It is a fateful moment, whenever you wake up to discover mysterious red bumps on your legs that appeared during the night. The truth hits you, and makes your stomach drop—you’re a fresh victim of bed bugs. So, what do you do now? It’s time to do your own bed bug inspection and see if bed bugs are really the unwanted culprits after all.
Look for These Foundational Warning Signs
There are a few foundational warning signs that you can look for that will clue you into whether or not you have a bed bug infestation. Your bed is the place to start. Are there strange stains on your bed sheet or mattress, with a redish tinge to them? These could be signs of bed bugs that have been crushed. Also, small dark spots in your bed that are about the size of a period on a page—these may be bed bug excrement, and are a surefire sign that the little pests have been in that area. These small dots may bleed into or across lighter fabrics similar to how a marker does on a piece of paper. Look for this sign to help you determine if small dark dots are truly bed bug excrement, or if they’re something else entirely.
When the Evidence Is Unquestionable
The cherry on top of investigating for bed bug infestation is the cold, hard proof of finding a real bed bug for yourself. Bed bugs molt their skin through several of their life stages, which means that they leave a hollow shell of themselves behind whenever and wherever they do molt. These shells often accumulate in spaces where bed bugs frequent or where they hide during the day. These shells are a pale yellow color, similar to cicadas, and are about 1mm in length. Bed bug Eggs also often accumulate in these hidden spaces. These eggs are tiny, slightly elongated, and pale white-yellow in color.
How to Identify A Bed bug
The last straw in collecting evidence of bed bugs is to find one, whether dead or alive, so that you have definitive proof of the type of pest you are dealing with. Adult bed bugs are 4 to 5 mm in size, and they’re a general brown color. Once adults have fed, they turn more of a redish-brown because of the blood that they’ve consumed. The adults are easy to see with the naked eye. The tricky part is that they like to hide in tight, concealed spaces, so finding adult bed bugs is more a matter of knowing where to look.
Favorite Hiding Spaces of Bed bugs
Bed bugs come out to feed, typically at night when it is cooler as they don’t actually prefer strong heat. Their preference for tight, enclosed spaces means that you can narrow down your bed bug search to a few key locations in your home. Furniture seams in your couches, chairs, and cushions are a favored hiding spot. They’re tight and hidden, but also provide quick access to feed for frequent visitors. Drawer joints may be an unexpected haunt for bed bugs as well, as well as inside of shoes or inside of hiking equipment. Electrical appliances, such as the inside of speakers, are an ideal bed bug haunt that you may not have expected. They stay concealed, and speakers usually have a good deal of empty space inside of them.
The main issue with finding bed bugs is that they can hide in a wide range of small, tight spaces. Young ones can hide inside the head of a screw! Adults can sneak into the crevice between the wall and the ceiling, or stay concealed behind peeling wallpaper or photographs hanging on your walls. Although their name implies that they live inside of your bed, they can actually haunt just about anywhere in your home. The main point is that they come to where human and animal bodies are in order to feed, though they prefer human. So they’ll come to where you sleep in the night, usually disappear before you wake up, and leave behind puffy red marks on your skin and a fresh determination to do something about them.
How to Inspect for Bed bugs
With these tight and concealed hiding spaces in mind, you can do your own in-home bed bug inspection to see what you find. A flashlight and a flat-edged object, like an expired gym membership card, are great tools in your search. The flashlight will help illuminate whatever you see clearly, so that you can distinguish between regular specks of dirt and proper bed bug symptoms. The flat-edged tool will enable you to gently scoop out contents tucked inside of crevices or hidden spaces, so that you can get a clearer idea of what’s hiding there. Wearing rubber gloves is a good idea as you undertake this process, to keep your hands protected and clean during your search. It might also help turn down any feelings you have about being grossed out!
Where to Check, In Summary
The list could go on and on, but these are some key places that you should check for bed bugs during your search:
- Sheets and mattresses, including the seams and folds
- Inside your box spring mattress
- In the folds of curtains
- Inside of speakers
- Along the framing of dresser drawers
- Behind peeling wallpaper or wall hangings
- Cushion, sofa and chair lining
- Edges of carpets and corners of ceilings
This is just a simple checklist to get you started. Bed bugs can be discovered in some unexpected places. While it’s never a delight to realize you have such unwanted visitors, knowing what kind of pests you are dealing with can help you strategize the perfect battle plan for exterminating them properly.
Contact A Professional Exterminator Today
Professional exterminators are your ticket to fully and completely riding yourself of unwanted bed bug pests. If your search turns up with hard evidence of an infestation, then it’s time to contact your local exterminator today. They can use a combination of heat and chemical treatments in order to completely kill all the stages of bed bugs. They can also provide comprehensive cleanup services, that will remove the pesky signs of bed bugs that lead you to this dilemma in the first place. Don’t suffer in silence! Contact a pest control expert today.