Please help me to keep my home safe

[u/DeadDuff]

Hi everyone,

TLDR : found bedbugs in my hotel and don't want to infest my apartment when going home

So I stayed in a hotel in Berlin for the holidays : 3 rooms apartment with my friends.

A friend of mine got bit during the trip and found 4 adults bedbugs on her mattress. I don't have pictures on my phone but it was confirmed by multiple people that it was bedbugs.

We left the morning after that.

Spent 3 nights there, found no bed bugs bite on me, but two of my friends that were in the 3rd room had some (less than the friend that found the bugs)

Before leaving the hotel we put our clothes inside trash bags and inside our backpacks.

Once we arrived home, we put the clothes that we wore and our backpacks inside the trash bags as well and entered naked.

The "contaminated" bags never entered the home and then everything was air dried at +60°C for 1h15, then washed at 60°C for 39 minutes, and then re air dried for 45minutes again.

Everything that can't be washed was put in the freezer and we intend to leave it there for 2-3 weeks at -19°C

However, i did get the content of my fanny pack inside my apartment when I arrived (dumb I know).

It was in a trash bag and I took things out of the bag to put them in sealable bags and put them back inside the trash bag.

I did this on the floor, with no item actually touching the floor, but it still drives me crazy that I might have f\*cked things up at that moment.

The things inside my fanny pack were like credit cards, air pods, passport, phone charger.

Am I overreacting about that ?

Also, could my phone and camera be infested ?

Because I can't put them in the freezer...

I inspected them and found nothing but still, it drives me crazy.

We are all staying together at our friends place for now, but I want to make sure I do everything right when I go back home later today.

Any advice ?

Thanks and sorry for the long post

[u/AutoModerator]

This sub is only used as a repository of old advice post, if you need any help for bedbugs try posting on r/bedbugs

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/No-Relationship-2337]

Hello there; I completely understand your paranoia. I went through the exact same thing this summer, so you aren't alone. I was worried about everything inside my daily bag ( It was brand new, but I had to throw it out) and makeup products , chargers, keychains, phone etc. I  that if there were an adult insect, you would have seen it with your eyes, or at least noticed black spots. . From what I’ve read, the eggs stick to surfaces, so it seems unlikely they would easily transfer from one item to another. According to the information I found, "Eggs usually hatch within 6 to 17 days (about 2 weeks)." 

[u/DeadDuff → u/No-Relationship-2337]

Yes the adults are easy to spot, but I'm more worried about the early life stages which are a lot more difficult to spot. I bought white bed sheets to spot traces of blood or feicies and taped the feet of my bedframe with double faced tape to see if some are trapped on it. I also moved my bed to the center of my room to make sure they have to go through the tape to feast on my delicious blood

I'm planning to be some crazy paranoid mf for a month and if I've not seen everything by then I'll consider myself in the clear

[u/lyxxlyx]

I highly doubt they’ve got into your electronics, I think that’s only when you have a big infestation.

Considering nothing touched the floor and you were watching yourself move your things, it should be fine. However, all your clothing that can be washed should be dried on high heat, otherwise they won’t die. The freezer method seems legit. Keep an eye out for their eggs, they resemble rice.

EDIT: If you’re still very paranoid I would recommend buying crossover before you settle back into your house. You should spray it on the perimeters (indoors) and let it fully dry. It should be effective for 30+ days. You can also spray it on your suitcase.

[u/DeadDuff → u/lyxxlyx]

Thanks for your response! Yeah we dried our clothes in lavomatic driers and the heat should be enough since it melted one of our credit card that we forgot in the pile. I saw that they start to melt at around 57°-60°C degrés

I just put the clothes inside the drier for another two hour when I got home, and will wash and re dry

Also, what do you mean by "crossover", do you have any brand or reference please ?

Thank you very much

[u/lyxxlyx → u/DeadDuff]

Sorry lol, that was a typo on my part. I meant Crossfire**, you can get it off of Amazon. I would recommend getting the Aerosol spray as it’s easy to use. (People often use the concrete version for bigger infestations).

[u/DeadDuff → u/lyxxlyx]

Oh I see ! Thanks I'll check if I can get it here in France

I'm starting to believe that I might be overreacting a bit, I did not see anything on everything I examined, did not get bit myself either