Can bed bugs get into hard shell luggage

Taking the annual family vacation or going on an important business trip can sometimes bring more than good memories or major career milestones home with you -- blood sucking bed bugs may have unknowingly hitchhiked home with you as well. Below, we’ve provided some insight into how you can avoid picking up these unwanted visitors.

Hitchhiking Across The Country

Bed bugs have been invading commercial properties and homes for as long as we can remember. In the last 10 years, there's been an influx of infestations especially in major urban areas, including New England.

These pests are some of the most disturbing kinds - they feed on our blood as we sleep and due to their notorious hitchhiking nature are readily mobile, moving from location to location while quickly spreading infestation across your home, cities and consequently, the nation.

Protect Your Luggage

If you think the bed is the only place where these pests reside, think again. If there is an active infestation in your room, they can be anywhere within the space, including drawers and other furniture pieces in the room.

To avoid bringing home an infestation, the first thing you need to do is protect your luggage. Once bed bugs burrow themselves into the crevices and seams of your suitcase, they can stay alive without a feeding for up to four months.

How To Protect Yourself On The Next Trip

Your best bet for protecting your luggage from bed bugs is inspection. Upon arrival at the hotel room, be sure to do a thorough check to keep any hungry bugs out of your luggage. A quick overview isn’t enough - taking a few minutes to check every part of the room is better than bringing an infestation back to your home. Be sure to check behind the pillows and matresses for blood stains left behind by bed bugs.

While this may not be convenient, living out of your luggage and not putting your clothes in the drawers or closet of the hotel room is also a surefire way to prevent bed bugs from latching onto your personal items. Use a metal luggage rack to keep your suitcase away from the carpet, furniture and bed frame and avoid placing your luggage on the extra bed in the room

Use bags that can be sealed tightly for your used clothes, so that bed bugs don’t have the chance to crawl into your clothing. Also, consider using a suitcase bag to protect it from bed bugs crawling into the seams and hidden crevices. Many companies have developed bags that you can purchase for this sole purpose.

When The Trip Is Finished

Again, inspection is critical to preventing taking bed bugs home with you. Perform a thorough inspection of your luggage, clothing, personal items and bed before you leave the hotel room - bed bugs excrete blood after feeding, so you may see stains on your pillow or bed. Seal clothing in plastic bags and place your luggage in the large bag for storage in your trunk (if you’ve driven to your destination) for your trip home.

Once you’re home, launder everything in hot water and detergent and dry on low heat for at least 20 minutes to kill any bed bugs. Vacuum your suitcases and freeze them, if possible, to kill any remaining pests.

Bed bugs multiply rapidly, so taking a few preventive measures on your travels can help ensure that you don’t bring home an unwanted infestation. If you discover you’ve brought home some unwelcome insects, be sure to contact your local pest control professional to treat, control and ultimately, eliminate an undesirable bed bug infestation.

Think you may already have a bed bug problem? The experienced professionals at JP Pest Services can get rid of blood-feeding insects from your home quickly and completely! Contact JP Pest Services to request a free residential estimate today!

Follow these important steps if you encounter bed bugs in your travels.

When traveling for spring break, summer vacation or business, it’s important to check for bed bugs anytime you stay in a hotel, motel, resort or other place that has lots of visitors. If you find bed bugs or signs of bed bugs after conducting an inspection or after sleeping in the room, let the management know. Ask for another room – One that doesn’t share a wall with the room you just vacated.

If you encounter bed bugs while traveling, then you will need to take some immediate precautions to avoid potentially bringing them home with you. It is a good idea to put all of your belongings into sealed plastic bags. It is possible that bed bugs may have crawled into your belongings or luggage if they were stored near the bed; placing the items in bags will keep the bed bugs from dropping out where you don’t want them. If you can, place items that can be laundered through a dryer on medium or high-heat for at least 30 minutes. This will kill any bugs or eggs in those items. Place them back in clean, sealed plastic bags.

When arriving home, unpack your bags in some location other than the bedroom, such as the garage, mud room, laundry room, or foyer, for example. Any non-clothing items that may have come in contact with bed bugs should not be brought into the house at all. Depending on the item, it can be treated with heat or cold. You may be tempted to throw away your luggage and/or clothing after discovering a bed bug infestation, but that isn’t necessary. Heat treatments are effective at killing bed bugs. More information about heat treatments is included later in this article.

Unpack suitcases on a hard surface under bright light so you can see any bed bugs. Clothing should be placed directly from the sealed plastic bags into the laundry. Wash on the highest heat setting that the clothing can handle. Ideally the water temperature should be 100 degrees Fahrenheit to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Dry on medium or high heat as well, and keep the items in the dryer at that setting for at least 30 minutes. Items that can’t be laundered can be put directly into the dryer at medium to high heat for 30 minutes.

If you have items that need to be dry cleaned, put them in a sealed plastic bag, and tell your dry cleaner that the items may have bed bugs. The items can be kept in the plastic bags until just before being loaded into the dry cleaning machines.

Once the items inside your suitcase have been taken care of, it’s time to inspect your luggage. Use a flashlight to check seams, folds and pockets for bugs or eggs. Vacuum the suitcase using a brush and crevice tool attachment. Once finished, enclose the vacuum bag or the dirt into a plastic bag sealed with tape. The suitcase can then be washed with hot soapy water or other common household cleaners. Use a scrub brush along the seams and folds. You may also wish to use a household or industrial steamer to heat-treat the luggage. Commercial products are also available for frequent travelers that heat-treat the luggage and contents.

If you encounter bed bugs in your travels there is no need to panic! Just follow these steps to keep them from moving in to your home with you when you return.

Michigan State University Extension has partnered with the Michigan Department of Community Health to address the bed bug issue. For information on how to prevent or treat bed bug infestations, visit the Michigan Department of Community Health website, www.michigan.gov/bedbugs.

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