How to Protect Your Luggage from Bed Bugs
Whether you are taking an annual family vacation or just attending an important business in another country or place, you may have unknowingly brought bed bugs as you return home. Aside from hitchhiking on your clothes, your luggage can be their most common hiding place as you stay at a hotel during your vacation.
Protecting Your Luggage from Bed Bugs While Travelling
The idea that these pests only stay in bed should be forgotten since they can actually dwell anywhere in an infested room. They can dwell in drawers, cabinets, wall cracks and crevices, and even furniture pieces. This only makes no exemption for your luggage to be considered as their new living space for bed bugs as you enter an infested room.
So how can you protect yourself and your luggage from these pests? The following are things you can do:
Inspect the Hotel Room
Before starting, you might want to leave your luggage inside the bathroom first. Put all your belongings inside the bathtub. Since bed bugs don’t like water, it is less likely for them to stay in the bathroom and gain access to your luggage.
Remember that a few minutes of inspection is not enough to ensure that your room is free from a bed bug infestation. Make a thorough inspection of your room upon arrival. Check every part, especially the entire bed including the mattresses and pillows to find any signs of bed bugs.
Look for signs of bed bugs like blood stains and body casings. You want to check seams and every nook and cranny to make sure that there are no signs of these pests lurking or hiding in your room.
Avoid Putting your Clothes in the Drawers, Cabinets, or Closets in the Room
This might not be a convenient thing to do, but this will lessen the risks of having these critters possibly latching all over your stuff. You can also try bringing a travel-sized bed bug spray that you can use on any surfaces where you are planning to put your stuff.
Keep Your Luggage off the Floor
If there is a metal luggage rack, move it away from walls and other furniture pieces and put your luggage on it. The extra bed can be an inviting place to put your luggage and all other belongings but it is better to use the luggage rack.
Bring Sealable Plastic Bags
On way to prevent these critters from latching on your clothes is by putting all your soiled clothes in sealable plastic bags. Using a suitcase bag is also advisable to prevent bed bugs from crawling into the seams or crevices. There are various options for suitcase bags nowadays that you can choose from to keep your suitcase protected.
What to Do After the Trip
Making sure that you are not bringing them home after a trip doesn’t end after you’ve checked out of your room. Another inspection is critical to prevent taking home these critters.
Do a Thorough Inspection
This time, you’re not going to inspect the room but your luggage, clothing and other belongings. You should also check your bed for any signs of feeding.
Put Everything in Plastic Bags and Wrap Your Luggage in Plastic Bag or Suitcase Bag
As mentioned, you should put all your used stuff inside a plastic bag. This also includes your luggage. This way, not a single bug will escape or even enter your luggage after packing.
Launder Your Stuff in Hot Water and Dry Them Using the Hottest Setting
Heat treatment is among the effective ways to kill bedbugs in all stages of life. Make sure to heat treat your stuff while washing them and drying them at the highest or hottest temperature setting.
Make this bed bug treatment easier by getting quality heating treatment equipment like the ZappBug Oven that can accommodate several items in one go to effectively kill bed bugs with heat. Simply put all the stuff you brought from travelling inside and leave it for hours to make sure that all critters left are killed.
It is necessary that you heat-treat the items you brought home from a recent trip to avoid an infestation from happening in your home. Various pest control treatments will also work in making sure that even bed bugs that escaped the treatment will be caught before they can find a new living space.
