Bed bugs invade Paris

[ohsuzannah]

news.sky.com/story/cost-of-living-latest-paris-france-bedbugs-train-strikes-nhs-doctors-greggs-airbnb-12615118

Omg my skin is crawling reading this, I'm so glad I'm not travelling this year 😰

Best squished under stilettos

Tenants left a house infested. We skipped the carpets got industrial strength killer . Sprayed every room. The floors were littered in them. We repeated it two weeks later less bodies. Then three weeks later again.

I've never seen anything like it.

Son worked on ships whenever he came home suitcase emptied on the patio, clothes hot washed. Suitcase sprayed and put in shed. He went to some countries with scary bugs that could be transferred aboard

Shit. I've paid for half of my daughter's school trip to Paris and the rest is due soon. They go in March. This has put me right off but I know she'll be so disappointed if we cancel and I'll lose the money.

Absolute bastards to get rid of.
Brought them home several years ago - I can't confirm whether it was a holiday inn in the Uk or a hotel in Greece, but let's just say that when discovered, they gave me months of misery.
It costs an absolute fortune to get rid of, and it's not claimable via contents insurance!!

Wherever we travel to now, i religiously strip the beds and check the seams of the mattress, check the headboard and light fittings. Not an experience I would ever like to repeat.

What is the best way to check a hotel room?

Going to stay in London at the weekend…

Honestly, the fear of bed bugs ruins holidays for me! We once had a flea infestation which nearly gave me a nervous breakdown, and bed bugs are a LOT worse to deal with. I put all luggage in the bath whenever we arrive somewhere, and am very methodical about how things come back into the house when we get home. Each bag goes straight from the car to the washing machine. Even when there has been no evidence of bugs! DH thinks I'm mad, but the thought of bed bugs gives me nightmares.

Dh (we think) brought them home.
NIGHTMARE.
We had quite an infestation before we realised (and yes there is a sweet musty smell) and we literally had to take the house apart.. boil all fabrics. We threw the bed, all the wardrobes, the bed, mattress.... paid for the local council pest control to come and spray the house (they were just in our room thank God but the whole house had to be done)
Cost us hundreds.
Once sorted and before we laid new flooring (never having carpet again) we put diatomaceous earth in all the floorboards .. just in case . It's brilliant stuff and kills bedbugs slowly and we now use it as a preventative. it also works on scale mite on Citrus plants :)

I have an utter fear of bed bugs now!

Quote option has disappeared... here are some links:

https://www.epa.gov/bedbugs/how-find-bed-bugs#:~:text=When%20cleaning%2C%20changing%20bedding%2C%20or,Dark%20spots%20(about%20this%20size%3A&text=)%2C%20which%20are%20bed%20bug%20excrement,fabric%20like%20a%20marker%20would.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M8lNAeHSDSg

Ugh... lots of videos on YouTube about this. I feel grossed out and itchy now. 🤢

Once arrived at a well-known south west holiday destination and took possession of our accommodation, only to find a squished bedbug on the bedside table. At the same moment, the cleaner bustled in; turned out we'd she was behind schedule and we'd been given the keys too soon. I'd had time to pull back the covers, which hadn't yet been changed, and found a long streak of dried blood. It was the most stressful 3 minutes -trying to persuade DP that it wasn't just a case of letting the cleaner 'run the hoover round', wildly googling a picture for reference while trying to make sure we didn't put any bags down and that the bewildered DC didn't catch on.
We went straight home again.

A friend's house became infested. It was rented, and the tenancy was terminated as it required completely stripping out. As he left, he went 'gifting' the belongings he wouldn't be able to put in storage to people he knew. I came out one day to find a framed print and a large mirror leaning again my house. Exactly the kinds of places shy bedbugs like to hide: picture frames, little crevices, close to the walls...

They're definitely around in the UK. As a primary school teacher, I'm surprised schools aren't completely infested. There was a piece in the news a few years ago about a primary school somewhere further north which had be closed for sanitation on account of a bedbug infestation. A person interviewed didn't hold out much hope of cracking the infestation as they'd just be brought straight back into school again by the children.

We had them, in every bedroom!! We kept waking up with bites, they bite in threes… breakfast lunch and tea and so so itchy!! They were under one mattress and all in the wooden bed frame. We jet washed it. I boil washed every day. And tumbled, we got hold of a chemical and that worked. It made me quite ill, worry and washing. Vile

My friends got woken up with bed bugs crawling all over them in Asia. We were in the next room and they came and got us, I’m not kidding there were dozens of them all over their bed. Big buggers, almost ladybird sized, full of blood. Revolting!

QUOTE
*A friend's house became infested. It was rented, and the tenancy was terminated as it required completely stripping out. As he left, he went 'gifting' the belongings he wouldn't be able to put in storage to people he knew. I came out one day to find a framed print and a large mirror leaning again my house. Exactly the kinds of places shy bedbugs like to hide: picture frames, little crevices, close to the walls...

They're definitely around in the UK. As a primary school teacher, I'm surprised schools aren't completely infested. There was a piece in the news a few years ago about a primary school somewhere further north which had be closed for sanitation on account of a bedbug infestation. A person interviewed didn't hold out much hope of cracking the infestation as they'd just be brought straight back into school again by the children.*

@EveSix this is why I'm very particular about buying things second hand - you just never know do you! Charity shops make me particularly anxious. My parents are big antiques collectors (who also happen to love travelling). I dread the day they bring home some unwanted hitchhikers!

I used to work in a psychiatric hospital and I was surprised we never had to deal with bed bugs in the years I was there. There was high patient turnover and they'd often arrive with numerous suitcases, which usually got left in the office for a day or two.

Maybe the fact that these places don't seem to have regular problems suggests that we're being overly anxious about the problem... but it does happen, increasingly so, so I don't think it's an irrational worry.

Why can’t we just spray them with fly killer

I am paranoid about bedbugs after being bitten by them on two separate holidays. My husband also travels a lot for work. I do several things to try and stop them coming in the house.

All hotel rooms are checked thoroughly for bed bugs when we arrive. I pull the bed apart and lift up the mattress. If we are using airport parking I keep a roll of bin bags in the car. When we land back in the UK all bags and suitcases are put into bin bags before they go in the car.

When we get home I sort through everything on the patio. Suitcases never come in the house (fortunately we have a garage and it's detached rather than integral) Everything that has gone away with us goes in bin bags and then in the chest freezer at -20c for four days. I freeze clothes, shoes, books, hats everything apart from electronics. Electronics are taken out of cases and vacuumed and cleaned where possible. After four days items can come out of the freezer and are then washed.

DD buys a lot of second hand clothes and books. They also go straight into the chest freezer for four days. I won't buy anything second hand that can't go in the chest freezer!

Friends living in London had them in their flat. As did most of the estate judging by what she saw. Picture show everyone's belongings out on the balconies whilst flats being blasted and abandoned bed bases...

i saw an amazing video from Paris in 1964 when there was an infection and they’d come around collect your mattress in a van, disinfect them in a big machine and give it back next day! Can’t imagine it happening now. It’s in French but go to 30 seconds in to see the team arrive

https://x.com/inafr_officiel/status/1707764672009544086?s=61&t=VIBZhKzvdKCrd8z3cyQ6Dg

We never stay in hotels because of this, I would rather slum it in our caravan with our own stuff

Thanks for the heads up. Dh is going to Paris in a month’s time. I will talk to him about this and take the necessary precautions...

London seems fine atm.
This has lit me off booking anywhere in France this spring and summer until it’s under control.

Well, I knew I could rely on the Daily Mail to have an article on bedbugs

I saw a TikTok yesterday with them on the metro chairs
They were a lot bigger than I thought
Paris has always been grubby

I was the manager of a huge extra care service in north London about 14 years ago, and we had an infestation of bed bugs, bought in on someone's furniture when they moved in. 75 flats. It was AWFUL. It took months to get rid of them. The staff were in and out of everyone's flats and the service, no way to fully stop cross contamination. Everything had to be fumigated numerous times. Older people covered in bites. We had to replace all the furniture in the end. Worst few months of my working life pre covid.
The bloody things are huge when fully grown!

Yes I read that a bedbug specialist refused to travel on some lines on London Underground because of bedbugs that hide in people’s clothing.
Also most London hotels have them
Bed bug detection dogs are used.
They are revolting - Stay off public transport !