Bed bugs are the peskiest of pests. We don’t like them just as much as you don’t like them. Below is some useful information on identifying bed bugs. Or, feel free to check out our Beg Bug description in our pest library.
Don’t know? Don’t care? Just want them gone? Schedule an appointment to get rid of your beg bugs!
Common Signs of Bed Bugs
- Dark flecks or spots on your mattress or box spring
- Insects in the seams of your bedding or mattress
- Linear patterned bites on your body
- Translucent insect shells (shed skins) on or around your bed
What Does a Bed Bug Look Like?
Unfed adult bed bugs are golden brownish red in color; engorged adults are reddish brown, and bed bug nymphs (babies) are translucent yellow tinted with a darker squiggle on the abdomen.- Depending on life stage, bed bugs can range from 1mm to 1/4″ in size.
- Bed bug body shape is oval and flat when unfed and more swollen and elongated when they’ve fed.
- They have visible antennae and six legs
- Bed bug eggs are barely visible, clear, and about 1mm in size.
Bed Bug Facts
- Can lay one to five eggs in a day and more than 500 in a lifetime.
- Able to survive for several months without eating.
- Withstand a wide range of temperatures, from nearly freezing to 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Draws blood for about five minutes before retreating to digest.
- Freshly hatched bed bugs are so small they can pass through a stitch-hole in a mattress.
- Able to ingest seven times their own weight in blood, which would be the equivalent of an average-sized human man drinking 120 gallons of liquid.
- Hides in cracks, crevices, not easily-disturbed spots, and usually within about 15 feet of their food source.
- Continues to be the most difficult pest to control in the U.S., more than cockroaches, termites and ants.
- Bed bugs are not seasonal, not related to cleanliness, are not limited to residing in beds, and spread more rapidly in urban areas than rural areas due to population and increased public transportation factors.
- Clutter contributes to the worsening of a bed bug infestation by providing more hiding spots for the insects to retreat and breed.
- Uses backpacks, luggage, purses, shoes, boxes, and other similar items to hitchhike their way to the next blood meal.
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