Bed bugs are notorious for their stealthy ability to hitchhike on personal belongings, making their way into our homes and causing infestations. These tiny, elusive pests are experts at finding their way onto our clothes, bags, and even shoes, often without our knowledge. Understanding how bed bugs spread and the measures we can take to prevent them from entering our homes is crucial in managing and avoiding infestations.

Bed bug shed skins and eggs on a dollar bill that was lost in couch cushions. Bed bugs can hitch-hike on just about anything and make it back to your residence.

How Bed Bugs Hitchhike on Belongings:

Bed bugs are opportunistic travelers. They don't have wings to fly or jump long distances, but they excel at latching onto moving objects, just like ticks do. This is how they traverse continents and end up in places far from their original habitats. When you sit or lie down on an infested couch, chair, or bed, bed bugs see it as an opportunity to climb aboard. They can cling to your clothing, nestle into the folds of your jacket, or find a crevice in your shoes to hide in⁴/⁵.

Similarly, when you place your belongings down—be it a coat on a hook, a bag on the floor, or items in a hotel room—bed bugs can crawl onto them. These pests are attracted to the warmth and carbon dioxide we emit, and they use these cues to find a host. Once they've found a suitable spot on your belongings, they can easily travel back to your home or vehicle, where they begin their infestation⁷/⁸. Almost all hitch hiking is accidental and the bed bug most likely didn't mean to get transported out of its initial infested area. That doesn't make it any less bad for you though if you take them home, whether it's accidental or on purpose.

Cigarette with a bed bug baby nymph on it. Again, bed bugs can hitch-hike on anything. This image was taken from a clients OK home where they left there cigarette package laying on their couch and bed bugs infested the pack causing them to spread bed bugs anywhere they took his cigs with them.

Preventing Bed Bugs from Coming Home with You:

The key to preventing bed bugs from entering your home is vigilance. Here are some steps you can take to minimize the risk:

Inspect Your Surroundings: Always check hotel rooms, hospital rooms, church pews/chairs, second-hand furniture, and other places for signs of bed bugs before settling in. In hotel rooms or places your spending the night at, pull the mattress back a couple of feet from the front of the bed frame. Then check the top and front of both the mattress and box springs, as well as any head board or wall that the mattress and box springs are up against. If you do not see bed bugs or their feces in these areas, there's most likely no live bed bug activity present. Remember though: almost every single hotel/motel/BNB/Air BNB/hospital/etc will have at some point and time have had bed bugs present. It's rare in 2024 that a hotel especially would not have seen bed bugs at some point and time already.
Handle Belongings with Care: Avoid placing your bags or clothing in areas that are likely to be infested. Use luggage racks in hotels and keep belongings off the floor⁷. Especially do not put luggage, coats, clothing, or really any belongings onto beds, couches or chairs. Instead keeping belongings in the bathroom shower or bathtub is a better option.
Regular Cleaning: Vacuum your living spaces regularly and declutter to reduce hiding spots for bed bugs. Focus on beds, couches and chairs, especially, vacuuming into all recesses and plush areas. You will need to be vigilant in vacuuming these areas at least once a month. You can also have preventative bed bug treatments done regularly at your home to make sure that even if you do bring bed bugs back home, they cannot survive inside of your home. Insecticides and biologicals like Aprehend will last 60-60 days with full prevention. It very much matters how thoroughly a preventive insecticide is applied on whether there is full protection or not. So be smart about who you choose to service your home if you wish to do the bed bug prevention route.

Decontaminating Fabrics and Shoes:

If you suspect that your belongings have been exposed to bed bugs, it's essential to act quickly to prevent them from spreading into your home:

For Fabrics: Place all clothing and fabric items into a dryer on high heat for at least one hour. The heat must exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit to effectively kill bed bugs and their eggs¹³.
For Shoes: If your shoes can withstand the heat, you can put them through the dryer as well. For shoes that cannot be dried, consider using a steamer or leaving them in a sealed bag for an extended period to kill the bed bugs. You'll need a "Hot Shot No Pest Strip" to put into the sealed bag with your shoes, you'd leave the bag sealed off for at least 15 days. If you need a quicker, way to kill off bed bugs on shoes, use rubbing alcohol to spray on the shoe. If you're using 91% rubbing alcohol, use half water and half alcohol mixed together instead, so it's less of a fire hazard and doesn't choke you out. If it's 50% you can just use it straight from the bottle. Alcohol is actually the fastest chemical that can kill bed bugs but it does not leave any kind of residual behind that continues to kill after it's completely dried. Alcohol evaporates in about 30-40 seconds.

Image of Hot Shot No Pest Strip packaging. This is what you would leave inside of the sealed off bag for at least 15 days to kill any bed bugs on shoes or even other items. Fabrics like blankets, sheets, towels, etc will be better suited to go thru a dryer to kill bed bugs.

Final Advice:

By following these precautions, you can significantly reduce the chances of inadvertently bringing bed bugs into your home. Remember, bed bugs are resilient, and even the most cautious individuals can find themselves dealing with an infestation. Whether you poor/rich or dirty/clean doesn't matter to bed bugs. So do not think that just because you're clean and well off, that you will never be impacted by them. If you suspect that bed bugs have made their way into your living space, it's advisable to consult a professional pest control service to assess and address the situation effectively. Trying to get rid of bed bugs yourself is almost always what causes spreading issues of the bug. This makes treating for them more expensive, and more difficult in the end, because it makes every aspect of eliminating bed bugs harder.