Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite

Read the full article below or at WTNH News 8

By News Channel 8's Erin Cox
July 12, 2008
11:15 PM

Bed bugs are so small, you usually don't know they are there until they bite you. Often it happens at a hotel. Many of us think it won't happen to us because we don't stay in "those kinds of places." But experts say think again.

Bed bugs are turning up all over our state, biting in Hartford, infesting public housing in New Haven, causing cleanup at a Middletown condo complex, even in local dorms.

And scientists confirm bed bugs are back.

One reason: we're all traveling more and exterminators say we bring the bed bugs home in our luggage.

"Bed bugs can be brought in from a number of different locations: a train, a plane, staying in a hotel," said Mike Lipsett, Connecticut Pest Control.

Walking into your clean hotel room, you probably turn and lock the door to feel safe. But it's what you can't see that might come to bite you.

"Bed bugs can go anywhere. They are a bug. Don't think they are just in a mattress or in a pillow. They are everywhere," said Carl Massicott, K-9 Detectives.

And Carl should know. He gets paid big bucks to find bed bugs in hotels and he let our News Channel 8 cameras see how he works.

"He wants to go right to this bed. There's no stopping him now," Massicott says as he walks with Radar, a dog specially-trained to sniff out bed bugs the human eye can't see.

A scratch of the paw signals bed bugs are there.

In other rooms, the dog discovered the dreaded bed bugs right around where you lay down to sleep. They can even be hiding inside the phone, unseen in the cracks of the clock radio, even in the TV remote often tossed on the sheets.

It doesn't matter how much you paid for the room, Radar sniffs out bed bugs in five-star suites.

Who are your clients?

"I can't give you the list because it's confidential, with everybody," Massicott says.

Carl shares some tips on what you can do the next time you check in.

First, don't put your suitcase on the bed, use the luggage rack.

Check the mattress for signs of black marks.

If I find them in my room?

"Get a new room or a new hotel," Massicott says.

The best advice: when you get home, move all your clothes right from your suitcase to the dryer and set it to high heat.

"High heat between 15 to 20 minutes will kill eggs and the bed bugs," Massicott says.

And Carl should know. Each week he and his dogs search 3,000 hotel rooms all along the East Coast.

"We're out everyday, we're very, very busy," Massicott says.

Read Part Two

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