How To Identify And Prevent Bed Bug Infestation

1. Blood Stains on Your Sheets

If you've encountered small and rusty-colored spots similar to that of the blood on your bed sheets or pillowcases, these could be the early signs of bed bugs. The stains might have resulted from their bites.

You need to take a proper look at your mattresses and sheets, more particularly on their edges for any blood stains or marks that resemble the blood. Since they are more likely to bite you at night while are asleep, the bedsheet you use, to sleep at night is the one to look for.

2. Bite Marks on Your Skin

If you happen to wake up in the morning with a line or cluster of red, itchy welts on your skin but you were perfectly fine before you got into the bed, you are more likely to have been the victim of bed bugs.

Since bed bugs are nocturnal they like to bite you at night while you're in a deep sleep. They are found to bite you multiple times in a row mostly on your exposed skin such as the face, neck, arms, and legs. It is safe to say that the bed bugs are your bloodhunters.

3. Molted Skins and Exoskeletons

The molting process can also be referred to as the process of skin shedding. Like other insects, bed bugs have their skeleton on their outer portion (exoskeleton), this needs to be shed for them to grow further and move into the new stage of their life cycle.

The molted skins look very similar to that of the bed bug itself having the same shape with a semi-transparent nature. Actually, they are empty shells often found near their hiding places such as crevices of furniture and walls, alongside or behind your bed panels. If you ever find these molted skins around your home, you should know bed bugs are already established.

4. Bed Bug Feces

You mightn't want to know it but the tiny black spots about the size of the tip of a pen around your house walls, on your bed sheets, and mattresses are in fact, the feces of the bed bugs. The bed bugs are found to excrete digested blood and leave such small, dark spots behind.

If the bed bugs are already in your home, well-settled and feeding, these fecal spots will be more common around your house wall, on the crevices of your room, bed frames, and mattresses.

5. Bed Bug Eggs

The eggs of the bed bug are white or semi-transparent being very tiny about 1mm in size with an oval shape. These eggs are almost invisible and it would be very hard to detect them with your naked eyes.

If you spot something that looks like a grain of rice or white specks safely hidden in places like the fabric of your furniture or on the depth of your mattresses, they are more likely to be the tiny eggs of the bed bug.

6. Musty Odor 

If the bed bugs have started to multiply their population and are present in a larger number in and around your house or closed rooms, they are likely to give some sort of unpleasant smell with a musty odor. The smell is defined as musty or damp with a touch of sweetness, but it is not entirely welcoming.

If your nose catches this kind of smell or odor around your house, there's a high possibility your place has been invaded by the notorious bed bugs. Make sure to check your surroundings right away!

7. Allergic Reactions

Bed bug bites often cause rashes on the skin with swelling and itching. Some people have been reported to even have difficulty breathing. This might be the result of allergic reactions.

If any individual in your house or living with you suddenly starts to experience these reactions in their body, your first suspect should be the bed bugs. They are the initiator of these unfavorable situations in your house or surroundings.

Bed bugs can cause severe problems if your house or bedroom has been infested. It produces an awful odor with black and ugly spots around the walls. Your mattress and bed sheet will have blood stains making it hard for you to sleep with their bites on your exposed skin.

According to a survey, your mattress is the most favored spot by bed bugs with more than 95% of them infesting on it. Do not be late to take action against them, follow the below-mentioned preventive strategies to keep bed bugs away from your sight.

You need to check the bed where you and your family are sleeping every night, and develop the habit of regular inspection every couple of weeks. Take a close look at your mattresses, box springs, bed frames, headboard, and inside of the cracks or crevices for any potential signs of bed bugs such as blood stains, black spots, or shed skin.

You should know bed bugs aren't limited to your bed. They can remain hidden in your furniture as well such as in the couches, chairs, cupboards, and tables. If you are planning to bring the new furniture and if it is second hand then you need to treat it with heat or steam before bringing it inside the home.

Traveling is fun until you bring bed bugs as a guest to your home. You need to make your travel smart. Make the habit of inspecting your hotel room before you consider it your home. Check the mattress seams, headboard, and behind every frame and pictures of the walls for any signs of bed bugs.

Take good care of your luggage by keeping it at a safer distance from your hotel bed. If you find any suspicious signs like blood stains or black spots in the room, or even some sort of unpleasant odor, take the exit right away and find another place to stay. 

Your house should be kept clean and more open. Make sure not to give the bed bugs any spots to hide. Avoid making unnecessary piles of clothes, books, and home appliances giving fewer spaces for the bed bugs to hide.

Make use of your vacuum often, more particularly in those areas where bed bugs are more likely to hide such as cracks, crevices, and edges of your mattresses and bed sheets. Keep in mind to dump the vacuum bag right away after vacuuming. Many people have been using mattress covers or cases which help to seal your mattress.

Bed bugs like dark and hidden places. They are very tiny and can fit into small spots as well. If your room or house has cracks and crevices in the walls or ceilings or anywhere, make sure you seal such portion immediately. Eliminating the cracks and openings would solve half of your problems.

Carefully inspect your home for any potential openings. Keep in mind, we are here talking about small openings as well that have the potential of being home for the bed bugs, make sure you don't skip any potential holes or cracks. Seal them right away!

Apart from secondhand furniture and your return from the travel, bed bugs can get into your house through other mediums as well. Several visitors and relatives often visit your place who might be the potential carriers of bed bugs. These bed bugs might have attached to their clothes or belongings.

Make sure to be extra careful when such visitors get into your home. Isolate them and their belongings making arrangements for their luggage to get stored in some separate place. Avoid making direct contact with their clothes and belongings to keep the bed bugs away from your house.

Another method to prevent bed bugs in your house is to make use of bed bug traps. These traps have also been effective to some extent preventing bed bug infestation around your house, giving you early warning.

It has been suggested to place the bed bug trap under your bed or furniture, nearer their legs. You have to place them in the spot where the bud bugs are more likely to occur. These traps can catch the bed bugs when they try to climb up toward your bed to feed on your blood.

You need to be aware of the bed bugs, their identification, control, and preventive methods. The more you know about the bed bugs, the more secure you can make your house and family.

Make sure to educate yourself with the necessary knowledge regarding bed bugs and try to make your family and friends aware of them too. Watch out for your surroundings and neighborhood for any potential signs of bed bugs.

If your surroundings have been infested, your home is also more likely to get infested. Keep in mind to inspect your house regularly, take action immediately if you encounter any potential suspect of bed bugs. If you are unsure, call for the professionals right away!

Bed bugs are micro predators that feed on the blood of animals and humans, usually at night. Being defined as parasitic insects from the genus Cimex, bed bugs are about the size of an apple seed with reddish-brown coloration, having oval-shaped bodies.

Although the bite of bed bugs is not known to transmit any kind of infectious diseases, it has been found to cause several health impacts such as skin rashes, psychological effects, and allergic symptoms. The adult bed bug is roughly 5 to 7 mm long.

Bed bugs are found to have different appearances as they move forward in their life cycle. They form different shapes and possess different colors at each of their stages. Further descriptions regarding their identification are discussed below:

Adult Bed Bug

Adult bedbugs are wingless and reddish brown in coloration. They are about the size of an apple seed with flat bodies which makes them possible to fit in tiny spaces.

They possess quick locomotive abilities and prefer to live in groups hiding from humans. Unlike other insects or bees, adult bed bugs do not make nests for themselves.

Immature Bed Bug

Immature bed bugs are smaller than the adults and their whitish-yellow color can be seen with the naked eyes. Actually, there are five immature stages of bed bugs with the first stage being extremely difficult to locate and observe. The first stage is the youngest life stage that has been just hatched out of the eggs.

Eggs

Bed bug eggs are very tiny. It has been compared to almost the size of the head of a pin. The eggs possess pearl white coloration with distinctive eyespots if they are older than five days.

Ability to Change Appearance

Bed bugs can change their appearance naturally depending on their feeding status. It has been found that an unfed adult bed bug seems to possess a flat disc-like structure that measures approximately 3/16 inches long.

As soon as it gets to feed on the blood, it has been found to elongate surprisingly like a balloon to look more like a torpedo than a disc having bright red coloration.

Similarly, during the immature stage, a bed bug nymph is completely pale white or yellowish when unfed, however, once it feds on the blood it transforms itself into brilliant red resembling a plump raspberry seed.

Bed bugs are more common these days and are found almost everywhere in the world. According to recent data from early 2023, the top five cities Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Los Angeles are more prone to bed bugs and have been listed as the top bed bug infestation areas in the United States.

The bed bug infestation is rarely caused by a lack of hygiene as per the professionals. However, they are more likely to infest during mobility and frequent traveling to new places via the personal belongings of the humans they feed upon.

Steps To Follow

• The bed bugs and their eggs are more likely to be brought up to new places by visiting person clothing and luggage.
• You might as well invite bed bugs inside your house via infested furniture items such as beds and couches.
• The bed bugs can quickly move from place to place, usually on the floor. If they are given easy routes such as ducts or false ceilings, they might increase their infesting perimeter.
• Wild animals like bats and birds have been found to give shelter to bed bugs.
• Bed bugs have been extremely common in air travel. People visiting different places by airplane are prone to carry bed bugs along with them via their clothing, luggage, or bodies increasing the risk of infestation.