Californians are back to hitting the road, as was evident during the Thanksgiving holiday. They’re back visiting family for the first time, or taking a well-deserved holiday getaway.
No matter where you’re headed this holiday season, or if you’re welcoming family or college students back for break, Clark, your friendly pest control, grounds care, and termite expert, would like to make you aware that there could be a few extra travelers in your party: bed bugs.
The bed bug threat
The holiday travel season makes for crowded roadways, airport terminals, and a lot of packing and unpacking in hotels, condominiums, and dorm rooms. This can put holiday travelers at a greater risk of encountering bed bugs.
Bed bugs are active all year long. They know no boundaries when it comes to choosing a location to infest. They can be found in luxury hotels, a rental home or apartment, in the bedding your college-age kids bring home, or in the sleeper sofa in your relatives’ spare bedroom.
Bed bugs will infest beds, furniture, drapes, train-car seats, taxis, buses, and movie theaters, along with the luggage, shopping bags, and backpacks we carry around. These nasty pests typically hide in bed frames and couches, but can also be found in bedside lamps and dressers. Wherever is closest to a blood meal – humans – is where they’ll be.
The bed bug prevention checklist
Clark Pest Control recommends that holiday travelers use the following checklist to help prevent an unwanted bed bug encounter when traveling this year:
- At hotels, pull back the sheets and inspect the mattress seams, particularly at the corners, and look for telltale stains or spots.
- If you do need to change rooms, be sure not to move to a room adjacent to and/or directly above or below the suspected infestation. Bed bugs can easily hitchhike via housekeeping carts, luggage, and even through wall sockets. If an infestation is spreading, it typically does so in the rooms closest to the origin.
- Consider placing your suitcase in a plastic trash bag or protective cover during the duration of your trip to ensure that bed bugs cannot take up residence there prior to your departure.
- Wash all your clothes – even those that have not been worn – in hot water to ensure that any bed bugs that may have made it that far are not placed into your drawers or closet.
Clark doesn’t want to discourage you from safely visiting family or getting away for that much-needed long weekend this holiday season, but would like you to be vigilant in avoiding bringing home that extra stocking stuffer.
Clark Pest Control remains committed to safeguarding your home from pests during these challenging times. Our service technicians use such personal protective equipment as gloves, masks, and respirators, they practice social distancing, and they adhere strictly to all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines when servicing inside or outside your home.
If you suspect bed bugs have made their way into your home, call California’s trusted, friendly pest control and removal expert, Clark, at (800) WE-NEED-YOU (936-3339) or email us at clarkcares@clarkpest.com.
Our highly trained and licensed service professionals will conduct a meticulously thorough inspection of your home. And if we locate bed bugs or evidence of their activity, like cast-off skins from molts or blood spotting on mattresses, we’ll design a customized strategy for their removal and provide you with recommendations on how to prevent them from returning.
Until next time, the pest management professionals at Clark Pest Control thank you for helping to keep unwanted pests out of your home.