BLOG

Everyone hates a bedbug. Just the mention of the pests gets your skin itching and the thought of throwing out your entire house of furniture out the window. There is a way to avoid bringing these insidious pests home from vacation with you.

Let’s start with how you pack your bags.

If you have a hard surface bag like metal or plastic that’s a good start. It is difficult for the bugs to travel on the smooth surface. If you own a canvas bag, the bugs can travel from an infested bag to you bag even in the cargo hold of the plane. Place all your clothing in plastic bags inside your suitcase.

Hotels

When you arrive at your destination place your bag on the floor in the bathroom or other tiled surface until you examine the room. It is helpful to know what to look for since bedbugs can hide in cracks and crevices in the headboards mattress folds, even the carpets or any porous surface.

Check the mattress folds look for little brown or reddish spots. The bedbugs are the size of a grain of rice and dark brown if they have recently fed. The younger ones will be a lighter brown. They are flat and roundish.

Check the bed, pillows, sheets, dust ruffle, drapes, chairs, nightstands, pictures and anything upholstered. If everything checks out that is good but after you check the suitcase stand be sure to keep your suitcase off of the floor. Just because your room is clean the room next door may be infested and bedbugs can travel through the walls from room to room.

It is a good idea to keep your clothes off the floor and when you take your dirty clothes off place them in the plastic bags.

Returning Home

When you return home, wash all clothing and place in a hot dryer. Since we live in Texas, I usually leave my suitcase in the trunk of my car parked in the sun. Bedbugs die at 140 degrees even still I wash my clothes and dry them. I also check my suitcase before bringing it into the house.

You may also kill bedbugs by freezing them so if you wish to place your bagged clothing in the freezer you can do that as well. My freezer is too full of stuff for me to be able to fit bags of clothes into the freezer.

These are some good precautions to take to keep these pests from invading your home after a fun filled vacation.