We are staying at a rented apartment in Italy and find ourselves a bit itchy in bed. I realize this could be any number of things, but are there any tips for making sure we don't bring any critters home?
Are there any ways to check to see if they are on us or in our luggage?
It may or may not be bed bugs...could be something like scabies or nothing at all. You might be able to confirm bed bugs if you’re willing to do a thorough inspection of the bedding, mattresses, couch, chair, etc. in the middle of the night. They’re nocturnal and can leave blood stains from feeding. Washing everything you have with detergent in very hot water could work. If you’re going to go that far, you should also spray your luggage with an insecticide. I know this appears to be a lot of trouble, but you don’t want stowaways on the trip back home if it turns out to be bed bugs. BTW, this isn’t limited to low rent establishments. Bed bugs can be active anywhere, even in the best of five-star hotels. Good luck.
Itchy in itself does not mean bed bugs. You could just have a dermatological reaction to the sheets or the detergent used to launder them.
Do you have actual bites? They will be small red blots on our skin.
Check underneath the sheets. If you see red stains on the mattress, you might have them. Check behind the headboard. They like to hang out there during the day. They like to hang out anywhere during the day where it's dark.
If you do have them.....chances are they have gotten on your clothes and in your luggage. You could definitely try laundering everything before you leave in hot water, however, they still may be in your luggage.
When you get home, leave your luggage outside. Take all of your clothes out of the luggage and take it directly to the washing machine. Wash everything in hot water. (This includes the clothes you're wearing.) Then, you want to wash/clean the luggage. Still leave it outside. Sadly, most insecticides sold to the public won't kill bedbugs. There's a good chance you'll have to throw the luggage away. You could check with a professional cleaner to see if they could help if the luggage was expensive.
I'm not positive, but I don't think you need to go to the trouble of cleaning your luggage. Since they need to feed on us to survive, if you enclose your luggage in a plastic bag, and leave it outside or in the garage, eventually the critters will die. This is what you do for the things you cannot launder when you have head lice in your family.
Oh, and sometimes just thinking you have bugs makes you itchy.
Karen, with bedbugs it's different. They can stay dormant up to one year without food.
Oh, well then. The neighbors might start wondering about that suitcase in plastic out in the yard...
Bed bug bites leave more of a itchy welt and you will see evidence (blood feces) on the sheets. You will not find yourself a "bit itchy" but really itchy. Get up in the middle of the night and shine a flashlight on the sheets. All will be made clear one way or another. And Yes, your luggage shouldn't even come in the house. Scabies (a type of mite) looks more like a itchy rash and usually (but not always) starts out in your arm pits and ah, other moist parts of the body and then spreads, usually to the torso. Scabies requires a prescription lotion applied to the entire body (yes, all parts except strangely the hair on, ah, your head) which is left on for 24 hours. No, scabies has nothing to do with personal/household cleaning standards. My elderly mother acquired scabies on her arms from working in the garden. You don't want to know the bed bug story but it involved NYC and a crappy hotel the airline put us up in due to a lost connection (the name of the Hotel "The Love Nest Hotel" tipped me off to BEWARE. Yikes! Rooms by the day or hour. Yes, you can sleep sitting up in a chair!
For future reference, let me pass along some advice my dad picked up on some news magazine show and always, always brings up when I travel. To avoid possibly contaminating your luggage with bed bugs, keep your bags on a tile floor or on one of those luggage racks with metal legs; bed bugs like to hide in fabric and carpet fibers.
Try to enjoy the rest of your trip. You may be itchy, but you're itchy in Italy!
Karen...if you should decide to keep your luggage wrapped in plastic in your front yard......just tell the neighbors it's a new type of lawn ornament showcasing your love of travel.
But, Frank, that's how I explained the car up on blocks!
