How Do Bed Bugs Travel?

Alana Korol

June 28, 2022

Once bed bugs are in your house, you want to get rid of them. But as you’re battling them with our all-natural bed bug treatment (and winning!), you also want to take the time to do a “post mortem” of the situation to do whatever you can to make sure it never happens again.

That means finding out the most common ways that bed bugs get into your house and doing what you can to avoid making the same mistakes again. Here are three of the most common ways they get in.

You Bring Them In

By far, the most common way that bed bugs get into most houses is after someone has been to a hotel. The insects love to hide when they’re not feasting on a sleeping person, and that means they’ll hide anywhere they can: under the mattress is a common one, but if the suitcase is close by they’ll duck in there for a nap.

How do you avoid this? First of all, see if there are any indications of bed bugs with our bed bug detection light. If there are, inform the front desk and request another room far away from the first one. Repeat as necessary, up to and including leaving the hotel.

Even if there’s no indication of bed bugs, it’s still a good idea to go ahead and make use of our bed bug travel spray. This 3-ounce bottle (which you can take on carry-on luggage) kills bed bugs and helps to kill any that might come near away. It’s safe, non-toxic to humans, and even smells pretty good!

Also, don’t put your suitcase on the bed. It might also be a good idea to invest in some luggage covers that can ensure the bed bugs don’t get into your luggage in the first place. Remember, they’re not just crawling directly into the body of your suitcase but get into the seams and crevices. If you’re not using luggage covers, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to spray your luggage with some of our travel sprays as you leave the hotel.

Your Guest Brings Them In

Most of us enjoy hosting friends or family, as long as they don’t stick around for too long. Oh, and as long as they don’t bring bed bugs with them. If it’s just your parent whose only vacation is visiting you once a year, you probably don’t have much to worry about. But if it’s your buddy who never spends more than a week in one place and likes to brag about the Airbnbs and hostels that he stays in, you might be in danger.

It can be hard to address the idea of bed bugs with your guests. Most hosts are reticent to bring up their fear of bed bugs, even though it’s a perfectly normal thing to have considering how bad infestations can get. And it’s socially awkward to say “can I spray your suitcase with this bed bug killer?” People will most likely be offended, but it’s up to you depending on how (rightfully) phobic you are of bed bugs (Cimexaphobia. There, we just made up a new word.)

Once your guests are gone, be sure to get to work checking for any signs of those horrible little vampires. Wash the sheets in hot water no matter what, and watch this video to find out the most common places they hide in a room. Lay some bed bug traps and spray the bed and surrounding area just to make sure. Better to deal with a few now than wait for them to breed.

The good news? The bed bugs aren’t yet in your bedroom. The bad news? Bed bugs have no problem traveling for a meal, and unless your guestroom is in the basement there’s a good chance that they’ll make their way across the floor of a house to search out a meal, drawn by the warmth of your body and the CO2 that you breathe out all the time.

Watch Out For Short-Term Guests

Unfortunately, it’s not just the overnight guests you have to worry about.

Bed bugs love to hide, and that means that they’ll head for just about any place that will give them cover during the day. That might be a bed frame, which your friends probably aren’t bringing over when you invite them for a barbecue. But it might also be a backpack that they left on their bed, which they then packed up with their Nintendo Switch to bring over to your house. Once they drop it on your floor the transfer of bed bugs is complete, and you’d better hope it’s not a pregnant female.

This can happen with just about any guest you have, whether they’re a great friend stopping by for the afternoon or your lawyer bringing by papers in their suitcase that he recently took on a business trip.

What can you do to protect yourself in such situations? First of all, keep people away from your bed. It should be the place you escape to, not a place to drop coats during a party. Second, spray some of our bed bug sprays across the doorsill of each bedroom door, or sprinkle some insect control dust there. Even if the bed bugs find their way from your living room or dining room to a bedroom, they won’t be able to cross that line.

And Finally...

Do you know what one of the worst parts of the entire situation is? Bed bug mating is such a traumatic process for the female (it’s called traumatic insemination for a reason...don’t click that link) that she often runs off as far away as possible to hide and recover. That means leaving the bed and often hiding in something else, like a suitcase or backpack, only to be transferred to a new location. In other words, the most likely bed bug to travel is a pregnant one!

So there you go, the most common ways that people get bed bugs into their homes. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so do what you can to kill those bed bugs at the hotel before you even pick them up. And if they do make it to your home, exterminate them with extreme prejudice with this all-in-one bed bug eradication kit!

Let us at  Bed Bug Store assist you. All our products come with a 90-day 100% satisfaction guarantee. We have been relieving customers of their bed bugs since 2003. Our products are also 100% all-natural, chemical and pesticide-free.  The smell you notice when using our solution, is the fresh scent of peppermint. 

A Closer Look At Where To Use Bed Bug Patrol:

Safe for children and pets, completely deadly for bed bugs.

Our sprays are made with 100% effective natural ingredients and essential oils, making Bed Bug Patrol a great alternative to harsh pesticides and insecticides that bed bugs are becoming increasingly resistant to.

Enjoy the safety of knowing your bed bug battle will soon be won by the all-natural power of the Bed Bug Patrol.

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