Summer In Connecticut!
It’s that time of year again! Kids out of school, popsicles, ice cream, cookouts, camp, sun shining, early mornings and late nights, beach, hikes, boating, fishing, fireworks, vacations!!……bedbugs?
What do you mean bedbugs?!!?
That’s what I think of when I think of vacation, bedbugs. Of course, the summer is a great time to have fun, and it’s also the time a lot of people go on vacation. The highest risk of bringing home bedbugs is when you travel. Staying at a hotel, lodging at a campsite cabin, staying in a bed and breakfast, renting out an air bnb. All of these pose an opportunity for you to bring home an unwanted guest. The fact of the matter is bedbugs like to hitchhike, and all these places have something in common, multiple people from varying places on earth staying in them prior to you.
Opposite of what you may think, bedbugs do not care how clean or dirty the place or people are, all they care about is their host…..you! I have seen bedbug infestations at dirty cluttered apartments, clean middle-class homes, spotless upper-class mansions, and top of the line 5 diamond resorts. Bedbugs do not care about dirty or neat they only care about needing a meal from their host in order to survive.
That really stinks, why are you telling me this?
I am letting you know this so you can be vigilant while vacationing this summer. When you get to your new accommodations, before settling in do a check of the place. Leave your luggage outside of the room or place it in the bathroom tub while you check the room. Look at the bed first, unmake it slowly looking for signs of past or present bedbugs. Things to look for are fecal stains, they look like little black ink spots. Look for fecal stains on the linens but also on the mattress and box-spring itself. If there are mattress and box-spring encasements look on them, look behind the headboard for live bedbugs or cast skins of them. The cast skins are varying sizes and are yellowish to light brown and are the shape and size of a bedbug. A live bedbug is varying sizes from smallest nymph to adult, first and second instar nymphs are yellowish translucent, while third instar up to adults are reddish-brown and the largest will be the size of an apple seed. Look behind the bedside tables for fecal stains and cast skins, look on and under any chairs or ottomans inside the room for the same. Also check the rooms luggage rack and any and all dresser backsides and drawers. If all is well, then move on in! If you suspect something, request a new room immediately and check that room also.
Most hotels and resorts now a days have some form of bedbug protocol in place, and they will be more than happy to relocate you to a new room. There usually is no need to make a big fuss about it, they want to accommodate you, however if they do give push-back you can always elevate it by asking for a manager.
When you get home, prior to bringing your belongings inside the house, check your luggage seams and zippers for the same fecal stains, cast skins, and live bedbugs. If all is well, I still recommend placing all articles in a large trash bag and bring them one at a time into your laundry room and wash and dry them. If they are clean, then just dry them on high heat for 35 minutes. If they are dirty wash them in hot water, then tumble dry once, then dry on high heat for 35 minutes. All loads should be done in half loads. Then you can bring your luggage inside the home, I suggest storing luggage anywhere other than a bedroom. If you find any evidence of bedbugs, do the same thing with the clothes, then call Guardian Pest Control for an inspection. Keep your luggage out of the house so it can be examined by our technician, and do not treat with any over the counter products, it will just make the situation harder to resolve.
We hope you never have to call Guardian for bedbugs, but if you ever do we are here to help, do not try a DIY approach, bedbugs are not a bug that is easy to manage no matter what google may say. Trust a professional with this pest you will be glad you did.
