Things I’ve learned about bedbugs:
- Bedbugs are the result of unfortunate circumstance. Cleanliness is not a factor. Social standing is not a factor. Anyone can get them. Any place can become infested. So don’t judge people for having bedbugs, and never assume you can’t get them just because you keep your house clean. The bedbugs don’t care how clean or dirty your home is. They just want to suck your blood, and they don’t care how blue it is.
- However bad you think the bedbug situation is in this country, it’s probably worse. Bedbugs are all over the place. If you travel, you will almost certainly encounter them at some point.
- In spite of being aware of their existence, I hardly knew anything about bedbugs. There were three things that particularly surprised me about them. One is that they come in several sizes/shapes (because they have several life stages), and the adults are quite a bit bigger than I had imagined. Most people don’t know what they look like at all, so I suggest that you go find a life cycle diagram and familiarize yourself with their appearance. They’re faster than I had expected, too. I thought they’d be slower, like ticks. I also didn’t know that they would come out when the light was on. I mention these things so that you’ll never assume a bug isn’t a bedbug based on misunderstandings about its size or speed, or because it’s out during the day.
- The moment you bring your luggage into a bedbug infested room, it becomes a fomite. That is to say, once you’ve been exposed to bedbugs, your options are limited. You can’t risk bringing them home, and you shouldn’t risk spreading them to other people. So I suggest not bringing your kids or your luggage into a hotel room until you’ve determined that it’s free of bedbugs.
- Be mindful when you’re doing a bedbug inspection. Prepare for the inspection by rolling up the cuffs of your pants and shirt. You will want to be able to check the room without your clothes touching anything. Check the room thoroughly. A cursory inspection of the mattress is not good enough. The couch was the hot spot in the bedbug infestation that I encountered. Even the bug control guy said that the mattress looked clean. So, start with the mattress, but don’t stop there. Also check the box spring, the nightstand, the baseboards and around outlets, and all upholstered items, such as couches and chairs. Bedbugs like to hide, so crevices and seams are the most likely places to find them. Look for live bugs, dead bugs/castings, fecal crud, and brown or red smears.
- Keep a bug collection. You cannot imagine how many times I was congratulated for having the foresight to start the carcass collection. It saved a lot of time, because we were able to take a photograph and send it to the pest control people immediately. The bug inspector didn’t even have to come out to verify our suspicions. However, I wouldn’t recommend squishing bedbugs, because they could have blood inside. Putting them in a container (perhaps with rubbing alcohol to kill/preserve them?) might be an option.
- Bedbug bites often don’t show up right away, and some people supposedly never have a reaction to them. Mine took several days to appear. The pest control guy, who once stayed at an infested cabin, said that his bites took three weeks to show up. So, mysterious bug bites that show up after your vacation could have been caused by bedbugs.
- Bedbug bites are a lot like mosquito bites. I had heard that the bites looked different than mosquito bites. That may or may not be true. I had both kinds of bites, and they both itched, and I couldn’t tell the difference.