Traveling for the Holidays? Don’t Bring Back Any Bed Bug Souvenirs!

by Daniel Mackie Toronto Pest Control Expert

They’re back,and they’re stronger than ever. After a ten-year pause, bed bugs are now making a comeback, infesting every state in the United States and setting out for Canada as well. Over the last few years, the incidence of bed bug infestations has increased by 500 percent, with one in five homeowners reporting bed bugs in their homes or hotel rooms.

Ants, cockroaches and rats are a breeze compared to treating bed bugs. The 2013 Bugs without Borders Survey, conducted by Pest World, interviewed over 250 pest control companies in the United States and revealed some scary facts. In 2013, nearly every pest control company (99.6 percent) has encountered a bed bug infestation, with 7 out of 10 respondents confirming that bed bug infestations are increasing.

The least encouraging news about bed bugs is that they’re everywhere, be it hotels, motels, college dorms, nursing homes, office buildings, schools and day care centers, hospitals, movie theaters, buses and trains. They are low maintenance, resilient to most bug sprays and traditional pest control methods and travel light. For those who plan to travel for the holidays, here’s how to get home without any unwanted souvenirs.

Inspecting the Hotel Room

Conducting a thorough inspection of your hotel room upon arrival is the most important step in preventing infestation. Don’t leave your luggage on the floor – leave it at the door or in the bathroom until inspection is over, because these areas are less likely to be frequented by bugs.

Using a flashlight, start inspecting the mattress on all sides, paying special attention to the edging, seams and other areas where bed bugs might hide. Don’t ignore the area between the headboard and the wall – this is the perfect hiding place for the flat critters. Bed stands, couches, drawers, as well as any tiny cracks and crevices are potential hot spots, so make sure to check everything carefully.

Next off, start taking things apart and look not only for bugs themselves, but also for droppings and blood stains. Look underneath the sheets for anything suspicious; lift the mattress and look under the boxsprings. Check the mattress tag as well, as bed bugs love to hide there. Curtains, carpet edges, cracks in wallpaper, dressers and furniture drawers, around and behind light switch plates - each of these places is a potential bed bug hideout and must be thoroughly inspected. Leave no stones unturned.

What to look for:

blood spots on the mattress
flake-like particles resembling pepper
feces, eggs and shed skins
brown fluid

Getting Home Alone

Upon discovering bed bugs in their luggage, many people may want to discard their bags altogether. This is, however, not necessary, since all items suspected of infestation can be submitted to specific treatments – washing, heating and freezing – to put the pesky insects to sleep.

An important step before leaving the infection site is to place all infected items into sealed plastic bags. Separate the laundry as if you were doing a normal wash: light-colored items from dark colors, delicate from regular, machine washable from dry-clean only. This will ensure the effective loading of the washing machine, preventing bed bugs from getting away as you try to sort clothes at home.

After treating clothing and other infested items, special attention must be paid to bags and luggage used during the trip. Suitcases can easily be washed using hot water and detergent and thoroughly scrubbing all seams and pockets.

There is another solution to disinfect items that cannot be washed. A recent article published in the Journal of Economic Entomology described how exposing them to cold temperatures can be an effective way to remove all life stages of bed bugs. Apparently, bed bugs have increased tolerance to freezing temperaturesand they try to protect themselves by “lowering the freezing point of their body fluids”. In order to fully eliminate bed bugs, homeowners most expose infested items to temperatures of minus 16 degrees Celsius for a minimum of 80 hours. For faster results, the temperature should be further lowered: minus 20 degrees will remove all life stages of bed bugs in only 48 hours.

If you are still concerned that bed bugs may infest your home, call a professional pest control company for inspection, treatment and management measures. Although bed bugs don’t pose any real threat to human health, they are definitely an undesired presence in any home and specific methods should be employed to ensure their complete treatment and removal.

About the Author

Daniel Mackie, owner of Greenleaf Pest Control, is a Toronto pest control expert well-known as an industry go-to guy, an innovator of safe, effective pest control solutions, and is a regular guest on HGTV. Mackie, along with business partner Sandy Costa, were the first pest control professionals in Canada to use detection dogs and thermal remediation for the successful eradication of bed bugs. In his free time, he is an avid gardener.