Ugh, I found one bed bug in a room I am staying in. Time to panic?

[FormerlySaleenl]

The only thing that works to kill bed bugs reliably is heat. You absolutely need to heat treat everything before it enters your house and the hot car suggestion is a great one.

If you didn't open your bags at the hotel, you might be able to get away with just your clothing and the outsides of your luggage getting to 125. If this happened to me, I would buy black trash bags and a couple of new outfits/socks/a pair of shoes, head to a rest area or gas station bathroom, change and bag what you're wearing, and leave it sealed in the car along with your suitcases for as long as you can. Once you are at a new hotel, shower in the hottest water you can handle and change into another new outfit. Bag the first one and put it in the car.

When your trip is over, I'd wash and dry everything on hot and leave everything not washable in a hot car for as long as you can before bringing it into the house.

My sister ended up with bedbugs from renting an apartment in an infested multi-unit building. After months of fighting them, she ended up having to pack all of her belongings into a truck and take it to a facility that heat treated everything before moving into a new house.

[graylocks]

i spend a lot of nights in hotels though few are on the fancy side. Has been my life for years. To my knowledge have never encountered bed bugs.

That being said, a few days ago i did take the trouble to read an article that said the best place to put your suitcases in hotel room is in the bathtub. Even the stand they provided isn't safe.

Just thought I'd pass that on.

[Gareth]

graylocks wrote:
...i did take the trouble to read an article that said the best place to put your suitcases in hotel room is in the bathtub. Even the stand they provided isn't safe.

Did they say where you're supposed to put your bags when you want to take a shower? Not like there are a lot of hotel rooms with separate tubs and showers... And then are you supposed to put your bags back in the wet bathtub or wait for it to dry? If you're just traveling with 1 carry on size bag, then sure, maybe it's worth the hassle, but if it's a couple people and then 3 or more bags, not sure I'd want to deal with that.

[Numo]

What a drag! Sorry to hear this, pRICE.

[pRICE cUBE]

graylocks wrote:
i spend a lot of nights in hotels though few are on the fancy side. Has been my life for years. To my knowledge have never encountered bed bugs.

That being said, a few days ago i did take the trouble to read an article that said the best place to put your suitcases in hotel room is in the bathtub. Even the stand they provided isn't safe.

Just thought I'd pass that on.

I have stayed in budget to luxury and today was the first time I have encountered this issue. My gut feeling is that it is a true mom and pop operation and they are trying to deal with the bugs themselves instead of calling a professionally. I assume the chains have a contract to make the issue go away faster and more efficiently.. I believe I was in the rooms for a total of 3 hours.

[NewtonMP2100]

.....bugger.....

[pqrst]

Sorry to say but I’d play it safe and go somewhere else.

[Tiangou]

EVERYTHING in tight plastic bags until you can heat-treat it.

Insecticides are hit or miss. They're resistant.

Two hours in a hot dryer is a kill.

[special]

What about planes? I am always worried about who was seating before me and if they had any bugs. Or snakes, LOL

[Speedy]

special wrote:
What about planes? I am always worried about who was seating before me and if they had any bugs. Or snakes, LOL

Not a problem. Airlines take special care to clean their planes between flights. They change out the cloth that is where your head rests at the same time. They also sanitize the tray. Most planes now come equipped with misters in the toilets that are used to sanitize the entire toilet once all the passengers deplane. No stone is left unturned to make sure you have a safe and clean flight. Of course, all I just wrote is total bullshit.