Bed bugs in Australian hostels

Theboinkmaster

I'm visiting the east coast of Oz in November and have heard many hostels suffer from bed bugs - anyone any experience of this?

I heard you can't bring sleeping bags with you as now allowed by hostels so should I bring a sleeping bag liner or single duvet sheet & pillowcase?

Also once you leave an infected bed/hostel do your symptons go away? I'm asking this as many of the hostels we're only staying in for 1 night so wouldn't be too bad..

Any comments greatly appreciated!

Glowing

The hostels I stayed in banned sleeping bags and most of them seemed to do their best to avoid infection. I was never bitten.

Take a silk sleeping bag liner with you- you'll definitly need something to cover yourself with as the aircon is usually terribly cold!! The silk will also prevent you from getting bitten. Some of them have pillow sections in them so you can cover the pillow too. All hostels will provide clean sheets and pillowcases though - I think the mattress is generally the problem though!

Afuera

Theboinkmaster wrote:

Also once you leave an infected bed/hostel do your symptons go away? I'm asking this as many of the hostels we're only staying in for 1 night so wouldn't be too bad..

The problem with bedbugs is that they can be easily transported in your luggage and clothes. If you get bitten in one place, it's quite possible you could take them with you to the next place. You should check the room you're going to stay thoroughly before staying there. If there are bedbugs it's likely that there will be a dampish type smell in the room and if you see black stains on the mattress it's time to high tail it out of there.

Glowing's advice on taking a silk sleeping sheet is good as they can't bite through that. Also, if you strongly suspect there may be bedbugs about but for one reason or another can't stay anywhere else, sleeping with the light on will prevent them coming out to bite.

Spider_Baby

Its people using sleeping bags and bag liners that are causing the problem I thought? People using them arent getting bitten, but are transporting the bed bugs from hostel to hostel on their sleeping bags and liners and spreading the problem. I didnt use a sleeping bag or liners in any of the hostels. Never had a problem. Only met 1 guy who got bitten in Oz. He had to put all his clothes etc in bin bags and leave them out in the sun for hours to kill the eggs. Then he had to put them on a very hot cycle in the drier.
I did get bitten loads in a hotel in Chiang Mai though. Luckily they didnt get near my clothes etc though. They just attacked my legs instead. The spots went after a couple of days.

Norinoco

Got them when were are in Shenannigan's in Cairns...only place we came across them in the year we were traveling.

Moved hostel, found the laundry room, bunged everything in the dryer for about a minute each ( we were told this would do the job as good as washing them), and sprayed everything that wasn't clothes with bug spray... there was 4 of us..thats a lot of stuff to disinfect!

Have to say though, the food in Shenannigan's is fantastic, they did a seriously savage lamb shank and mash dish when we were there

WindSock

I stayed in loads of hostels all over Oz and never had a problem with bed bugs. To be honest, there are far more interesting bugs to be worrying about
Ditch the sleeping bag, you won't need one. It's extra luggage that you will be hauling around. Australian hostels are quite clean and well equipped. There are also plenty of shops where you can pick up a sleeping bag cheaply, If you decide you need one later.