Do You Have Bedbugs?
You’ve woken up a little itchy a few times this week. You inspect your arms, legs, and your back and see little raised bumps.
They aren’t as itchy as mosquito bites, and don’t sting as much as a spider bite, but they are a little irritated... and there’s SO many of them!
What the heck is that, you wonder. You begin to inspect your sheets, your mattress, the frame of your bed, and your heart sinks as you find tiny black droppings, little spots of blood on the sheets, and other miniscule bug debris. That’s when you know:
you’ve got bedbugs!
Signs of Bed Bugs ~ how do you know you have bed bug?
Bedbugs will leave a series of clues to their night time activity. Detecting bedbugs isn’t very easy, but here are some things to watch for if you think you might have an infestation:
- Small raised bumps on your skin
Different people will have different reactions to bedbug bites depending on skin sensitivity and allergic reactions, so it may be very difficult for some people to notice a bite, whereas another person could break out in a rash. If you are having an allergic reaction, please call or see your doctor right away.
- Bedbug Feces / Bed Bug Shit
Bedbugs will poop on your stuff. Feeding bedbugs (and they are feeding if they’re in your bed) will poop on your mattress and sheets. Their fecal drops like tiny black specks, however they are quite sizeable considering how small the insect is. Think way smaller than a mouse dropping, but still evident.
- Seeing actual bugs
This may be the least likely evidence of actually having bedbugs, because they are very smart creatures. Bedbugs can hide into the tiniest spaces, since their small bodies can be paper-thin. They have been known to lay eggs and create a cozy home for themselves in the tiniest spaces in beds, such as screw-holes and tiny cracks in wood. However, you may catch a bedbug scuttling across your sheets in the early hours of the morning.
Bed Bugs don’t like light; they always run away from the sunlight.
- Finding tiny eggs.
Beg bug eggs hide in the tiniest of spaces (so look there first). Bedbug eggs are also cleverly coated in a sticky film that clings to dust, which make them almost invisible. A bedbug nymph, which is a young bug, looks just like an adult but is somewhat colourless and smaller, so you may find one or two of these little guys as well.
- Blood spots on bedding.
Probably the most obvious sign that you have bedbugs is finding little spots of blood on your sheets and bedding from being bitten. Bed bug bites will cause you bleed a little, but in most cases not, and the blood will be transferred to your bed.
- Bug Carcases and Exoskeletons
Bedbugs don’t hide so well when they die. Finding a dead bedbug means that hundreds of its brothers and sisters are still partying in your bed, so keep vigilant. A growing bedbug also moults, so you will find a layer of its exoskeleton lying about, just like a snake sheds its skin.
The information about bed bugs that I have researched, collected is to help the growing numbers of bed bug sufferers.