This FAQ was updated in June 2009 and now has two parts: the first covers travel, the second covers how not to spread bed bugs in your daily life.
Avoid spreading bed bugs when you travel
by Parakeets
I have bedbugs and I sometimes stay overnight with friends and relatives. What a dilemma! How can I make sure I don’t take bedbugs with me to my host? (Ha ha, that’s a switch. With bedbugs I’m usually referring to MYSELF as the “host.”) Bedbugs are so small, such good hiders, such good hitchhikers. It seems almost impossible, but here are some tips on what I do:
1) I take the absolute least amount of things with me as possible. The less you take, the less hiding places there are. This means repeating outfits, mixing and matching, and wearing the same piece of clothing or shoes over and over. Again, the less you take, the less chance of taking bedbugs. We have to be stark minimalists. It reminds me of when I traveled in Europe with a pack on my back and carried very little.
2) Whenever possible, I won’t even take a suitcase. I pack my clothes hot from the dryer into ziploc bags. I then put the zip-lock bags of clothes into a clear plastic larger bag and carry my clothes in that. (Ladies, first tuck your lingerie inside something else. Otherwise you’ll find you’re walking down the street with your “underwear showing”–literally). When I travel, I wear an outfit that I take straight out of the dryer or out of a ziploc bag.
3) I tossed out all my cosmetic bags and all those “travel totes for toiletries” (okay, I didn’t throw out my love of alliteration). I carry such items in zip-lock sandwich baggies. I don’t take hairdryers, travel irons, etc. with me. I borrow shamelessly when I get to the place I’m staying.
4) Again, when possible, I won’t even take the clear plastic larger bag into the house I am visiting if I’m using my car. I leave all my stuff in the car and use the car as my closet. The less I bring into the house, the better. I’d rather infect my own car than someone else’s house. I leave my coat in the car, too. If it is the summer, I put my “luggage” in the car for two days ahead of time, in the backseat in the sun, and let it bake.
5) I won’t take books or magazines with me that have been in my apartment. I buy them “fresh” for the trip.
6) I never take gifts with me that have been kept in my home. Instead I have any gifts shipped ahead of time, straight from wherever I ordered them online, or buy them along the way.
I don’t know if I’ve spread bedbugs or not. I certainly hope not. I take as much care as possible. I really care about the family and friends I stay with. Most of them don’t know about bedbugs, so even if I tell them, it doesn’t sink in how terrible they can be. I somehow think that precautions like this might help since hotels are not yet reporting bedbugs in 100% of the rooms and not everyone who stays in a hotel with bedbugs gets bedbugs, so there must be a way not to take them with you. However, I think the only way to be absolutely certain you won’t take bedbugs when you visit is if you are visiting a nudist camp.
I eagerly welcome more comments and suggestions on how to do this. It’s a learning process and stuff like this is not written anywhere else. Most of the bedbug articles I find in the media are soooo out of date, often cheeky in tone. They seem to think you just have to cover your mattress and spray, and your problems will go away. They couldn’t even imagine the horror we’ve gone through and we continue to go through on a daily basis.
Note: the above FAQ was written before the invention of a tool which many readers will find useful. The Packtite allows people to remove bed bugs from items such as unwashable clothing, books, papers, shoes, etc. This may help someone with an active infestation avoid taking bed bugs to other places (and, once bed bugs are gone, items brought in may be treated — even packed in the suitcase itself!) You can read more in the Packtite FAQ.
Avoid spreading bed bugs on a daily basis (added 6/2009)
by Nobugsonme
Most of the tips above are also relevant to your daily life, if you are someone who has bed bugs in your home.
The idea is to avoid taking bed bugs out of your home and infesting your workplace, your car, or other places.
Washing and dressing in clothing known to be bed bug-free immediately before leaving the home is a good rule to follow. (You can ensure clothing is bed bug-free by washing/drying it or running it through a Packtite, and keeping it bagged until wearing; this FAQ and this one may help.)
Think about where other items rest in your home which are only used outside. Why not keep a bed bug-free purse or backpack inside a sealed Ziploc while you’re at home? (The same rule would apply at work if the workplace is infested, and your home is not.)
Removing shoes at your own door and wearing something else on your feet inside the house is another good idea. The shoes, again, can be kept safely somewhere, in sealed bags. (Remember never to store damp shoes in a sealed bag!)
Shoes, hats, coats, etc. can also be run through a Packtite before storing or before use.
The important thing is to think about what you’re taking outside of the home, and ensure it is bed bug-free.
A little bit of common sense, and a little bit of annoyance, will help you avoid spreading bed bugs to others. The reward? Go where you want to, visit friends and family, enjoy your life, even while battling bed bugs!
Similar Posts:
- None Found
{ 3 trackbacks }
{ 119 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
My uncle is elderly, and living in a building which is INFESTED with bedbugs. He brought them to my house…and i have since eradicated (I hope!) them from my home, with much effort, money and turmoil to my household. The only question remaining is, how to handle his infestation? He’s too old to “stay on top of this” issue, with plastic bags, and washing…not to mention the expense. He won’t even engage in a conversation about it with me. It’s heartbreaking, but iIcan’t have him to my home anymore. Even for the holidays! Any suggestions short of leaving town for the holidays?
LML,
The elderly need help in battling their infestations. From friends, family, social services. The obvious first step is to get help from an experienced pest control company. If the infestations in the building where he lives are widespread, and efforts to control them have not been effective, the tenants need to organize and consider complaining to the health and/or housing authorities.
There are many helpful things that can be done. Shunning him is not one of them. You can learn about how to limit your exposure when you see him. Please keep reading the FAQs and visit the forums (blue bug above) if you have further questions.
Maybe you could take him out to eat at a restaurant? I can understand why you would not want him to come into your home, but I do hope you get to see him since he is elderly and very much in need of support and education if he is suffering from bedbugs.
If he did come to your house, could you bring new (or washed and dried on hot) set of clothes to his place, have him shower and dress in the new clothes, and then immediately bring him over to your place? Maybe you could time when you pick him up to right after he takes his shower. Keep his coats and bags in the car. Have EVERYONE take off their shoes outside, including him, and shoes won’t be a problem, either. Some elderly folks love to wear new clothes (particulalry if they are after his favorite football team).
Diamond Girls is the name of a cleaning service in Brooklyn that goes daily into highly infested homes to prepare them before they are treated by PCOs. I once asked how they could do that without getting infested themselves. They said they came home, washed their clothes and dried them in a hot dryer and took a shower. If that works for people who are exposed to bedbugs daily, it should work for your uncle, but I think the new clothes might be a nice surprise rather than handing him a set of his clothes that you had washed and dried and stored in ziplocks.
These are great suggestions, Parakeets. I hope LML takes them to heart.
Follow up on Bed Bug Float for Thnksgiving.
Tyvek it’s not just for turkeys.
Yes. All of this advice is smart and accurate, and I would never think of abandoning him. This is why this situation is so impossible. I would have never been able to imagine a more difficult and impossible scenario. I am between a rock and a hard place. He is in complete denial. He denies that he has bedbugs. He becomes very animated and defensive when i try to discuss possible solutions with him…and he has sworn off me. I understand that dignity is essential to his survival at this point in his life especially.
I even suggested trying to relocate him to another city, start fresh, so to speak. We (our family) would take care of relocation costs…he wants to move to a warmer climate where some of his close friends have relocated to. It would be easier than trying to have him comply to the necessary procedures….which would never be possible for him to adhere to because he is too stubborn. He’s too set in his ways and too defensive.
Anyhow, thanks for all of your input…but I think we’re going to be stuck to meeting in public places. (not very reassuring for the general public!) This is a terrible thing.
I had to spend months and thousands of dollars dealing with the bedbugs he brought into my home…I can’t do it again. Such a shame since it was so nice to offer time away from the city…spending time at my home…he loved it at my house…and i/we always enjoyed his company.
LML,
I hope you can indeed convince him to make the move he always dreamed of. But keep in mind if you do, you’ll need to take steps to de-bug his stuff before or while he is going. There are ways to do this.
Bed bugs are spreading around the country. Unfortunately, when someone is in denial, it is hard to help (other than the ways others have mentioned). When people are badly bitten, for a long time, they can develop anemia. I wonder if there are any social workers or social service agencies who could help? Maybe hearing that the building is infested (as it surely is) and that everyone will be treated will be more convincing? I don’t personally think living with bed bugs is an option.
As far as precautions, I take everything I’m packing and put it in a laundromat drier for at least 30min, then pack right there at the laundromat, bagging everything in plastic before I go home and only removing the outer plastic bag from the outside of my duffel as I leave.
I have also been spraying my day to day bag with sterifab before leaving the house. No idea if this works, but one can hope.
If you discard upholstered furniture that may have bed bugs, rip open all the fabric. That will preven others from using it.
Good idea, John. We often recommend slashing it with a boxcutter.
Bed bugs can apparently be picked up on buses and airliners. I once had a raincoat made of thin non-woven vinyl, with welded seams. It was very cheap. This would be good for public transportation.
It doesn’t seem likely that bed bugs could cling to the outside of it, but after an airliner trip it could be discarded after a single use. For daily bus use, it could be hung outside a person’s home.
However, these raincoats are now to find, except as women’s fashions which are rather costly. Perhaps some clothing manufacurer could start making them again as low-cost items. The raincoat should be long (about knee length), and should have no pockets and no slash pockets, and maybe with a zipper up the front.
They would also be useful when it rains!
John,
I don’t think a raincoat is going to protect you from bed bugs on public transit. Bed bugs can crawl up your leg if they want to.
I read a report from England about several women who were bitten on the back of their calves by bed bugs. The source was traced to a street car.
Did the bed bugs crawl down from the seat, or up from the floor? If they came up from the floor, would patent-leather shoes have stopped them? I have seen patent leather boots for women that were nearly knee high.
At any rate, a non-woven rain coat would be considerably better than nothing at all.
In reply to Parakeet’s concern about carrying bed bugs to other people’s homes, bed bugs are reported to be killed at a temperature of 120 degrees F. Before leaving home, put the clothes and shoes you will wear in a hot dryer and take a very hot shower. Then put on the clothes from the dryer. Then it will be OK unless some of the critters are in your car.
A human being can stand a temperature of 120 degrees F. In hot-weather regions of the world, the temperature gets to that level occasionally. When I lived in Arizona I remember the temperature reaching 115 degrees F in the shade, and I often went out in the sun where it was higher.
Are there any reports of bed bugs from hot-weather regions? They could be brought in duringcool weather, but would probably disappear when it gets hot.
A bed bug map of the world would be useful. Hey you medical people, how about it? You already have maps showing the occurrence or absence of many diseases.
I was in Phoenix, Arizona, this summer and it was 116 degrees F during the day, even at 6 at night. Yet Phoenix has a bedbug problem! Sadly, you have to heat the bedbug *itself* up to 120 degrees, not just the ambient air. If the bedbug is surrounded by insulation of any sort, it might not be 120 degrees where the bedbug is hiding. I’ve been told that historically people in Central America would take their bedbug-infested household goods and bake them out in the sun in the summer, when it was similar temperatures, just to get rid of bedbugs. So, yes there are reports of hot-weather bedbugs, but there are ways to make them disappear when it gets hot. I don’t know if the heat would kill the eggs. I heard a talk by a person who lived in Bangladesh, where it was always steamy hot, and he said they always had bedbugs growing up. Go figure.
Re England: I’ve never heard that patent leather shoes would stop bedbugs. I’ve seen bedbugs in my apartment crawl up simlarly smooth and slippery things, so I am pretty sure they could climb up patent leather boots, too. When I was a little girl, we would put Vaseline on our patent leather shoes, and Vaseline stops bedbugs so maybe that would work? My take is that the bedbugs came from the seat, not the floor, but that’s only a guess. Bedbugs like harbourages where it is dark and they are not disturbed. I think the floor would be cleaned regularly (at least I hope it would) and would not be dark. The seats, particularly if they are upholstered, provide many places for a bedbug to hide. They have found bedbugs in airplane seats. I once was bitten while sitting in a plastic airport seat about 3:00 am in the morning and there were places where the legs were locked into the floor and I thought the bedbugs could have hidden there.
Parakeets, your sarcastic comment “Go figure” was uncalled for.
The method I suggested, a very hot shower and putting clothes in a hot clothes dryer, should work as well as putting household goods under a hot tropical sun. The only question is, how long do the bed bugs themselves have to be exposed to the heat?
As well as 120 F, I have seen the figure 113 F as sufficient to kill them.
“Steamy hot” in Bangladesh is not necessarily 120 F throughout a residence and its contents. “Steamy” humidity also makes the temperature seem higher than it is.
As for the plastic airport seat, the bed bug may have got on you earlier.
What is needed is not anecdotal evidence, but scientific investigation.
Go figure is simply conversational and Parakeets was actually being kind.
There is a ton of interesting and useful scientific research discussed and linked to in the FAQs and other posts here. Really, an embarrassment of ideas and thoughts based in science and careful thought.
I would advise you to read a bit more before posting. Recommending that children be bathed with scalding water, for example, is thoroughly misguided, and a few minutes of reading here might persuade you of it.
With regard to scientific investigation, I had in mind whether bed bugs can climb up very smooth surfaces like sheet vinyl and chrome-plated chair legs.
With regard to bed bugs in the tropics, there is a tropical species of bed bug, scientifically called Cimex hemipterus. It is not found in temperate regions, although it does occur in Florida.
The temperate-region bedbugs are Cimex lectularius. I don’t know whether these can live in the tropics. If they don’t, geographical maps of their occurrence, together with temperature data, would show how much heat it takes to kill them off. This would take professional scientific investigation. For one thing, the investigators would need to know how to tell the two species apart. Air-conditioned hotels and homes would be left out of the investigation. The places to check would be simple native huts that become thoroughly baked under the sun.
Of course, the heat tolerance of Cimex lectularius can also be tested in temperature chambers in labs. Some college students in the US would be glad to spend a weekend in a 120-degree chamber to earn some tuition money! And maybe the temperature need only be 113 degrees.
Bedbugs do not live on human skin.
Washing possibly infested clothes in hot water (at 60dC/140dF and above) kills all life stages. (Naylor)
There have been two laundry experiments that we know of. Dr. Potter (Univ. of Kentucky) found that tumble-drying (already dry items) in high heat (above 175dF) for 5 minutes kills all life stages. Richard Naylor (Univ. of Sheffield, UK) found that tumble-drying in hot for 30 minutes and above kills all life stages. (Apparently the dryer reached 45dC).
While the thermal death point is 113dF, structural thermal treatments, like Parakeets already mentioned, must take into account that bedbugs may be insulated in their hiding locations, and so, we are told, the aim is to raise the temperature to 120dF for four hours.
Did I already mention that bedbugs do not live on human skin?
Bed bugs spend most of their time in cracks and crevices. But people do carry bed bugs about on their clothing or body. Therefore, if they are known to have them in their home, they are not welcome guests in the homes of others. And the bug carriers themselves do not want to spread them. I suggested to Parakeets how to temporarily get rid of them.
Before the days of air conditioning, many babies were raised in places like Arizona and were perfectly all right.
Also, the bugs get carried onto public transportation and air liners on people’s bodies or clothing.
No, John,
Bed bugs can be carried onto buses on or in people’s clothing or bags. They can also LIVE in the buses if they find a harborage. But bed bugs do not live on people’s skin per se.
Further, it is simply not necessary to scald your children. Any kind of shower would remove a bed bug that remained on someone once their clothing was removed, however, I seriously do not think people will experience this. Bed bugs do not harbor on people unless they never remove their clothing and wash it.
I think you will find that people did not force their children to hang around in a 120dF sun in Arizona. It is not impossible to create liveable conditions for families. I ask, again, that people not scald themselves or children in overly hot water.
John, As Hopelessnomo spoke up, I absolutely meant no offense or sarcasm by ending my post to you with the phrase “Go figure.” I simply meant it in the tone “Who can figure this crazy world out!” Or “Who could could possibly figure out that one!” I have to remember that people on this board come from many backgrounds and countries and coloquial phrases can unfortunately be misintreprested here. This is a very intelligent and kindly group and people are trying to help. Being bedbug sufferers, we are united in a bond we never wanted to share.
OK Parakeets. It seemed you were saying I was dumb, but I see your meaning now.
We stayed at a hotel last weekend. My sons bed was infested because when we woke in the morning there was blood all over his arms hands, neck , sheets and pillowcase.
When I pulled the blanket off the bed there were numerous bugs crawling all over the bed. I aws horrified!!!! I have never seen bed bugs before, but after investigating this and other websites, I am 100% sure they were bedbugs.
These are my questions:
1. My son was bitten Sat/Sun, but the but the symptoms (bumps and bite marks with itching) did not show up until 5-6 days later.On waking and seeing the bugs, he immediately took a shower. After showering, there was not a mark on him nor was he itchy after showering!!! I kept asking him for the next few days if he saw any bite marks or had any itching. There was none until the following Fri/Sat. Then he woke COVERED in bite marks on his hands, wrists, neck and ankles that were VERY itchy.
Does anyone have any informaton on why he was obviously bitten many times but had no reaction to the bites until several days later?
Yes–this happens. Some people react immediately, some hours later, some up to nine days later (we’re told). Several days seems common. Did you take any steps to avoid bringing them home? Please consider writing a review on tripadvisor.com and also reporting the hotel on the bed bug registry (see sidebar at right: “Report Infested Addresses.”
Thank you “nobugsonme” for the reply about reaction time and info. The hotel manager refused to believe the bugs were from the room, despite the evidence, so I am relieved that there is somewhere I can write a review and report this incident. Perhaps I can save someone else from this grief.
Since I had no experience with this issue, I tried to do what I thought would be preventative. The minute we arrived home (12-14 hours later) we all showered and put all clothes were wore during the trip in the wash(and dryer-for long enough, I hope). Any remaining bags, luggage, etc, I left in the car in bags until I could empty them outdoors, shake them out and launder them. In retrospect, this may not have been ideal, since now, I realize that my car may now be infested.
I purchased mattress covers as recommended on this site and covered his matress, boxspring. I have washed all bedding, blankets, daily. I have relaundered all clothing we wore or packed for the trip, including coats. I have not waSHED
shoes yet-
Im not sure what to do about shoes.
Im not sure what to do about the CAR.
Can any one give me suggestions about what to do with the car,???? (besides vaccuming it, which I will do tomorrow)
I have vaccumed our house(floors, carpet and couches) and shampooed the carpet with a small portable Bissel unit we own.
I am considering buying a small steamer to steam our couch, because everyone in the family sits on the couch, often immediately after getting out of the car.
Its only been a week, but I feel like I am loosing it already.
Am I doing too much or not enough?
Do any of the “natural products” work as a preventative measure while I sit and wait?
Thank you for any advise !!!!!
And what about pets?
We have a dog, cat and parakeet.
Hi MAry, you should re-post your comment on the forum:
http://bedbugger.com/forum
Just copy and paste it.
Also, read the FAQs first, as they should help somewhat. There are lots of folks in the forums and we will answer your questions there.
don’t panic. You can’t be certain you have bed bugs. It is possible to be exposed and not bring them home.
thank you, nobugsonme.
I live in bugless bliss. I am a bedbug virgin. Not a virgin bedbug, but a bedbug virgin. In other words, I have never been bitten by them. In fact, I have never even seen one.
I did have carpet beetles once. At least, I think that was what they were. They appeared only in my carpeted living room, never in the kitchen or bedroom which have linoleum floors. The beetles were about 3 sixteenths inch long, and had several black and light-tan stripes sideways across the body.
An occasional spider also appeared, including a few of the daddy longlegs variety. I squashed all beetles and spiders with a paper towel.
My policy was kill-em-all. However, it occurred to me that the spiders might be killing the carpet beetles. So I left the spiders alone. It took a while, but the carpet beetles finally disappeared. I never used insecticide of any kind during that period.
When I was convinced the carpet beetles were gone for good, I used cat flea and tick spray to abolish the spiders. Ticks have 8 legs, like spiders. I did not want to use any kind of insecticide that would harm cats, possibly much later. I like cats and do not want to harm them.
If the spiders really exterminated the carpet beetles, maybe spiders will go for bedbugs too, especially the small nymphs.
A spider can be your best friend. Leave them alone and see if that affects the local BB population. You could even catch spiders elsewhere and release them in your house or apartment.
Gardening supply stores sell containers of insects, such as ladybugs, that are beneficial to the garden. Who knows, maybe some day we will see containers of spiders for sale.
Well, that explains everything.
John,
Your posts are this close to being deleted as “spam.”
Readers: please DO NOT try and obtain spiders, ladybugs, or any other insects and release them into your home. Read our FAQs for researched and sensible information about bed bugs.
I have a suggestion for the Clear Contractor Bags thread. I forgot my password, so I will post the suggestion here.
For sealing clothes in bags, one poster suggested the heavy clear plastic bags that are used in the fashion business. These have the advantage that they can be hung from a rod in a closet. But the garment bags like that which I have seen were made of several sheets of plastic stitched together to form a 3 dimensional bag. A folded cloth tape was stitched over the edges of the plastic sheets. I think the cloth tape is to prevent the sheet plastic from tearing at the stitch holes. However, bedbugs could probably creep through the stitches and come out inside the bag. They seek out narrow openings.
I think a better solution would be the vacuum storage bags that are intended for long-term storage of clothes and blankets. These are made of sheets of heavy clear plastic that are welded together along the edges to form a bag. One edge has a ziploc closure.
The bag has a fitting to which the hose from a home vacuum cleaner can be attached. The fitting takes the place of the various nozzles that can be attached to the hose. After clothes or blankets are placed in the bag, the zipper is closed and the vacuum cleaner pulls out the air. The fitting can then be sealed by turning it, and the hose is removed.
The bag then has a squashed appearance due to external air pressure.
If the bag keeps out air, it should certainly keep out the smallest bedbug instar. Of course, what is put in the bag should be free of bedbugs to start with.
These bags are available in various sizes. Some of them have a heavy wire device which allows them to be hung on a closet rod.
For short-term storage, the bags could be used without pumping out the air. But be sure the hose fitting is closed.
For long-term storage the bags have the advantage that if an air leak develops, it can be seen because the bag no longer has a squashed appearance. Other types of plastic bags do not have this advantage.
To find these bags advertised online, go to google.com and search for vacuum seal storage bag. This will yield many, many web sites that sell the bags. The great majority of the sites listed are duplicates, but there will still be a variety to choose from.
Yes, this is discussed in another FAQ.
These bags are also available on ebay. To find them, go to ebay.com and do a search for vacuum storage bags.
John,
I am interested in why you are so interested in our site and in providing advice, when you do not have bed bugs?
By the way, eBay, like Craigslist, is a bit of a Bedbugger no-no.
I am living in an appartment building with a communal laundry and I am terrified of spreading bugs there whenever I bring my washing. I thought of steaming our clothes before, bringing them to the laundry in a bag, putting them in the machine and throwing away the bag outside. Having a washing machine in our appartment is not really a possibility unfortunately.
Thank you for your suggestions
Use a large, thick garbage bag. Tie it in one single pass-through knot (so air can’t get through) and take the items to the laundry. Rip open the top over/into the washing machine. After doing laundry, use a fresh, clean bag to bring laundry home. (You can reuse them, as long as you only use them for cleaned clothing.) Toss dirty clothes bag after use. But this can be very wasteful and environmentally unfriendly.
Greener method: use a reclosable XL ziploc to keep the dirty clothes isolated until treatment. There are not likely to be so many bugs in your laundry that they remain in the bag, but these bags are see-through and bed bugs are small (1-6 mm depending on life stage) but not invisible. Use a clean recloseable bag for cleaned clothing. Both can be reused (label them carefully!)
I hope this helps.
If you have other questions, please come to the forums (blue button at top right)!
I agree with Nobugs. I use a large ziploc as my laundry bag during the week, re-sealing it everytime I put clothes in it (one for dark, one for light) and I just bring the big ziplocs to the laundromat as my plastic luandry bags. Since my clothes always go from a hot washer/dryer straight into sealed ziploc bags, they are never exposed to bedbugs except when I wear them, which is mostly outside of my apartment anyway. I never had a problem with this method.
Here’s a horror story for you. My boyfriend has bedbugs, and we have become obsessive about trying to prevent my apartment from being infested. When I arrive at his apartment, everything I’m wearing (shoes, purse, coat, clothes, underclothes) get put in ziplocs and I change into my “bedbug” clothes that I keep at his place. He takes similar steps in my apartment, changing into clean heat dried clothes that I keep at my place, everything else he brings is sealed in bags. 5 months and no signs of bugs in my place!
Just yesterday, on my way home from his place, I found a bedbug crawling on my pants! I’d worn those pants minimum of 30 seconds in his apartment, and they’d spent the rest of the time sealed away.
Could they be traveling in my hair? I have a long, thick, curly hair, and while I’ve never heard of bedbugs in hair, I can’t help thinking that a little nymph could hitch a ride pretty easily. Not really ready to consider shaving my head! I’m certainly not ready to consider celibacy.
I live on the 2nd floor of an apartment building. The building, to my knowledge, had never had a bedbug problem previously- however as I was moving, I checked websites that note bedbug infestations.
To my horror, my current building (until July 1st) was listed as having bedbugs. I called the rental office, and they admitted they’d had the 5th floor sprayed. I live on the 2nd. I’ve gone from feeling free of them, to this unbelievable fear of them.
I live in a bachelor apartment, so there isn’t a lot of room. I have bought so many varied sizes of Ziploc bags that I ought to have stock in the company. I washed 8 loads of laundry with hot water and put them in a hot dryer; some other clothing I inspected seams, tags, etc… I’ve had NO blood spots/stains on my matress, and I’ve never seen a bedbug…yet the fact that someone in the building reported them has left me with this stalked feeling.
I don’t have too many friends…no significant other…my slight pleasure in life is spent either going to a movie, going out for a walk, or seeing my family. I’m faced with the reality that even my DVD’s, which thus far I’ve inspected one by one, my DVD player, my VCR, my TV, my laptop, sofa, bed…all of it will have to go.
Do you guys understand? I will literally have nothing left in this life! I will be too afraid to visit my family, I won’t have the money to replace everything that I have to in essence get rid of, and whenever I’m out in public, the thought of these bugs is all that is on my mind. And I may not even have them!
We found bed bugs couple of days back and the treatment do not start for another 3 days.
Our problem is we are scheduled to visit our family in Detroit next week which will be 3 days after the treatment. Any advises on how we can avoid taking the bed bugs all the way from Florida to Michigan?
Hi Bharathi,
This FAQ contains very good advice and the principles you need to apply. Your best bet is to be very methodical in how you launder and pack what you will bring and how you limit what you bring. No matter the size of your infestation, you will feel confident and prepared if you don’t underestimate the risk. You should re-read this FAQ and consult the other FAQs about how to handle clothes. In addition to the recommendations above, people rely on different things: some choose washable duffel bags, others use hardcase luggage. Please visit the forums (blue button above right) to interact with others who are experienced if you have more questions.
I have a friend coming to visit who has bedbugs. How can I make sure that they aren’t brought into my home?
eoj–
Did you read the post you responded to? I’d suggest your friend should follow the recommendations above to avoid spreading bed bugs to you and others.
They hitchhike easily. If a friend is infested and not willing to take such precautions, I would think twice about having them stay at this time.
Speaking from someone who was kind enough to let her friend stay with me when we knew he had had a bed bug infestation, discussing bed bugs is a very tricky subject, but incredibly important to broach before they arrive. We unknowingly thought that he was free of the bugs as he had bagged everything and washed them and dried them on hot three times before arriving at our place (that was all his PCO told him to do). He has been living with us for two weeks and none of us have gotten bitten (yet) but two nights ago, he found one in the bathroom. Because we hadn’t educated ourselves on the proper procedure for hosting someone who had bedbugs (the FAQ about traveling to someone’s house and the comments above about keeping everything in a ziploc bag) we now have a bed bug problem ourselves. So my best advice would be to require any visitors (no exceptions!!!) who has had bed bugs to take EVERY precaution (including living out of ziploc bags and doing the whole washing/drying thing)and that is that. The bottom line: it is your home/apt and while it might offend them because it implies you are untrusting of their preparation, it is better to offend a friend who might be upset for a couple of hours than to have an infestation.
Alright guys I need major help.
So I went to someone house who had a bed bug infestation a month ago from an old mattress some moron decided to bring in. The place had been fumigated once or twice. However there were still live ones crawling around (one was in the cubboard) and it was big.
The only thing I sat on was a wooden chair. I leaned against a wall as well. I stayed there maybe 15 minutes or so. After I left i was paranoid so I took off my t shirt and fully inspected it and saw no signs of any bugs. I also checked my jeans out and saw nothing out of the ordinary.
2 hours later I was on my way home..before I got home, I took off my shoes and sox and left them in the car, I went inside and immedietly unclothed and put them in the washer. I ran upstairs, inspected my body and took a shower.
Right now im feeling VERY itchy like bugs are crawling on me but thats just a mental thing.
Is there a large chance I brought them home or do you believe my precautions were enough, and how exactly will I know if im in the clear?
- PARANOID AND SCARED
Worried Sick,
I suggest you learn how to search a room for bed bugs, and do this carefully. Maybe now and maybe again in a few months if you see no signs. Why? Because you may not react to bed bug bites, and would then need to rely on visual cues, which are hard to spot.
This presentation, “The Nitty Gritty of Bed Bug Inspections,” from the California Dept of Public Health shows how to inspect a room for bed bugs. (Click here to load a PDF).
Don’t forget to inspect the car the same way, since you left you clothes in there at the time.
Other resources in our links will be of help as well.
If you see any signs of bed bugs, I’d get a professional in at once. Amd don’t panic: it is possible to be exposed to bed bugs and not bring them home, moreso if you take some precautions.
← Previous Comments