What Are the Early Signs of Bed Bugs in Your Home?

Early Signs of Bed Bugs present in your home.

There are a lot of annoying pests that can invade your home, but bed bugs are definitely up there with the worst of them. Even though bed bugs don’t typically spread disease, they feed on your blood and can cause irritation and infection. Bed bug infestations can happen very quickly and it’s imperative that you address them right away.

The first thing you’ll need to do, though, is to confirm that bed bugs have become a problem. We’d like to help you out, so we’ve put together a quick list of the early signs of bed bugs to watch out for:

Live Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are very good at hiding in cracks and crevices in your furniture, including bed frames and mattress seams. If you’re planning to do a bed bug inspection, then you’ll need to leave no stone unturned. Plus, another problem you’ll run into is that since adult bed bugs are so small — only reaching seven millimeters when engorged with blood — they’re very difficult to see in the first place.

Bed Bug Eggs

A female bed bug will lay between one and seven eggs per day, and those eggs typically take 7-10 days to hatch. They’re only approximately one millimeter long, oval-shaped, and pearly white. You’ll typically find bed bug eggs stuck loosely to surfaces. They look like grains of rice except much smaller, so even though you can see them with the naked eye, it can sometimes be difficult.

Shell Casings

As a bed bug transitions from one part of its life cycle to the next, it will shed its exoskeleton. These yellowish-brown, translucent shell casings are usually found in the same hiding spots including furniture, mattress seams, cracks, crevices, etc. Their small size makes them difficult to spot, but they’re one of the most reliable pieces of evidence that you have an infestation.

Fecal Marks

Like other pests, it’s very common for bed bugs to leave their feces in visible areas. They appear as dark brown or black spots, as you might have guessed, and are approximately the size of a pen tip. You’ll often find this fecal matter in harborage areas — meaning where the bed bugs are located — but they could show up on your sheets or other fabric.

Bloodstains

If you discover unexplained red or rust-colored stains on your sheets, then this may be a sign of bed bugs. These will show up for one of two reasons.

First, when a bed bug first starts feeding, the blood might not clot right away, which means that a little bit of blood could leak out. The other possibility is that during or following the feeding process, when the bed bug is engorged, you may move or shift in such a way that the bug is squeezed and a small amount of blood comes out.

Bed Bug Bites

One of the most common early signs of bed bugs is discovering that you’ve been bitten in the middle of the night. Bed bug bites appear as red, itchy bumps and often show up on your arms, hands, and legs. In some cases, a few bites will be in a row. The act of feeding is usually painless, so you may not discover the bites until the morning.

Musty Odors

Bed bugs release pheromones whenever they’re being bothered or threatened. The pheromones have been compared to raspberries, coriander, cilantro, and almonds. If you have a severe infestation, the odor will typically smell like rust, wet towels, and moldy laundry. Just keep in mind that as far as early signs of bed bugs go, this is usually the least common.

Best Treatment for Bed Bugs

If you’ve noticed any signs of bed bugs, then you should call a professional exterminator right away. An exterminator will visit your home, inspect the area, and verify whether or not you have a bed bug problem.

There are a few different techniques to get rid of these pests, but a bed bug heat treatment is the preferred method. This technique raises the temperature in your home or a specific area, which will kill all bed bugs and their eggs in a safe, organic way. The beauty of this treatment is that no hiding spot will keep them safe.

Contact ProHealth Pest Control If You See Any Early Signs of Bed Bugs

The professionals at ProHealth Pest Control use a bed bug heat treatment that will take care of an infestation right away. If you see any early signs of bed bugs or have any problem with rodents, spiders, cockroaches, ants, wasps, mosquitoes, or any other pest, call us at (727) 308-4087 today to schedule a free consultation.