Are YOUR College Kids Bringing Home Bed Bugs from the Dorm?

If there’s one stage of a family’s life that offers up the most changes, it has to be when your children head off to college.

For many families, the summers between school years bring a whole new dynamic – as well as something that you may not have experienced before: bed bugs.

While you may think of bed bugs as a uniquely urban concern, bugs don’t know any difference between a mattress in New York and a mattress in Louisiana.

Anywhere your child goes to school, they may be exposed to bed bugs!

Studies show that bringing home bed bugs from dorms isn’t as uncommon as you may think. Here’s why:

Reasons Bed Bugs Come Home from Dorms

If you’ve ever been in a dorm building, you’ll likely notice that it’s not quite like an apartment building. These are often more like summer camp rooms, with very thin walls.

That means that if one room gets bed bugs – say, if one student brings them from home in their luggage or linens – it’s very easy for those bed bugs to spread to other rooms.

Another common concern is that kids can be messy.

Young college students just coming from home and high school may leave their clothes on the floor, may not wash their sheets as often, and may not pay close attention to the cleanliness of their space. This makes a room a prime breeding spot for bed bugs.

Most dorm rooms have wooden beds, which are porous and offer bed bugs a place to hide in between school years. When your child arrives at the school, it’s important to check the furniture for signs of bugs. Buying a plastic mattress encasement can also help stop bugs from attacking your child in their sleep.

Stored luggage is another concern. If a student had bed bugs at home, those bed bugs are almost certainly in their luggage. And because they keep their luggage stored in their room, right where all their other things are, it’s easy for those bugs to travel to their other things.

Finally, college kids tend to be very social, visiting each other’s dorm rooms, heading to frat and sorority houses, going out to theaters, and generally traveling around to multiple areas where they can both pick up and spread bed bugs. This means that it only takes one student to bring bed bugs from home to spread those bugs to nearly the entire campus.

How to Stop Bed Bugs from Coming Home with Your Student

Here are some suggestions for keeping your child from bringing bed bugs home from college:

First, be sure that your child understands that room cleanliness and personal hygiene are very important for keeping bed bugs away. They should have a schedule for washing their sheets and laundry regularly, and they should also understand why it’s important to never share laundry or linens with anyone else in their dorm. This is one of the best ways to ensure that your child is safe from bed bugs, as much as they can be.

If you suspect that your child does have bed bugs in their college luggage, the best thing you can do is to call a professional right away before the infestation spreads to the rest of your home.

If you can catch them early, before they leave your child’s room or luggage, the cost will be lower, and it will take just one quick application to get rid of the problem.

You can get an estimate on the cost of bed bug removal by calling us at (800) 391-2565 or contacting us online.