Beware! Bed Bugs Too Are Traveling For The Holidays.

Bedbugs were nearly eliminated in the 1940’s with the help of the extremely-powerful, but now banned, chemical DDT. However, they have made a comeback in recent years, showing up in hotels, hospitals, buses, trains, movie theaters and other public places. They have the reputation for being the insect world’s most notorious hitchhikers, crawling into suitcases, handbags, pockets of coats, moving boxes, discarded clothes, blankets and bedding and transfering from beds to everywhere else. Even the car or heaven forbid the boat or plane are transporters of these crafty hitchhickers.

These tiny bloodsuckers not only make their homes in beds, but also in couches, clothing, and the seats of airplanes and trains. At night, they crawl out of cracks and crevices to feed on the blood of the soundly sleeping. These painless attacks generally go undetected until a skin rash appears. It’s often difficult to identify bed bug bites, for they can easily be confused with bites from a different pest (fleas, mosquitoes, carpet beetles etc.), making infestations difficult to detect and allowing populations to grow unnoticed and unchecked.  

Bed bugs are perfectly capable of surviving off the blood of any warm-blooded animal and they do not discriminate. They make themselves at home in the mansions of the wealthiest and the hovels of the poorest. Travelers just provide the means for them to move around the world sampling all types of  blood.  If human blood isn’t available, any warm blooded animal’s will do. These tiny hitchhickers will also wait patiently (months if  need be) to get a sip of blood. when food  isn’t available.

Don’t miss out on, well deserved, sleep, worrying about these nororious hitchhickers! Know what to do to stay bed bug free.  In extreme infestations, fumigation is a whole house treatment option that really works.

What happens if you ignore bed bugs?

If you ignore the problem, bed bugs will reproduce and multiply and can quickly infest your entire house, from couches to carpets and even clothing. Once this happens you have a big problem that can get costly to get rid of.

 

Traveling is exciting and should be enjoyable, keeping us in contact with family and friends. Having to worry about Bed Bugs makes for fearful Thanksgiving and not so merry Christmas and New Years vacations.  Best suggestions for having a “no bed bug” travel experience:

• Vacuum suitcases after returning from vacation.
• Upon return from vacations or stays with others, wash or dry clean unpacked clothing before returning them to closets or drawers. Don’t let clothes pile up on the floor to become bed bug breeding areas.
• When traveling be sure to check mattresses and sheets for tell-tale blood spots. Keep an eye out for them at home too.
• Pets can harbor beg bugs too. Check them and their bedding

For more information on Bed Bugs go to Corky’s Pest Control’s Website.  Stay Bed Bug Free and Have Happy Holiday Travels!