Bed Bug Identification

Bed Bug Identification

Appearance

Bed bugs are characterized by flat oval body, reddish-brown coloration and length of about 4 to 5 mm. After feeding, they become swollen and reddish. To get more knowledge, you can read What Do Bed Bugs Look Like?

Behavior, Diets and Habits

The only food bed bugs eat is blood meal. They are capable of surviving a year without eating under favorable conditions. Bed bugs become active when their host is asleep at night.

You can find them in cracks and gaps, including furniture, mattress seams, picture frames, behind wall outlets and baseboards. They are frequently found in hotels where it is easy for them to move from one room to another in visitors’ luggage or their other personal belongings.

Signs of Bed Bug Infestation

1. Seeing the bugs: mature bed bugs look like apple seed.
2. Case skin: they shed as their skin as they grow so seeing shed skins around means they are present.
3. Defecation: bed bugs return to their hiding place after feeding where they defecate. When they defecate on porous surfaces, the result is black to brown stains but when they defecate on no- porous surfaces, it results in black to brown mounds.
4. Bites: this is an indication of bed bugs but will need other signs to really confirm as other sources can also cause swelling on the skin.

How do you get infested by Bed Bugs?

There many places where you can get bed bugs including offices, stores, hotels and gyms. They are skilled when it comes to hiding and can use individuals or luggage as means of transport. They are very difficult to control during infestation unless with the help of a professional in pest control. Early detection can help reduce severe bed bug infestation.

Tips

• Get rid of all litter in your home that can help in hiding bed bugs
• When you wash your bed sheets, dry them on the hottest temperature possible.
• Examine thoroughly any already used furniture before adding it to your home.
• Check your home properly after receiving overnight visitors, traveling or service calls.

How serious are Bed Bugs?

Reproduction

Female bed bugs are capable of laying an average of 5 eggs daily and about 200 to 500 eggs during their life cycle. They can survive for more than 300 days when conditions are favorable.

Bed Bugs and Disease

There is a possibility that bed bugs are carriers of diseases but there are no confirmations on their transmission of diseases. To know more, read Bed Bugs and Diseases.

Bed Bug Bites

They feed only on blood and the response of individuals to bed bug bites vary as some individuals do not react to the bites as others do. To be able to recognize bed bug bites, know about
symptoms etc. read Bed Bud Bites