A Freaking Bed Bug???
By Jim Bauer
@porwest (112717)
United States
November 20, 2019 4:37pm CST
I was sitting at the computer desk in my hotel room, when for whatever reason I looked up and saw something creeped up between where the wall and ceiling meets. It was small, kind of looked black (due to the lighting), but also (based on how it was sitting) looked to be exactly the right shape and size of an adult bed bug.
Bed bugs are not black. Still. The lighting.
In a former life I did pest control, and I am very familiar with the identification of bed bugs.
I have to admit I freaked a bit. I tried to get a closer look. But I simply could not SEE it good enough to figure out what it was. But damn if it did not look like a freaking bed bug.
Shite! Shite! Shite!
So, I grabbed my phone and snapped a picture so I could blow up the picture and get a better look at it.
Right away it became clear to me that this was simply a tiny spider. But man was I relieved.
When you look at it up close it looks nothing at all like a bed bug. I don't complain much about my rooms. But had this turned out BE a bed bug I would have promptly left the hotel, asked for refund, and NEVER stayed at this location again.
16 people like this
16 responses
@LindaOHio (222222)
• United States
20 Nov 19
You have to be sooooo careful these days. They are everywhere. I'm glad it was a spider!
3 people like this
@porwest (112717)
• United States
20 Nov 19
Me too. One thing I always try to remind people, when the discussion comes up about cheap hotels, that our most severe cases were actually in five star hotels. That's because of people traveling from abroad. People tend to think that bed bugs are more prevalent in cheap hotels. It is actually the other way around. They are more likely to be found in very expensive hotels.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222222)
• United States
21 Nov 19
@porwest I remember when they invaded some of the high-end department stores in New York City. It's all a matter of where their clothing is coming from or who walks into your store. Everyone and everything can carry bed bugs!
1 person likes this
@porwest (112717)
• United States
4 Dec 19
@LindaOHio I was in pest control and I used to try to explain to people that when it comes to cockroaches and bed bugs, cockroaches are generally about filth. Bed bugs have nothing at all to do with filth. You are more likely to find cockroaches in a 1-Star hotel and more likely to find bed bugs in a 5-star hotel. People have a hard time wrapping their heads around this.
1 person likes this
@sprite1950 (30461)
• Corsham, England
21 Nov 19
This is something that would seriously freak me out. I don't know anyone who has had them and always thought they were more common in the US but it turns out that Europe is just as likely to get them.
1 person likes this
@porwest (112717)
• United States
4 Dec 19
Most of the bed bug issues we encounter in the U.S. are from people traveling abroad. India is one of the culprits. But there are other places as well. It is weird for most people to comprehend that you are more likely to find bed bugs in a 5-star hotel here than in a cheap hotel.
@Deepizzaguy (122067)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
21 Nov 19
It is a shame that a hotel that you went to had those mean old bed bugs.
1 person likes this
@porwest (112717)
• United States
5 Dec 19
@Deepizzaguy No worries. I will put away the tar and feathers I had set aside for you...this time. 
1 person likes this
@dgobucks226 (37621)
•
25 Nov 19
Wow, that would of really "bugged" the heck out of me!!!
1 person likes this
@sweetashoney (3597)
• United States
21 Nov 19
I know you were so glad that it wasn't a bed bug. To my understanding, thats how a lot of people get bed bugs in their house, is because the hotel room they stayed in had them. I watched a program were they used a light and showed how the bugs would be in the rim of the suitcases. So when people carried their suitcases into their house, they were also bringing in the bed bugs.
@Alexandoy (65302)
• Cainta, Philippines
20 Nov 19
Bed bugs are nasty pests. We were once attacked by bed bugs in our home. It took us so many sessions of cleaning and fumigating before we declared our home to be free of bed bugs.
