How to avoid bedbugs when you travel

Q: I have to travel in a couple of weeks and stay in a hotel for several days. I have been reading and hearing a lot about the bedbug epidemic in New York, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. Do you know of any way I can make sure I do not pick up any bedbugs while I am traveling and bring them home with me?

A: We don’t have any tips that are completely foolproof, but you can stack the odds in your favor. Before you leave, check the online ratings of the hotel where you plan to stay. People who have found bedbugs in a hotel room usually complain about them.

When you arrive at the hotel, leave your luggage at the door and take five or 10 minutes to inspect the room. Pull back the sheets and look at the mattress and the box spring. Look in the seams of any upholstered furniture, and check the drawers of the nightstand. If you do find bugs or droppings (smaller than poppy seeds), ask the hotel clerk to move you to a room with no history of bedbugs.

Don’t set your luggage on the floor, the bed or upholstered furniture. Use the luggage rack, and pull it away from the wall. Don’t unpack into the drawers if you can avoid it. Keep your suitcase closed.

When you pack to go home, inspect your luggage and your clothing. If you are not sure about an item, seal it in a plastic bag so that it can be washed in hot water or run through a hot dryer. Things that can’t be washed should be dry-cleaned. A homemade bedbug detector is described on our website

More information on bed bugs here

Bed Bugs VS Humans

Bed bugs popularity has increased throughout the years. May Berenbaum, a professor of entomology from the University of Illinois, stated that in 1995 she had not seen a live bedbug, until one of her students found one and mailed it to her. Nowadays, bed bugs are all over the news and all over the country, indicating that the infestation of these bed insects is progressing into a complicated situation.

Although bed bugs had disappeared for some time, there has been a bedbug resurgence, likely due to global traveling. Bed bugs tag along in passenger’s luggage and have made their way to all 50 states, including Guam, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa. Pest control calls are sky rocketing. From June 2009 to June 2010 there were more than 31,000 bed bug calls in New York City alone!

Where we go, bed bugs follow – theaters, stores, offices, schools, trains, ships, hospitals, etc. There is no escape, unless a new approach is taken. Since bed bugs tend to hide in folds of clothing, bags, backpacks, and luggages, increased bed bug reports indicate that housewives are having an increasingly difficult time keeping free of these household bugs. Luckily, resources such as bedbug.com can provide you with many solutions to keep our clothing safe from these critters when traveling.  Even professional pest control operators are struggling to eliminate bed bugs, as they have become immune to old pesticides, which once were effective.

Sitting at home and feeling secure is no longer assured, as bed bug invasions are on the rise. Bed bugs differ from other household bugs. Unlike other bugs such as cockroaches, ants, and silverfish that are after an inanimate object, bedbugs are after us, and our blood. Entomologist May Berenbaum says, “they’re remarkably adept at circumventing our defenses: They not only attack while we sleep, but they also inject anesthetics, so as not to awaken us, and anticoagulants, so that in every 10-minute feeding they can suck in two to three times their weight in clot-free blood.”

Click here for more information on what bed bugs look like.

As these bugs habitat varies from public facilities, to homes, and even college campus housing, a solution is greatly yearned for. Old remedies have become ineffective, and therefore new methods have been initiated. For a variety of protective products that are lab tested and entomologist recommended to prevent bed bugs, click here.

Bed Bugs Biting Travelers

Guest Author: Nathalie Pludwinski
Bed bugs are becoming a widespread problem, especially for travelers. Pest control companies have received 81 percent more bed bug calls since 2000, and surveys say that 67 percent of pest control companies have attended to bed bug cases in hotels and motels.

Although the majority of infestations have been in hotels and motels, bed bugs reside in houses, laundry facilities, apartments, condos, single-family homes, movie theaters, and even four-and five star resorts. While infestations are often irritating and unpleasant, bed bugs are not known for transmitting disease/ However, bed bug bites may cause itching and allergic reaction in some people.

Researchers have labeled increased travel as a main factor for the rapid rise of bed bug infestations. A bed bugs natural way of survival is feeding off of human blood, and therefore as people are on the move, so are bed bugs in search of a “snack”.

While travelers fear encountering bed bugs upon arrival to a hotel room, sanitation problems are not usually the cause. The American Hotel and Lodging association makes it very clear that the issue does not relate to cleanliness. According to the association, hotels should conduct regular pest control inspections. They also advise hotel staff to conduct daily inspection of linens, mattress and box spring seams, headboards and bedding. Traces of bed bugs can be discovered by looking for signs of the pests, and by finding spots of dried blood or excrement.

Travelers should take precautions; such as performing a brief check of certain places in the room, such as the mattress and the headboard. For clothing protection, upholstered furniture and drawers where clothes can be stored should be checked as well. During this quick inspection, guests are advised to keep luggage in the bathroom, because infestations will less commonly occur in hard surfaced areas.

Upon returning home, all clothing, even unworn, should be washed in hot water, and suitcases with signs of bugs should be vacuumed and lined with bed bug proof encasements. Home remedies and other bedbug encasement products can also be purchased for full protection.

There is no need for bed bugs to travel home with you. There is a solution; in fact, there are many, and some more top bed bug travel prevention tips can be found in a single click!

WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS INTERVIEWS BEDBUG.COM

1. In your opinion, why have bed bug cases been on the rise? Out of these cases how many of these are from college dorms?
Increase in International Travel & inexpensive cruises, global warming, banning of certain pesticides, increase in high rise buildings being built in major densely populated cities. With the recession many people also buy second hand furniture and mattresses. If you shop at Thrifts stores you can wind up spending a lot more money then if you would have bought new products as getting rid of bedbugs is a very expensive process.

Maybe 10%, most are usually publicized as they get out of hand because bed bugs spread to both horizontal and vertical dorm rooms as they do in hotels. Issues arise when there is no activity during summer, winter and spring breaks. If there is a bed bug infestation starting it will get out of hand as the bed bugs multiply and feed when students return from vacations or bring them back from their travels. When speaking to many officials at State Bed Bug Task Forces or Public Health departments the biggest spread is in apartments where renters live and there is a lot of changeover, people moving in and out of buildings. We specifically came out with a twin XL mattress encasement because there is demand. We also are the only company to manufacture suitcase liners and laundry bags. College students can come with one holding their clean clothes and go home with another one with the dirty clothes. If college kids bring the problem home you can also see how the numbers can quickly add up and spread from residence to residence. College students are in small rooms and tend to have clutter which is a problem.

2. Has there been a particular season where bed bugs are especially active?

We are coming up to the busy season Springtime through the beginning of the Summer (May-June particularly heavy-Spring Time when the temperature warm to the bedbugs delight.  Winter has the least. But it also depends where in the country you live. Large cities with airport hubs tend to have many, especially as you know NYC.

3. What can we do ourselves to help treat bed bugs?

The most important thing to prevent and detect is to learn how to identify bedbugs and to arrange the furniture in bedrooms properly  and apply woven 6  sided bedding encasements. Many people buy the mattress protector, because it touches their body, but the box spring is just as important or more since there are many crevices for the bedbugs to hide and within the wood and nails nymphs are hard to identify.  Encasements are an integral part of the total solution and it is important to immediately call an exterminator who has experience with treating bedbugs and applying Integrated Pest Control Management procedures.  Ask for references and how many cases they treat a week. The more the better. For large multi-residential buildings one might have to incur the added expense of hiring specially trained bedbug dogs or heating of freezing (cryogenics) methods. You can make your own bedbug trap like one which uses dry ice to attract the bedbugs or use interceptors below the four bed legs  Better yet there are also newly marketed in the USA monitoring devices like BBalert both passive and active that create harborages or simulates the warmth and respiration that Bed bugs use as indicators to find their hosts. As Bedbugs are attracted to pheromones and carbon dioxide given off by the human host or warm blooded animals. Don’t leave the bedroom where you were bitten and sleep in another room as you will spread the bedbugs. Turn the lights on anytime between 1-5 when bedbugs tend to come out and you might be able to spot them. Look behind picture frames, curtains, bed skirts and electrical outlets too.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT US AT WWW.BEDBUG.COM

Bed Bug Tips for Travel and Home

Bedbug.com is proud to announce the most comprehensive bed bug tips on the web to date!

Whether you’re worried about bed bugs in your clothing, luggage, or bed; Bedbug.com has the bed bug prevention strategy you need!

These varied tip sheets will help to prevent bed bugs whether you are hosting a bed bug free sleep over party, booking a hotel, or simply cleaning the laundry.

No possible bed bug habitation is too big or too small for bedbug.com’s bed bug prevention and elimination tip sheets.

Why Use Mattress Encasements to Prevent Bed Bugs

With the rise in bed bug infestations in the United States, too often, people complain about bed bugs in their beds and bed bug bites, not knowing that covering your mattress with bed bug mattress protectors is an easy way to prevent such irritation. In fact, there are even bed bug encasements to prevent bed bug bites while you travel.

Firstly, many people don’t even know what bed bug bites look like, and are therefore unable to pinpoint where their ‘rash’ is originating. Furthermore, even people who do know how to identify a bed bug bite don’t realize just how preventable bed bug bites are. Let’s help you reduce those problems.

For those of us who do not love reading, one great way to know if you have bed bugs in the first place, is to click here and watch this bed bug movie.
But lets get back to bites. To make sure that what you have is bed bug bites, it is helpful to look at many bed bug bites pictures to compare to. It may also help to know that bed bugs usually bite in a pattern of a few bites in a row. So chances are if you have three bites close together, you were bitten by a bed bug (and not a mosquito or any other insect.)
Just because your partner sleeping in the same bed as you does not appear to have bed bug bites, does not mean that you do not have bed bugs. Most people don’t know that not all people who are bitten by bed bugs have an allergic reaction. So while you may have a big red itchy welt, your bed bug infested partner may be home free.
Another tell tale sign of bed bugs is staining on your mattress, pillow case or box spring as well as other signs of bed bug remains – such as bed bug shedding and eggs.
Here’s the best part about bed bug bites – they’re preventable. That’s right! Nobody needs to suffer from bed bugs! Companies such as Bedbug.com now sell mattress encasements, box spring protectors, pillow covers and even luggage liners that have been scientifically tested and proven bed bug free!
Lets say you already have the dreaded bed bugs’ bite. Here’s how to address it. Firstly, go to your pharmacy and get yourself some hydrocortisone cream. While the redness and swelling may remain, hydrocortisone cream has been proven to reduce the itch. Secondly, it’s still not too late to kill your existing bed bugs by locking them into, you guessed it, bed bug mattress and pillow encasements.

Whether for your dorm, your home, or travel, it is important to make sure that:
(1) you get yourself some bed bug proof encasements
(2) your anti bed bug encasement is entomologist tested and recommended
(3) your Zip Tech ™ zipper is fully and securely zipped up, so that bed bugs have no chance of getting in or out of the encasement.
So, what are your waiting for? Bed bug proof your life today and get the SecureSleep™ that you’ve been waiting for.

Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite……It’s Not a Cute Rhyme Anymore

When I was younger, every night before bed my mom used to say, ‘don’t let the bed bugs bite.’ It was like our bedtime ritual and I couldn’t fall asleep without her saying it.

Now I am 43 married with 3 children, and I don’t find the bed bug rhyme so amusing anymore.

Seven months ago, my son came back from a school camping trip. He returned with a huge backpack full of dirty laundry, to be expected from a teenage boy, I suppose. However, what wasn’t to be expected was the nightmare he also brought back.

Tuesday morning, my husband and I woke up with huge bites all over our bodies. My husband’s bites weren’t as bad as mine, but nevertheless they were still very bad. I realized instantly that my son’s laundry that I had done the night before must have been infested with bed bugs.

I don’t know how, but they spread all over the house like wild fire. The exterminator found infestations in the crevices of our couches, the bottom of our curtains and in all our mattresses and especially the box springs.

I couldn’t believe it – what used to be a cute rhyme has now turned into a living nightmare for my family and I consisting of sleepless nights full of itching, tossing and turning (which then lead to red and swollen eyes – due to the lack of sleep). The mental and physical stress and anxiety which we all endured was horrendous. Don’t even talk to me about the expense! A good chunk of our savings went into the bed bug treatments.

Thank goodness it’s all over now and I wouldn’t wish that experience on my worst enemy.

The exterminator highly recommended we cover our mattresses, pillows and box springs in anti bed bug protectors, which we did. I listened to every word the exterminator said, like it was holy writ, because I never wanted to have any sort of bug ever again!!

One last sobering point I want to make – while the exterminator did a great job – very professional – he reminded me that even after all the effort, we could easily find ourselves with yet another bed bug infestation next week, because these bugs are smart and travel very easily. However, those encasements make it much easier to prevent them from gaining any serious foothold, and also make detection much easier.

How to avoid bed bug bites when traveling

Author: Jamie Simpson

Anyone planning to travel should know what to do in order to avoid getting bitten by the bed bugs. The first thing is try not to ever encounter them at all if you can help it, but travelers cannot always be sure they haven’t been exposed to them so it is a good idea to always take necessary precautions whenever you are anywhere that there may be a potential for bed bugs to be nesting; such as hotel rooms, etc… to ensure that you do not get bit by these critters.

It is important to know what bed bugs look like so that you may correctly identify them if you see any. They are brownish red in color and they are small, flat and round, but not too small that you cannot see them. Bed Bugs feast on human and animal blood in order to survive and it is the only thing they are looking for. They will attach themselves to a viable host and suck the skin until their entire body inflates with blood causing them to plump up and turn completely red. You can see the blood right through their skin once they have ingested it. They are similar to a tick, or a flea, but unlike ticks, they usually won’t stay attached onto their host for very long. They will bite, suck and then move on. They leave behind red itchy welts that will usually heal in a couple of days. Since they are relatively small, their bite is not very big. As far as the bite itself, it is usually painless as well as harmless. If anything, the person who experiences a bed bug bite is more traumatized emotionally than anything else.

They like to hide out in cracks, crevices, creases, and seams, which can make them hard to find but not hard to see. Since they are good at being undetected, it has allowed them to spread and lately there has been increasing reports of bed bug bites in the US. Travelers do not realize that the bugs have found their way into their luggage and this tends to be the number one reason people carry them along onto their next destination, whether it be home, another hotel, or a family member or friends house.

The best and most effective way to avoid getting bed bug bites is to invest in a bed bug mattress cover. They are specifically designed to keep bed bugs sealed up inside the mattress and are even bite proof. This is a good idea if you anticipate traveling anywhere no matter how short the trip may be. You never know where you may find them.

These types of covers are only effective provided they are used correctly. They have to cover and seal the entire mattress making sure you do not leave the zipper open at all. it must be kept zipped while in use on a mattress. This is recommended for travel only to use on beds that are unfamiliar to you. It is not a permanent solution and therefore would not be a good idea to use them if you have bed bugs in your home. That will require a different course of action and this information is only intended for those traveling. It is also important that you clean these covers in between uses, making sure that any bed bugs trapped inside be properly exterminated and disposed of.

You have to wash the covers in very hot water or you can put the cover in a sealed plastic bag and store it in the freezer. Any bed bugs trapped inside will freeze and die, then you can simply unzip the cover and easily dispose of the dead bugs the following day. Make sure this is done between uses. Both the heat from hot water or the cold from the freezer will definitely kill bedbugs.

Sprays are also available which you can buy and use in addition to the bed bug mattress cover in order to help keep bed bugs off of you while you are asleep. Select a spray that will not irritate your skin if at all possible and check with your local outdoor gear or camping store, they should carry this product. A quite effective way to avoid any bed bug bites is to have both the mattress cover and the spray in use while sleeping in any unfamiliar bed such as in a hotel room.

The only way to prevent any bed bug bite is to to never allow them the chance to bite you in the first place. But there could be a time when you just happen to stumble across them and it is best for you to be prepared. Always carry these items with you while traveling. It’s your surest bet against getting bed bug bites.

About the Author:

Article Source: www.linkroll.com -
How To Avoid Bed Bug Bites When Traveling

Bed Bugs and Football

Bedbug.com Staff Writer
November 25th, 2009

Protecting your home is like a football game – and you’re always on defense. Day in and day out the dishes pile up, the toys seem to move about by themselves and laundry, seemingly of its own accord, scatters itself in the TV room, the bathroom and all over every one of your children’s bedroom floors. Your best efforts feel like a losing battle but you go on and reach for that touchdown that is a clean house. Here’s the thing: no matter how clean your house, once those articles of clothing are strewn around you may have lost the game – to Bed Bugs.

Many people do not realize that bed bugs are excellent travelers. They’re naturally sticky and have a gift for clinging to the coat, shirt or sock that happened to be tossed aside on the floor of any given schoolroom, hotel bedroom or co-ed dormitory. They happily hang on until that one piece of attire is picked up, placed in a bag or piece of luggage and then carried to the next destination, only to sit on another floor or surface. Then all they have to do is wait – literally.

A few bed bugs, capable of laying five eggs a day over a lifetime of three to four months when feeding on blood, can patiently wait up to a year for a meal. Those bugs brought home in any bag could sit in some corner, waiting for the next piece of clothing to be dropped. They could also make a bed their new home when the dirty laundry is strewn about after a long, hard day at work or by a child who is less-than-enthusiastic about daily cleaning.

You know the offense has certain advantages and you know that you need to adjust your defensive strategy. So what can you do? Managing yourself is difficult enough with work, traveling and meetings, but with a spouse, children in school and one or more coming home from college to visit how do you stop those bed bugs from invading and infesting your home, making you and your family their next source of food and shelter and causing you untold in mental anguish and financial damages. Bedbug.com has one of the best defensive tools available for your home protection.

Bedbug.com is the only encasement manufacturer providing you with the exclusive patent pending micro-zipper-technology laundry bag for protection from bed bug infiltration. The Bedbug.com laundry bag is secure and impermeable to stop the penetration of bed bugs in fabric. A simple bag in each bedroom means no clothes with bugs on the floor. The bugs can’t get in or out. Even if one or two manage to cling to a shirt or pair of jeans they’re in the bag until laundry day – and if you wash and dry your clothes properly you’ll be doing half the work to prevent a bed bug outbreak in your home. It only works with the secure laundry bag, though. Think of it as the best defense available for your family.

Additionally, if you’re traveling for business or your child is coming home from camp or school the Bedbug.com luggage liner prevents infestation just like the laundry bags. You don’t know who was in the hotel room before you and co-ed living is always on the run and a mess but with the Bedbug.com premium luggage liner no bugs will get in or out. Traveling just became a lot safer.

The prevent-defense is your best defense. You’re busy and your family is always on the move. We all know it’s the simple things that make life easier and safer. Buckling up takes but a second. Once the exclusive Bedbug.com laundry bag is in each bedroom, the quick act of tossing your dirty clothes inside and not on the floor is a sure fire way to add another layer of protection to your lives.

No one wants to sit around with the family on football Sunday scratching those bumpy bites after a sleepless night of itching. You don’t have to. Bedbug.com has your defensive tools ready: patent pending micro-zipper laundry bag and luggage liner – for your family’s health and safety. Protect and prevent. It’s that easy.

Visit www.bedbug.com for all your bed bug protection needs!