Summer Camp and Tips to Help Prevent Bed Bugs

Tips To Prevent Bed Bugs At Summer Camp and Keep Your Child Safe

The Summer Camp Season is coming and bed bugs are one issue your child may face at summer camp. We are going to provide you with some useful information and tips on bed bugs so your child can have a safe pleasant experience this summer. Bed bugs can thrive anywhere where humans are as has been documented the last couple years... Summer camps especially sleep-away camps - provide a perfect breeding ground for bed bugs. There are a ton of spots for bed bugs to hide inside cabins and belongings, and other wooden structures. There many campers for bed bugs to feed on. There are numerous ways bed bugs can be transported by campers into the summer camp, and brought home at the end of the camp season. Throughout the summer camps have detected signs of bed bugs or they know they must be prepared for infestation. This article will help summer camps and campers be prepared for bed bugs.

Top Five Tips for Camps

1. If you believe you have bed bugs you need to thoroughly examine crevices in walls, mattresses, and furniture. You need to check all area because bed bugs are good at hiding. The best time to inspect for bed bugs is at night when bed bugs are active. Examining during day time areas is not going to be very helpful.

2. Understand you need to go through luggage, bed sheets, pillow cases, and all most any other area bed bugs can hide.

3. If your camp does have bed bug issues understand it is extremely difficult to eliminate bed bugs because bed bugs hide so well and can live for months without eating. Consider all options quickly before deciding on your plan of action. Our recommendation is to call a Professional Pest Control Company because we have heard horror stories from people trying to treat bed bug infestations on their own.

4. We understand bed bugs are annoying and irritating, according to the CDC they do not transmit disease. Treatment of people bitten can be handled by the on-site health care staff. Some people respond very negatively to bed bug bites and should consult a doctor.

5. Do not accept second-hand items such as mattresses and upholstered furniture. They are a major source of bed bugs and more of a hassle then they are worth Examine any second-hand item extremely carefully and avoid if not in exceptional condition.

Tips To Avoid Bringing Bed Bugs Home From Summer Camp:

• Ask the camp administrators if they have had a bed bug problem.

• Discuss with your child how to examine their bed and their roommates’ beds when they get to camp. Discuss the signs of bed bug infestations with your child. They should pull back the sheets and inspect the mattress seams, particularly at the corners, for obvious stains or spots.

• Inspect every crevice of the room before unpacking, including behind the headboard and in sofas/chairs. If bed bugs or pests are spotted they should notify camp counselor immediately.

• For your child’s entire stay at camp, they should place their suitcase and bags in a plastic trash bag to ensure that bed bugs cannot take up residence there prior to departure back home.

• When your children arrive home you should inspect their suitcases and other belongings before bringing them into the house. Vacuum the suitcase thoroughly before storing away.

• Wash all your children’s clothes, even those which have not been worn in hot water to ensure that any bed bugs that may have made it that far are not placed into your drawers/closet. Dry the clothes a very high heat because bed bugs cannot withstand temperatures above 122 degrees Fahrenheit.

• If you find a bed bug infestation call your local professional pest control company to treat the infestation and perform follow-up inspections.

• Over the counter bedbug travel spray are available to spray inside suitcases.

• Fern can do a bedbug detection to scan the suitcases in the garage before they put the clothes back into the house.

• A canine search for bed bug in suitcases is $125

Tips on how to identify bed bug infestations are provided below.

•If someone has been bitten by bed bugs, you need examine crevices in walls, mattresses, and furniture. You will need to check luggage, bags, and clothing. Perform the inspection at night when bed bugs are active. Look for these signs:

• Dark specks. They can be found along mattress seams, crevices in suitcases, in pillow cases, and these specks are bedbug excrement.

• Empty exoskeletons. Bed bugs molt five times before becoming adults. Look for empty skins which are light brown in color.

• Bloody smears. Be on the lookout for small smears of blood on the sheets where a bed bug accidentally got crushed.

Since bed bugs can disperse throughout a building, it will be necessary to inspect all adjoining rooms and cabins. Bed bugs can spread quickly.

Overview of Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are reddish-brown, oval, and flat — they are about the size of an apple seed. Bed bugs are insects; more specifically, and use their mouth parts to feed on human blood while inflicting very little pain. Bed bug eggs are white and about 1 mm long. The nymphs look like adults but are smaller. Bed bug development from egg to adult takes from four weeks to several months depending on the temperature and amount of food available.

Bed Bug Facts

• Bed bugs are flat, wingless, and about one-quarter of an inch long.

• Bed bugs are not only found in messy and dirty spaces. They only seek food which is human blood. There’s no evidence that they transmit disease.

• They have six legs, and are shiny reddish-brown. When they are done feeding on human blood, they appear swollen and dark brown...

• Bed bugs feed on human blood, and like to come out at night in the dark when you’re sleeping.

• Just using chemical treatments from the store will not remove the infestation completely.

• Bed bugs hide very well. Some of Bed Bugs Favorite Locations are: in the seams of mattresses, sofas, cracks in the bad frame and/or head board, cracks in wood or floor boards, under chairs, couches, beds and dust covers, under rugs, edges of carpets, drawers, baseboards and window casings, behind light switches, electrical outlet plates, cracks in plaster, televisions, radio clocks and phones, luggage, purses, backpacks, sleeping bags, clothes, behind wallpaper, picture frames, and any other dark areas.

Symptoms

It is very difficult to distinguish bed bug bites from other insect bites. Bed bug bites are usually:
• Red, often with a darker red spot in the middle

• Itchy

• Appear a rough line or in a cluster

• Most of the time the bites appear on the face, neck, arms, and hands

Many people have no reaction to bed bug bites, while other people experience an allergic reactions may have to consult a doctor.

How to Treat Children/People When Bitten by Bed Bugs

Make sure you work with camp healthcare staff. . The symptoms of bed bug bites usually go away on its own within a week or two.

Here are some tips to speed the recovery might include:

• Any skin cream containing hydrocortisone from the Pharmacy

• An oral antihistamine, with diphenhydramine like a Benadryl

• If a skin infection develops from scratching bed bug bites, ask your doctor to prescribe an antibiotic.

If you run into a Bed bug issue, it is best to call a Professional Pest Control Company. Team Pest Control has providing bed bug pest control solutions for clients for years.
Team Pest Control- www.teampestcontrol.net are experts when it comes to Bed bugs. To find more bed bug tips please visit. Your Long Islands Pest Control Experts.