Winter Bed Bug Activity
During the winter months bed bugs are seeking the same thing humans are – warmth. Bed bugs are drawn into your home during winter months as they seek shelter from the decreasing temperatures. Bed bugs can also spread prolifically in the winter months due to travel during the holidays, where visitors and hotel stays allow bed bugs to hop on and off like boarding the polar express. Bed bugs are also very resilient, surviving at very low temperatures in a hibernation-like state, waiting for the opportunity to feed and reproduce when the right conditions, like entering your home, are met.
Bed Bug Preferences in Winter
When conditions are ideal, bed bugs have little incentive to migrate and find new homes & hosts. This is why they are so difficult to get rid of, and why they are so fond of your bed. The temperatures humans prefer mirror what the bed bug prefers. So given that you spend about 1/3 of your life in your bed, you are providing the two main habitat conditions bed bugs need to survive, warmth from your home and your body as a host, right in your bed. The additional heat from your presence is an added bonus for the pests, and another reason why bed bugs are troublesome during winter.
Winter Bed Bugs in Hotels
With so many people traveling for the holidays, hotels are prime sources for picking up bed bugs in the winter and introducing an infestation into your home. There may not be any signs that there is a bed bug problem in a room you’re staying in. A couple bed bugs may be left over after a treatment and simply hitch a ride back to your residence on your luggage. Keep in mind that bed bugs don’t discriminate, they can cause an infestation in a 4 star hotel just as easily as they can in a roadside motel. All they need is to be introduced.
Although you may not know exactly where you will pick them up from, there are a couple things you can do to prevent carrying bed bugs from a hotel back to your home.
- Inspect the room for signs of bed bugs, and if you see any, request another room or try a new hotel
- Keep clothes in a plastic bag and wash immediately in hot water when you get home
- Keep your luggage out of reach of bed bugs, like in the bathtub, off the floor, and off the furniture
- Undress from clothing worn in the hotel on a hard floor to prevent them from getting into fabrics like carpeting
If you see signs of a bed bug infestation in your home, be sure to contact professional pest control technicians like the bed bug experts at Bug Guardian immediately to get rid of your bed bug infestation quickly.