Your suitcases are packed for vacation. Having fun is a given. You’ll bring home trinkets, great memories, and a tan. What you’d never dream of bringing home is bed bugs. But it happens more often than we care to acknowledge.

Bed bug infestations carry stigmas because too often people think they only come from unsanitary, unkempt environments. This can lead to feelings of shame different from other pest control needs. Further stigma is fueled with the myth that bedbugs carry disease. Instead, an infection may develop if bites are scratched to excess, but that is solely on us.

Bed bugs, or Cimicidae, or “hitchhikers,” are small, wingless insects that cannot fly or jump and are adaptable to different environments. All they eat is blood—gross, yes—and they find mammals through scent. They have an anesthetic in their saliva that makes it unlikely you’ll feel the bite.

They are found in all 50 states and pretty much everywhere humans go. According to the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) at pestworld.org, pest services have reported treating bed bugs in places like college dormitories, bus and train seats, restaurant booths, second-hand furniture stores and even doctor’s offices. Bed bugs can be found and transported anywhere, but there are things to look for ways to stop them.

“An adult bed bug and eggs are visible to the eye,” said Joe Hyland, General Manager of Modern Pest Services’ Katahdin office. “They look like little oval apple seeds, but they are tricky to find.” That’s because after biting you, they scurry away to digest for few days, while they also mate and lay eggs. What a life.

Hyland said that Modern Pest Services uses a special heat treatment to kill the bugs, but there are things to do if you think you have them.

Both at home and away, people should self-inspect for rust-colored blood stains on sheets, small white milky blobs which may be eggs and exoskeletons from molting. However, being on vacation calls for extra measures.

The NPMA recommends the following:

• Do not rush when you check into a hotel or short-term rental. Take your time to inspect the room or house.
• Turn over bedding, including the bedspread.
• Use your phone flashlight to look at the box spring.
• Never put your suitcase on the floor and always utilize hard surfaces, regardless of how clean beds look.
• Keep clothing off the floor and in plastic when possible.

Hyland follows the rule about keeping luggage on hard surfaces and goes a step further. “Put your suitcase in the bathtub when you can. Keep your shoes in the bathroom, too. Avoid putting things on the bed or floor, whenever possible.”

If you do find bed bugs once you get home, or have mysterious bites, Hyland said to put everything in the dryer at the highest heating level as soon as possible. But if you can’t intervene fast enough, call Modern Pest Services to save yourself the embarrassment, real or imagined.

 

Comments are not available on this story.