After being careful where you stay when you travel, you need to take the next step to protect your home when you return from your trip. Although you may have been very careful about checking out your hotel room, you may have still brought home a bed bug egg or two. Taking this extra careful step when you return home may protect your furnishing, your family, and your pocketbook.

When we return from a vacation the first stop when we get into the house is to the laundry room. No suitcases go upstairs, they go right into the laundry room for a complete washing. I even wash hoodies and jackets that go on vacation too. If pillows went on the trip, into the washing machine they go as well. After having gotten lice from an extended airplane trip, I even send the entire family up to shower for a wash down right after entering the house. Hair should be washed as well!

You may think that I am paranoid, but the alternative is to bring bed bugs home and have to wash all your bedding, possibly even replace furnishings, buy encasements for all your bedding including box springs, and then call the bed bug exterminator. A wee bit of prevention will help to protect you and your family from the awful bites and incredible trouble and distress that these small yet persistent bugs bring.

So play it safe, bed bugs are out there, be careful that you don’t unknowingly bring them home from your trip.

I have a few important things that I do to make sure that I don’t bring bed bugs home when I travel.

1. I leave my luggage in my car or at the front desk (perferably in the car) when I check in. I go to my room for an inspection before I allow any other family members or my luggage into the room.

2. Once in the room, I go right to the bed and pull back the sheets on one side and pull over the mattress pad and look for bed bug debris in the cording roll of the mattress and box spring. If I see any red spots, white pearl like eggs, or any dirt at all, I am out of there fast! When a room has a bed bug problem, this is where you will see small spots that are bed bug fecal matter from their recent blood feast.

3. If I do not see any potential problems in the mattress or box spring area, the next thing I do is open the night stand drawer and look in the very back moving the book around. I am looking for bed bugs, bed bug debris, hopefully will not see anything.

If and only if the room is clear at this point, do I move in my luggage and get my family to come in. Tomorrow, I will post about what to do when you get home from a trip, just to make sure if you missed bed bugs in the hotel that you don’t bring any home with you.

In the pest control industry, we are seeing a peak in bed bug infestations and request for treatment. The problem has been growing slowly over the past three years, with peak activity occurring just this past year. Bed bugs are a growing threat to hoteliers and even home owners.

What is even more concerning than a proliferation of bed bugs is that the chemicals used to treat them are becoming less effective. Bed bugs are rapidly becoming resistant to many of the chemicals that we have used to treat them with effectively. The pest control industry is working rapidly to find a new combination and protocols that can continue to be effective against bed bugs, but the overall news is not looking good at this point for a clear resolution.

Prevention and containment is still very important for hotels, cruise ships, and now even sleeper trains. France has just reportedly removed several trains from service for treatment due to bed bug infestations. Being cautious when you travel has become critical to your own personal comfort and for the protection of your family and home when you return. In the next several posts I will talk about what to do when you travel so you can minimize bringing a bed bug problem home with you.

We’ve just added a new section to our website – a shopping page for our specail bed bug bite proof mattress and box spring encasements. Now you can buy our bed bug mattress solution 24/7 anywhere in the United States.

Our specially lab tested mattress and box spring covers are certified to be bed bug bite-proof. For all the information please visit our product page. (http://www.sternenvironmental.com/bed-bug-products.htm)

Our products are different that regular department store mattress pads, special allergy encasements, and other bed bug products on the market. Ours are developed for the professional pest control industry by bed bug extermination experts. These encasements are quality products developed to provide real solutions! We even provide information on how to measure your bed for the mattress and box spring encasements.

What makes our covers special and so different?

1. They are bed bug bite proof with a impermeable miracle membrane that keeps bed bugs away from your skin
2. They are comfortable – no plastic crinkle here or hot sweaty nights
3. They have a special zipper to lock bed bugs in or out depending on your situation
4. They have extra fabric around the zipper to prevent any bug or egg escape

These special covers can be used to protect new bedding from any problems now or in the future as a preventative measure. Or they can be used to salvage quality bedding after you have had an infestation and received treatment.

There is no reason now to throw away your mattress and box springs after you have had a bed bug extermination treatment. Just seal in the bed bugs, keep them from biting you, and let them die a natural death inside our specially developed encasements.

These special covers are created to be installed on your mattress and box spring and left on for as long as you own the bedding.

Now there is real help, a real solution, and real protection from bed bug bites!

We’ve been watching the squirrels gathering nuts and scampering up and down the oak tree in the backyard. Their amazing acrobatics are a continual source of entertainment. Having had the unpleasant experience of sharing my attic with them, I know these rodents can be destructive and unbelievably persistent. But in the yard, I can appreciate their death-defying leaps and sneaky attacks on the bird feeder.

The word squirrel comes from the ancient Greek words skia meaning shadow and oura meaning tail. Translated, a squirrel is an animal that sits in the shadow of its own tail. As a squirrel watcher, it is their tails that have always fascinated me. Beautiful and bushy (except during July when they look more like a rat’s tail during the annual molt), a squirrel’s tail serves many functions.