I knew it was going to happen to someone, actually to many people who were traveling this past Thanksgiving holiday.  I just didn’t know it would happen to someone that I actually know!

A friend of mine posted a comment on Facebook that caught my attention a few days ago.  She was traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday and she posted a simple line that said…”Help!  What could possibly be biting me at this time of the year?”  Knowing what I know about bed bugs, and reading her previous entries where she stated that she was traveling to Salisbury, Maryland for the holiday; I had a sneaking suspicion what could be biting her.  So I posted back on her Wall a simple line…”Did you get the bites while you were sleeping?”  Several other people wrote back as well giving other suggestions as to what could possibly be making her itch…new laundry soap, chiggers, fleas, and mosquitoes etc.  She responded with an overall response to everyone and a specific one to me saying that she thought of bed bugs, but had “searched the sheets that afternoon and found no bugs lurking about.”  I must admit that I was glad to find someone who actually believed that bed bugs exist, because so many people think they don’t….until they have their own nightmare encounter of course.

Knowing that there is sometimes a stigma attached to having bed bugs; I did not want to post too much information on her Facebook Wall so I sent her a personal email loaded with extensive details about bed bugs.  I explained to her that it is very possible that bed bugs would not actually be on the mattress or in the sheets at all as they are masters at hiding and could easily be anywhere in the hotel room, just waiting until it was dinnertime once again. I told her that most of the time, bed bugs will not even feed until sometime around 4 a.m. until dawn and this is why many people never see a bed bug until the infestation is out of control.

Please check back on Thursday for the continuation to this story.