How To Get Bed Bugs Out of Your Stuff

- How to "de-bug" your personal items -

Summary:What should you do to "de-bug" your personal items (backpacks, luggage, clothes, electronics, and so forth) if you discover that you've spent time in a room that might have been infested with bed bugs? Use the suggestions below to prevent a bed bug infestation before one ever starts.

Jack DeAngelis, PhD

OSU Ext. Entomologist (ret.)

my resume

Bed bugs are expert hitchhikers

Bed bugs are expert at hitching a ride from place to place on our personal belongings like suitcases, backpacks, pillows, electronic devices, and just about anything brought into an infested room and placed near the bed. In fact, since bed bugs lack wings and are not equipped to walk very far they depend on us (or another animal host like bats) to move them around (see How To Identify Bed Bug Infestations). So, what should you do if you discover that you have stayed over night in a room infested with bed bugs so you don't carry the little vermin home with you?

Wash in hot water and heat dry

Place belongings in plastic garbage bags before heading for home. When you get home normal washing in warm/hot water and heat drying is sufficient to "de-bug" anything that can be washed in water. Most insects, including bed bugs, will be killed by temperatures in excess of about 140 degrees F. Dry cleaning is another more expensive option. What about things that can't be exposed to hot water, hot dryer air, or dry cleaning chemicals?

Freezing is the next best option

Place small items that can withstand freezing temperatures in sealed plastic bags and place them in an ordinary home freezer for a couple of days. This will kill all stages of bed bugs. Larger items like suitcases can be thoroughly cleaned and treated as you would a room (see below) then placed in storage away from where people sleep.

How to "debug" your bedroom before moving in

When moving furniture into an empty room where you suspect an infestation it is best to treat the room first. Bed bugs are not difficult to control if the infestation is caught early. Rooms and even bare mattresses can be cleaned, and a residual insecticide can be used to safely get rid of any bed bugs that may have been missed during cleaning (see How to Treat Rooms For Bed Bugs for more details). There's no need to discard bedding, mattresses or bedroom furniture that can be cleaned.

Mission: To provide accurate, up-to-date and unbiased information for solving common insect and mite problems around your home, business and landscape using least-toxic methods.

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