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Bed bugs in cabins
(7 posts)-
Greetings all
I recently have been planning a trip to go skiing in West Virginia. I'm looking into cabin rentals. At this one particular place, let's just say ACE adventure center, customer reviews warn about bed bug infestation. I am wondering if I should steer clear of the place. The visitors that wrote the reviews stayed throughout the months of August and September last year. The trip I am planning however will be in December, so I am thinking that at an average weather of 35 F bed bugs will not survive or thrive in the low temperatures. Does this seem like a good assumption?
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BugsInTO
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Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 197
Posted 2 weeks ago
Sun Nov 1 2009 19:20:10
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Nope. Freezing is unreliable. I was advised by the best that seasonal temperatures could not control for bedbugs in structures.
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Louise
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Joined: Jun '09
Posts: 70
Posted 2 weeks ago
Mon Nov 2 2009 9:55:52
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According to our PCO, our batbugs (a very close relative to the bedbug) survived a cold Canadian winter in our unheated cabin (we close it up for the winter months). We had excluded the bats in the fall, and we found our first bug in June (presumably when they came out looking for food).
Louise
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bugfreebed
junior member
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 55
Posted 2 weeks ago
Mon Nov 2 2009 14:26:06
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35 out side doesn't mean 35 inside where the BB are and they can with stand freezing temp for long periods of time . Cabins harboring BB can be left empty all winter with no heat and the adults will survive . All resorts and hotels are subject to this problem . I might try to choose where I stay on the policies of how the handle it , and take all the travel steps , checking the room , laundering everything when you return , and so on
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buggyinsocal
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Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,129
Posted 2 weeks ago
Mon Nov 2 2009 14:31:44
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Remember that bed bugs survive less time at higher temps than at lower ones. (I.e. heat is more often used as a reliable way to kill them than cold is. In addition, their eggs hatch sooner at high temps. We know that in storage, for example, higher temps lead to shorter life spans than the other way around.) As a result, banking on the winter temps indoors to kill them isn't something I would do.
Bed bugs can lower their metabolisms to reduce their needs enough to survive for over a year without feeding. The higher the temp during that time, the shorter the time they can survive. Combine that ability to slow their metabolism with cold temps, and they can live longer, not shorter, at lower temps.
The guidelines for killing bed bugs off by putting sealed items in storage is to leave them sealed up for at least 18 months. Unless the cabin was completely devoid of any blood source for 18 months, cold or not, I wouldn't consider it bed bug free based on temp or isolation alone. And I find it highly unlikely that rental properties would remain uninhabited for 18 months.
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BoJenkins
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Joined: Nov '09
Posts: 3
Posted 1 week ago
Sun Nov 8 2009 19:59:04
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Hello,
I was one who wrote a negative review about ACE regarding their bedbugs. It is true that bedbugs are less active in the cold, but they still survive the winter. You are more likely to kill bedbugs by throwing infested items into the dryer for an hour than by sticking them in the fridge. I would be careful about staying in a cabin at ACE. You never know if the bedbugs are active, even in the winter. As another poster mentioned, they are known to become active even after staying dormant for as long as six months, or more! It is possible for some to crawl into your luggage and make it back to your home -- something you do not want to have to deal with (believe me)!! Pest control gets expensive fast, and, naturally, the more treatments you have to do, the more costly it will be. Luckily, I was staying in a dorm and my school covered all costs. I do not know if ACE has successfully gotten rid of their infestation since I went and experienced such problems (at the end of August 2008). Bed bugs are NOT easy things to get rid of and the bites are VERY, VERY uncomfortable. Bottom line, I highly suggest looking into other accommodations. Hope that helps!
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cilecto
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Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 513
Posted 1 week ago
Sun Nov 8 2009 21:51:58
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I suggest you call the place and ask them what they've done about their reported problems. There and anywhere you travel, take pre cautions (like keeping your stuff bagged) to minimize the damage, should a place be infested. At the rate things are going, more and more places will have BB, we're just going to have to learn to deal.
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