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Bed Bugs

3 replies

Megz80 · 01/08/2023 19:01

Advice please

My family and I returned from a week's holiday last week...My son had several clusters bites overnight which were quite itchy. My daughter who was in the same room had a few but they bothered her less.

A day or two afterwards, we found a whole dead adult bedbug on the landing upstairs. After this I also found multiple black marks and splats of what I assume was old blood (GROSS , I know) on the white sheets.

We showed the dead creature to the air b&b owners, which they downplayed and took it away. Initially they said they doubted they were BBs, then after closer scrutiny, decided they might be. They changed all the bedding and said they couldn't find anything else.

Since coming home, I have been absolutely frantic about cleaning everything on a hot wash, quarantining and freezing things. I have been religiously checking bedding, mattresses, carpets.

I have found two casings/exoskeletons since- could they be BBs? I usually wouldn’t be analysing every speck of dirt as I am now, so perhaps they’re other creatures?

One of my kids is extremely anxious and neurodivergent, so I have been trying to downplay/disguise these issues…however, I am extremely anxious and among other life-stressors, it’s beginning to make me ill. I can’t sleep and I am constantly checking and imagining the worst.

I know in reality, they are a resilient and annoying pest but pose no health risk and can eventually be sorted. However, I am extremely worried!!

Re the air b&b, we haven’t addressed it again as we didn’t really want to make a fuss at the time (esp with the children in situ) and didn’t know how to handle it.

Any advice or keen entomologists out there?

Thank you!

Bed Bugs
Bed Bugs
OP posts:
Kimten · 01/08/2023 19:09

The first photo doesn't look like a bedbug casing.
The second photo, I'm not sure of.

Bedbugs bite the skin in a clear line. So, the bites are in a liner pattern.

I've been bitten by bedbugs in three different countries, so I'm fairly familiar with them.

Paperbagsaremine · 01/08/2023 19:26

I just wanted to offer you hollow moral support OP - we too encountered bedbugs on holiday and I swear I went a bit mad following that (any itch or grit on the sheets and I would be shining my phone torch about at 2am AND SO ON).
All I can say is we too heated/froze everything we brought back from hols and we did not (I can confidently say, years later) bring the bastards back with us.
Hopefully the same is true for you as you too have had the chance to inspect EVERYTHING close up!

But I am still scarred mentally, and when we do more frequent traveling in the future, I am minded to buy a cheap chest freezer, bung it in the garage, and whenever we return, come in straight through the garage door, bung EVERYTHING into the freezer, and walk entirely unclothed through the rear garage door into the house.
Oh and I would add pest control onto the household insurance.

BackT · 01/08/2023 23:01

Leave a review for the Airbnb or they will just keep letting it and spread the little buggers. I worked for a holiday lets company and they did that. Denied everything and just keep on letting the properties

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