The holidays are upon us and many of us are packing up and traveling to spend time with family and friends or hosting the festivities at your own home.
But as our travel plans get closer, we continue to see more and more in the news about bed bugs. So how can you prevent bed bugs from ruining your holiday plans?

Here are a few commonly asked questions about bed bugs that may help as you’re checking into a hotel or having guests stay over.

What do bed bugs look like?
Bed bugs are tiny, oval, brown and wingless insects approximately
1/4” to 3/8” long (5-9 mm).

Is there really a huge outbreak?
Bed bugs have made a comeback in the United States over the last
few years. The largest outbreaks have been reported in large
cities with high rates of tourism.

Where are bed bugs typically found?
Bed bugs are most frequently found in hotels. They travel by
hitching rides with unsuspecting guests by crawling into clothing
and luggage. All hotels are susceptible to bed bugs – from motels to
five star hotels.

What can I do to protect myself?
When checking into a hotel room or after visiting guests have left your
home, you can perform a simple bed bug inspection of the room.
1) Pull pillows & sheets down about 1/3 of the way from the top of the
bed and look for reddish-brown or black spots on the sheets near the
bed’s headboard. You may not see the actual bugs themselves but they
do leave a trail of spots.
2) Look for spots on mattresses, pillows, headboards and walls behind
headboards.
3) Check the inside of dresser drawers for insects & black spots.
Contact Guest Services immediately if you’ve found any signs
of bed bugs during your inspection.

If I suspect I was in a room with bed bugs, what should I do
when I return home?
1) Isolate the items in your travel bags from other items in your home –
the garage is a great place.
2) Put clothing and other heat tolerant items into your dryer for a minimum of 20 minutes – the heat will eliminate bed bugs.
3) After thoroughly heating the items, wash as normal.
4) Check all luggage before storing it away. Vacuum out luggage and
clean the exterior surface.

What if I have guests staying in my home?
When welcoming family and friends into your home who have been
staying in hotels or on a cruise ship, be aware that bed bugs may have
hitched a ride with them. After your guests leave, carefully inspect guest
rooms for any signs of bed bugs. Wash all bed linens as soon as possible.

It’s no secret that bed bugs are a hot topic of conversation.  They have become a nuisance everywhere, not only in hotels but in restaurants, movie theaters and even stores!  Even more concerning is the virtual ineffectiveness using traditional means of eliminating bed bug infestations.

That’s because bed bugs are becoming resistant to the pesticides that have been used to treat them.  Massey Services began to understand that this was occurring and so five years ago, we began testing alternative treatments to eliminate bed bugs and developed our bed bug heat remediation program.

This treatment completely eliminates entire populations of bed bugs – from egg to adult.  The process uses forced air heaters to raise the temperature in bed bug infested areas, killing bed bugs at all stages of their development.  These heaters, in conjunction with an integrated pest management approach to pest elimination, have proven to be significantly more effective than other methods of bed bug control.

Our bed bug heat remediation treatment was recently patented as well!  Click here for more information.

About five years ago, as bed bugs continued to make a resurgence in the United States, we recognized there was a need for a different type of bed bug treatment that would eliminate bed bugs at all stages of life. We began testing several treatment types and found that heat was very successful at doing this. So we partnered with a company that specialized in heat and the bed bug heat remediation process was born.
This process is not only effective but also very efficient. It requires that hotel rooms be off market for only 48 hours, compared to what can be weeks when using a liquid treatment. Not only that, you don’t have to destroy the contents of the room because the heat will eliminate all bed bugs – no matter where they are hiding.
Earlier this year, it was announced that we were receiving a patent for our heat remediation treatment and we couldn’t be more proud! This is just another example of our commitment to innovation, which allows us to provide outstanding results for our customers!

Evidently, some of us do!

Just saw this video today and had to share…These friendly young protesters, members of “BLOOD: Bed Bug Lovers Opposing Oppression and Death,” are carrying signs and chanting, “Bite! Bite! Let them bite! Killing bed bugs is not right!” The video was posted to YouTube in November.

Although this video is humorous, bed bugs are a serious problem. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Every day we see more and more headlines on the bed bug epidemic. Below are some recent favorites:

• News spread last week of a bed bug lawsuit filed against singer Norah Jones for allegedly bringing a bed bug infestation to her Brooklyn neighborhood. Neighbors blame her recent home renovations and the moving in of new furniture.
• Awoken by bed bugs biting his body, University of South Floridastudent Michael Bennett packed up his stuff and left his apartment keys at the front desk- during the week of finals! Creeped out by the critters, Bennett refused to return to the apartment. So management sent him an “early termination of lease” bill for $3,850.30!
• Bed bugs top AOL’s list of 2010 Hot Searchesunder the Health category. Other winners included Tiger Woods, the iPad and Betty White.
• Known in French as “punaises de lit” or “bed drawing pins,” bed bugs grabbed public attention when a French radio news station reported in November that several Parisian hotels had been infested. It said one hotel threw out all of its carpets and furniture after guests complained.
• New rules for New Yorkers! The sanitation department hopes to curb bedbugs from squatting in the crevices of homes and apartments by requiring residents to fully encase within a sealed plastic bag all mattresses or box springs being discarded for DSNY collection. City residents who fail to follow the new rules properly will receive a $100 fine starting Jan. 3, 2011.
• Fairview Elementary School in Anchorage, Alaska (yes, Alaska!) had to be heat-treated one weekend after bed bugs were found inside the school. The temperature was raised in the classrooms to 135 degrees for five hours and children returned to school the following Monday.
• Ireland is accusing travelers returning from New York for bringing bed bugs back with them. A pest management company in Ireland stated that the majority of calls are from people who have returned from New York carrying the insects. Traditionally, this is the time of year when many Irish people go to New York to shop. The company also recently treated a taxi driver’s car that had become infested after picking up travelers at Dublin airport.

Have questions about Bed Bugs? Give us a call and ask our experts!

As we all know, bed bugs are still making an appearance on broadcast news, as well as in printed newspapers across the country. Bed bug infestations are not only a problem for the lodging industry, but have been reported in public transportation, office buildings and retail stores. If you are nervous about encountering these little creatures, below are the top 10 tips, courtesy of the EPA:

1. Make sure you really have bed bugs, not fleas, ticks or other insects. You can verify your insect here or contact us for a free inspection.  
2. Don’t panic! Eliminating bed bugs is difficult, but it is not impossible. Don’t throw out all of your belongings; most of them can be treated and saved. Throwing out your stuff can be costly, unnecessarily stressful and may actually spread the infestation. 
3. Think through your treatment options – don’t immediately reach for the spray can, as that won’t be effective in eliminating them. An Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach by a professional pest management company will reduce bed bug populations and limit pesticide exposure to you and your family. IPM is a different approach than traditional pest control in that it excludes pests from the home while using the safest pesticides in the safest manner – and only when necessary.  
4. Reduce the number of hiding places – clean up the clutter. A cluttered home provides more places for bed bugs to hide and makes treating for them more difficult.  
5. Frequently wash and heat-dry your bed linens. Wash bed spreads, dust ruffles and any other bedding that touches the floor to reduce bed bug populations. Bed bugs and their eggs can hide in laundry containers/hampers, so clean them before you place clean laundry back in. 
6. Do-it-yourself freezing is not usually reliable for bed bug control. While freezing can effectively kill bed bugs, temperatures must remain extremely low for an extended period of time. Home freezers typically are not cold enough to kill bed bugs.  
7. High temperatures can kill bed bugs, but raising the indoor temperature with the thermostat or space heaters won’t do the job. Space heaters must always be used with care, as they have the potential to cause fires and serious burns. Specialized equipment and very high temperatures are required to successfully heat treat a structure.  
8. Don’t pass your bed bugs on to others. Bed bugs are excellent hitchhikers. If you throw out a piece of furniture that is harboring bed bugs, take steps to destroy/deface the item so that no one else picks it up (along with the bugs). 
9. Reduce populations to reduce bites. Thorough vacuuming reduces populations so carefully vacuum rugs, floors, under beds, around bed legs, bed frames, and all cracks and crevices around the bedroom. Thoroughly vacuum upholstered furniture. Change the bag after each use so the bed bugs can’t escape. Place the used bag in a tightly sealed plastic bag and then in an outside garbage bin. 
10. Turn to the professionals, if needed. If you hire an expert, ensure it is company with a reputable history and that they use an IPM approach.

For more information, visit the EPA’s special bed bug section of their website or the National Pest Management Association’s Bed Bug Hub.

I’ve received several requests from frequent travelers who are curious as to what they can do to prevent bringing bed bugs home from their trips. So I sat down with our resident bed bug expert, Tom Jarzynka, who provided me with a few a helpful tips that I wanted to share with you.

1)    As bed bug behavior is fairly predictable, it is important to do a quick inspection of your hotel room as soon as you check in. Pull the pillows and sheets down about one-third of the way from the top of the bed. Look for reddish-brown or black spots on the sheets near the bed’s headboard. Similar spots may be found on mattresses, pillows, headboards and the walls behind headboards.

2)    Check the inside of dresser drawers for insects and black spots. Bed bugs often hide in the cracks between the wood that forms the drawers and dresser cabinet.

3)    The closet and luggage racks are often the first place travelers place their belongings. If bed bugs are brought into a new room, these could be the first places they appear.

4)    Once you have returned home, isolate the items in your suitcase and travel bags from other items in the home. This can be done using garbage bags. Put clothing and other heat-tolerant items into your dryer for a minimum of 20 minutes. Heat will kill all life stages of bed bugs– eggs, nymphs and adults. After thoroughly heating these items, launder as normal. It is important to note that washing the items first has not shown to be as effective as heating them initially.

5)    There are a number of consumer products available that tout their ability to kill bed bugs on contact. These can be utilized while traveling as well as after you get home. The active ingredient in these products is often alcohol or plant oil that does indeed kill on contact. They will not prevent bed bugs, but applying one of these products to the hard surfaces of suitcases, computer bags, or other items may kill bed bugs that have hitched a ride back home with you. Most importantly, in order to be effective, the product must actually touch the bed bug.

In an article by USA Today, Tripadvisor reports that reviews of hotels that mention bed bugs has risen 11% in 2010 over 2009. Travelers across the U.S., and arguably around the world, have taken notice of the massive resurgence of bed bugs and are taking precautions when traveling.

Pop singer Lauren Hildebrandt recently joined the bed bug headlines as she claims she was “attacked by bed bugs” in a luxury hotel in New York City.  She’s concerned that people need to be aware of the dangers and wants to spread the word so travelers take precautions.

What can you do as a traveler? Be thorough in checking your hotel room as soon as you get to your room:

• Pull off the sheets to the bed and look around and behind headboards for evidence of the insects, including small rust-colored stains.
• Check any furniture in the room – bed bugs are hitchhikers and have also been found in couches and dressers.
• Don’t put your suitcase on the bed or any furniture before inspecting the area.

As always, if you have any questions about bed bugs, treatment methods or need advice, please don’t hesitate to contact us.  We have experts on staff who can help.

While normally there’s not much in common with these two topics, today there is!  According to The New York Times, New York’s latest laws deal with online dating and requiring landlords to come clean about bed bugs.

New York City’s bed bug epidemic will be attacked in two ways:  one law requires schools to report bed bug infestations to families and the other requires landlords to report a history of bed bug infestations before leasing properties.

Bed bugs have made a massive resurgence in the US and are making headlines daily!  If you have any questions about bed bugs, treatment methods or perhaps need advice, we have an expert on staff that you can speak with.  Contact Us and we’ll be happy to help!

A nationwide telephone survey of homeowners shows Florida is the worst state for bug problems, with Louisiana, Texas, California and Georgia close behind. The survey, conducted in June, shows a whopping 90 percent of homeowners said they have experienced an insect infestation of one kind or another. The most common invaders? Ants, termites and cockroaches.

While Florida placed No. 1 overall as the worst state for bugs, it also ranked third-worst for bed bugs, behind New York and California. The least amount of bug problems were reported in Washington, D.C. The next most favorable reports came from South Dakota, Connecticut, Idaho and New Hampshire.

The Zebra Longwing butterfly, Florida's official state "bug"

The top 10 buggiest states are:

1. Florida

2. Louisiana

3. Texas

4. California

5. Georgia

6. New York

7. Mississippi

8. Alabama

9. Missouri

10. South Carolina

Read more: Florida worst state for bugs