Bed Bugs Are Back!!!
If you have any further questions, please feel free to call our office or
email us.
We'd like to help you keep these horrible hitchhikers from invading your home.  Here are
some simple travel tips:

  • While traveling, don't keep your suitcases under your beds or in dresser drawers.  
    Consider keeping them in large, sealed plastic trash bags in the trunk of your
    vehicle or in the bathtub.
  • When checking into a hotel room, ask the front desk staff if the hotel has had bed
    bugs in the past year, and if so, whether they were in the room you're checking
    into.  If so, refuse to stay in that room as well as rooms immediately above and
    below and to the left and right.  Bed bugs spread easily to adjacent rooms.
  • Before bringing any of your personal belongings into a hotel room, use a strong
    flashlight to check the front and back of the headboard, as well as corners of the
    mattress and box spring, for signs of bed bugs like those pictured above.
  • Use a hair dryer to blow hot air into the cracks and crevices of the bed, as well as
    the headboard and the corners of the mattress and box spring.  The hot air will
    send bed bugs running into view!  Also do this in all dresser drawers, especially
    those closest to the bed.
  • Slide your room card key into the cracks along the top of the headboard.  It will
    draw out bloodstains and cast skins, if they are present.
  • DON'T place your luggage or any other belongings on the hotel-provided luggage
    stand(s).
  • Check your sheets for blood spots every morning upon awakening-- these are
    telltale signs of an infestation.
  • Keep hard goods, such as cosmetics and souvenirs, in resealable zip-top
    plastic bags.
  • Sort laundry into bags immediately upon returning from your trip; then wash
    everything in hot water and dry it on high heat, or have your clothes dry cleaned.

These tips may seem like a lot of effort, but eliminating an existing bed bug infestation
can be extremely difficult, even with professional treatment.  Even if you follow all these
recommendations, you are not completely safe from bed bug infestation.

There are specially designed bed bug bite-proof mattress and box spring encasements
that can be installed on your personal bedding.  These are designed specifically to
prevent bed bugs from finding harborage in your mattresses and box springs.