Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite: It's travel season, so beware

Attendees at Thursday’s Scott City Area Chamber of Commerce monthly breakfast heard an eye-opening presentation about a common tiny insect just in time for travel season.

Chris Horrell, owner of Cape Girardeau’s Bug Zero pest control company since 2009, gave chamber members advice about dealing with bedbugs when away from home.

“If you go into a hotel room, an Air BnB or are staying overnight in someone else’s home, don’t put your luggage on the bed or on an upholstered chair; instead, put it on a metal luggage rack or a wooden coffee table or end table away from where you are sleeping,” said Horrell, who said the bugs are “hitchhikers,” meaning unwitting travelers may very easily transport the insects home.

Aaron Eades, owner of Elite Pest Control, also of Cape Girardeau, echoed Horrell’s thoughts and added a few of his own.

“After getting home from a trip, quarantine your shoes, wash your travel clothes right away after getting back and put your luggage in a trash bag and seal it up good,” he said.

A pervasive pest

“(Bedbugs) are a much larger problem than people realize,” said Eades, whose company is entering its eighth year.

“When we started out (in business), we might get 10 bedbug calls a year but now (the volume) is more like 10 per week,” he said.

Horrell said bedbugs, which feed on human blood, are problematic because they’re nocturnal, very small and are hard to prevent.

“Unlike ants, spiders or roaches, which can be kept away by traps or treatments, there’s no prevention for bedbugs other than being cautious and knowing how to avoid picking bedbugs up,” Horrell told the Southeast Missourian in a pre-pandemic interview in 2019.

Degree of prevention difficulty

“Cleanliness doesn’t matter,” Eades said, “and whether someone stays in a super fancy hotel or a more economical one, (bedbugs) will literally go anywhere,” adding at the height of the pandemic, bedbugs seemed not as pervasive, since people restricted their movements.

“Cape is a university town, with lots of students going in and out, and when COVID restrictions eased, we started to get a lot more calls,” he added.

Professional help

Both companies offer heat treatments to rid a home completely of bedbugs, with Eades saying unless high temperatures well in excess of 100 degrees are used, an insect’s eggs won’t be eliminated.

Typically not dangerous

“If there is one good thing about bedbugs, it is we don’t believe they spread disease. Since they’re blood borne insects, though, that could change in the future,” Eades said, who adds at worst, a bedbug may leave a sleeper with large welts.

“Other people, though, have very little reaction to bedbug bites,” he added.

Don’t try this at home

Horrell is decidedly negative about store-bought aerosol “bombs” to try to drive the insects away.

“(Those bombs) are just not effective on bedbugs and actually make the problem worse,” he said. “You’ll kill a few but you’ll drive most of them to other parts of your house.”