How to prevent bed bugs at home and when travelling

Bed bugs are not a sign of a dirty home. They feed on blood, not dirt, and turn up in five-star hotels and new-build flats as readily as anywhere else. What they need is a way in, and almost always that is something we carry. Prevention is mostly about those routes.

When you stay away from home

Hotels, hostels, holiday lets, sleeper trains and friends’ spare rooms are where most people pick bed bugs up. A two-minute check on arrival is worth doing:

• Put your bag on the luggage rack, in the bath or on a hard floor, not on the bed or a fabric chair.
• Pull back the sheet at the head of the bed and look along the mattress seams and piping, and at the joints of the headboard. You are looking for small dark spots, pale shed skins and the bugs themselves.
• Check the sofa or armchair if you plan to sit on it for long.

If you find signs, ask for a different room that is not next door, above or below, and keep your luggage zipped and off the floor.

Coming home

Unpack in a hard-floored room rather than the bedroom. Put travel clothes straight into the wash. The NHS advises washing at 60°C and tumble drying on hot for at least 30 minutes, which kills every life stage. Items that cannot be washed can go through a hot dryer on their own. Vacuum the suitcase, especially the seams and zip folds, and store it away from the bedroom.

Second-hand furniture

Beds, mattresses, sofas and upholstered chairs are the riskiest things to bring home used. Look closely at seams, buttons, joints and the underside of the frame. Avoid anything left out on the street; in a student city that is often how bed bugs move between houses each autumn. Hard furniture such as wooden tables and metal frames is far lower risk.

Shared houses and flats

In shared homes, the people you live with are part of your prevention. Agree that nobody brings in street furniture, that anyone who has stayed somewhere with bed bugs washes everything on return, and that bites are mentioned early rather than ignored. In converted houses and blocks, tell your landlord or agent quickly if you see signs, because bugs move between flats through floor voids and pipe runs.

Students moving into a new house

Bristol’s student year has a clear pattern: houses change hands in the summer, furniture is bought and swapped, and people return from travel in September. A few habits at move-in prevent most problems:

• Before unpacking, look over the bed you have been given, especially the seams, the headboard and the base. Report any spots or skins to the landlord or agent in writing on day one, with photos, so it is clear the problem was there before you arrived.
• Wash everything you bring back from travelling or from home before it goes into the wardrobe.
• Do not take mattresses or sofas left on the street, however good they look. Many of them are put out because of bed bugs.
• If you are in halls, check the bed when you arrive and tell the accommodation office straight away if you see anything.

Hosts and landlords between lets

For anyone letting rooms, a quick check at each changeover is the best prevention. Look at mattress seams, the headboard, the bed base and the sofa, and keep a dated note of what you checked. Pale bedding and mattress encasements make spots easier to see. A professional inspection between longer tenancies costs far less than treating a full house later, and the dated record helps if a dispute arises about when the bugs arrived.

Mattress encasements and interceptors

A good mattress and box spring encasement, zipped all round, removes many hiding places and makes the bed easy to check. Plastic interceptor cups under the bed legs catch bugs trying to climb up, which is useful as an early warning. Neither will keep bed bugs out of a home on its own, but both make an infestation easier to spot and treat.

Spotting it early

The cheapest bed bug problem is the one caught in the first few weeks. Check the bed every month or so, and after any trip. The NHS lists the signs to look for: bites, often in a line on skin uncovered at night; small black spots of droppings on the mattress; blood spots on sheets; and the bugs, flat and brown and up to about 5mm long.

What does not work

Some popular ideas are not worth the money. Shop foggers and bombs scatter bed bugs into cracks and neighbouring rooms. Repellent sprays and plug-in devices have little evidence behind them. Sleeping in another room spreads the problem. Throwing out the mattress does not help if the bugs are in the bed base and the skirting.

If prevention fails

If you think bed bugs have arrived, act quickly. An inspection confirms what you have and how far it has spread, and a local specialist can treat it before it moves to other rooms. If you are in Bristol, you can book a visit and get a fixed price.