How to Find Bed Bugs in Your Home

Bed bugs are small, blood-sucking that feed on human and animal blood. They belong to the family Cimicidae, contain over 100 species, and have been around for millions of years.

Bed bugs are flat-bodied pests about the size of an apple seed. But once full after feeding, their bodies swell and become reddish. The nymphs or the immatures are closely identical to the adults, except they are much smaller, with a size range of 1/20 to 1/5 inch. They also have a thinner skeleton and have yellowish to white.

Bed bugs are one of the most common household pests. Unfortunately, they are also the most difficult to get rid of. Once they infest an area, it is hard to get rid of them completely. One way to eliminate them is to find out where they are hiding and then treat the area. So how and where do you find bed bugs at home?

Where do Bed Bugs Hide?

When not feeding, bed bugs hide in cracks and crevices. These can be in the bed frame, mattress, or headboard, behind wallpaper or picture frames, under the carpet or floorboards, in furniture, behind baseboards or moldings, and in electric outlets.

They are primarily active at night when they come out to feed but can also bite during the day if hungry. Bed bugs can live for several months without feeding, depending on the temperature and humidity.

Since bed bugs have a flat body almost the same width as a credit card, they can squeeze into tiny spaces. This is why it is essential to check all potential hiding spots when looking for them.

How Can You Find Bed Bugs?

Bed bug infestation can be difficult to find and even more challenging to get rid of. Therefore, it is best to treat an infestation as soon as possible to avoid it from spreading. Here are some tips on how to find bed bugs in your home:

Check all potential hiding spots. This includes the bed frame, mattress, headboard, behind wallpaper or picture frames, under the carpet or floorboards, furniture, behind baseboards or moldings, and in electric outlets.

Look for bed bug signs of infestations – another way to find bed bugs is to look for the signs of an infestation. These include:

Blood stains on your sheets or pillowcases are from bed bugs getting squished when you roll over in your sleep.
Rust-colored spots on your sheets, mattress, or furniture – these are bed bug droppings and feces.
Tiny black dots on your mattress, sheets, or furniture – these are bed bug eggs.
Bed bug bite – when you wake up and find red, itchy bites on your body, this is a sign that you have bed bugs.

Finding bed bugs in your home can be a challenge. So it is essential to know how these itchy pests can get into your homes to avoid infestations.

How do Bed Bugs Enter Your Home?

Although bed bugs can’t fly, bed bugs can enter your home in two ways, migration and hitchhiking. Migration is when the pests travel from an infested area to a new one in search of food. They can travel through cracks, crevices, and voids in walls, floors, and ceilings. Once they find a new host, they start to feed and mate.

Hitchhiking is when the pests are brought into your home on secondhand furniture, luggage, or clothing. If these items have been in an infested area, there’s a chance that bed bugs could be hiding in them. Therefore, it is important to inspect all secondhand items before bringing them into your home to avoid an infestation.

Bed bugs are a nuisance, and their bites can be itchy and uncomfortable. But with these tips, you can find and eliminate them from your home.

Habits of Bed Bugs

Understanding bed bugs’ habits can help you get rid of them. Here are some things to know about bed bugs:

Bed bugs need at least one blood meal to develop to the next six life stages.
Female bugs lay 200-500 eggs in their lifetime.
Adult bed bugs' lifespan is 4 to 6 months under normal circumstances.
This pesky little insect can survive and remain active at temperatures as low as 7 °C (46 °F), but it dies when its body temperature reaches 45 degrees Celsius or 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bed bugs mostly feed on human blood but can survive on other mammals and birds if humans are unavailable. So it's important to check for bed bugs in areas where people or animals sleep.
A bed bug will engorge itself up to six times its normal body weight in one meal, usually lasting for 3-10 minutes.
People usually don't realize bed bugs until after the bed bug has finished feeding.
They are attracted to the carbon dioxide we exhale, and they can sense when we are asleep by the lack of movement. This is why they mostly come out to feed at night.

Are Barn Spiders Good or Bad?

The barn spider is a common arachnid found on farms and other rural areas. Like other spider species, these spiders are generally harmless to humans and can even be beneficial. For example, they help keep populations of harmful insects in check as they prey on insects that are harmful to crops. However, barn spiders can become a nuisance if they build their webs in areas where they are not welcome, such as barns or sheds. In addition, these spiders are sometimes mistaken for the more dangerous black widow spider, which can cause serious health problems in humans. For this reason, it is important to identify barn spiders and know how to safely remove them from your property if necessary.

How to Get Rid of Barn Spiders?

If you want to get rid of barn spiders, the best thing to do is to contact a professional pest control company. They will be able to safely and effectively remove these creatures from your property. In addition, they can also help you to prevent barn spiders from returning in the future.

However, if you prefer to do things yourself, there are a few things that you can do to get rid of barn spiders. One option is to use a vacuum cleaner to remove these creatures from your home. Another option is to use a mixture of water and vinegar to kill them. You can also try using essential oils such as eucalyptus or tea tree oil to repel these creatures. Finally, you can also try to remove them manually by using a stick or other object to carefully remove them from their webs.

how to get rid of bed bugs in salt lake city

Tick vs. Bed Bugs: Differences and Similarities

Understanding the differences between two common blood-sucking pests, ticks and bed bugs, is important. We want to make sure you know exactly what kind of pests you’re dealing with,

Where Do Bed Bugs Come From, and How to Prevent Them? A Guide for Salt Lake Residents

Bed bugs can be a major nuisance and cause various physical and emotional problems, including skin irritation, anxiety, and sleep disturbances. In Salt Lake City, bed bugs are a growing concern, especially in apartment buildings, hotels, and other high-density living spaces. But where do bed bugs come from, and how can you prevent them from infesting your home or property?

Are All the Tiny Black Bugs in My Bed Bed Bugs?

Sleeping is one of the things that we look forward to after a very long day. We recharge ourselves by sleeping by the end of the night to be refreshed the next day. But we can be disturbed even during our sleep by pesky pests crawling and hiding where we sleep. That’s terrifying, right? Pests that are known to annoy us during our sleep are bed bugs. They are usually found where humans and other pets sleep. Bed bugs can be almost anywhere in the world – even in your Saltlake home! They can be annoying because they suck your blood and leave you with an itch and bumps in the infected area. So blood attracts them, even the blood of other animals. Therefore, you should conduct bed bug removal if you have them. If you find bugs on your beds, you might think they are bed bugs. But are they?

Can Bed Bugs Live in Your Car?

Bed bugs are small, flat, and oval-shaped insects that feed on the blood of humans and animals. During the day, bed bugs hide in cracks and crevices around beds, furniture, and baseboards. You can also find them in mattresses, bed frames, blankets, carpets, and other fabric items throughout your home. While it is possible for bed bugs to infest your car, they’re less likely to do so than inside a house or other structure.