These parasites can lay eggs in our belongings during a trip, and we unknowingly bring them home.
So why wait to unpack?
In one of his TikTok videos, Dr Singh explains that bed bug eggs typically hatch within six to 10 days. The young bugs, called nymphs, need a blood meal to continue developing. However, if they remain locked in a suitcase, they will not be able to feed and will starve and dry out.
Dr Singh, however, emphasises that a few days of closing a suitcase is not enough to avoid an invasion. He suggests that travellers should not open their suitcases for at least two weeks.
“Now you have a reason to laze around after your vacation and just let your unpacked suitcase wait for the right time. I mean, let’s be honest, what kind of psychopath unpacks immediately after returning?” asks Singh.
Some TikTok users expressed their satisfaction with the news, especially those who have a habit of leaving their travel bags unpacked long after returning from vacation.
“I’ve never been so happy to have ADHD because my suitcase has been sitting unpacked for ages,” wrote one TikTok user.
“For the first time, a doctor praises my laziness,” someone else commented.
But for those who can’t go two weeks without unpacking their suitcase, an entomologist told Travel and Leisure that there’s a faster way to get rid of bedbug eggs: Just put the clothes in your suitcase in the dryer or dry clean them on high heat.
Just washing the items may not be enough because the water during washing is not hot enough to kill bedbug eggs.
