Bed Bug Background

Bed bugs are wingless creatures that measure about 3/8 - 1/4 inches long. That is very small. The most distinguishing parts I have found about them is their red brown color and they are very flat. Pictures do not do them justice. Most pictures show them from the top and they look round, like a tick full of blood. Just like ticks, they do eat blood. After they eat blood they are bright red.

During the day bed bugs hide. They are nocturnal. If you get bit, you will most likely be bit on the upper body. The shoulders, neck or arms. A truly disturbing fact is that bed bugs can live up to one year without feeding. So left on their own through abandoned hotel suites, or summer homes, they will still be alive and well and ready to feed when they find an animal or human.

Bed bugs normally start infestations by someone bringing them home. A visitor who has luggage from a hotel are often culprits. They could have hidden in that luggage for a year and when Uncle Billy visits, you could have an infestation in your house almost immediately.

Bed Bug Infestations. How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs

The first step to take after finding even 1 lowly bedbug is to immediately launder all bedding. Studies have shown that most bedbugs are found within fifteen feet of your bedding. These studies report that this is only 85-90% of the time. This is not good enough for you to only clean the bed area. I recommend getting rid of the mattress and box spring. I don't care how much it costs. This will be well worth it. Most people are in need of new bedding anyway. Have you ever seen dust mites? They can also be infested in your bedding.

Give your vaccum a thorough cleaning, before and after. I oftentimes clean mine with disinfectant wipes. For your new mattress, I recommend getting a mattress case. In case of future infestations, you can throw that out.

How to Check Your Hotel Rooms For BedBugs

Bedbugs (or bed bugs) are becoming an epidemic in hotel rooms throughout the United States. Larger cities, especially New York City are literally infested with them. Before staying in a hotel room for the night these days, it is best to spend five minutes and check the room for bedbugs. Some of the pictures of victims are downright gruesome. The bugs come in the night and bite along the thickest veins in your legs in the middle of the night where your slumber is at it's deepest level. Bedbugs are small black creatures, but you should be able to pick them out by following a few simple procedures. Here are some tips to and information on how to check for bed bugs around the hotel room.
1. Pick up the mattresses in the rooms and look under it. Check around the edges of the box springs.
2. Check under the box spring.
3. Look at the corners of the room. Oftentimes bedbugs are wedged in corners sleeping during the day. Also, spiders do catch them and this is where they generally have their webs.
4. This is the most important tip of all. Headboards in hotel rooms are easily removed. They are basically decorative. Lift up each headboard an lie it on the bed. Carefully inspect the hole where the headboard was lifted out of. Also, inspect all niches and corners of the headboard. Remember bedbugs are very small and dead bedbug husks sometimes can be hard to pick up. If you see any type of bug or husk of small bugs, you most likely have bedbugs in the room (or at least used to).