How Summer Camps Get Bed Bugs

Bed bug infestations is a serious problem for a summer camp. Not only can it be expensive to shut down the camp and hire an exterminator, there a lot of hidden costs that can affect your camp in the future.

For example, the parents of your campers might decide to send their children elsewhere because they associate your camp with that one infamous bed bug incident. That’s a horrifying situation for any summer camp administrator, so it’s important to know about how your camp can get bed bugs and what you can do to stop them.

How You Get Bed Bugs:

Bed bugs aren’t going to march their way to your camp on their own. No, they need a little assistance to get there. Here are a few ways that they get in to your camp:

Bugs are often carried into their new homes by people. That means that you, your campers, or anyone else who comes into the camp facility might be an unknowing accomplice to a bed bug infestation. This can happen a few different ways:

• On the campers themselves
• Hiding away in the campers’ possessions
• Nesting in old furniture or other items that are brought in to the camp

Once they get into your camp, they can spread very fast. According to Orkin, female bugs may lay up to 500 eggs in its lifetime. From there, these pests can stain furniture and bite campers, leaving itchy, red bumps in the middle of the night.

Ways to Help Defend Against Bed Bugs

One way to protect your camp from bugs is to limit the ways they can get in to the facility. That starts by being careful with what you bring to your camp.

As tempting as those cheap, used couches may be for an administrator on a budget, you might not be able to know exactly where it came from or what it’s been exposed to. Avoid shady furniture and stick with new items where you know they’re good to go.

Unfortunately, that won’t stop the spread of bed bugs by your customers.You can’t tell campers to stop coming to your camp, so you’ll need to take some measures to protect your facility from an infestation. There’s no bed bug proof furniture, but there are a few solutions that can limit the chances of an infestation.

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Bed bug furniture solutions like interceptors and encasements can help shield items like pillows and mattresses from these pests. Certain furniture styles will also limit the places where bed bugs can hide, such as lacquered solid wood, chemically-treated metal, or molded plastic.

As a contract furniture distributor, we can offer you the bed-bug resistant furniture and solutions you may need to protect your business. Make a Furniture Concepts Wish List today to get a price on our furniture solutions today.

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