HOUSTON – Wedding and baby registries are common, but now there's a rather unusual registry – one for bedbugs.
Bedbugs don't discriminate. They can be found in five-star hotels, motels, homeless shelters and luxury homes.
"You can feel them crawling on you, moving on you," said one Houstonians who was dealing with bedbugs.
"I had to get rid of clothes, beds, furniture," said another Houstonian.
There's now a free public database of bed bug sightings and bitings all over the United States and Canada.
At bedbugregistry.com, people can search by city or ZIP code and get first-hand accounts from victims.
When KPRC Local 2 searched Houston, more than 100 addresses popped up. Each one was a unique entry by someone who claimed to have a close encounter with bedbugs.
"Found a bug that bit me," one person wrote in July 2011. "Ignored it thinking it was just a bug. The next night I awoke to many bugs biting me. Upon flipping mattress, I saw bugs scurrying to the corners trying to hide."
While it's virtually impossible to confirm a person's entry, the information could be helpful for someone looking to move into a new apartment or someone looking for a place to stay for the night.
The registry also allows users to set up alerts, which will be sent by email whenever an issue is reported within a mile of a specific address or ZIP code.