Is something lurking under your sheets when the lights go out? Are bloodsucking creatures leeching the life from you when you sleep? If so, you may have bed bugs, and you need to get rid of them immediately.
If you are thinking "We have bed bugs!" and need to make sure, then have no fear. We have compiled a guide of five must-know signs containing everything you need to know about bed bug infestations.
Read on for more.
1. You Have Bug Bites
Bed bugs operate like something from a horror movie. While you are sleeping, they emerge from your mattress. Their first job is to pierce your skin.
They do this using a long, elongated beak. Blood is drawn from your body using the beak, and after three to ten minutes the bed bug will be filled with your blood. It will then crawl back to its hiding place.
Bed bug bites are hard to identify, as they look like a lot of other bites. They are small, red bumps that look like small mosquito or flea bites.
These small bites will appear in clusters of zig-zag lines. They can also appear in straight rows.
While bed bug bites are not harmful to humans, they can be extremely irritable. They will itch and burn. If scratched, they can cause bleeding which may lead to infection.
As they are nocturnal if you are developing blotches like this when you sleep it is a surefire sign that bed bugs are inhabiting your sleeping space.
2. They Leave a Mess
Bed bugs are messy creatures and leave many signs lying around so you can spot them. You can check for traces of them by stripping the bed and inspecting it thoroughly. The first place you should look is in the corner of the mattress.
Inspect the corners and the seams. If you can spot small, reddish-brown, rust color spots you have found the mark of the bed bug. These are caused by beg bugs being crushed, releasing their insides, and your blood onto the sheets.
You may also see larger spots, a little darker in color, elsewhere on the bed. This is bed bug feces. It will contain blood and bleed into the fabric a little like paint would.
Bed bugs can also shed their skin and shells. These look like pale yellow skins, and you may also notice eggs that will be around 1mm in size. Of course, the most obvious giveaway is spotting live bed bugs themselves.
To spot a live bed bug, you will need to turn on the lights quickly at night. Bed bugs are nocturnal and will be almost impossible to spot in the day.
3. You Spot Their Hiding Places
Bed bugs hide in a variety of places other than your mattress. In fact, they can quickly multiply and spread to other areas of the house if you do not deal with them immediately. In your bed, they will proliferate in tags, seams, piping, and in with the box springs.
Beds are not the only place they hide. An infestation can spread to seams of cushions, chairs, couches, and the folds of curtains. Power outlets, receptacles, and electrical appliances can also house bed bugs.
Unfortunately, they can also live on and in clothing. This is the way they manage to travel around the home. You should look inside your closets and check your clothing for any signs of bed bugs.
Bed bugs can also live in cracks in the headboard and bed frame itself. They are so hardy they can even live in screw heads, drawer joints, and at the junction where the ceiling and wall meet. If any crack is big enough to hold a credit card, then it can house a bed bug easily.
4. You Can Sniff Them Out
If bed bugs were not unpleasant enough when they suck your blood and leave feces around, they also smell. They release pheromones to communicate, and this transfers to you as a very unpleasant scent. If you can smell it, it also means you have bugs in large numbers as they need a large population to produce enough scent to register with humans.
The smell will have a damp quality, like an unwashed towel. If you find your bed smells like sweaty, moist clothing, then it is another bed bug sign. Get rid of them quickly with a bed bug professional, such as https://www.custombedbug.com/blog/how-long-does-it-take-for-bed-bugs-to-spread-in-portland-and-how-to-get-rid-of-them/
5. You Have Provided the Best Conditions
There are six stages in a bed bug's life cycle. Each stage requires the bed bug to have one meal (usually on you) and for it to shed its skin. That is why they leave such a mess in your bed.
Producing eggs and mating requires males and females to eat at least once every 14 days. 1-3 eggs can be laid each day by a female, and she can produce between 200 to 500 eggs ina lifetime. It will take around four weeks for an egg to hatch into a bed bug.
Bed bugs can survive in most conditions, even temperatures as low as 46 degrees Fahrenheit. If their core temperature reaches 113 degrees Fahrenheit, then they will die. If you plan to use heat to drive them out, then it needs to be intense so it reaches the depths of your mattress and destroys any eggs.
Bed bugs really just need a host to feed off. Even in hot climates, tropical bed bugs have adapted so that they can proliferate in higher than average temperatures. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas.
We Have Bed Bugs, Now What?
Once you tell your family or housemates "We have bedbugs" the next step is to get rid of them. Do a full search of the house, in all the areas mentioned, to see how far they have penetrated.
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