02-08-2011, 05:10 AM
We have an onslaught of visitors coming from Alaska, New York, and California over the next two weeks so I just updated the standard blurb I send in advance to everyone who will be bunking at our place. For the general good of the order here is the blurb for possible sharing with your visitors, if you want to do so:
---
Hi-
We are looking forward to your upcoming visit!
Last year friends in Texas spent several months fighting their way through a very expensive corner of Hell because somewhere along the way while traveling either they or one of their visitors had a bedbug sneak into a suitcase -a bedbug which subsequently started living in their home. Laying eggs, too. These folks are neat and clean, well educated, affluent, and so on. A bedbug infestation can happen to anyone who travels frequently &/or has frequent visitors -and the odds increasingly are it will, too, unless active steps are taken to prevent the initial infestation from ever happening. The proverbial ounce of prevention is worth thousands of dollars in pest control services and months of time spent battling an unpleasant ordeal.
We are requesting all incoming visitors staying with us in Hawaii to please observe, as best you can, these prevention measures. So far our home has managed to remain completely bedbug-free and we would like it to remain that way for your sake as well as ours. Following these tips reduces risk both for us and for you, too: you really do not want to take bedbugs back into your own home after enjoying a wonderful vacation in Hawaii!
TIPS:
Plastic bags are our friend! Bagging everything you can inside your suitcase --transparent Ziplocks are so handy-- provides a barrier between bedbugs and the contents of your suitcase ...especially while the suitcase is stacked together for hours along with hundreds of other suitcases in luggage holds of aircraft and in airports. Placing lavender-scented mothball sachets inside the suitcase along with the bagged contents may also discourage bedbugs from climbing aboard your particular suitcase when there are so many others to choose from among.
Before checking in at a hotel, ask to see the room. Pull back the sheets and look for characteristic discoloration and spotting left by bedbugs along the seams of mattresses (bloodstains made as the pests defecate). Know how to recognize a dead or live bedbug if you see one as well as how to recognize a bedbug bite (photo links, below). Stay elsewhere if evidence of bedbugs is detected.
Place suitcases atop elevated luggage racks while accessing contents (versus opening and leaving suitcases laying open on the bed or sofa) and keep zipped other than when accessing contents.
Overnight, bag your entire suitcase and set it either inside the bathtub or on an elevated luggage rack while staying at hotels en route.
Some European travelers sprinkle milled lavender in hotel bedsheets to discourage nocturnal bedbug visitations.
Separately bag any clothing which is out overnight at hotels, then at your destination be sure the contents of the soiled/exposed clothing bag go directly into the washing machine (not into a laundry basket) to wash with hot soapy water and then into the drier (machine drying may be the step which kills bedbugs rather than the washing).
Check yourself, children, and traveling companions for a row of bites in the morning; their presence indicates bedbugs in the hotel room.
Upon arrival back at your home or at our home in Hawaii, placing the suitcase inside a large sealed black plastic contractor bag and allowing it to sit in full sun to bake with a lavender-scented mothball sachet for several hours is a useful step, if weather allows. Once you have unpacked from the trip keep the unpacked suitcase sealed in plastic and stored in the garage or in an outbuilding if possible, versus placing it directly in the bedroom closet.
FACTS:
One pregnant female bedbug can (and does) produce thousands of fertilized eggs.
A bedbug can live for a year between one meal and the next.
Reports of epidemic infestation have been filed from all 50 US states since 2007.
Begbugs prefer to feed on human blood, biting at night while people are sleeping. Bedbugs den in any gap or crevice which will fit a credit card inserted on edge -including framed pictures on walls, inside electronics (such as bedside clock radios and TVs), and bedside cabinets.
Three separate treatments (using a combination of noxious chemicals and heat) by a pest control service are usually required to eliminate the problem; if just one pregnant female survives then the entire process starts all over again. As part of the ordeal you will need to wash and machine-dry (at a temperature of 120 degrees F for 20 minutes) every item of clothing, bedding, curtains, and so on in the house plus bake all of your books in an oven. The toxic chemicals which are sprayed to kill bedbugs are not so great for the health of humans and pets, either.
Bedbugs will also feed on your pets as well as your human family.
LINKS:
Know Your Foe
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/...dbug_today
and
http://bedbugger.com/photos-of-bed-bugs-...-bed-bugs/
Photo of Bedbug Fecal Spotting on Mattress Seam
http://www.burnspestelimination.com/blog/?cat=3
(scroll down to last photo; click on photo to enlarge)
Slideshow of Bedbug Bites
http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-t...ow-bedbugs
(also, Google "bedbug bites")
Photo of Bedbug Waste
http://www.bedbugsguide.com/identifying-bed-bugs.htm
Snopes Urban Myth Debunking:
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/bedbugs.asp
Bedbug Plague Real or Hype?
[url]http://www.principalinvestigators.org/bed-bug-plague-real-or-hype/
[/url]
The tips, facts, and links above are gleaned from diverse reports on bedbugs; you may want to run a search yourself as new information comes out all the time.
Remember, millions of people can and do travel every year without encountering any difficulties with bedbugs. Though bedbug populations are on the rise this problem can largely be countered by using these simple and effective prevention measures.
We genuinely are looking forward to your visit!
Best,
Steven
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)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Stairway to Gilligan's Island
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTCYLbFxTpI&feature=related
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Edited to correct typo: "choose" instead of "chose"
---
Hi-
We are looking forward to your upcoming visit!
Last year friends in Texas spent several months fighting their way through a very expensive corner of Hell because somewhere along the way while traveling either they or one of their visitors had a bedbug sneak into a suitcase -a bedbug which subsequently started living in their home. Laying eggs, too. These folks are neat and clean, well educated, affluent, and so on. A bedbug infestation can happen to anyone who travels frequently &/or has frequent visitors -and the odds increasingly are it will, too, unless active steps are taken to prevent the initial infestation from ever happening. The proverbial ounce of prevention is worth thousands of dollars in pest control services and months of time spent battling an unpleasant ordeal.
We are requesting all incoming visitors staying with us in Hawaii to please observe, as best you can, these prevention measures. So far our home has managed to remain completely bedbug-free and we would like it to remain that way for your sake as well as ours. Following these tips reduces risk both for us and for you, too: you really do not want to take bedbugs back into your own home after enjoying a wonderful vacation in Hawaii!
TIPS:
Plastic bags are our friend! Bagging everything you can inside your suitcase --transparent Ziplocks are so handy-- provides a barrier between bedbugs and the contents of your suitcase ...especially while the suitcase is stacked together for hours along with hundreds of other suitcases in luggage holds of aircraft and in airports. Placing lavender-scented mothball sachets inside the suitcase along with the bagged contents may also discourage bedbugs from climbing aboard your particular suitcase when there are so many others to choose from among.
Before checking in at a hotel, ask to see the room. Pull back the sheets and look for characteristic discoloration and spotting left by bedbugs along the seams of mattresses (bloodstains made as the pests defecate). Know how to recognize a dead or live bedbug if you see one as well as how to recognize a bedbug bite (photo links, below). Stay elsewhere if evidence of bedbugs is detected.
Place suitcases atop elevated luggage racks while accessing contents (versus opening and leaving suitcases laying open on the bed or sofa) and keep zipped other than when accessing contents.
Overnight, bag your entire suitcase and set it either inside the bathtub or on an elevated luggage rack while staying at hotels en route.
Some European travelers sprinkle milled lavender in hotel bedsheets to discourage nocturnal bedbug visitations.
Separately bag any clothing which is out overnight at hotels, then at your destination be sure the contents of the soiled/exposed clothing bag go directly into the washing machine (not into a laundry basket) to wash with hot soapy water and then into the drier (machine drying may be the step which kills bedbugs rather than the washing).
Check yourself, children, and traveling companions for a row of bites in the morning; their presence indicates bedbugs in the hotel room.
Upon arrival back at your home or at our home in Hawaii, placing the suitcase inside a large sealed black plastic contractor bag and allowing it to sit in full sun to bake with a lavender-scented mothball sachet for several hours is a useful step, if weather allows. Once you have unpacked from the trip keep the unpacked suitcase sealed in plastic and stored in the garage or in an outbuilding if possible, versus placing it directly in the bedroom closet.
FACTS:
One pregnant female bedbug can (and does) produce thousands of fertilized eggs.
A bedbug can live for a year between one meal and the next.
Reports of epidemic infestation have been filed from all 50 US states since 2007.
Begbugs prefer to feed on human blood, biting at night while people are sleeping. Bedbugs den in any gap or crevice which will fit a credit card inserted on edge -including framed pictures on walls, inside electronics (such as bedside clock radios and TVs), and bedside cabinets.
Three separate treatments (using a combination of noxious chemicals and heat) by a pest control service are usually required to eliminate the problem; if just one pregnant female survives then the entire process starts all over again. As part of the ordeal you will need to wash and machine-dry (at a temperature of 120 degrees F for 20 minutes) every item of clothing, bedding, curtains, and so on in the house plus bake all of your books in an oven. The toxic chemicals which are sprayed to kill bedbugs are not so great for the health of humans and pets, either.
Bedbugs will also feed on your pets as well as your human family.
LINKS:
Know Your Foe
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/...dbug_today
and
http://bedbugger.com/photos-of-bed-bugs-...-bed-bugs/
Photo of Bedbug Fecal Spotting on Mattress Seam
http://www.burnspestelimination.com/blog/?cat=3
(scroll down to last photo; click on photo to enlarge)
Slideshow of Bedbug Bites
http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-t...ow-bedbugs
(also, Google "bedbug bites")
Photo of Bedbug Waste
http://www.bedbugsguide.com/identifying-bed-bugs.htm
Snopes Urban Myth Debunking:
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/bedbugs.asp
Bedbug Plague Real or Hype?
[url]http://www.principalinvestigators.org/bed-bug-plague-real-or-hype/
[/url]
The tips, facts, and links above are gleaned from diverse reports on bedbugs; you may want to run a search yourself as new information comes out all the time.
Remember, millions of people can and do travel every year without encountering any difficulties with bedbugs. Though bedbug populations are on the rise this problem can largely be countered by using these simple and effective prevention measures.
We genuinely are looking forward to your visit!
Best,
Steven
---
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Stairway to Gilligan's Island
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTCYLbFxTpI&feature=related
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Edited to correct typo: "choose" instead of "chose"
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(