Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

To move rooms so as not to share my pillow with

55 replies

Catsize · 19/10/2014 21:07

This little chap (or chapess)? I am a hardcore camper but feel differently about bugs when in a 4* hotel. Is anyone able to identify it? Baby cockroach? Blood-sucking Werewolf Beetle?
Feel a bit guilty for creating a fuss but would have wondered if he had friends in my pillows...

OP posts:

Thread gallery

eosmum · 19/10/2014 21:10

I'm thinking bed bug.

NoMarymary · 19/10/2014 21:11

Omg is it a bedbug!

To move rooms so as not to share my pillow with

NoMarymary · 19/10/2014 21:11

Blood sucking vampire beetle is in the right area

SanityClause · 19/10/2014 21:11

Bed bug.

Get out of there.

Google it. You will have to take a lot of precautions to make sure your home is not infested.

Original poster

Catsize · 19/10/2014 21:15

sanity, even if I am in a hotel?
They have only moved me to the room next door. Would have thought it should be Presidential Suite at least...
Would have preferred cockroach to bed bug me thinks.
Knew you lot would know.

Supping a free beer that I didn't really want.

And nicked the pen before I left bedbug room.

OP posts:

Original poster

Catsize · 19/10/2014 21:16

Now very itchy.

And fearing for life.

OP posts:

NoMarymary · 19/10/2014 21:16

They come out of mattresses in less developed countries. Crawled into suitcases and then climbed up bed into mattresses. We used to not have them in this country but over recent years lots of places have infestations. Hotels are prime environments as people come in with bedbug crawling suitcases.

DragonReena · 19/10/2014 21:17

Oh no! I hope it's not a bed bug! Thank goodness you got out of there. I got eaten alive by bed bugs at a hotel. Husband was fine though - turns out they aren't into him!

DreamerOfStars · 19/10/2014 21:17

If it is: when you get home, unpack outdoors and wash what you can at a high heat and tumble dry. Bot sure what you are supposed to do with everything else, though.

Don't treat it lightly if there is a chance - bringing them home could be awful.

eosmum · 19/10/2014 21:18

You will have to be very careful that you don't bring them home. I'd look for another hotel and I think they have to notify env health.

NoMarymary · 19/10/2014 21:18

I seem to remember they bite in a line of 3. By the third bite they are full of your blood and fall off you!

NoMarymary · 19/10/2014 21:19

Totally agree with dreamer. See my post as that is how bedbugs travel from country to country and bed to bed!

NoMarymary · 19/10/2014 21:19

Check the lining and folds of the suitcase as that's where they hide.

Original poster

Catsize · 19/10/2014 21:22

Well, this is all marvellous news folks, thank you. I had contemplated staying in a youth hostel but ditched that in favour of a DBB spa break in a posh hotel as I deserve a bit of respite (said OH) and I can't try and do confidential work stuff and try to be professional the following day after a night on a bunk bed in a room full of people half my age. And I would have looked a bit odd leaving in a suit.
But now I have all this to contend with! And my jumper is handwash only. Not to be boiled. Oh dear, this is a fine mess you got us into Stanley...

OP posts:

silverlace · 19/10/2014 21:37

I did a lot of research into bed bugs as something was biting me. Turned out it wasn't thankfully but one thing I did learn was you rarely see them. They hide in the seams of the mattress and headboard only coming out at night when they sense a nice warm body and carbon dioxide from breathing. I can't really see it in detail from the picture but if it was brazenly crawling over the pillow when it was light it possibly isn't one. A lot of insects are looking to hibernate at the moment. I know we're are inundated with ladybirds, maybe it is a beetle looking for winter accommodation.

Gunpowder · 19/10/2014 21:42

Pop your bag in the bath now to avoid further possible hitch hikers. YY to tumbling everything and shaking out bags etc. thoroughly outside. Dry clean your jumper.

Original poster

Catsize · 19/10/2014 21:46

Thank you silverface. Not sure if 9pm is wakey wakey time for bed bugs. Have to say I had always thought they were invisible but seemingly not! I spotted it an inch or so from my right eye as I indulged in some hotel telly that wasn't CBeebies. So, nice warm body and near to carbon dioxide exhaling mouth.
And the chap who came up was sufficiently concerned to call the duty manager on the phone from my bug room.
Do I now have to boil my head, per earlier advice about boiling everything??

OP posts:

Original poster

Catsize · 19/10/2014 21:48

gunpowder, this isn't really possible as I have lots of files in the bag and other stuff that won't cope with going in a wet bag in the morning. Maybe it isn't a bed bug? [clutching at desperate straw emoticon]

OP posts:

Hatespiders · 19/10/2014 21:50

It's true as silverlace says, you rarely see them, and they don't crawl about like that. Had them in Senegal. You get wet soap, suddenly put the light on, pull the sheet back and bang the soap down so they stick to it. This looks a bit like a carpet weevil. Did it have a pointy nose?
Putting clothes such as posh jumpers in the freezer can kill bedbugs/fleas etc.

ouryve · 19/10/2014 21:52

I think the PP just meant to put it in the bath because it's a textile free area, so they're less likely to be able to crawl in.

Original poster

Catsize · 19/10/2014 22:10

hatespiders, I think I would have preferred a pavement to the soapy bedbug bed. Yikes! Must say, I didn't study its nose too much, but its nasal area looked quite like bedbug nose on picture above.
Also, it moved pretty quickly and my very scientific research into carpet weevils (at the University of Wikipedia) revealed that they are slow moving and not much bigger than a pin head. This was a bit bigger than that. In fact, it was gargantuan.

OP posts:

Original poster

Catsize · 19/10/2014 22:11

ouryve

OP posts:

MrsTerryPratchett · 19/10/2014 22:14

If it was summer you could put your whole bag into a black plastic bag and leave it in the strong sun for a day. Do not let bedbugs into your house. They are a bloody nightmare.

It does look very big to be one, I have seen ones much larger than a pin head, though... I work in homelessness, I'm not infested myself.

Fluffycloudland77 · 19/10/2014 22:16

If it is a bed bug you've got a big discount coming off your bill.

icclemunchy · 19/10/2014 22:17

Pest controller DP says he can't be 100% from that photo but he'd be surprised if it's a bedbug, it's not quite he right shape and they really don't move fast. So if it made a run for it it's prob something else

He said if your worried wash everything over 60 when you get home, anything that can't be washed can go in the freezer for at least 24 hours

Flip

1 2 3