What is the first thing you think of when someone says, “
bed bugs?” These small pests are notorious for targeting unsuspecting tourists. Professionals, business owners, newlyweds, children, government officials, and other people should know the risks of traveling. The destination or starting point does not matter because all travelers share the same risks. One particular travel risk, less often considered, is a
bed bug encounter.
Bed bug encounters can take place at the drop of a hat. You just need to be in the right place at the right time to encounter a
bed bug. These parasitic pests are known to target travel destinations, such as hotels, bed & breakfasts, and chalets. Any establishment, with revolving doors, can become a haven for bed bugs.
Survey (Visual Assessment)
At first glance, your room looks neat and tidy. Travelers quickly scan their motel rooms before they step inside. On the surface, the bed is neatly made, the carpet is fluffed and clean, and the drapes are pressed and smell fresh. What about the areas that are not immediately visible? Take for example the mattress and box springs. Are these very important components clean? You will never know unless the bed is completely stripped. If the motel room is infested, bed bugs will cover the mattress.
Looking Underneath
Unfortunately,
bedbugs are sneaky. They can hide in a room for months without being noticed. If you don’t inspect the room carefully, you make end up taking these bugs home with you. Since you don’t want this to happen, you should look underneath furniture, mattresses, and other items.
Bedbugs could be hiding on the bed frame, behind baseboards, under the mattress, and elsewhere. Remove the sheets and pillowcases. Check both sides of the mattress. If you are staying in a room with bedbugs, ask for a refund and find a new motel.
Raising Your Luggage
Make sure that your luggage is elevated from the ground.
Bedbugs can climb up furniture and bed frames. They’ll also climb walls. You don’t want to let the bedbug climb into your bag at night. Otherwise, you’ll probably take them home with you. Avoid this issue by placing your luggage off the ground. Using the luggage rack is recommended. Just don’t place the rack near the wall. Put it in the middle of the room away from walls and furniture.
Examination
Don’t rush into your home. Instead, you need to take time and make sure that you’re not bringing bedbugs into your residence. Return home and leave your bags in your utility room or garage. Search your bags and clothes. Have you found any bedbugs among your belongings? If so, you need to do something about this immediately. Otherwise, the bedbugs will rush into your home. Using your dryer is an effective way to eliminate them. Either way, don’t bring the bedbugs into your home.
Placing Them In Your Dryer
Once you’ve returned home, you’ll want to make sure that you eliminate the bugs before they enter your home. Although this sounds hard, it doesn’t have to be. You’ll find that bedbugs cannot tolerate extreme temperatures. If you can expose them to extremely hot temperatures, you will eliminate them. Suffice to say, using your dryer is an effective way to kill bedbugs. Before going inside, you should take your clothes and throw them into the dryer.
Turn the dryer to the hottest temperature setting. Let the dryer clean your clothes and eliminate the bugs for 15 minutes or so. After that, you can bring the clothes inside since the bedbugs have been killed. There is no guarantee that you’ll prevent them from entering your home. You should prepare for a potential infestation by learning about the exterminators in your area. Have our phone number ready so we can help you promptly.
