Whether you’re embarking on a weekend getaway, a cross-country road trip, an international venture across oceans or a stay-cation in your own city, the last thing you want to encounter on any exciting journey is bedbugs.
What are bed bugs and what do they look like?
Bedbugs are wingless insects that exclusively feed on blood from warm-blooded animals. As humans, we are the ideal hosts for them and their preferred habitat is within our homes. They are attracted to soft furnishings such as our couches, our beds and our mattresses.
Although it’s not a pretty picture, it’s important that you know what to look for when ensuring your room is bug-free. Bedbugs are mainly active at night or in the dark, however, that doesn’t mean that they will never be feeding in the daytime. Contrary to popular belief, shining light will not get rid of them.
Adult bed bugs can be compared to the size of an apple seed and are brown. They look like a cockroach, just with a flatter top and smaller. Younger bed bugs are lighter and have rust-coloured spots that show where they have been previously squished. They can also leave a trail of tiny black dots.
We know how horrible the thought of dealing with bed bugs is, so we put together a list of important steps you can follow to ensure that you come home to a clean and bug-free environment:
Wrap your bags
Plastic is your best friend in the fight against bed bugs. Always pack a few large plastic garbage bags so that you can cover your suitcase with them as needed. This will keep bedbugs out of your clothes and belongings.
Read reviews
We live in an era where we have hundreds of resources available at our fingertips. Websites such as TripAdvisor are a great tool that can provide you with numerous reviews on almost every hotel or vacation spot. If there is a history of bed bugs at a certain hotel, then the internet most likely knows about it.
Ensure that you are well informed about your trip before you even book it. Another site that is extremely useful is the Bed Bug Registry, which allows you to monitor alerts and bed bug reports that are submitted across Toronto, Canada, and North America by users.
Inspect your room
It is common to be inclined to only inspect the bed area for bugs, however, there are many more spots you should examine when you first arrive in a new room. Bed bugs can be hiding somewhere you would never usually check, such as behind wall décor.
Following a short checklist can help guarantee that you’ve looked through all the possible places that they may be hiding. Here are some of the most bed bug infested areas:
- As obvious as it may be: the bed and anything on it. This includes layers of linens, the mattress, box spring, pillows, etc. Be extremely thorough in this area of the room.
- Nightstand tables
- Any carpets, rugs, drapes or curtains
- Behind wall art or anything hanging
- In any corners, cracks or crevices in woodwork
- In electrical outlets
If you go through this checklist and are clear of any signs related to bed bugs, then you likely won’t have to worry about finding anything later. However, if you do come across something, make sure you notify the management team and put in a request to receive a new room or to get a professional bedbug exterminator to do a bed bug inspection to ensure there is, in fact, no bed bug infestation in your home.
Store your personal items in a safe place
Unfortunately, even after you’ve successfully finished an inspection, it does not necessarily mean that your room is completely bedbug-free. If you somehow end up in a bed bug infested room and can’t switch out immediately, avoid storing your luggage on a carpeted floor, the bed or even the luggage rack. Those spots could be playing host to any bed bugs that might be around. A good safe spot is a tiled or hardwood bathroom floor.
Keep your bags closed
Leaving your suitcases or backpacks open is basically a call out for any bed bugs in the area. It is important to always zip up your bags when you are not using them to deteriorate any chance of bed bugs crawling in. Try and pack your belongings as tight as possible inside your bag, leaving little to no air for bed bugs to survive.
Avoid using dressers
Even if you’ve booked a top-notch hotel, we recommend staying away from the dressers or drawers. The reality is that there’s no way for you to know where the person before you has stayed or what they may have brought with them. Keeping your clothes in your own bag is the best way to avoid bringing anything home with you.
Be thorough when repacking
Throughout the duration of your stay, keep your clothes as packed up as possible. Try not to hang things or place them around the room. When repacking, be sure to inspect any items that were not inside a closed bag. If you have access to a laundry facility, you should wash as many articles of clothing as possible. Washing in hot water or dry cleaning your items is a fast and easy way to kill bed bugs.
Hire professionals to kill them at home
Even after taking all the necessary steps to avoid bringing bed bugs home, the only way to be certain that your home is uninfected is to hire professionals.
The final and most important step of preventing having bed bugs in your home is getting rid of all traces of them. Even if you are extremely diligent and careful during your trip, it is still possible that some may follow you all the way back home. To be confident that your home is bed bug-free, we urge you to get in touch with us.
Here at Pestend, we know how important it is to keep a home or commercial space completely clean and safe. With specializations in professional bed bug extermination services, residential pest control services, rodent control services and other wildlife control services, we are confident that we will provide you with affordable and highly skilled assistance.
To learn more about our money back guarantee and our free estimate service, feel free to visit the Pestend website.
