5 Tips for Bed Bug Free Traveling!

With the holidays quickly approaching, I know many of you will be starting to make your travel plans.  Here are a few tips and tricks to keep in mind, especially in hotel rooms!

 

http://www.midgapestcontrol.com/bed-bug-free-holiday/

 

 

Travel Tips for Bed Bug Protection!

Last week, we shared some photos and information about bed bugs in a hotel.  It's hard to believe, but many spring break trips are right around the corner.  Do you know how to make sure your travel accommodations are bug free?  Whether you are staying at the cheapest dive you could find or a 5-star luxury hotel, you need to know what to look for.  Here's some tips to help you have a peace of mind while traveling:

• Check the room for bugs, fecal spots, skins, and eggs near where people sleep and sit.
• Pull back all bedding.  Inspect the mattress seams and along mattress piping.
• Look between the mattress and box springs.
• Check behind the headboards and pictures above the bed.
• Look along the baseboards.
• Inspect night stands or other furniture near the beds.
• Check in the seams and folds of curtains.
• Inspect the closet before hanging up any clothes.  
• Keep items in your suitcase, not in the drawers.
• Place your luggage on a rack, rather than the floor or bed.
• Examine luggage before leaving and again when you return home.
• Place all laundry in dryer for at least 15 minutes on highest setting possible and then wash as normal.
• Notify Guest Services if you find any evidence of bed bugs during your inspection!   

With a little inspection and wisdom, you can enjoy your trip without the worries of sharing your room with unwanted travel partners or bringing home some hitchhikers in your luggage!

Bed Bug Breakdown!

Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!  Unfortunately, that's not a cute rhyme if you are really dealing with bed bugs.  We recently treated a hotel near the airport for bed bugs, and it was intense!

Treatment for bed bugs must be very thorough.  The entire room has to basically be turned upside down to perform a complete inspection and treatment.  All bedding was taken apart and furniture moved.  Every nook and cranny was treated including the bed frame, box spring, tufts of mattresses, behind the headboard, baseboard cracks and crevices, under the carpet tack board, switch covers, lamps, chairs, desks, light fixtures, and wallpaper crevices.  We used a variety of products including aerosols, dusts, insect growth regulators, and residual liquid treatments.  We treated a total of three rooms, and each room took around 1 1/2 hours to treat.

Bed bugs are parasitic insects that feed exclusively on blood.  As their name suggests, they are commonly found in beds and bedding.  However, they can be found in any place that people occupy like chairs, sofas, movie theaters, etc.  Adult bed bugs are light to reddish brown in color and have a flattened, oval shape.  They are most active at night and generally feed on their host without being noticed.  Itchy welts may appear on exposed skin areas.  Other health effects from bed bugs include skin rashes and allergies as well as psychological effects.

In addition to bites, some signs of bed bugs are fecal spots, blood smears on the sheets or mattress, and empty molted exoskeletons.