Some of common questions we get, is what about bed bugs in storage?
Can you get bed bugs from a storage unit?
Can bed bugs survive in a storage unit?
When you rent a storage unit, you want your items to be safe and sound. You definitely don’t want surprise guests coming out of storage with your belongings!
Unfortunately, if you have bed bugs going into storage, you will have bed bugs coming out.
If you put your belongings into a storage facility that has a bed bug problem, you can in turn get bed bugs and take them home with you when you pull your items out of storage.
Bed bugs can survive months, even in very cold temperatures. In one case, we saw a 7 month time frame that bed bugs survived in a (very cold) non-climate controlled storage space. Yikes!
The first thing to do is find a reputable storage facility
In order to keep your items safely stored, you will need to find a storage facility that is reputable and has safe practices in place to prevent bed bugs and any other pests.
- Ask the people you trust for references.
- Online search for reviews
Ensure the storage unit you select has a bed bug prevention plan in place. This means routine canine inspections and preventative maintenance treatments.
Inspecting the storage unit before packing it with your belongings
There are two ways in which your items can get infested with bed bugs in a storage facility.
- By putting your belongings into a storage unit that is infested by bed bugs.
- By bringing your already infested items into a clean unit.
If the storage facility has not provided you with an “all clear” inspection report, you may want to consider an alternative or call to have your own canine inspection done on the unit and adjacent or connecting units.
A bed bug infested storage unit can definitely spread bed bugs to other adjacent units. When you go to pull your items out of storage, you are at risk of taking bugs with you to your destination.
Preventing bringing YOUR bed bugs into storage
Inspect your items before storing them! If you suspect or know that you have a bed bug problem, putting the items in storage will NOT solve the issue. Bed bugs can survive months, even in the cold in units that are not climate controlled. So if you have bed bugs when your items go into storage, you will have bed bugs when you take them out of storage. You are also exposing the storage facility and ALL other storage tenants in the process.
The bottom line is you can get bed bugs from a storage unit, but you can also take bed bugs into storage on your belongings and bring them back out again. If you suspect a bed bug issue, give us a call today to schedule a free visual inspection or a certified canine inspection.
Recent Comments