Signs of Bed Bugs to Look For After Finding Bites

In most situations, the first clue that you have a possible bed bug infestation on your hands is that you wake up with red, itchy spots on your body. Bed bugs feed on blood and end up irritating the skin. But, what happens when you have what appears to be bed bug bites, but you don’t find any signs of the blood-sucking insects?

If you find red, itchy spots on your skin, the first thing you’ll want to do is look for other warning signs of bed bugs in your home. Aside from the red spots, be on the lookout for any of these other common signs:

Blood Stains

Bed bugs tend to be messy eaters, so they may drip a little blood onto your sheets while feeding. Or, perhaps during the night, you rolled over on one of them and squished a little blood out of it. This won’t be enough to kill a bed bug due to their small size and ability to flatten, but it’ll leave behind a small, red stain.

Bugs and Eggs

If you actually see a bed bug, that’s obviously the best sign that you have a potential infestation on your hands. That being said, bed bugs are small and typically stay well-hidden, so there’s not a lot of chance that you’ll actually see one unless you wake up while being fed on. The same goes for bed bug eggs. They’re quite small and a great indicator of a bed bug presence, but you’re not likely to see any.

Musty Odors

The pheromones emitted by bed bugs are often referred to as being similar to cilantro, raspberries, or coriander. With a severe infestation, your room may smell like wet towels or moldy laundry. If there aren’t any other causes for these odors that have appeared all of a sudden, then this may be a sign that you have bed bugs in your home.

Fecal Marks

As with any insect, bed bugs have a need to defecate. Although they’re small, which means the fecal matter will be small, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll be able to see it on light-colored sheets. They will appear as either brown or black spots and may also be found along the edges of mattresses and other out-of-the-way spots in the furniture.

Possible Explanation of Bites Found on Your Skin

If you see no signs of bed bugs in your home despite having what looks like bites on your skin, there could be another another explanation.

Here are a few possibilities that you should look into:

Other Insects or Spiders

Just because you find no signs of bed bugs doesn’t mean that you don’t have a pest problem. Bites also come from small insects like fleas and mites, so you should inspect the area for those, as well. Many people will automatically think that they have a spider bite, but while that’s possible, spiders very seldom bite unless provoked.

Household Products

Very often, what appears to be a bite is actually some kind of allergic reaction due to a household product. If your skin has become splotchy, this is more likely to be an irritant such as a new soap, deodorant, etc. If you haven’t purchased any new items lately, be sure to ask anyone else in your household because you might have been exposed to something without realizing it.

Environmental Factors

There are also several environmental factors that can cause a rash on your skin or irritation that results in itching. These include things like insulation fibers from your HVAC system, tiny pieces of fabric that adhere to your skin, or large amounts of paper or cardboard in offices and similar areas. A common reason some of these occur is that you’ve had your ceiling or HVAC system worked on recently.

Heat Treatment for the Elimination of Bed Bugs

Everyone wants to maintain bed bug control, but many people have no idea how to get rid of them and will often start spraying chemicals all over their bedroom. Suffice it to say that this won’t work very well. The best course of action is to hire a professional pest control company and have them conduct a heat treatment.

Heat treatment will kill bed bugs by raising the temperature of your home to a level that’s unsafe for them but safe for your household. This will eliminate bed bugs in all forms, including larvae and eggs.

Contact ProHealth Pest Control for Bed Bug Heat Treatment

Whether or not you see signs of bed bugs in your home, it never hurts to get it checked out by a professional. ProHealth Pest Control can conduct an examination of your pest problem and use a heat treatment or other methods as necessary. If you have any questions about our pest control services, give us a call at (727) 308-3470 today to schedule a free consultation.