no bedbugs were present. he starts laughing, calling me “protectaboy”. ” are you afraid of a coupla bugs ” he taunts.
We try to get a some beer/ food but everything is closed so we raid the mini bar for a drink then hit the sack. at 4am i hear him swearing .
I get up and meet him in the bathroom, he’s scratching an wiping himself down with a towel and i can see bites all over his back and legs, even 2 bebugs still on his back, a couple on his cheek,they were small red marks. i couldn’t help but laugh, he was really freaking out, we both got dressed threw our stuff into our bags a went to the front desk. for the next hour he argued with the night manager who couldn’t place us in another room as the hotel was full.
The manager told us the whole hotel had been treated the previous month and there were no bedbugs there. “what do ya think these are” my partner is screaming and pointing to the ever growing welts on his cheek while threatening to undress to show her the rest of his bitten body.
By now it’s 6am, we have a meeting at 10am, we need to shower and shave so we leave most of our stuff at the front desk and go back to the room to shower.
By the time we leave the regular manager is on duty, he looks at my partner’s face and starts to apologize, credits my card for the night and tells us to contact the corporate office for further actions.
We make the meeting, make the sale ( even with my partner looking like he did ) and change our flight so we don’t have to stay another night
The whole way home i kept calling him “biteboy”, his face now had 3 large red marks which some kid on the plane kept staring at, hysterical really, as long as it wasn’t me.
Whether the allersac, bedbug cups, eco spray and pulling the bed away from the headboard worked, or they forgot to treat the pullout, i don’t know , but i won’t hesitate to do the same again.
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