Bed bugs: those creepy little crawlers that can make bedtime a nightmare.
They’re tiny, they’re a nuisance, but they’re very common, with one in five American households having experience of them.
Unfortunately, while they’re quite happy to leave a trail of mess in their wake, they’re actually pretty difficult to locate, as they love to hide.
If you’re left wondering how to tell if you have bed bugs, here are 7 ways you can use to be sure you have an infestation.
Blood Stains on Bedding
If you’re asking yourself, ‘do I have bed bugs?’ the best place to look at is your bedding. For most people, this is where you’re going to find the first sign that something is amiss.
Bed bugs are, in many ways, quite like mosquitos. They consume the blood of their victims, many times their actual body weight. It’s because of this that we’re able to get our first obvious warning sign.
Yes, you’re the likely victim. While this is alarming, those bloody spots on the bedding are usually caused by you squashing bed bugs in your sleep. 1 – 0 to the human.
Unfortunately, it’s not conclusive just yet. Other bugs, or other ailments like acne, could very well be the cause of these stains, so treat it with caution.
Unknown Bites
Thankfully, bed bugs do like to leave some evidence that they’re about. Unfortunately, this particular tip on how to tell if you have bed bugs is a little disturbing.
If you suddenly find you’ve got bites or rashes on your body after a night in bed, you should immediately be concerned. They will usually appear grouped, and in areas like your chest, back, face, hands or feet.
Again, however, we must state that there is a caveat here, and it’s the same as our warning above. Other bugs and insects can cause similar bites to bed bugs, and reactions will differ.
You may suffer a much stronger reaction to bed bugs than other members of your household. If that’s the case, you can’t rule out bed bugs, but you can’t say for sure that they’re the cause, either.
Fecal Matter on Fabric
There are other, more conclusive ways to identify a bed bug infestation. We’re sorry to have to give you this next icky method of how to tell if you have bed bugs, but take a look closely at fabric in a possible infestation area.
If you see dark, pen-like stains that appear to have spread into the fabric, get a damp cloth and lightly rub them. Do they smear?
If the answer is yes, then sorry. What you’ve just discovered is bed bug poop. This fecal matter isn’t really something you want to discover, but if you have, then at least you start to be confident of one thing.
You’ve probably got bed bugs.
Musty Smells in Problem Areas
Keep looking, however. There are other signs that can confirm this possible discovery. If you’re still asking yourself, ‘how do I know if I have bed bugs?’ then start to use your nose.
Bed bugs release pheromones as they ‘work’. The smell has been described as anything from berries to coriander, but we generally think the smell is musty.
In our opinion, it will smell off. Think clothes that have been left damp for a little too long. You might not have the nose to smell it, which isn’t a problem, as you don’t have to rely on the smell for confirmation.
If you do detect a peculiar smell, however, and you’ve checked that isn’t down to dirty washing, add it to your bed bug checklist.
Eggshells
Like most pests, bed bugs rely on numbers to become a true infestation. They reproduce by laying eggs, with just one female usually laying hundreds in their entire lifespan.
When the eggs hatch and the bed bugs begin their life of blood-sucking misery, they tend to leave evidence behind. The eggshells themselves are abandoned after they’ve been outgrown.
Take a close look around a possible infestation area. Look in corners, nooks, and crannies, especially around areas of fabric like curtains or carpeting.
They look a little bit like very small grains of rice. They’re not bigger than a millimeter in length, so if you look closely, you should still see them.
Shed Bed Bug Shells
Bed bugs don’t just leave their birthing shells. Like us, they will often shed their skin numerous times over the course of their lifespan.
With a lot of bed bugs, there’s a lot of shells, and these are a little bigger than their birthing shells. They can range from 2 to 4 millimeters in size, so they’re easier to spot than eggshells, too.
Spotting bed bug shells should be easy enough. Like with the eggshells, take a look in cramped and confined areas where they might be looking to set up home.
Capture Actual Bugs
If you’re finding eggshells or shed shells, then at this point in the investigation, you’re probably already very confident that you’ve got bed bugs.
We’ve already mentioned that bed bugs don’t really like to be caught in the act, but that doesn’t make it impossible. If you want to be certain that you’ve got bed bugs, then it’s time to set a trap.
There are a few ways of doing this. You can set up traps around the legs of your bed to catch them as they attempt to travel to you, their victim, while you sleep.
If that doesn’t sound appealing, then there are more active traps you can try which are designed to trick the bugs into thinking they’re heading to a new food supply. They give off heat and carbon dioxide to simulate a human. The bugs sneak into the trap and then get caught.
With actual bug sightings, you can now start to think about how to deal with the problem. Here are some of our own tips for controlling bed bugs.
Now You Know How to Tell If You Have Bed Bugs
Don’t be upset if you find a bed bug infestation, as it doesn’t mean your house is dirty. Bed bugs, unfortunately, love clean and dirty areas alike. Now you know how to tell if you have bed bugs, you can deal with the problem.
Don’t panic if you have an infestation. Make sure you run through these steps to be sure that the infestation exists, then you can take steps to eradicate them.
When you’re fighting bugs like these, it makes sense to bring in the professional exterminators. If you’re based in Wyoming, give us a call to discuss our bed bug pest control services today.