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Bed bugs invade Paris

139 replies

ohsuzannah · 03/10/2023 12:18

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 😰

OP posts:
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6
WaltzingWaters · 04/10/2023 06:36

I spent years backpacking in the most basic/cheapest of accommodation in many third world countries. The only time I’ve ever experienced bed bugs was in a very nice hotel in Switzerland.

cushioncovers · 04/10/2023 06:42

InterFactual · 03/10/2023 22:19

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.

Put all her stuff in a plastic bag when you pick her up and get her to dump all her outer layer of clothes and shoes outside the door when she gets home. Boil wash as much of it as you can and don't bring her travel bag/suitcase into the house leave it in the garage for a few days. Get her to shower as soon as she gets home. This is what the pest control guy said to me when I asked him.

oakleaffy · 04/10/2023 06:46

YukoandHiro · 03/10/2023 16:56

London is the same. Watch out if you travel on the Northern Line. Rentokill put out a statement recently about how they're the fastest growing pest in the UK

Yes I’d heard Northern Line was particularly bad, too.
They drop off people’s clothing and hitch lifts in others.
Gross!

C1N1C · 04/10/2023 06:48

SueDonnym · 04/10/2023 05:11

Why can’t we just spray them with fly killer

They're resistant to virtually everything.

It's the same deal with antibiotics, fungicides, herbicides... if you spray a thousands bugs, ONE might have a genetic mutation (like how some people have sickle cell anaemia) , which makes that one bug survive that chemical. They then breed and that chemical now no longer works on any bugs born from then on.

But using the sickle cell anaemia example... people with this disease are actually resistant to malaria. This means that in a malarial area, these people actually have an advantage, whereas in malaria-free areas they'd actually be at a disadvantage. If you take the malaria away, the sickle cell trait will die out because it's no longer advantageous.
Basically what I'm saying is that if people stop using a pesticide, the population eventually becomes susceptible to it again. That's why farmers are always told never to use the same pesticide twice in a row :).

loislovesstewie · 04/10/2023 07:15

We have had bed bugs in the UK for years and years, the problem is that they are resistant to just about any pesticide. I worked for a local authority and people were always contacting us about having bed bugs, it seems that foreign travel now being common has spread different types more and the little blighters don't like taking bait and popping their clogs . My colleague in environmental health told me to never buy a bed from a firm who said they would remove your old one. If a person had bed bugs it would be a simple matter for the new bed to be contaminated by bed bugs from one being taken away. In addition the bugs get into cracks in the bed frame, and also behind skirtings etc , so it's really hard to eradicate them. It used to be complaints about cockroaches , now it's bedbugs.

LaurieStrode · 04/10/2023 07:50

mindutopia · 03/10/2023 13:14

I just got back from Spain and had them in one hotel there (thankfully, the last one). We used to live abroad in a place where they are quite common. Not to say they aren't in the UK/Europe, but they are much more common residentially in the country we lived in, not just in hotels. They are horrific and it took so long to get rid of them as everyone in the building (about 50 flats) had to deal with them as they'd disappear and then re-appear from next door. So I am hypervigilant when it comes to them after all that. All clothes/luggage went straight into the chest freezer as soon as we got home and then was well cleaned after a week, so has been dealt with. But yes, they are awful.

Never would have thought of the freezer!

InterFactual · 04/10/2023 08:07

cushioncovers · 04/10/2023 06:42

Put all her stuff in a plastic bag when you pick her up and get her to dump all her outer layer of clothes and shoes outside the door when she gets home. Boil wash as much of it as you can and don't bring her travel bag/suitcase into the house leave it in the garage for a few days. Get her to shower as soon as she gets home. This is what the pest control guy said to me when I asked him.

Thanks for this, I will be sure to do that but what about the car ride home? We have to pick her up from quite far away when she gets off the coach so it's not walkable. Worried they'll crawl off into the car.

InterFactual · 04/10/2023 08:13

Another points about school trips - is it even worth trying to contain them at the door when they come home because other kids will just pass it on in the classroom? The whole class is going, this is really going to be hard to contain if they come into contact with bugs.

LaurieStrode · 04/10/2023 09:16

I had a pest control guy tell me to put luggage in shower or tub at hotels/b&b whilst inspecting room thoroughly.

He also said they do a brisk business in eradicating bedbugs from cars.

Starsstarsstarss · 04/10/2023 09:41

Metal bed frames are better. Apparently bed bugs like wooden beds.

Starsstarsstarss · 04/10/2023 09:43

You can also get bed bug traps on Amazon for when staying in hotels

Starsstarsstarss · 04/10/2023 09:47

there is some good advice on here for those travelling.

Bed bugs invade Paris
PuggyInTheMuddle · 04/10/2023 10:08

And it won’t help that stupid articles like that (the one in the OP) just blithely say move from an infested accommodation to somewhere else… with no advice as to how not to take them with you. And how not to bring them home.

I won’t buy any clothes or soft furnishings from charity shops because if it.

PenhillDarkMonarch · 04/10/2023 10:21

I once stayed on a houseboat in Kerala for a night. During the night I had dreams of spiders running all over the room and biting me.

Over the next two days, bed bug bites started to appear (they sometimes take 48 hours to go red and bumpy so you can see them). I think my mind was trying to warn me I was being eaten Grin

We boil washed everything when we got back and luckily they did not come home with us!

IMustDoMoreExercise · 04/10/2023 11:23

InterFactual · 03/10/2023 22:19

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.

They can be in any public area in any city in the world. Unless you are going to stop travelling for ever, there is no point worrying about your daughter's trip to Paris.

Yes Paris has been badly hit because it is the most visited city in the world, but all teh people who have got bed bugs in Paris will be taking them home.

You can do what others have done so emptying suitcases outside and boil washing everything but that is overkill if she hasn't brought back bugs so it is dificult to know what to do.

I would get sticky traps and put them round the bed, but it will be difficult to get a child do to that.

swanteapot · 04/10/2023 12:10

The best thing to do is be fastidious when you go on a trip and when you return. Do the full checking thing on arrival in your room; use a hard case suitcase and never leave it on the bed (put it on a high surface etc). Before you go away, pack a sealed bag full of a change of clothes for your return journey home and only take them out of the sealed bag to put them on when you are leaving, avoiding sitting on any soft furnishings after you have put them on.

When you get home, even if you don't think you have bought them back, change into new clothes immediately, bag up all the contents of the suitcase and clothes, put the case in the bathtub in a large binbag, hot wash and tumble all clothes and use a handheld steamer to steam out your case and any other belongings that can't be washed. Packing minimally means it is easier to do all of this.

Being fastidious on every trip is the best way to do it, and while it might sound like overkill it is really better to follow this procedure than accidentally bringing them home from a holiday spot.

swanteapot · 04/10/2023 12:12

could you take a change of clothes for her to put on in the loos before she gets in the car? Also take a couple of large binbags to seal her luggage in before she puts in the boot.

everetting · 04/10/2023 12:46

Starsstarsstarss · 04/10/2023 09:41

Metal bed frames are better. Apparently bed bugs like wooden beds.

It's why victoriana preferred metal bed frames.

spitefulandbadgrammar · 04/10/2023 12:57

We’ve had them thanks to the cunt bitch who sold her house to us, fucking infested with the things. Incredibly stressful BUT not that expensive to deal with (maybe now with the cost of electricity in terms of all the boil washing). Don’t get a smoke bomb type company to fumigate, it just spreads them. Don’t drag your mattress out of the room: it’s all about containment. Need to wee in the night? Strip off your pyjamas and go naked, they travel on clothes. If you’re moving clothes and bedding to the washing machine, stuff it all in a bin bag, including what you’re wearing, while inside the room, and take it to the machine: you can buy dissolving bags so then you don’t have to empty the bin bag and risk one getting loose, you just put the whole thing in the machine. Boil wash. Tumble dry. Fuck the environment, this is war.

Pull the bed away from the wall: they don’t fly, they CLIMB the walls and drop on your face in the night. They like the CO2 you emit when breathing. You want them to climb the bed instead (well, “want”). You spread a ring of diatomaceous earth around the bed, around the bed frame, all over it, and you are now the bait: they’ll crawl and climb through it to get to you, and get desiccated by the diatomaceous earth.

The eggs can also be destroyed by heat, so before you put the earth on it, go over your whole bed frame and mattress carefully with a hairdryer on very hot. Remember to strip before leaving the room after you do this.

Basically heat, containment, human bait, diatomaceous earth, regular nudity. Cheap but stressful. Never sit on the tube again.

WinterDeWinter · 04/10/2023 13:17

I can vouch for everything that @spitefulandbadgrammar says.

If we get them again I might become a nude-tuber.

swanteapot · 04/10/2023 13:19

I was reading the diatomaceous earth can be dangerous if inhaled and there is something that does the same but is much safer - Silica powder or something. I would recommend anyone does a bit of research on that (reddit I think was the place I found it).

Roaringkittens · 04/10/2023 13:20

spitefulandbadgrammar · 04/10/2023 12:57

We’ve had them thanks to the cunt bitch who sold her house to us, fucking infested with the things. Incredibly stressful BUT not that expensive to deal with (maybe now with the cost of electricity in terms of all the boil washing). Don’t get a smoke bomb type company to fumigate, it just spreads them. Don’t drag your mattress out of the room: it’s all about containment. Need to wee in the night? Strip off your pyjamas and go naked, they travel on clothes. If you’re moving clothes and bedding to the washing machine, stuff it all in a bin bag, including what you’re wearing, while inside the room, and take it to the machine: you can buy dissolving bags so then you don’t have to empty the bin bag and risk one getting loose, you just put the whole thing in the machine. Boil wash. Tumble dry. Fuck the environment, this is war.

Pull the bed away from the wall: they don’t fly, they CLIMB the walls and drop on your face in the night. They like the CO2 you emit when breathing. You want them to climb the bed instead (well, “want”). You spread a ring of diatomaceous earth around the bed, around the bed frame, all over it, and you are now the bait: they’ll crawl and climb through it to get to you, and get desiccated by the diatomaceous earth.

The eggs can also be destroyed by heat, so before you put the earth on it, go over your whole bed frame and mattress carefully with a hairdryer on very hot. Remember to strip before leaving the room after you do this.

Basically heat, containment, human bait, diatomaceous earth, regular nudity. Cheap but stressful. Never sit on the tube again.

Is it ok to use a normal hoover to clean dust up after or do you have to be careful of breaking it?

swanteapot · 04/10/2023 13:21

@Roaringkittens do your research before using diatomaceous earth - as I said upthread it can be bad for the lungs when inhaled. There's an alternative that works as well that is preferable I believe.

swanteapot · 04/10/2023 13:23

here is a thread where people are discussing the dangers of DE and alternatives
https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTips/comments/11jkqpk/lpt_how_to_kill_bed_bugs_effectively_and/

Insertoriginalnamehere · 04/10/2023 13:25

IMustDoMoreExercise · 03/10/2023 13:29

The problem is there is nothing you can do with all the travel to less developed countries where they are everywhere.

You can get them in the most exclusive hotels. They do not discriminate.

It has been a ticking time bomb for the last 10 years but unless you stop international travel. There's nothing you can do about it.

I actually resist staying in hotels for this very reason and only stay away from home when I have no other option.

I got bitten to death by bedbugs in a villa one year, it's not a problem exclusive to hotels.