One of the best parts of staying in a hotel is getting to snuggle up into your comfy hotel bed at night.
However, there are some creepy-crawlies who can stand to threaten your otherwise safe haven.
Bedbugs, or Cimex lectularius, are small insects that like your hotel bed even more than you do… especially when you're fast asleep in it. These nasty little bugs may be feeding on you!
According to the CDC, bed bugs are traditionally an issue in developing countries. However, it wasn't until recent years that they became more widespread in Europe and North America. Surprisingly, their presence has nothing to do with how clean your room may or may not be.
As it turns out, hotel rooms are some of the most likely places to be infested by bedbugs because they can hitch a ride in visitors' luggage and travel from room to room easily.
Of course, there are steps you should take immediately once you detect bedbugs, though you first have to know how to find them.
Read on to learn how to identify the presence of bedbugs to make sure your hotel room is infestation-free.
Thumbnail Photos: Flickr / louento.pix / Vimeo
What Do Bedbugs Look Like?
As stated by Orkin, bedbugs are about the size of an apple seed and appear to be brown in color. After a good meal, they may appear to be reddish or blood-like in color.
Since bedbugs hide during the day, it is unlikely that you will come across one scurrying across your comforter. Instead, be aware of these other signs.
Look For Exoskeletons
Part of the bedbug life cycle involves molting. For this reason, you may find their exoskeletons lurking around your room.
While this shed bedbug skin can't hurt you, it is a sign of more live ones hiding somewhere nearby.
Be On Alert For Dark Stains And Marks
While bloodstained sheets could be caused by a number of reasons, they could also be a sign of bedbugs.
When a bedbug is crushed, it will leave a bloody mark like a mosquito. Additionally, their excrement is dark, blood-like, and extremely small.
Black marks resembling ink stains or rusty-red marks can both be signs of a bedbug infestation.
Tiny White Specks May Be Eggs
This is no "chicken and egg" situation. Adult bedbugs won't be far from where they laid their eggs.
These eggs, which look like tiny grains of rice, can usually be found in batches within furniture cracks, between floorboards, or anywhere that they might fit, according to Rentokil pest control.
A Sweet, Musty Smell May Be A Sign Of Bedbugs
If you can't see bedbugs or signs of them, you may be able to smell them. Like any living creature, they release odors and waste, which creates a smell.
The smell has been described as sweet and musty, or has even been compared to the herb coriander.
Keep An Eye On Your Bedding Seams
Obviously, the first place where you may look for bedbugs is in your bed. While that's a good place to start, you may want to get a little deeper.
Since they love dark places, seams are some of the best places to find them. This could mean in sheets, your mattress, and even in throw pillows, couches, and chairs. No seam is off limits.
They Like To Hide In Outlets And Decorations
Again, bedbugs can be found nearly anywhere dark and hidden. Places like electrical outlets, and even behind some of that fancy framed hotel art are the types of places they may be hiding.
Check for black, inky smudges and shed skins around electrical plates and behind pictures frames.
Double-Check The Luggage Stand
Bedbugs can make themselves feel at home almost anywhere — and that includes in your luggage. In fact, they are known to easily travel from room to room in luggage and to colonize entire floors.
Be careful when packing and unpacking that there are no signs of bugs on your luggage stand, or inside drawers.
Make sure to not let the bedbugs bite, and SHARE this information with your friends on Facebook!
