Where and When I Was Bitten
We stayed in a hotel in PA this past weekend (August 2010) and we have some suspicious marks on our bodies.
What Happened Next
We showed the ones with the triangle and on the neck to the hotel manager and he said they were mosquito bites. The hotel manager and assistants did a very thorough search of our mattress after seeing the bites. They found nothing at all. They looked behind the bed board, and in the bed frame. It makes me nervous about going to any other hotel b/c my husband and I did search the bed for bed bug signs before putting down our bags in the room, etc. We saw nothing after our quick inspection also.
The first and second marks turned up on my husband on Sunday afternoon (we checked in Saturday and out Monday morning). More marks turned up today (I don't think they were there earlier) on my upper arm (which by the way was under my sleeve - I have read bed bugs like exposed areas, but this was covered by my pajamas.) My son was also in the bed with us, and we don't see anything on him.
Lessons Learned
- Tomorrow it is going to be in the low nineties where I live. I have my car placed in the sun with some stuff in it. I did not put the stuff in plastic bags. I should have done that. It was on my garage floor and I put it in the car to bake until I was ready to wash it.
- My gut kept telling me something was wrong, but we stayed after we saw the bites one more night. The bites on his neck do not itch him. The ones on my arm do not itch either. Do they have to itch?
- How long should I leave things in the freezer to kill the bed bugs?
Charlyn Keating Chisholm, Hotels & Resorts Guide, says:
My heart goes out to you. I know this is stressful. Hang in there, you're doing all the right things. I think as long as the car is really hot for a couple of hours you should be OK. A sealed car in the sun when the temperatures are in the 90s should go up to 120+ pretty quickly. Heat is better than cold for killing bed bugs, but if you must freeze something, keep it in there for at least 5 days if you can, even a week or two.
I'm not surprised the hotel manager didn't find bed bugs -- they are really good at hiding. They've been known to hide behind the faceplate of electrical outlets, for example, a place few would think to look.
The bites don't necessarily itch; it purely depends on your body's reaction to them.
Your son wasn't bitten - that's good. Was he doing anything differently? Wearing more clothes? Sleeping in another part of the bed?
I hope I've answered your questions. Keep up what you're doing and keep an eye out for any new bites. Chances are good that you did not bring any home, but if you did, you want to react as quickly as possible before they breed.
