Month: April 2022

While a description of bed bugs can be helpful, we all know that a picture is worth a thousand words. Whether you’re wondering if the creepy-crawly you found is a bed bug or you’re just curious, we’ve got bed bug images galore for you to check out so you know what bed bugs look like. If you’re trying to identify a bug you’ve found in your home, here are a few features to consider:

• What is the size and shape of the insect?
• Does it have wings?
• How does it move? Does it fly, crawl, or jump?
• Do you see antennae or a prominent mouth?
• What color is it?

All of these will help you determine if you do, in fact, have bed bugs or if what you’re looking at is something else. It’s helpful to know because while certain types of insect infestations can be remedied with DIY solutions, bed bugs are usually a different story and require the help of a professional. Read on to learn more about what bed bugs look like and to see bed bug images to help you out.

What Are the Different Types of Bed Bugs?

In the United States, the type of bed bugs you’re going to see the most are C. lectularius or C. hemipterus, which are known respectively as common bed bugs and tropical bed bugs. These are both common in the USA and in Europe, so even if you’ve been traveling around the country or in Europe, if you have bed bugs, this is probably what you have in your home.

If you have traveled to the Southern Hemisphere and spent some time in Africa or South America, it’s possible that some L. boueti bed bugs have hitched a ride home with you. Even avid world travelers aren’t very prone to this, however, since these critters prefer to feed on bats, not humans. Still, if you’ve been in one of these areas, it’s possible. 

When treating bed bugs, it doesn’t generally matter which type of bed bug you’re dealing with, as long as they’re actually bed bugs.

There are some other bugs that look very similar to bed bugs, though, and they might require a different approach. These mostly feed on either bats or birds, though, so while you might occasionally get one of these insects in your house, especially if you keep chickens or have a large population of bats near you, you’re not likely to have an infestation.

How Big Are Bed Bugs?

Most bed bugs are about the size of an apple seed. They’re about 1/4 inch long when they’re fully grown. If a bed bug has just eaten, it will often look rounder and a bit larger. While adult bed bugs are usually a medium-brown color, they’ll often look darker and redder if they’ve fed recently. 

Young bed bugs, called nymphs, are smaller and a translucent yellow or beige color. They’re more difficult to see because they’re lighter in color and a bit see-through. If they’ve recently fed, however, they’ll take on a reddish-brown or even black color.

What Do Bed Bug Eggs Look Like?

Bed bug eggs are tiny, only about one millimeter long. They’re pearl white, and they’re often found in clusters in the same places you’d find adult bed bugs. For example, you might find bed bug eggs in the seams of your mattress, in the space between the baseboard and the carpet, or under couch cushions. As the eggs mature, they’ll develop a tiny black spot. Eggs hatch after about two weeks.

What Do Bed Bug Bites Look Like?

Unlike mosquito or ant bites, bed bug bites are typically clustered on the skin. The bugs bite and feed, bite and feed, so you’ll often see them in a line, in a zigzag pattern, or in a little cluster of several bites. They’re red and they look similar to mosquito bites. 

Because bed bugs inject an anesthetic chemical as they feed, you won’t feel it biting you. You also won’t feel any itching until that anesthetic wears off, which takes a few hours. Bed bug bites are itchy, but they’re not likely to become infected, and bed bugs don’t spread any diseases. 

What Does an Infestation of Bed Bugs Look Like?

An early infestation of bed bugs doesn’t often look like much because the bed bugs are hiding by day and you might only experience a few bites here and there. Unfortunately, these critters multiply quickly, so a small infestation will rapidly become a large one in a relatively short period of time. Since a female bed bug can lay between two and seven eggs per day, you can see how just a handful of bugs can create a whole colony in very little time.

Once the infestation is well-established, you might find bugs on your mattress, on the wall behind your bed, on your carpet, or on other upholstered items in your home. They can also infest non-upholstered furniture, such as dining room chairs or your desk. You might find dark spots on your sheets from rolling over onto the bugs in your sleep, and you might also smell a sweet, musty odor that the bugs emit if they’re crushed. 

More Bed Bug Images 

Knowing what you’re up against is half the battle when you’re dealing with a bed bug infestation! Check these images against the bugs you’re seeing to determine whether you have bed bugs, and if so, please contact a professional exterminator to help you solve the problem.

How can you find bed bugs during the day? This can be a challenge! Bed bugs generally come out at night and feast on humans who are sleeping or resting in the vicinity. During the day, they hide in tiny crevices where they can stay out of sight. We’ll go into all of the info you need on how to find bed bugs during the day, but here are a few facts to get you started:

• Knowing where to look will help bring these buggers to light more quickly.
• If you can’t find actual bed bugs during the day, there are signs that will tell you that you do, in fact, have a bed bug infestation.
• Keep in mind that finding one bed bug almost definitely means that you have lots and lots of bed bugs.
• You will want to take immediate action if you find even one of these creatures.

What Do Bed Bugs Look Like?

Before you can look for bed bugs, you need to know what they look like. Bed bugs are small and brown. They’re oval-shaped and flattened, so they fit in super skinny cracks and crevices. Sometimes they’re fatter and redder after they’ve eaten. Since they eat at night, you’ll want to keep the time of day in mind when you’re looking; they’re likely to look plumper in the morning than in the afternoon.

They’re anywhere between 1/8” to about 3/8” long, depending on their age. While the smallest bed bugs can be difficult to see, they’re not too small to see with the naked eye.

Bed bugs have six legs and no wings, though you can see what looks like wing pads on the backs of adult bed bugs. They scurry, but they can’t jump or fly.

Can You Check for Bed Bugs During the Day?

While it’s difficult to find bed bugs during the day, it’s not impossible. What you need to do is look where they’re hiding. For the most part, they won’t be hanging out on your sheets or your pillowcase; instead, they’ll find tight, often dark areas where they can hide undetected until after the sun goes down. 

The edge of your mattress near the seams is a good place to start looking. Strip your bed and take a good look all along the edges. Remove the pillowcases and check the inner seams. You can also move the mattress and look at the edges of the bed frame that support the mattress. They might be hiding between the carpet and baseboard, or between the slats of wood if you have hardwood floors. 

You might not find any bed bugs even if you have an infestation, but there are other signs you can look for that will tell you that you have unwanted guests.

What Are Other Signs That You Have Bed Bugs?

When you’re looking during the day, you’re likely to find a few clues that you have bed bugs even if you don’t see any live bugs. Here are a few of them:

• Dead bugs. You might roll over onto live bugs in your sleep, and this will kill them. Dead bed bugs look just like live ones, only they might be flattened and surrounded by a little dot of fresh blood if they’ve recently eaten.
• Bed bug skins or shells. These critters molt their skins as they grow, leaving behind what looks like an empty bug shell. These skins are translucent and the size and shape of a bed bug, but more often, you’ll find pieces rather than a full shell.
• Bed bug poop. Yep, it’s not the most pleasant thing to find in your bed, but if you see brown dots or tiny smears, you might have stumbled upon the feces of bed bugs.
• A musty odor. When bed bugs get squashed, they emit a smell that’s similar to that of a stink bug. If you don’t know what a stink bug smells like, it’s a musty, slightly fruity smell. So if you have a musty or fruity odor in your bedroom, consider a possible infestation as the cause.
• Bed bug bites. There are several types of insects that can bite, but bed bug bites are characteristic in that they often occur in lines or clusters. Whereas a flea or a mosquito might give you one or two bites, bed bugs will often bite in a series of nips, leading to a pattern of dots on your skin. They tend to be very itchy.

What Should I Do If I Find a Bed Bug?

If you do find a bed bug during the day or otherwise (or if you simply find signs of bed bugs in your house), you’ll want to take quick action. Bed bugs can reproduce at an alarming rate. Female bugs can lay up to seven eggs per day, and they hatch after two weeks. Six weeks after hatching, the babies can begin reproducing. You don’t need to be a math whiz to recognize that you can have a very large infestation very quickly if you ignore the signs of having bed bugs in your house.

It’s also important to keep in mind that by the time you find bed bugs or detect the signs of an infestation, you don’t have one or two or a dozen bed bugs. You have a lot.

So, what should you do? Ideally, you will realize that you have this problem during the day and you will immediately call an exterminator, who will have the time that day to go to your house and begin an effective treatment. 

Unfortunately, these things do not always happen in an ideal fashion, so you might realize the problem at midnight, on a holiday, or on a week when your local professional exterminator is overbooked and can’t make it for a few days. 

In this case, you can try some DIY mitigation tips, but understand that it’s very unlikely that they’ll eliminate an infestation. You’re really going to need to get in touch with a pro ASAP. In the meantime, try these tips:

• Wash your sheets, blankets, comforters, and pillowcases in hot water and dry them on high in the dryer. Don’t try to save the environment or your money by washing in cool water or hanging the sheets on the clothesline; this isn’t the time for that. High heat kills bed bugs and their eggs, so that’s what you want to use.
• While the laundry is going, get out your trusty vacuum cleaner and vacuum the room to within an inch of its life. This means vacuuming the mattress, the bed frame, between the mattress and the box spring, the entire floor, any other furniture in the room, and the edges of the baseboards. 
• Try to get a mattress cover that encases the entire mattress. Put that on the mattress before making the bed up again with fresh, clean sheets and blankets. You’ll want to leave that cover on for weeks or even months unless your bed bug exterminator tells you otherwise, because any eggs in the mattress could hatch and you want to keep those bugs from emerging, feeding on you, and reproducing.
• Repeat these steps in each bedroom in your home. Also, vacuum every piece of furniture and every floor in the home. Wash whatever fabric you can (such as curtains and throw pillows) in hot water and dry on high heat if it’s safe for that particular fabric. 

Knowing how to identify bed bugs and how to find them during the day will help you get on top of an infestation sooner rather than later, so if you think you might have these unwelcome critters in your home, be alert for the signs and call in a professional as soon as you have confirmation that you have them.

If you’re in the midst of an infestation of bugs in your bed, you might wonder, does bleach kill bed bugs? While it’s understandable that you’d want to try just about anything you have in your house to combat this problem, the unfortunate answer is that bleach isn’t going to be of much help. Here are some things you should know:

• Bleach is caustic and can kill one or more bed bugs on contact.
• It’s too harsh to use in amounts large enough to do any damage to a bed bug infestation, however.
• You also wouldn’t be able to get bleach into the tiny areas where the bed bugs are living.
• Most DIY measures simply aren’t up to par when it comes to eliminating bed bugs.
• There are some ways you can reduce the number of bugs, however, and we’ll talk about them in this article.

Why Won’t Bleach Kill Bed Bugs?

Bleach will kill bed bugs if they’re submerged in it. So you could pick up bed bugs and place them in a jar of bleach to kill those individual bugs. The insects would also die if you were to spray them with bleach, as would their eggs. Additionally, if you add bleach to your washing machine while laundering bed-bug-infested linens, it will help kill off the bugs and eggs. So in these ways, bleach will kill some bed bugs.

However, bed bugs live deep within various recesses and crevices. Eggs are often deep inside mattresses, far from the outside surfaces. There’s no way for you to get the bleach into these areas even if you wanted to. So while you might conceivably be able to kill a few bugs with bleach, it’s not a strategy that will get you very far in terms of eliminating the problem. Keep in mind that bed bugs reproduce at an alarming rate; a female can lay many eggs each day, so killing the bugs you can see isn’t going to take care of an infestation.

Is It Safe to Try Using Bleach to Kill Bed Bugs?

The short answer to this is no. Bleach is toxic to bed bugs, yes, but it’s also toxic to humans, so if you were to go around spraying your upholstered surfaces with bleach, not only would you kill a few bugs but you’d also be exposing yourself and your family to toxic fumes and harsh chemicals. Furthermore, you’d likely ruin your furniture and, potentially, your clothing.

Can I Use Other Household Chemicals to Treat Bed Bugs?

In the throes of a bed bug infestation, it’s natural that you’d want to try something (anything!) to combat the problem as soon as possible. Rummaging around under your sink is likely to present you with a bunch of options, but none of them will really be suitable for handling an infestation. Here are a few examples of things that won’t work to treat a bed bug problem:

• Hydrogen peroxide: Like bleach, hydrogen peroxide will kill bed bugs with direct contact. Also like bleach, it will lighten anything you apply it to, so be careful not to spray or pour it on upholstery or clothing. It won’t treat an infestation, but it can be used to kill individual bugs.
• Rubbing alcohol: Again, it can kill on contact but will do nothing for an infestation. Keep in mind that rubbing alcohol is highly flammable and has a strong smell that shouldn’t be inhaled for any prolonged period of time.
• Hairspray: Some people claim that hairspray will kill bed bugs. It can, if you successfully get it on an individual bug. Unfortunately, like the other DIY methods, it won’t do anything for a colony of bed bugs camping out in your bedroom.
• Household pesticides: Typical household pesticides contain pyrethroid or pyrethrin, which is often touted to kill bed bugs. Today’s bed bugs are often resistant to these chemicals, however. In addition, they’re not always safe to use around humans or pets. 

What Can I Do to Kill Bed Bugs?

There are some things you can do that will help control a bed bug infestation even if it won’t completely eliminate it. This is useful if you wake up at night and find bed bugs or if you realize you have a problem on a weekend, when it might be more difficult or more expensive to get a professional exterminator. 

First, remove the sheets and blankets from the beds that are affected. Wash these in hot water (you can actually use some bleach in the water if it’s safe for the fabric) and detergent. You’ll want to dry these on high in the dryer, too.

Vacuum your mattress and all around the bed, including along the baseboards, around the bed frame, and between the mattress and headboard. Think about the tiny areas where bed bugs might be hiding, such as in the mattress seams and on and under the box spring. Do this in every room that might be affected.

Don’t forget that bed bugs can live in other areas of the home, too, including the living room couch, the recliner, and even in and around upholstered kitchen chairs. Vacuum around all of these areas and launder throw pillows and blankets.

If you have a cover that encases the entire mattress, put that on, as it can prevent the bugs that hatch from eggs inside of the mattress from biting you.

Keep in mind that these are temporary measures; to completely eliminate a bed bug problem, you’ll really need to hire a professional.

How Do Professional Exterminators Deal With Bed Bugs?

Is an exterminator really necessary when dealing with bed bugs? Yes, usually. While you can reduce the number of bed bugs on your own, you aren’t likely to be able to eliminate the problem. Professionals know how to deal with these critters in a way that’s safe for you and deadly for them. 

They have a variety of tricks up their sleeves, including:

• Heat applications
• Injection of pesticides into crevices
• Spot treatments
• Pesticide dust

Some exterminators even have specially trained dogs who can sniff out infestations!

In addition to these measures, they’ll do some of the same things you’re advised to do on your own, like encase your mattress in a cover, vacuum, and clean the bedding. 

Even with professional treatment, it will take a couple of weeks to largely solve the problem, and it will likely take more than one application. In addition, your mattress might need to stay encased for a much longer period of time, as bed bugs trapped inside can live for months without a food source. 

If you follow the self-help methods and also hire an exterminator, it’s likely you’ll be sleeping comfortably within a matter of days and bed bug-free after about two weeks. Finding bed bugs in your home is never fun, but it’s not a lingering problem as long as you act as quickly as possible and remain watchful for any signs of a re-infestation.

You might have heard anecdotes about people using baking soda to kill bed bugs. Is there any truth to these tales? The most likely answer is no. Baking soda doesn’t have any qualities that would cause harm to these common creepy-crawlies. 

• Baking soda is often rumored to be a good DIY method of dealing with bed bugs, but it doesn’t work.
• There are other similar substances sometimes recommended, but they generally don’t work, either.
• You can reduce the number of bed bugs taking up residence in your home with some simple DIY measures, however.
• You’ll probably still need to call in a professional unless you caught your infestation extremely early.

Ready to read more about it? We’ve got the facts you need in this guide to why you shouldn’t count on baking soda to take care of your bed bug problem.

Why Can’t You Use Baking Soda to Kill Bed Bugs?

The reason people think baking soda would work to kill bed bugs is that it’s a powder that tends to be drying. In some cases, if an insect is covered in a powder, the powder absorbs liquid from the bug, dehydrating it. In theory, some folks believe baking soda can accomplish this mission, leading to quick deaths and the termination of the bed bug infestation.

Unfortunately, baking soda doesn’t work that way. Instead of dehydrating the bugs, it’s more likely to just break down when exposed to moisture. So, even if the powder does make it into the insects’ shells, which is unlikely, it’s not going to do enough harm to kill them.

Other theories might be that baking soda is sharp enough to irritate and cut up the insects’ exoskeletons or that it’s harmful if the bug were to eat it. On the first note, it’s not true; baking soda isn’t abrasive enough to cause damage to the insects. And on the second, bed bugs drink blood and wouldn’t ingest baking soda. 

Another reason you can’t really use baking soda to kill bed bugs is that bed bugs hide in tight spaces. Even if baking soda worked, there’s no way you’d be able to get it into every crack and crevice where your creepy-crawly bedmates are hiding. These areas might be tiny cracks in your headboard, the space between your carpet and the baseboard, or between the boards of a wood floor. 

What About Diatomaceous Earth?

If you’ve thought about the ways baking soda might kill a bed bug, you also might have considered diatomaceous earth, which is a substance that does work to dehydrate bugs. It also works by damaging their exoskeletons. 

This substance can be used to exterminate other types of insects, such as crickets and slugs, but it’s not effective on bed bugs. A small 2013 study found diatomaceous earth ineffective when it comes to controlling bed bugs. The conclusion was that while it’s good for softer-bodied insects, bed bugs aren’t particularly prone to dehydration from powdery substances. The study did show some improvement when diatomaceous earth was used on a small infestation where the residents weren’t home much, but for typical infestations, it’s considered ineffective.

Are There Any DIY Substances You Can Use to Kill Bed Bugs?

There are a variety of do-it-yourself bed bug remedies floating around the internet, but do any of them work? Here are several that you might have read about:

• Vinegar: While vinegar might kill some bed bugs on contact, you’re not going to be able to apply enough of it to eliminate an infestation.
• Rubbing alcohol: Similar to vinegar, rubbing alcohol can kill bugs when you spray it directly on them but won’t cure an infestation.
• Bleach: Bleach is caustic and can kill on contact, but that’s all. It’s also not safe to be spraying bleach around your bed and it can harm your mattress. 
• Lysol: Lysol kills bed bugs, but it doesn’t kill their eggs. Since a female bed bug can lay an impressive number of eggs each day (500 over their lifetimes!), using Lysol won’t solve your problem.
• Dryer sheets: While dryer sheets might, in theory, repel bed bugs, they definitely won’t be any help if you already have them.

So, if bed bugs are so difficult to get rid of on a DIY basis, what should you do if you see the signs of an infestation?

What’s the Best Treatment for Bed Bugs?

The best treatment for bed bugs is a combination of at-home measures and professional help. 

The fastest way to get rid of bed bugs is to call an exterminator. These pros see bed bugs all the time and know how to rid you of your problem quickly and as simply as possible. They’ll use a combination of manual cleaning and chemicals to physically remove the bugs they can see and kill the ones they can’t see.

Remember that bed bugs hide in tiny crevices, so any home remedies you try aren’t going to be able to get to them. They also lay eggs, which are not always susceptible to the same substances that kill adult bugs. This combination of attributes makes bed bugs notoriously difficult to evict once they’ve found a comfy spot in your home.

In addition to securing the services of a professional exterminator, you can help the situation along by keeping the area as clean as possible. Strip your bed and wash all of the bedding on high heat. Dry it on high, too. Keep the comforter from draping down to the floor. Vacuum all around the bed, mattress, bed frame, and floor under and around the bed. If you have books, clothing, or anything else stacked up anywhere near the bed, remove it and clean around it.

When you combine your efforts with those of a pro, you’ll be saying buh-bye to those bed bugs in a matter of a week or two. While you can’t use baking soda to kill bed bugs effectively, teaming up with an exterminator will have you itch-free as quickly as possible.

The idea of having bed bugs might make you downright itchy, and for good reason. First, they’re squirmy and creepy, and the psychological reaction to having insects in your home or on your body might make you feel a bit squeamish. They also bite, and those bites can lead to quite a bit of itching. But when answering the question, “can bed bugs live in your hair?”, we have some reassuring news:

• No, they don’t live in your hair.
• They actually don’t live on your body at all.
• They also won’t live on the bodies or in the fur of your cats and dogs.
• Bed bugs like to live in dark crevices, such as under your mattress.
• They do, however, feed on humans.

Keep reading to learn more about why bed bugs don’t live in your hair, where you’ll find them instead, and other considerations to keep in mind.

Do Bed Bugs Live in Your Hair?

No. Bed bugs don’t live on people; they don’t have “sticky” legs and aren’t able to grip onto hair well, so they won’t take up residence on your scalp. They usually live in small spaces that are dark and hard for a person to access. Examples might be in the seams of a mattress, behind a bed frame, or under couch cushions. They often live in homes, but they can also live in places like hotels and movie theaters. If there’s a hiding spot and one or more humans who spend a few hours in the general vicinity, bed bugs will find that place attractive.

While bed bugs don’t live in the hair, they can crawl across your hair as they seek out some exposed skin to bite. If you have thick hair, it’s unlikely that they’ll bite your scalp, as they don’t want to bother trying to dig through your hair to get to the blood vessels just under your skin. Instead, they’ll usually go to other areas of your body, like your neck, back, arms, or legs.

Can Bed Bugs Live on My Pet?

Bed bugs don’t live on pets for the same reason they don’t live on humans. They prefer hiding. They also are unlikely to bite your pet, especially if he has thick fur. If you have a pet with thin fur or no fur in some patches, that makes it more likely they’ll experience a bite. In addition, if the bed bugs don’t have a nice, tasty human to snack on, they might go take a bit of your pet’s blood, even if they have to forage through the fur to find their skin. Overall, though, your pet is at low risk of being bitten.

It should also be mentioned that, unlike ticks and mosquitos, bed bugs don’t carry parasites or diseases. So you don’t need to be concerned about your pet (or you!) picking up a virus or some other nasty germs from bed bugs, even if they do get bitten.

How Can Bed Bugs Go From One House to Another?

If bed bugs aren’t hanging out in your hair or on your body, how do they manage to travel so easily from home to home? They don’t jump or fly from person to person or from pet to pet. Instead, they usually hitch a ride on your clothing, in a suitcase, in a backpack or purse, or on some other fabric that you are toting along with you. 

If you stay in a hotel with bed bugs, for example, they can crawl into your luggage and make it into your home that way. In fact, the next time you check luggage, it’s possible that someone else is carting home these little buggers and that some of them might decide to move into your luggage while in the cargo hold!

Bed bugs can also travel through checked coats or from someone else’s furniture into your purse or even in the seam of your jeans. We know it’s not nice to think about, but that’s how they manage to get around so quickly.

How Can I Prevent Bed Bugs From Entering My Home?

Preventing bed bugs is much easier, more effective, and less stressful than trying to mitigate the situation once they’ve moved in and made themselves comfy in your comforter. Here are a few tips to keep in mind while out and about:

• Don’t put your bags on the floor of hotel rooms. Also, avoid putting them on upholstered chairs and on the bed. Instead, choose a hard surface, like a counter or table. You can also use the luggage rack if there is one.
• Pull back the sheets from hotel beds. Make sure you don’t see any bugs or debris that could indicate a current or recent infestation. If you bring your own pillows with you on vacation, buy inexpensive ones that you can leave behind.
• Use mattress covers that encase the mattress. You can also put one on your box spring. This will prevent bugs from hiding in the seams of the mattress, and they’ll also make any insects easy to see right away.
• Check second-hand furniture carefully for signs of an infestation. You might be able to pick up an upholstered chair for a steal at a thrift store, but it’s important to make sure you’re not getting some unwanted critters thrown in for free. Check under cushions and along the seams of furniture for live or dead bugs, pieces of their shell, or rust-colored spots that could be left by their feces.
• Keep your home, particularly your bedroom, free from clutter. Minimizing potential hiding spaces can help you become aware of an infestation more quickly than if they’re allowed to breed and multiply unchecked. Vacuum regularly, paying special attention to the areas behind and around the bed, under the night tables, and between the mattress and box spring.

What’s the Best Way to Get Rid of Bed Bugs?

The best way to rid your home of bed bugs is to call a professional exterminator. You can try to defeat them yourself by meticulously cleaning soft surfaces, washing laundry in hot water and drying on high, and vacuuming very frequently. If you want relatively quick results, though, it’s best to call in a local exterminator to solve the problem. They will use chemicals that are safe for you but not so safe for the bugs, and your treatment will usually include two visits. 

Bed bugs are uncomfortable to think about, and they can make you and your household members quite itchy due to their bites, but keep in mind that they’re not dangerous and they can be dealt with. Don’t panic; instead, contact a trusted exterminator and follow their instructions carefully to beat your bed bug problem in just a couple of weeks.