Did you know there’s a 90% chance that a popular hotel – a suite room or a presidential suite in a fancy hotel – has bedbugs? Even your favorite hotel can have bedbugs without your knowledge.
Now you may wonder if your hotel has bedbugs or not. What are the symptoms and signs of bedbug infestation? Assuming your hotel has bed bugs, what can be done to keep your home from being infected when you return?
Common symptoms and signs of bed bug infestation include
1. Bedbug rash
Itching is the first sign. The rash starts with an itchy feeling. The rash won’t be visible but you can feel the itching.
When a bedbug bites, it can bite more than mosquitoes. When a mosquito bites, you can feel its bite and feel the suction of the blood. But when bed bugs bite, the itch can be felt only after a minimum period of time of one hour. This is caused by the anesthetics in the bedbug’s saliva. They inject blood thinners and anesthetics, to keep the blood from clotting, before it sucks the blood out.
The bedbug rash can be detected within an hour of the bite. But in some cases, the rash appears only a few days or weeks later. This is determined by the body’s response to the chemicals secreted by the bedbugs.
How can you identify a rash caused by a bedbug? It starts with a small, round, red bump (because it is inflamed) that looks more swollen than a mosquito rash. Initially, only a swollen bump can be seen. In time, the rash spreads everywhere. This indicates that many bugs have started to bite you. But in some cases, the rash may look similar to a bite mark in sequence. This is seen in people who move around constantly when they are sleeping. Once the bugs notice movement around them, they quickly run to their hiding places.
When you suspect a bedbug outbreak, examine it for a few days. The rash causes prolonged itching for days at a time. Also, a bed bug rash does not heal as quickly as mosquito bites. It stays swollen for weeks together.
2. Bedbug odor
The next thing to look for is the smell of bedbugs. What kind of smell does it have?
A hotel where there is a bed bug infestation has this unpleasant, musty, sweet smell that bed bugs release. You can find this smell under the headboard and mattresses. If you find a cracked sofa or wooden chair in your hotel, check it for bedbug odors.
Bed bug odor is not easily detected in hotels with negligible or minimal infestation,
How do you keep the hotel bedbugs from attacking your home?
Get all the stuff out of your suitcase last night. Bedbugs are efficient hitchhikers. Bedbugs can survive without food for days together. If there are bedbugs in your suitcase, they can attack the whole house.
Check your wooden things for bed bugs. They are attracted to wooden items, paper and fabric. These are the substances that support their survival.
Use a water-based insect destroyer and spray it around your suitcase, so the bugs can be disposed of. Put your clothes and other things in a clean, dry bathtub. Bed bugs cannot stay in the cracks of the tub, because the tub is made of ceramic or marble and gets wet quite often.
Wash used clothes before you go home. Remember, this is not a trivial matter. Once your bedroom is infected with bedbugs, it quickly spreads to neighboring rooms. Destroying bed bugs is really difficult. You may even have to condemn your couch and bed to get rid of the bugs.
Kindly follow great tips by HellBound Bloggers, for more info.