Bed Bug Identification & Prevention

You think you found a bed bug. There are signs of bed bugs on a mattress or in sheets that you can look for. If you wake up with itchy areas that weren’t there when you went to bed you may have bed bugs. Remove your bedding and do a thorough search of the mattress, sheets and surrounding area. Look for signs like:

Bloodstains on your sheets or mattress.

Dark or rusty spots on your bedding and nearby walls from bed bug excrement.

Bed bug fecal spots, eggshells, or shed skin in areas bed bugs may reside.

An offensive musty odor from the bed bug’s scent gland.

Be sure to also check the surrounding area around the bed. Bed bugs will hide in many places. Remove the dust cover of box springs and carefully examine the seams in the wood frame. Peel back the fabric where it’s stapled to get a closer look. Check anything on your nightstand including inside any books, telephones, and radios. Also, check the edge of carpets and even electrical outlets for signs of bed bug infestations.

Under ideal conditions, you can have a bed bug infestation in as little as 3 – 4 weeks!

A female bed bug can lay 3 to 5 eggs a day, and up to 500 in the span of its lifetime. These eggs hatch in 6 to 10 days into baby bed bugs called nymphs. Nymphs will molt their skin five times before reaching adulthood. They require at least 1 feeding before they molt. An average lifespan of a bed bug is 2 – 4 months.

Where do bed bugs come from? Bed bugs are found where a lot of people come and go. You’ll find them in hotels, hostels, shelters, and apartments. They like to hide in small nooks and crevices. Bed bugs can hitch a ride on luggage, pets, furniture, clothing, boxes and pretty much anything you bring into your home.

Bed bugs are found worldwide but are more common in developed countries. Bed bugs were once a rare thing in the United States, but has seen a rise in population due to more international travel and the government’s ban on a popular, but dangerous, insecticide DDT.