To be freaking out about bedbugs in premier Inn....

[FeatherySquawkington]

I'm staying in a premier Inn - tonight is the second night. Bedbugs would be one of my worst fears and whenever we go away I always check the beds and area around them just in case. Anyway, saw a little louse/beetle type thing on duvet earlier - DH chucked it out the door before I could get a proper look. It did look quite small, only a few mm and was running pretty fast. Anyway, freaking out about it being a bedbug now..... If this hotel had them there would have been reviews complaining, right?! Or do I need to burn all the suitcases and belongings, just in case.....

Well I've got a bite on each foot from mosquitoes but I've just discovered two little bites on my back which can't have been mosquitoes as I've had my body covered outside. Definitely freaking out now as got home yesterday and worried we've brought them back with us! I actually feel sick.

It probably wasn’t a bed bug, but it might have been. They generally only come out at night so seeing it in the afternoon makes it even more unlikely tbh.

They generally bite in lines, you can kill them/their eggs by washing at 60 or freezing things for a few days. They can go 18m between feeds so be careful using any over the counter deterrents because all that will do is frighten them away for a few months.

Telltale signs as pp have been saying is tiny black dots in seams of mattresses and on bed slats. If you lick your finger and smear it I believe it will leave a trail (but don’t quote me on that).

Little. Buggers. But highly unlikely that’s what you saw.

but I've just discovered two little bites on my back which can't have been mosquitoes as I've had my body covered outside.

Trust me it will still most likely be a mosquito bite. I would hazard that most people myself included have had bites on parts of their body that were covered up. Its much more likely to be a mosquito bite than a bed bug bite please try to stop panicking.

This was on our duvet at a premier inn we stayed in in August. I took a photo in case it turned out to be an infestation of something and we needed to keep it for comeback.

Any ideas what he was?

That's a jumpy hoppy bug thing, not a bedbug.

You'd know if it was a BB bite as they itch like mad much much more than normal bites. I had them from a crap hostel in London and couldn't slept all night the itching and pain was so bad. I didn't burn anything and we appear to have survived. No infestation!

These are the bites I've ended up with - the little ones on my back aren't very itchy but the big one on my foot is a horrible itchy welt that goes white like a hive when I scratch it.

Still on panic mode! My anxiety is going into overdrive.....

We are going away to a self catering cottage in November - I'm already panicking about bed bug possibilities!

God I'd be more concerned that the windows didn't open!

When you get home, put all your clothes into sealed bin bags and then into a tumble drier at high heat for at least 30 minutes.

Would this not melt the bags? I put my tumble dried clothes into bin bags one day after removing from the tumble drier and they melted straight through it!

Sorry for the confusion I created with the plastic bag thing.

So the safest thing to do is:

don't put your bag on the bed when staying elsewhere
If you want to be safest or if you suspect bugs, when you get home, take everything from your cases and the clothes you are wearing and put them in bin bags - not laundry baskets - to bring to the washing machine.

Then take them out of the bin bags wash them if you want but definitely run everything through a hot drier for 30 minutes. kills everything.

The sealed bin bags is to make sure any bug that clung to your clothes doesn't have a chance to catch a ride on anything else when going from the bag to the washing machine.

To be honest, I plan on packing straight into bin bags in my case in future. But I had to go through a de-bugging thing and I do NOT intend to ever do that again. The pesticide bit was easy - they come in for a few hours, spray and everything is gone. But in preparation you have to bag and seal every single piece of clothing/sheets/towels/etc in the house and run them through the drier for at least 30 mins and then bag and seal them up again before the second treatment. It was expensive and time consuming and grim and I can completely see why people get reinfested as I don't know how you'd do it successfully in a small apartment with small children etc.

It is also worth getting mattress protectors for your beds