Someone commented on an old post about this product today, and seeing much of the information was outdated, and we have so much more to say about the Packtite now, I wanted to bring it up to date.

The Packtite is a little machine into which you can place packed or unpacked luggage, stuffed animals, shoes, “unwashable” clothing, and other items. You leave your stuff in it for several hours while it heats up, killing bed bugs and eggs inside.  You need to carefully follow the instructions and monitor the temperature at the core of your items, in order to make sure 120 F is attained throughout, and then leave the Packtite running for an hour after the temperature is reached.

Although the unit was originally designed so that frequent travelers could bake their luggage when they got home from a trip — for the purpose of preventing a bed bug infestation at home, people with bed bugs quickly saw the possibilities in terms of de-bugging items in the home.

Packtite measures measures 36l x 19w x 24h inches and looks like this:

The Packtite was independently evaluated by entomologist Sean Rollo of The Bed Bug Resource, who found the Packtite did reach the required temperature of 120 F, and said “In summary, I am happy with the unit.” On our Bedbugger forums, bedbugs78 asked if the item would melt plastic bags. David James, the Packtite’s creator, responded:

I can answer the plastic question, with our newly designed unit we tested cheap thin walled plastic bags to see if we would have any melting issues, these bags were tested by tying them directly to the metal frame inside and were positioned closest to the heat source- after 4 hours of heating we did not have any plastic melting issues. The inside of this unit reaches sauna like temperatures and is a good guide to use when considering what to put inside. We are currently including a digital thermometer with each packtite so that the user can monitor temperatures of personal items placed in the unit to insure they reach killing temperatures.

As Sean notes in the same thread, “It can be used to treat anything that can be heated to 120-140F. ” And Packtite creator David notes,

… we have a long list of specific safety instructions plus we are including a digitial thermometer with every unit so that our customers can track the heating process if they like. Each unit also has a timer so that it will shut off after 4 hours.

The timer is an important safety feature. People began to use the machine to get rid of bed bugs in all kinds of stuff which was previously difficult for individuals to treat. Bedbugger forum user Overwhelmed said,

I’ve treated a pretty wide variety of stuff: purses, books, shoes, mail I need to send to my roommate who is away at grad school, the footstool and removable seat of an armchair that lives in my bedroom, the carpet attachment to my vacuum, the wood-framed mirror that hung on a wall near my bed . . .

Adele tells us she baked a loosely packed box of papers.

Mangycur had some creative ideas also, including heating empty clean-but-used Ziploc XL bags, yoga props, and a cat scratching post.  She asked here if we might compile a master list of items which could be treated in the Packtite, and David reminded us that the best practice is to learn to use the probe to monitor the temperatures, so we can judge whether any particular item has reached the correct killing temperature: David said,

The master list idea would be nice, but I think there will be just too many variables and might discourage use of the included thermometer to monitor ones progress. We could say x number of hours for sweaters, but the type of sweater, the size of the sweater and how tightly folded etc the sweater was put in would effect treatment time. I would recommend running the thermometer into the center mass of what you are heating and once it hits 120 give it another hour just to be sure. I love the different things you mentioned putting in the unit, who knew bed bugs could be into yoga?

Packtite owners must use their own judgment.  Remember you are baking an item at 120-140 F.  Even items which can usually be safely treated (such as leather shoes) may suffer effects in time.  One has to use own’s own goog judgment.

Of course, if you have an infestation of bed bugs, you have to worry that even the cloth-covered Packtite might become infested while sitting around on the floor. Not to worry, David notes here,

… if you are worried about the outside of the unit being infested, you can remove the internal frame and put the canvas bag part in a dryer.

Thinking back on a short time ago when people used to put sealed things in storage for 18 months rather than keep potentially-infested items in the home after treatment, this is really quite a revolutionary option.

For people who are infested at work, or whose children are attending a school known to be infested, this may be a way of keeping bed bugs in clothing, backpacks and purses, from coming into the home.

You can see a video of Jeff White of Bed Bug Central talking about and demonstrating the use of the Packtite below.

Note: Bedbugger has an affiliate relationship with Packtite.  If you purchase through the links here or via one of our other Packtite ads, part of the proceeds of your purchase go to help support the operating costs of Bedbugger.com, at no additional cost to you.

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NYC Thanksgiving Day Parade

Originally uploaded by panoramicviewer

As the clocks fall back, smoke detector batteries get changed, and the multi-colored leaves gracefully fall in their autumnal farewell, it means that a great American traditional holiday is almost upon us. So with pilgrim’s pride we search for that Alice’s Restaurant album or video and e-vite Thanksgiving guests, or work on better excuses than last year.

T’is the season of turkeys, tofurkeys and pumpkin pie but unfortunately it also has become a time for a seasonal redistribution of bed bugs. Whether it’s coming home from school, staying at a motel on the road or that quaint little cottage by the in-laws (if you’re lucky), you may not be traveling home alone. As a professional bed bug slayer, I as well as others have noticed an increase in nocturnal activity in the weeks following Thanksgiving. Now, with some time ahead of us, is the time to prepare to either sally forth or give some thought on how to protect your castle.

If you are traveling, try to avoid a late night stop at the only vacancy along the highway. Either plan not to stop, or select a place to stay and get there with enough time and energy to inspect your room and change it if necessary. Try to bring a minimum of things into the room, but remember not to leave too much in plain sight, or other things may get redistributed, like your luggage. If you do stay over consider keeping your suitcases in large plastic bags, and your clothes as well, and if you are traveling with a loved one, enjoy! If you are traveling with some else’s loved one, you may want to consider pajamas, but put them in a plastic bag when finished and put them in the dryer ASAP. Hey– what the heck? Wash ‘em too, it’s Thanksgiving!

If you are hosting folks who may have a bed bug issue the dryer is your best friend. Be diplomatic and polite with your guest because they are going through hell. But don’t let them infest your home.

If you are planning to visit and you have bed bugs, now is the time to plan ahead. Start by putting your clothes in the dryer to kill any bed bugs on them and then isolate them in a plastic ziploc bag or at a friend’s home. Get a new suitcase and isolate it as well. If you suspect something may contain bed bugs, don’t bring it. When you are ready to travel, shower, put on your prepared and protected clothes, and go pick up your stuff from your friend’s house. All this may sound a bit extreme or paranoid but you don’t want to be remembered for infesting the family.

Obviously a bunch of suggestions and comments will follow this post, and that’s the point of it: read the positive ones and give yourself enough time to plan and prepare for a Happy Thanksgiving.

And while we are giving thanks let’s give some to nobugs for working hard to help others sleep well.

Winston O’Buggy (not his real name) is a Pest Control Operator and Entomologist.

Editor’s note:

Thanks, Winston! Readers may also be interested in these travel-related FAQs:

How can I avoid spreading bed bugs to others when I visit their homes?

How can I avoid bed bugs while traveling?

How to report and check up on hotel bed bug infestationsSimilar Posts:

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I was perplexed by this article from August 20th in the Times (London, not New York) about the spread of bed bugs, mainly because it was only about the bed bug epidemic in the USA.

Times reporter Chris Ayres writes from Los Angeles,

Five decades after being declared officially dead, the most toe-curling of all America’s critters has returned, with a spate of bloodsucking attacks on unsuspecting victims as they sleep. The culprit is Cimex lectularius – otherwise known as the common bedbug.

“The most toe-curling of America’s critters?” As I understand it, bed bugs came to North America with the early European settlers.

Until recently it was known happily to Americans only from nursery rhymes. Not any more. Up to 5mm in length, wingless, nocturnal and covered in microscopic hairs, the bedbug was supposed to have been eliminated from the US by the pesticide DDT, which was later banned by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1972 because of the damage it caused to fish, birds and other wildlife.

But now the insect is back, and its sudden return has been proclaimed “one of the great mysteries of entomology”. Over recent months bedbugs have been turning up in hospitals, nursing homes, cinemas, dry cleaners, schools, public housing and even some well-to-do residential homes.

The article goes on to refer to Michael Potter’s words at the recent bed bug seminar in New York, Potter’s YouTube video, and Maya Rudolph’s lawsuit.

What about the lawsuit filed against the exclusive Mandarin Oriental in London, by a visiting businessman who was allegedly bitten extensively by bed bugs there?

Comments to the article from two Londoners and one London Pest Control Operator (David Cain, who is a participant in our forums) attest to the fact that bed bugs are indeed a serious problem in the UK. While the article does not claim bed bugs are not a problem in the UK, it also does not mention that they are.

Bedbugger.com’s cluster map (click here) shows the location of our readers in the UK, since June 2nd. We can assume our readers are people concerned about or seeking information about bed bugs. From what I can gather, most of our readers have, or recently had, bed bugs. As do the cluster maps of readers in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia (other places where people with bed bugs are most likely to log on to the internet and seek out our site about bed bugs that is primarily in English), our cluster map of the UK and Ireland shows bed bugs concentrated most heavily around cities. If you’re good at geography, you can imagine the city markers in these maps.

As I said in a comment which hasn’t appeared yet on the article’s site, London PCO David Cain is the only PCO I know of who specializes only in bed bugs. We hear from folks in the UK often. Rather than focusing on an exotic story of Americans being bitten by bed bugs and suing each other left and right (cue eye rolling and comments about silly Yanks), the Times should be paying more attention to its own bed bug epidemic which, while not reported on very often, seems to be significant and causing much genuine local distress.

There has been some coverage by the Oxford Mail, Norwich Evening News (original article no longer available), the BBC, the BBC again, thisislondon.co.uk, and this one about lorry [truck] drivers allegedly catching bed bugs on ferries between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

And, from the “Misguided Attempts to Solve Problem” file, let’s not forget this favorite from South London News online: “Bedbugs forced me to kip [sleep] in a cardboard box.”

It is not surprising that many of those articles on bed bugs in the UK talk about bed bugs as a “foreign” problem–something you might bring home from your summer holidays in (as in this example from an earlier Times column) Australia. Well, they are–in the UK as well as the US. But it is also very likely you got them from your neighbo(u)rs, and that they were born and bred close to your home.

Domestic or imported, bed bugs suck.

It seems to be a trusim about bed bug journalism: everyone thinks the bed bug problem is really bad somewhere else.Similar Posts:

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First, don’t panic. What you do after discovering you and your luggage may have been exposed to bed bugs can make a big difference as to whether you take them home. It’s worth proceeding carefully and cautiously since avoiding an infestation can save you thousands of dollars and months of trouble and discomfort.

First, learn a little bit about the enemy. Read the Bed Bugs 101 FAQs on this site, and use the links to bed bug photos to learn what bed bugs look like at different life stages.

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. Remember you have the most chance of avoiding bringing bed bugs home if you take the necessary steps before getting in your car or going to your home or anyone else’s home. It is possible to spread bed bugs to your car as well as to other locations. Following the steps in the PDF carefully as soon as you realize the exposure to bed bugs means you probably won’t bring any with you.

If you already are home before you realize the problem, do follow the same steps listed in the PDF regarding inspecting luggage (do it over the bathtub so you can see the bugs and kill them easily) and cleaning luggage, clothing, and other items. If you are home before you realize the problem, and you brought possibly infested items in (including the clothing you’re wearing as well as any luggage), then you should quickly do some major cleaning where the luggage has been brought in and where you sleep (vacuuming, steaming, etc). If you brought home a bed bug or two and have not found them, it is sometimes possible to get rid of them before they take root. Even if you don’t find any bed bugs, and you’ve done all the cleaning and followed all the other steps in the PDF, you might consider taking some time to declutter, so that if you do have any bed bugs, the signs will be more visible. You should be on the alert for several months.

Once home, if you do find bed bugs or signs of bed bugs in your luggage, clothing or in any rooms, call a PCO right away (we have a FAQ on choosing a good one who knows bed bugs). Save any samples to show them.

Finally, if you got your bed bugs in a hotel, hostel, or other accommodations, please do leave a review on Tripadvisor.com, to warn others of your experience.

A note about using freezing temperatures to kill bed bugs: Kells and Hahn and Michael Potter have slightly different ideas about the temperatures and length of time needed to kill bed bugs. According to Michael Potter’s article from the January 2007 PCTOnline, Steven Kells is apparently researching the method of “leaving things out in cold weather,” with the inevitable fluctuations in temperature. For now, until we have definitive data, I’d err on the side of caution and go for colder temperatures and longer time frames wherever possible.Similar Posts:

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