How to Check for Bed Bugs

Finding bed bugs early is the best form of prevention. If you stop bed bugs from becoming a problem early on, you will save yourself thousands of dollars, get sleep without being bitten, and keep your sanity. Checking for bed bugs is a more complicated process than you might imagine, so don’t go into it blind without knowing the tips that could make all the difference.

How to check for bed bugs? To check for bed bugs, you must know what to look for, where and how to check, and find where the issue originated in your home, so you can eliminate the root of the infestation and avoid having a wide-spread colony of bed bugs.

It is essential to know the following when tackling a bed bug issue in your home:

• What bed bugs look like
• The symptoms of bed bugs in your home
• How to check your entire home correctly
• How to confine bed bugs and prepare for treatment
• Post-treatment work to keep your home clean of bed bugs

It will be far less costly for you to tackle your bed bug issue as soon as you notice them. Knowing how to accurately identify the signs of a bed bug infiltration in your home is crucial. This guide will teach you how to identify bed bugs, how to find them, eliminating the issue, and preventative measures for making sure the bed bugs never come back.

How to Check for Bed Bugs

It is a very unsettling feeling to think that you have bed bugs cuddling with you at night. It is a complicated issue to resolve, which is why many families see them appear many times despite repeated desperate attempts to kill them all completely!

Since they are so difficult to kill, you need to understand bed bugs and take a closer look at what you’re up against. In this guide, we will break down the steps of checking for and getting rid of bed bugs, which are:

• Understanding what bed bugs look like
• Knowing the symptoms of bed bugs in your home to be sure it is a case of bed bugs
• Checking your entire home including less obvious places
• Confining the issue and preparing your home for treatment
• Treatment resources and guides
• Post-treatment work to keep your home clean of bed bugs

What Bed Bugs Look Like

Bed bugs are small reddish-brown insects that are visible to the naked eye. However, the eggs are a bit harder to spot because they are white like the mattresses they are laid in.

Bed bugs go through six stages in life, which can be seen in the picture. They begin as eggs that are small whitish-yellow specks that will be about the width of 2 grains of salt (1 millimeter).

Next, they are nymphs, which can be broken up into five stages. In each of these stages, they will grow about 1 millimeter in length through nocturnal feeding on their host. They require a blood meal for each stage of their development and then will molt their skin to grow larger.

 

By the 5^th feeding, at around one to two months of age and depending on how optimal your indoor climate is, they will become full-grown adults measuring between 4-6 millimeters in length.

By this stage, you should be able to see them without a magnifying lens, but the eggs are the real issue to deal with. Many who are fighting bed bugs say they continue to purge their home only to have a new colony hatching every two weeks and re-infesting their home!

With each female being able to lay an average of 350 eggs in her lifetime, this is a cycle you want to end earlier rather than later.

Knowing the Symptoms of a Bed Bug Infestation

The signs to look out for that could indicate you have a bed bug problem include:

 

• Itchy red marks – This is obvious. If you’re waking up from being bitten every night, it’s probably not mosquitoes. The indications of it being bed bugs will be that there will be many red bites, often in clusters, straight lines, or zig-zag patterns. The bites are not poisonous, but these parasites can leave humans with marks that are quite irritating and, if left untreated, could lead to infection. You may notice them mostly on your shoulders and arms because those body parts are often left exposed while you’re sleeping.
• An unpleasant odor – Perhaps you aren’t covered in bites, but you are noticing an odd smell. The beg bug pheromone will have a funky aroma, almost like a wet towel. In large numbers, the smell will be quite powerful and undeniable. It may also be an indicator of bed bugs in a hotel room if you smell it upon walking in.
• Seeing bugs – The last sign is visibly seeing bed bugs on your bed.

The Process to Check for Bed Bugs

Now that you know what you’re up against, follow these steps to begin the hunt for these creepy crawlers:

1. Put on gloves to prevent biting. This is an essential step, so they don’t latch on to the clothes you’re wearing and hitch a ride around the house.
2. Know what to look for by understanding what bed bugs look like. Bring some magnifying lenses to be sure you’re spotting all the eggs.
3. First, you will strip the sheets and check there. Remove the comforter, sheets, and shake them all out outside before searching the bed.
4. Put the bedding into a tightly tied garbage bag or plastic sack to confine the issue while you’re doing your search.
5. You’ll be looking for small reddish-brown dots and clusters of eggs. You’ll also be looking for dark blood spots, stains, and excrements on the bed.
6. Check the bed with a flashlight and magnifying glass and swipe the entire bedding with a credit card or paint scraper. You will quickly see if anything is scraped up.
7. Check under the mattress cover and any mattress pads as they like to hide deep in the layers of your bed.
8. Slide the bed out so you can check on the side of the mattress that hits the wall. Bed bugs like to hide near the head of the bed rather than the foot, so flip over your mattress to check if they’re on the underside of your bed.
9. Now that you’ve scoured the mattress and bedding, you’re going to check between the wooden beams and foundation of your bed, as well as the rug or carpet beneath it.
10. Search the perimeter of the room because bed bugs can hide anywhere that is as wide as a credit card.

These are the general steps to take when searching your bed but don’t make the rookie mistake of stopping there.

Check More Than the Bedroom

This is an issue that leads to recurring cases of bed bugs - Don’t assume that they will only hide in your bed! If you clean the bed with something that deters them but doesn’t kill them, they will hop over to another spot. This is why intensive measures need to be taken and not just quick fixes that will only make their immune systems stronger.

The other places you need to be checking for an entire sweep of your home include:

• Check your pet’s beds - Always check here as pests, ticks, and fleas tend to gravitate to pets and their bedding. Wash all pet bedding in hot water with bleach and check weekly for improvements.
• Check rugs and carpets – This is the first spot that the colony will jump to when leaving your bed. If you’ve sprayed lemongrass but nothing toxic, they will find a new neighborhood to reside in and spread across your entire home throughout the carpets.
• Check the curtains – They are also not afraid to move high and scale your drapes, so check both sides of your curtains as well.
• Check baseboards – Bed bugs find tight spaces that are underutilized and quiet to hide in. They may be hiding right in front of your eyes in the most obvious places.
• Check your reclining chairs and living room – Although they are nocturnal, these bugs are known for hiding where you rest. Because of this, you need to check everywhere that you sit or sleep, including between the cushions and under your couch.
• Check screws – They can also hide in the screws of wooden built shelves, dressers, bedside tables, and desks. Check the underside of each of these and even inspect the tiniest holes in screw tops.

If the problem persists, you may need to check behind electrical items and outlets, behind wallpaper, or by taking apart your bed. These are desperate measures that you don’t need to worry about unless the issue continues, and you still can’t find the bugs.

If your bed bug issue is this bad, it may be time to hire a professional to handle the problem for you. They have the chemicals to do it right the first time if you invest in a quality pest control agent with high reviews and high success rates.

Confine the Infestations – Pre-Treatment

Now that you’ve checked the entire home thoroughly, you’ll want to confine the colony and either suffocate or deny them blood. This may sound morbid, but they are feasting on your body at night.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warns, “Jumping straight into control is tempting, but won’t work. Preparing for treatment is essential to getting successful control. It will also help by making it easier for you to monitor for bed bugs that haven’t been eliminated. This preparation should be conducted whether you are doing the treatment yourself or hiring a professional.”

Wash all the bedding and upholsteries in your home with warm to hot water and bleach. The best option to use will be Clorox because it has a high concentration of sodium hypochlorite, which will kill bed bugs.

Keep everything in plastic bags while you’re going through your home and treating it. This way, the bugs don’t hop from one fabric item to the next while you’re doing the laundry. You’ll want to wrap up all sheets, towels, pillows, children’s toys made of fabric, clothing, or any other fabric that could be harboring bugs.

Remember to gently place them in a secure plastic bag or trash bag. This is because if you throw them around, rip your sheets off, or do something abruptly, they may all come flying off before you can confine them.

Since they are attracted to warmth, if you are comfortable with leaving the bags outside in cold weather for a while, winter may be an excellent time to help your cause.

Keep in mind that if you’re in an apartment building or hotel room, it will be harder to prevent this because bed bugs can move between the wallpaper peelings, electrical outlets, or other crevices. This means they can happily move between apartments, and your neighbor's infestation could become your infestation.

If you can’t get the bugs off an item – like a mattress which can be challenging to clean, experts recommend you throw it away and eliminate it from your home. It’s a harsh reality but also the most recommended solution.

Bed Bug Treatment to the Rescue!

Now, if you’re reading about checking for bed bugs, you’re probably looking to treat the issue and find solutions! Well, you’ve come to the right place as this guide will be your one-stop-shop for all things bed bugs.

The ways to get rid of your infestation once you’ve correctly located and readied your home for treatment are:

• Vacuum everything – Now that you’ve cleared the home of fabrics to wash, suck up these vampires with your vacuum and throw the vacuum bag away outside of the house when you are done.
• Put baking soda down, and then vacuum everything again – The baking soda will absorb the blood from these creatures and dehydrate them. Once they’re dead a day or two later, you can vacuum and reassess the issue.
• Use heat - Bed bugs hate extreme heat. You can melt them with your hairdryer or a fabric steamer that reaches over 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
• You can also freeze the bags of fabric you’ve confined the issue to or bake them in your hot car in the peak of summer. Be sure all bags are sealed for either of these solutions, but the extreme heat or extreme cold will kill bed bugs. Leave the bags in extreme temperatures for around 4-7 days for full effectiveness.
• Spray essential oils like lavender, peppermint, and tea tree oil on the infested fabric — around 15-20 drops in a spray bottle of warm water.

If this sanitization of your home is not fixing the infestation, it may be time to call in a professional. These bugs are often able to become immune to pesticide treatments, so always read reviews to hire a quality pest control worker.

Preventing Bed Bugs from Ever Returning

Taking steps to prevent the bed bug infestation will be the most cost, time, and energy effective method of dealing with these pests. The best treatment is prevention, so don’t get lazy once you think the problem is solved, or it may come back in full force!

Some measures you should take to keep your home clear of bed bugs permanently are:

• Don’t buy secondhand – When it comes to secondhand items, the truth is that you don’t know where it came from or why it was donated. Perhaps it was thrown out because it has bed bugs. Never purchase used mattresses, luggage, or furniture.
• Always inspect hotel rooms – A quick search of your hotel room can make sure you're not bringing any bed bugs home with you.
• Wrap your luggage – Some people wrap their luggage in plastic wrap while traveling to be sure no bed bugs hop into their carry on during the night. This may seem extreme, but it’s an excellent method for prevention.
• Seal cracks in your home – Make sure nothing can creep into your home by spraying treatments on the cracks, doorframes, baseboards, and wallpaper seams of your home.
• Do seasonal inspections – An inspection of your home every few months could help you spot the issue before it grows into a full-fledged infestation. Plan on checking your home at least four times a year or up to once a month if you want to be diligent. You can even do a check of your mattress each time you wash your bedding.

In Conclusion

You now have the knowledge you need to get rid of a bed bug infestation. You also have the resources to prevent them in the future! There are many solutions to bed bugs, so don’t stress out about the issue and be more proactive by putting that energy into solving the problem.