Do I trust the Pest Guy? (a.k.a. DEFCON 1)

[Green Eyed Lady]

See? Most people would see this as a bit of an over-reaction. Not me. I have goosebumps reading this. I'd have him put all of this clothing in a plastic bag before he puts it in the car. I'd have him drive home naked. 

You are probably worrying a bit much and simple precautions should take care of it. I hate telling someone to take their stuff to a laundry mat because lots of disadvantaged people wash their children's clothing there and they don't want crud either. Just use very hot water and bleach what you can. If you aren't worried about loss, toss what you can't bleach. Leave his golf bag in the garage.  For travel, put it in the trunk away from his bag of clothing that should be in a plastic bag.  Take your vehicle to one of those places that washes outside and cleans inside.  You'll be ok.

If not?  Yuck.

[gs11rmb]

I'm a little confused. Why do you think he's going to bring back an infestation of cockroaches? They're not like bed bugs.

[ArchietheDragon]

This is grounds for divorce. Tell your husband to stay in Chicago.

[Green Eyed Lady]

Jun 27, 2016 9:01:05 GMT -5 gs11rmb said:

I'm a little confused. Why do you think he's going to bring back an infestation of cockroaches? They're not like bed bugs.

Yeah...but if there are cockroaches...what else is in there?

[gs11rmb]

Jun 27, 2016 9:06:31 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Jun 27, 2016 9:01:05 GMT -5 gs11rmb said:

I'm a little confused. Why do you think he's going to bring back an infestation of cockroaches? They're not like bed bugs.

Why wouldn't he bring them home,  they've now had 3 days to get into all his stuff.   Add to that a hotel that has an active roach infestation obviously doesn't have a comprehensive pest control protocol, meaning that they are not treating for bedbugs.  

I live in the south and cockroaches are common (we have a pest control service) but we've never had bedbugs. I think you're over-reacting.

That being said, cockroaches are gross!

[alabamagal]

I would only worry about bedbugs. Have him closely inspect bedding ( under sheets) for signs there. Bedbugs are one thing you can bring home in his luggage that can cause problems.

Roaches like food. As long as he does not bring home food in his clothing bag, especially open food and snacks you should be good.

Washing in detergents will kill bugs. Heat in the dryer will kill germs so don't bother ruining clothes in hot water.

I grew up in land of cockroaches. I am visiting my parents last night. They have a clean house and we saw a roach last night. I will not take any precautions when I get home.

[Sharon]

Jun 27, 2016 8:59:30 GMT -5 Green Eyed Lady said:

See? Most people would see this as a bit of an over-reaction. Not me. I have goosebumps reading this. I'd have him put all of this clothing in a plastic bag before he puts it in the car. I'd have him drive home naked. 

You are probably worrying a bit much and simple precautions should take care of it. I hate telling someone to take their stuff to a laundry mat because lots of disadvantaged people wash their children's clothing there and they don't want crud either. Just use very hot water and bleach what you can. If you aren't worried about loss, toss what you can't bleach. Leave his golf bag in the garage.  For travel, put it in the trunk away from his bag of clothing that should be in a plastic bag.  Take your vehicle to one of those places that washes outside and cleans inside.  You'll be ok.

If not?  Yuck.

My DD works for a pest control company.  She said one of the most likely places to pick up bed bugs is the laundry mat.  People get an infestation of bed bugs so they take all their bedding to the laundry mat, since they don't want that in their own washing machine.  Then it is piled on the floor or where ever while they are working through the laundry.  Voila bed bugs at the laundry mat.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Um, tell him to buy a Tyvek coverall with hood from Home Depot, some flip
flops, a new car, and ditch everything else and drive home. Seriously. He should have checked out after the second cockroach sighting.

No one needs a nightmare like that brought back home. (Shudder).

Oh, and tell him next time to spring for a 5 star hotel. Of course there are never any guarantees, but a 5 star is going to care if they had any insectual "squatters".

Ugh.

[Green Eyed Lady]

I now have the creepy crawlies.

[NoNamePerson]

Jun 27, 2016 9:13:42 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Jun 27, 2016 8:59:30 GMT -5 Green Eyed Lady said:

See? Most people would see this as a bit of an over-reaction. Not me. I have goosebumps reading this. I'd have him put all of this clothing in a plastic bag before he puts it in the car. I'd have him drive home naked. 

You are probably worrying a bit much and simple precautions should take care of it. I hate telling someone to take their stuff to a laundry mat because lots of disadvantaged people wash their children's clothing there and they don't want crud either. Just use very hot water and bleach what you can. If you aren't worried about loss, toss what you can't bleach. Leave his golf bag in the garage.  For travel, put it in the trunk away from his bag of clothing that should be in a plastic bag.  Take your vehicle to one of those places that washes outside and cleans inside.  You'll be ok.

If not?  Yuck.

I'm about ready to have him stop by the on his way home and pitch it all.   I'm willing to let him keep the golf clubs,  after that I'm not sure. 


And to be fair if I were the one that was suspected of being a carrier I would do the same to myself. 

He's more likely to bring home sh## from the . Bodily fluids from bodies, animal feces, homeless hanging around with all kinds of diseases.  

[Deleted]

I'm from the South, too, so seeing a roach isn't that scary although they are nasty.  You are just as likely to bring one home from the grocery store or get an infestation from a package mailed to you. They feed on the glue. Both are banished from my home. When we get a package, the box goes into the outside garbage immediately. 

Heat doesn't really kill cockroaches.  So I think the garage thing is fairly useless.  That's more standard for bed bugs.  Did you confuse the exterminator? 

If you are really afraid one will piggyback its way to your house, the only solution is probably to throw everything away.  Well, you probably should keep Mr. Sroo.  I would think they would like the golf bag as much as anything else.  They like dark, warm spots.  You could probably keep the clubs.

The truth is I wouldn't do any of that stuff, though.  Is routine pest control (ours is quarterly) also a Southern thing?

[milee]

I live in Florida, where even the multi-million dollar homes have a roach walk in every once in a while. Unfortunately, they're just a fact of life down here and if you keep a reasonably clean house, the roaches don't stay and are relatively easy to control.  Although I wouldn't like to see a roach at a hotel, I wouldn't worry too much about one coming home since even in the off chance that one did, it wouldn't stay in the house long. In other words, I am worried about - and know how to prevent/eradicate - things like bedbugs, lice and ticks, but since roaches are so prevalent, just know to keep a clean house and they don't stay.  

For bedbugs, lice and ticks, it's not the wash that kills them, it's the heat.  Doesn't hurt to wash your clothes and stuff but it's the drying or heating that actually kills the nasties.  So what I do is leave all luggage outside the house.  Dirty laundry goes directly into the washing machine and it's dried on an extended time dry so the heat can kill things.  The things that don't get washed like the suitcase are put into large black garbage bags and laid on the concrete driveway in the direct sun.  The sun heats the contents of the bags up and after a few hours, kills any remaining creepy crawlies.  You could do that with your husband's golf bag, too.

[busymom]

Don't forget to check the bag he keeps his golf clubs in! Bedbugs LOVE crevices to hide in during the daytime. (Don't ask me how I know this. We got bedbugs in our house after moving a relative out of a senior apartment complex. We didn't know until the last day of the move that the complex had a bedbug problem. Guess who found 'em as we were stripping the sheets off the bed.) I'd never seen 'em before, so I went on Google to get more information.  Difficult to get rid of!

[lurkyloo]

He drove, right?  Put everything in the car/truck, leave it parked in direct sun all day.  Heat will kill most anything* and is pretty much the most effective defense against bedbugs.  Have him strip in the garage and go straight to the shower; clothes can go in the truck too.

*Probably best to double-check what temp is needed to kill cockroaches though, I think they're pretty hardy.  I suppose you could also set off a bug bomb in the car for good measure; just be sure to air it out well before you drive it anywhere.

[NastyWoman]

Jun 27, 2016 9:13:42 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Jun 27, 2016 8:59:30 GMT -5 Green Eyed Lady said:

See? Most people would see this as a bit of an over-reaction. Not me. I have goosebumps reading this. I'd have him put all of this clothing in a plastic bag before he puts it in the car. I'd have him drive home naked. 

You are probably worrying a bit much and simple precautions should take care of it. I hate telling someone to take their stuff to a laundry mat because lots of disadvantaged people wash their children's clothing there and they don't want crud either. Just use very hot water and bleach what you can. If you aren't worried about loss, toss what you can't bleach. Leave his golf bag in the garage.  For travel, put it in the trunk away from his bag of clothing that should be in a plastic bag.  Take your vehicle to one of those places that washes outside and cleans inside.  You'll be ok.

If not?  Yuck.

I'm about ready to have him stop by the on his way home and pitch it all.   I'm willing to let him keep the golf clubs,  after that I'm not sure. 

Will you provide him with a towel to cover up for his ride home or does WI have nudists roads? (NastyWoman starts thinking road trip here   )

[toomuchreality]

@sroo4

I completely understand your logic and your concern!


If I think about this much more, I'll have to live the rest of my life in a bubble and will require many, many more years of therapy. 

YUCK!

[weltschmerz]

Jun 27, 2016 8:42:03 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

So last night I get a call from MrSroo,  he's near Chicago at a golf tournament.   He starts to bitch about how filthy the hotel is that he's staying,  and part way through his story about room service plates being left out for over a day he slips in "No wonder I saw a cockroach running up the wall" 

Guys,  this was my face    



So I told him NOTHING comes into our house (I had to put it in perspective for him by saying he'll be lucky if I let him in the house).  I said that he will have a set of clothes and shoes  waiting for him in the garage.  He's to wrap everything up and chuck it in the backyard in the sun until I can figure this out.   So this morning I call a local pest control company,  they guy said there's nothing really to be done except for keeping everything in the garage, taking all clothes to the laundermat to wash and dry on hot, vacuuming the car, and not letting anything else in the house.

To put this in perspective I was prepared to pay to have his truck treated along with some of the harder items to clean (golf bag, etc)


So now here's my question (I should mention that I'm paranoid about bedbugs and other infestations and I'm more than a healthy dose of cynical).   Will all of the above work,  or is this guy setting me up for a full house infestation and the $$ it would take to treat it? 

I'll also take any and all suggestions on what I can do.   I'm seriously thinking he should just stop at the on the way home,  pitch everything except for the golf clubs


   

Do you have any idea how many places you go to every singe day, that have everything from roaches to rats to bedbugs?

[NoNamePerson]

Would love an update @sroo4. Did you allow hubby back into the house or did you have a portable shed pulled up to back yard and is his living there.

How about building him his own house so when he goes away again he won't have to worry about bringing home any unwanted varmints!!!!  

Oh, and I'm curious how you found a pest guy if no pest in your part of the woods Swatting at flying bugs is summer entertainment

[Wisconsin Beth]

My mom found a bug under her stove a couple years ago. She popped it into a jelly jar and took it to the bug guys to find out what it was, since she didn't recognize it. Baby roach.

She'd found more of them when she pulled out the stove too. But the moral here is my Mom and Dad have a super clean house; not a lot of clutter and it's organized. My mom scrubs walls seasonally in the kitchen.

She had the house sprayed. No more since that one incident. We still don't know how they got in the house.

[NoNamePerson]

Jul 1, 2016 9:21:55 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

My mom found a bug under her stove a couple years ago. She popped it into a jelly jar and took it to the bug guys to find out what it was, since she didn't recognize it. Baby roach.

She'd found more of them when she pulled out the stove too. But the moral here is my Mom and Dad have a super clean house; not a lot of clutter and it's organized. My mom scrubs walls seasonally in the kitchen.

She had the house sprayed. No more since that one incident. We still don't know how they got in the house.

Sneaky little buggers, they come in from the outside. I actually watched one get paper thin and come thru the closed sliding door. I had my exterminator tell me they could do that and I didn't believe him but I actually saw it with my own eyes.

Of course the varmint didn't make it all the way thru - I hit him with all my might with a broom. Stopped it it's tracks. I'm just glad I didn't destroy the door in the process since I broke the broom part away from the handle when I hit roach. I don't fool around when killing things