Posted: 12/29/2010 5:55:19 PM EDT
| Yuck. So I spent the last week in a Marriott Courtyard. Woke up today itching like crazy with a rash all over. Doc says he thinks its bedbugs, which are going around the hotels in town. Anybody ever dealt with these? Doc gave me a cream that says I have to cover myself from head to toe in it. This freakin sucks. Be careful if you stay in Waikiki everyone. |
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When I think of all of the hotel rooms I staid in when I worked on the road, it amazes me that I never had anything like that. Of course that was well over ten years ago, and bed bugs just weren't a problem at that time.
I have heard so many horror stories about them that I haven't rented a hotel in years, and would go out of my way to avoid it in the future. I don't really travel much, but have thought about buying a camper and truck to tow it in case I have to. Realistically, if I were to stay in a hotel these days I would pack some kind of bedbug proof plastic cover to go over the entire mattress in the room, and bring my own linen and blankets with me. No joke. It isn't even that I am so paranoid about getting bed bugs on myself, I spent enough time in the field on Ft. Bragg to be able to handle that, but I can't imagine having to deal with them at home. I imagine that the OP's bed and home are now infested with them, and he will have to go to extremes to get rid of them. ETA: I know that in the middle and late nineties bedbugs in hotels were a non issue, you just didn't hear about it. Back then the nastiest thing you had to worry about were crabs and headlice. Does anybody have a clue what has caused this resurgence in bedbugs throughout the US? |
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ETA: I know that in the middle and late nineties bedbugs in hotels were a non issue, you just didn't hear about it. Back then the nastiest thing you had to worry about were crabs and headlice. Does anybody have a clue what has caused this resurgence in bedbugs throughout the US? Rachel Carson |
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Quoted: Does anybody have a clue what has caused this resurgence in bedbugs throughout the US? The restriction on the use and manufacturing of many effective pesticides and the growth in international travel. I listened to a guy talk about this subject on a radio program earlier this year and he said that many of the early cases developed along the east coast at more upscale hotels due to their use by people traveling to and from the United States. Eventually, the problem began to spread because domestic travelers would use these same hotels and return home, bringing the problem with them on clothing and luggage. |
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but have thought about buying a camper and truck to tow it in case I have to.
Wife and I did 90% for that reason - bought one of these ( Aliner Expedition) http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRpzSmKJVRaktcsTD1LkSt_YAigCrItATN5RHGCmQUZUnpXNWDz http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRwYCVQG3BkJietCAWMg2dZGKK2opmbaK4S3CZ_vI0d-5QA3Mz0yg Nice. Mind if I ask what that ran you? Just ballpark.... 
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but have thought about buying a camper and truck to tow it in case I have to.
Wife and I did 90% for that reason - bought one of these ( Aliner Expedition) http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRpzSmKJVRaktcsTD1LkSt_YAigCrItATN5RHGCmQUZUnpXNWDz http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRwYCVQG3BkJietCAWMg2dZGKK2opmbaK4S3CZ_vI0d-5QA3Mz0yg With the abundance of larger travel trailers on the market right not for dirt cheap I am getting more and more tempted. The funny thing is that I have never had a desire to own a camper before, but I have all but resolved to not stay in hotels, yet I would like to travel. |
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I have been told that because certain pesticides have now been banned (thanks again, environmentalist whackos), that this is becoming an epidemic.
One article I saw even stated you should put any brand new clothes or sheets you buy in the dryer for at least 30 minutes before wearing or using them, because the eggs are coming in on new textiles from third world factories. Yep, that new shirt you bought might already have bedbug eggs on it before you even take the plastic wrapper off of it. |
I am soooo pissed that now it is required that our travel system book my hotel room. When they just give me $X per night for a hotel room I can usually negotiate with a Hilton to meet that price point (Gold member helps) and never have to worry about bed bugs (aka, illegals can't afford it, and I'm never in places Europeans visit), but now we're stuck in HoJos if thats where the computer says it has booked our rooms. And they're still paying the same $X for plastic sheets and stale boxed donuts for breakfast. 
Kharn |
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I am soooo pissed that now it is required that our travel system book my hotel room. When they just give me $X per night for a hotel room I can usually negotiate with a Hilton to meet that price point (Gold member helps) and never have to worry about bed bugs (aka, illegals can't afford it, and I'm never in places Europeans visit), but now we're stuck in HoJos if thats where the computer says it has booked our rooms. And they're still paying the same $X for plastic sheets and stale boxed donuts for breakfast.
Kharn My understanding is that the higher end hotels are actually the most likely to be infested, as strange as it sounds. My former line of work was telecom installation and commissioning, and I still have friends in the field, and they are telling me that the Radisson and Hilton Hotels are worse about it than the crappy places the contractors on flat rate per diem are staying in. |
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Quoted: Yuck. So I spent the last week in a Marriott Courtyard. Woke up today itching like crazy with a rash all over. Doc says he thinks its bedbugs, which are going around the hotels in town. Anybody ever dealt with these? Doc gave me a cream that says I have to cover myself from head to toe in it. This freakin sucks. Be careful if you stay in Waikiki everyone. Did you treat your cloths like nuclear waste and wash them? Bed bugs are easily can stowaway in your cloths and spread into your house |
| One of my customers recently was a tech for a pest control co and is right now doing a booming business de-bed bugging hotels right now. They go in and superheat the room to something like 135 for several hours to kill the bed bugs and repeat within a few days to kill the surviving eggs that have hatched before the new ones reach maturity and breed. Each room has to be done sometimes 3-4 times over. From what he said its every major city in the US now. |
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Nice. Mind if I ask what that ran you? Just ballpark....
Ours is an 2006 Aliner Expedition - used twice, owner had a heart attack, didn't take it out again for three years, had another heart attack and died. Widow waited another year then sold it. I paid 9K. Here is a reference link: Aliners Aliner product review |
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One of my customers recently was a tech for a pest control co and is right now doing a booming business de-bed bugging hotels right now. They go in and superheat the room to something like 135 for several hours to kill the bed bugs and repeat within a few days to kill the surviving eggs that have hatched before the new ones reach maturity and breed. Each room has to be done sometimes 3-4 times over. From what he said its every major city in the US now. Friend of mine is an exterminator. He spent a couple of thousand dollars on a bedbug sniffing beagle earlier in the year..its been booked solid sine he got it, to the point he's hiring 3 more handlers and buying more dogs...you can make a MINT doing bedbug treatment Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Had them at home when I was a kid. It started off with me seeing these small red beetles (as I thought them) occasionally, then after a few years of them doing nothing it exploded. They only really bit me and I had to beg my parents to get pest control in; I was used to being bitten scores of times by animal fleas, but these were in a different league.
If you fell asleep on the sofa, you woke up looking like you had severe acne; they would do your face like the pox in an hour. I usually wore rubber bands around my wrists and ankles to stop them getting in my clothes, although they still badly bit my fingers. Get pest control in if you see one. They will use you as a blood-sack 24/7 if not controlled. |
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permethrin - I've used it on everything from deer ticks to sand fleas. After your application keep away until it dries . Don't use it around cats, unless you don't like your wife's cat then by all means leave it round the stupid cat. PS I'm sure it causes cancer in lab rats. It works way to well to not cause cancer. |
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The best way to get rid of them is literally over heat the house, they can't live in heat above I think 120 degrees. On a hot day, turn off the thermostat and manually fire up the furnace and let it run all day. Some additional heaters for the bedrooms probably wouldn't hurt. You will need to do this for several hours to "heat-soak" things like mattresses.
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Quoted: I have been told that because certain pesticides have now been banned (thanks again, environmentalist whackos), that this is becoming an epidemic. One article I saw even stated you should put any brand new clothes or sheets you buy in the dryer for at least 30 minutes before wearing or using them, because the eggs are coming in on new textiles from third world factories. Yep, that new shirt you bought might already have bedbug eggs on it before you even take the plastic wrapper off of it. This. DDT pretty much killed them all off in the US, but after that was banned, there wasn't much in the way of chemicals being developed to prevent them in the future. So the US is trying to play catch up on creating something that it effective and safe. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I have been told that because certain pesticides have now been banned (thanks again, environmentalist whackos), that this is becoming an epidemic. One article I saw even stated you should put any brand new clothes or sheets you buy in the dryer for at least 30 minutes before wearing or using them, because the eggs are coming in on new textiles from third world factories. Yep, that new shirt you bought might already have bedbug eggs on it before you even take the plastic wrapper off of it. This. DDT pretty much killed them all off in the US, but after that was banned, there wasn't much in the way of chemicals being developed to prevent them in the future. So the US is trying to play catch up on creating something that it effective and safe. DDT didn't kill them all because the bugs became resilient. Not because they stopped using it. |
| There were bedbugs real bad at the Habur Gate on the Turkey/Iraq border. I use to bring a specific blanket there that I'd keep in my supply connex between missions to use it there so I wouldn't bring them back to my room that I left in country when I RIP/TOA'd. It sucked, I'd get like three or four bites in a row on my legs that would itch like hell. |
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but have thought about buying a camper and truck to tow it in case I have to.
Wife and I did 90% for that reason - bought one of these ( Aliner Expedition) http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRpzSmKJVRaktcsTD1LkSt_YAigCrItATN5RHGCmQUZUnpXNWDz http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRwYCVQG3BkJietCAWMg2dZGKK2opmbaK4S3CZ_vI0d-5QA3Mz0yg Hey that looks pretty ice.. Looks more sterdy than a regular pop-up. |
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Quoted: permethrin - I've used it on everything from deer ticks to sand fleas. After your application keep away until it dries . Don't use it around cats, unless you don't like your wife's cat then by all means leave it round the stupid cat. PS I'm sure it causes cancer in lab rats. It works way to well to not cause cancer. It works by blocking sodium pumps in bugs and in cats. So, it should be perfectly safe for humans. But better not to risk it too much. |
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a rash sounds more like scabies... ETA: The company I work for makes stuff for bedbugs... look up dichlorvos or Nuvan I'm wondering now if you are right about scabies or something else. I never saw an actual "bug". Just get this rash sometimes, since it started a few days ago, usually after working out or running or being hot. It itches worst on the bottoms of my feet and my hands. Sometimes a red rash shows up on my arms and back too. This is just awesome since I'm heading to the field for a month in a few weeks. 
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Louisiana not surprised... He said "Waikiki." He was staying in Hawaii. What about Florida? I plan to go to Disneyworld this May-June. Bedbug regisrty! This website is a must for any traveler. Hope you enjoy FL! |
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a rash sounds more like scabies... ETA: The company I work for makes stuff for bedbugs... look up dichlorvos or Nuvan I'm wondering now if you are right about scabies or something else. I never saw an actual "bug". Just get this rash sometimes, since it started a few days ago, usually after working out or running or being hot. It itches worst on the bottoms of my feet and my hands. Sometimes a red rash shows up on my arms and back too. This is just awesome since I'm heading to the field for a month in a few weeks. You might never see the bedbugs, since they're nocturnal... The only reason I said scabies is because you said rash... Bedbugs leave you with discrete bites... |
I was waiting for that question to be popped.
| I had one tag along ad back to the house a few years ago. They aren't the size of dust mites like most people think. They are clearly visible. Well, my GF got bit every night until we figured out we probably had bed bugs. I bought some pest spray from home depot and laid down about a 2' perimiter around the bed. A few nights later the biting had stopped. There was one bed bug dead right next to the bed. Never happened again. Just because you have one doesn't mean you have hundreds or thousands of these things. |
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From what I've read, they can even stow away in your luggage. When I travel, I now put my suitcase on top of the dresser. Nothing stays on the floor. I don't lay anything on the couches either. I'm going to start putting my dirty clothes in a trashbag for the trip home and throwing them in the wash immediately.
You don't want to screw around with these things. |
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Quoted: Quoted: ETA: I know that in the middle and late nineties bedbugs in hotels were a non issue, you just didn't hear about it. Back then the nastiest thing you had to worry about were crabs and headlice. Does anybody have a clue what has caused this resurgence in bedbugs throughout the US? Rachel Carson No shit. ETA: We got bed bugs in 2003. Either dragged them home with us from a vacation or I got them from a hotel in KY from a business trip. Doctor misdiagnosed it as Scabies and had us cover ourselves in a "poison" but that didn't do anything. We actually found a bed bug (wife) and she taped it to a piece of paper and off we went on the Internet to discover what it was. Orkin is who killed them for us. They are everywhere and it doesn't matter where you stay, you need to check. I've found them at Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inns, Super 8s, Sleep Inn, etc. There is an epidemic and the bed bug is making a hell of a comeback. |