Bed bugs in luggage. You may find yourself frantically Googling “how to eliminate bed bugs in luggage” as the holidays approach, after learning you’ve acquired a colony of them.
According to a study published recently, if you place your bag in the shower for ten minutes before packing, you may lower the chance of these blood-sucking insects getting inside.
Researchers at the University of Sheffield in England studied whether or not leaving your smelly clothes outside a hotel affects bed bug distribution.
They built two scenarios: one with clean clothes and the other with filthy, stained clothes. To imitate human respiration, the scientists also injected more carbon dioxide into one room with clean clothes and another room with filthy clothing.
Bed bugs were twice as likely to collect on the filthy wash pile in the absence of a human, according to what they discovered. In this example, the rooms without added carbon dioxide.
Bed bugs were more likely to emerge from their hiding places and adopt host-seeking behaviors when researchers added carbon dioxide to the room.
So how do you prevent bed bugs from coming home with you after they’ve latched onto your filthy garments? One of the principal investigators, William Hentley, PhD, explains that there is a very obvious answer:
Our research suggests that bringing bed bugs home with you may be less likely if you keep your filthy clothes in a sealed bag, particularly while staying at a hotel.
You’ve seen those vacuum sacks that people stuff their clothes into? Before you leave the state for Thanksgiving, maybe it’s time to stock up. If you have family staying with you during the holidays, bed bugs are the last thing you want to deal with.
How to Prevent Bed Bugs In Luggage While Traveling
It might be a wise idea to protect yourself from a potential bed bug infestation if you’re staying in cheap lodgings. There are a few tips you can use to achieve it.
Use Plastic Covers for Luggage.
If we expect to stay in budget hotels, we usually carry spare garbage bags inside our luggage. We remove everything from the luggage and place it in the big garbage bag when we arrive.
This prevents bed bugs from entering the home. Bedbug-preventing luggage covers are also available. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to locate a suitable one yet.
Keep Your Suitcase off the Ground.
As a result of the name bed bugs, bed bugs are most typically found on beds and in mattresses (thus the term “bedbugs”). It’s a good idea to keep your bag off the mattress and floor at all times. Instead, bed bugs may not get into your bags if they are stored on a shelf or in a closet.
Additionally, rather than unpacking everything, try to pack all of your clothes into your bag.
Store Your Dirty Clothes Inside a Sealed Plastic Bag.
Body heat, perspiration, and the carbon dioxide you exhale attract bed bugs. It’s a good idea to store your filthy clothes in a sealed plastic bag since they emit scents that are highly attractive to bed bugs. They’ll be less attracted to the scents in your bag this way.
Can Bed Bugs Live in Clothes?
For various reasons, bed bugs like clothing. They provide a plethora of openings, gaps, and gloomy areas. A bed bug, for example, can hide in a pocket.
Laying their eggs on fabric is also a pleasant experience for them. After all, mattresses are made of fabric, so most infestations occur there.
Eggs stick well to textiles and similar materials. As a result, living, digesting, and reproducing from a base in your clothes is possible.
They can’t, however, eat or bite through fabric in any way. Bed bugs can’t do all of the things that other bugs can. Blood is the only thing that bed bugs consume. They won’t be able to survive without access to you, thus they won’t be able to.
Bed bugs, on the other hand, only live in old items that you throw away. They scatter as soon as you get near them. Only when they’re hungry do they desire to approach you.
Bed bugs, on the other hand, can live in garments while traveling.
How to Root Out Bed Bugs in Luggage
If you ever acquire bed bugs into your house, you’ll want to exterminate them as soon as feasible in the unfortunate event.
Remember that dealing with these pests can be difficult, therefore DIY measures are not the answer. Bed bugs can’t be eradicated using a dryer or store-bought pesticide.
Instead, contact a company that provides professional bed bug removal. Early detection, preparedness, and effective treatment methods were successful in eradicating these pests’ hinges.
The most successful manner of bed bug management is to heat treat.
As a result, how does this approach guarantee that bed bugs are gone? The temperature of the affected space is raised using heat treatment, which is a chemical-free method of controlling pests.
The continuous internal heat kills bed bugs by placing your baggage inside a heated box. You can use a dryer for linens and garments, as well as a heat chamber for bigger items that cannot be put inside a dryer, as is customary practice.
Heat enters tiny openings that are difficult to see when looking at each example. Bugs have a lethal temperature of 1180F (480C) to 1220F (500C), depending on the species.
Because hot boxes can kill bed bugs regardless of their life cycle stage, they may be used to kill all of them.
How Bed Bugs Spread
When traveling, it’s common to take bed bugs home with you inadvertently or bring them home on purpose. Travellers may substantially lower their chances of getting bed bug infestations in their residences by following this guideline.
Because of the constant supply of fresh hosts and the difficulty in maintaining bed bug control over time, hotel rooms make ideal homes for bed bugs.
These insects can quickly climb onto bags thrown on the bed or travel across an whole room in one night, making them superb hitchhikers.
Bed bugs thrive in conditions where people are present for long periods of time. As a result, a hotel room isn’t the only dangerous location. They may also be seen on airplanes, train seats, and even rental cars.
How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs in Luggage
Step 1: Put Your Clothes in Sealed Plastic Bags.
The first step you should take if you’ve discovered bed bugs on vacation is to isolate the issue so they don’t Spread.
Go to the hotel’s management and tell them about the problem, then ask for a different room. Try to shake off as many bed bugs from your luggage, clothes, and other belongings before switching rooms.
Next, you should purchase a few plastic bags and tape at a local convenience store. Garbage bags will suffice. Put all of your stuff back in your bag after sealing the openings with tape.
Separate your clean clothes from your worn ones and attempt to store your luggage on a shelf or within a closet for the remainder of your journey if you have any vacation days left.
The finest strategy would be to purchase new clothes for the rest of your journey by putting all of your stuff in plastic bags.
Step 2: When You Come Home, Keep Your Suitcase in a Safe Place.
Bring your luggage indoors on the porch or in a shed after you return home. To avoid getting any bed bugs inside your house, it’s also a good idea to remove all of your current clothes, place them in the washing machine, and take a shower.
Step 3: Start by Treating Your Clothes.
If you have a washing machine and a dryer, the first thing you should do is eliminate all bed bugs from your clothes.
Using a washer, place garments inside the plastic bags, and then trash the bags by tossing them into a dumpster. Don’t put your own garbage can with the empties!
Wash as hot as you can. Most bed bugs will be killed by this process, but not all. Dry your clothes for 20-30 minutes in a medium or hot cycle. This should be sufficient to destroy all of the bed bugs and eggs remaining.
Step 4: Vacuum Your Suitcase Throughout.
After your luggage has been cleaned, there will be bed bugs and eggs remaining in it. Vacuum your luggage thoroughly to eliminate them. Get to all of the pockets and nooks, especially near the zippers, using the tiny adapter.
Step 5: Get Rid of All the Remaining Bed Bugs.
Since there are still bed bugs and their eggs hidden in the nooks and crannies that are difficult to access, vacuuming isn’t enough. Insecticides and hot/cold treatments may be used to kill bed bugs.
Spray the whole suitcase with an aerosol spray designed to kill bed bugs and wait a few minutes for it to work if you’re fine with using pesticides. These are widely available in convenience shops.
You may, alternatively, exterminate them using hot/cold treatments if you want to use something more natural.
You can wrap your bag in a big plastic bag, seal it shut with tape, and leave it in hot weather for a few hours if it’s summer and you have a greenhouse or car that reaches above 120 degrees F during the day.
You might put your contaminated bag inside a big enough freezer if you have one. But, with cold therapies, it takes a long time to eliminate them.
At 32 degrees Fahrenheit, they start to die, but it takes weeks. They’ll die in four days if they’re kept at 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
Killing bed bugs with steam cleaners is another effective treatment. Bed bugs die in a matter of seconds when exposed to hot steam at around 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
You may need to hire a commercial steamer if the heat is not high enough on your own steamers. All of the hidden bed bugs and their eggs will be killed off by steaming your whole suitcase slowly and carefully until the surface gets moist but not completely wet.
Step 6: Vacuum All the Dead Bed Bugs, and Do a Final Inspection.
Lastly, vacuum your luggage one last time to clean up all of the dead bed bugs and eggs after you’ve exterminated all of the surviving bed bugs.
To ensure you haven’t taken anything, thoroughly inspect the bag. After you’re done, dispose of the vacuum bag in your trash bin outside your residence.
Bed Bugs Facts & Myths
Travelers have created several myths on how to avoid and get rid of the pests as a result of the pests’ merciless invasion. Time to separate truth from fiction!
Myth:
Hardshell suitcases are bug-proof! Bed bugs can enter any bag or suitcase through the zipper and seams.
Bed bug infestations can be avoided by using sleeping bag liners! They have no influence on the outcome.
Bed bug infestations are not a problem in high-class hotels! It makes no difference if the hotel is classed. What really matters is how the bed bug problem is handled by the owners.
Fact:
Bed bug infestation can be prevented from spreading by packing your clothes in plastic bags inside your luggage! That is, it is a effective preventative measure.
-If you put your clothes in hotel drawers and wooden hangers, you may also get bed bug on them! Unfortunately, yes.
Bed bugs will be repelled by placing diatomaceous earth throughout your luggage! It does have an effect, yes.
-The Bed Bug Registry can be used to see if your hotel has been reported for bedbugs, but bedbugs don’t only bite in unclean environments.