BEDBUGS!

[sbwertz]

When a friend came back from vacation and had been bitten by bedbugs while in a hotel (an EXPENSIVE hotel, at that!) She was worried about bringing them home and infesting her house, so she called an exterminator to ask how to prevent any "hitchhikers" from getting in to her house.

He said that the best way to kill them is with heat. He told her to put all the clothes in the dryer and tumble them with heat for half an hour, and to put her open suitcase and any clothes that can't go in the dryer in the car (not in the trunk) and leave it sitting in the sun with the windows up. (This was in the fall when it was still pretty hot.) He said the heat would kill any bedbugs in the cracks and crevices of the suitcase.

Just thought I'd pass the info on. Not that it would do any good in the east this week!

 

[plantman]

Sharon; Heat is a good way of getting any free riders that came home with your friend. Anything over 120 degrees will kill bed bugs. There is also a product out there called Nuvan Strips . You place your clothes, baggage, lap top, phone, or any other object you took with you, in a plastic bag with the strips and let stand for a couple of days. An alcohol spray may also help some surface areas. There are sprays that you mix with water also. Temprid SC and Optimate CS both safe for bedding materials. And a dry dust spray Temprid Ready Spray. Some places with really bad infestations will spray with liquid nitrogen, which freezes on contact and can get inside the walls, any cracks, and outlets without having to remove anything. This method is very expensive and used as a last resort. Also you can kill or prevent bed bugs by purchasing incapsulating mattress and box spring covers, and keeping them on for a year or longer. These restrict and contain the the movement of the bugs, and starves them to death. Hope this helps your friend or anyone else worried about this problem. And yes, bedbugs live in some of the most expensive reality on the planet, and they have nothing to do with being dirty or unkept. Jim S

 

[dozuki]

My wife and I have the same concern when we travel. We never put our clothes in the closets or the dressers that are provided. I know it sounds odd but we keep the suitcases and clothes in the bathroom. Not sure how true it is but we heard that the bugs can't move well on slippery surfaces. We haven't had any little hitchhikers yet. We also check the mattress seams for evidence of bed bugs and if we see anything we don't stay in that room.

 

[TonyL]

There's no shortage of products like this available: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dhpc&field-keywords=bed+bugs


Are there are exterminators out there that would know if they work?

 

[sbwertz]

This is one of the reasons we have a motorhome!

 

[maxwell_smart007]

We check every hotel room top to bottom before we bring luggage in, and keep our bags in garbage bags when we're staying there. It's a pain, but worth the hassle, I think.

 

[epigolucky]

At my hospital, we have concerns occasionally about families bringing in bed bugs. We have commercial dryers that we have access so we can kill the little buggers. The heat is effective. We use exterminators to treat the room just in case but I do not know their technique/products.

Another (time consuming) option, you can bag everything of concern in large plastic bag and leave it to sit for at least 2 weeks, they will eventually suffocate and perish.

 

[maxwell_smart007]

At my hospital, we have concerns occasionally about families bringing in bed bugs. We have commercial dryers that we have access so we can kill the little buggers. The heat is effective. We use exterminators to treat the room just in case but I do not know their technique/products.

Another (time consuming) option, you can bag everything of concern in large plastic bag and leave it to sit for at least 2 weeks, they will eventually suffocate and perish.

That method isn't reliable - they can suffocate, but their eggs would survive...

 

[plantman]

Fact: A bed bug can live up to a year on a single feeding !! Wish I could do the same. Jim S