How Do You Know If There Are Bed Bugs In Your Home?
Bed bugs are common pests in homes, apartments, and even in commercial spaces. There have been bed bugs found on airplanes, cruise ships, and in many hotels around the world. It is a well-known fact that bed bugs prefer human blood to other options. As such, they have adapted to live with humans, and you can find bed bugs on every continent of the world with perhaps Antarctica as an exception. Bed bugs are small, but their impact into our lives is huge. How do you know if there are bed bugs in your home? Just keep reading and will give you a few ways to check.
- You wake up in the morning with bites that itch. Bed bugs are nocturnal, they come out at night to feed. They get their name because they bite us while we sleep. While we are unconscious and dreaming, they crawl into our beds and drink our blood. Bed bug bites can be mistaken for flea bites or mosquito bites. They generally occur on the side of your body that you lay on while you sleep. That may be your hips, face, arms, legs or torso. Bites are often itchy due to the anticoagulant that they have in their mouth.
- There are small dots of blood that stain your sheets. These can be hard to see or in situations where there is a large infestation of bed bugs, obvious. As mentioned, bed bugs use an anticoagulant that makes it easier to get all the blood they want. Thus, when you are asleep and bitten, you keep bleeding for a little while longer even after the bug has finished drinking your blood.
- There are tiny purplish, sandy, grains under your sheet on the mattress. These are bed bug poop and made from your digested blood – thus the purplish-brown color. To make more room for fresh blood, bed bugs often defecate as they eat. So, not only do you have a bed bug in your bed, but bed bug poop too.
- The dog or cat does not have fleas. No fleas on the dog or cat and you are the only one itching is a good indication that you have fleas! Not. Fleas actually don’t like human blood, but they will “Make do” if the dog or cat is not around. If you wake up with bites and nobody else is itching, then there could be a few explanations and bed bugs are a good bet in a bad way.
If you travel a lot or if you have house visitors often, there is a chance that bed bugs might join you. They are often spread in luggage or dirty clothes. Bed Bug infestations are so common in hotels and places that we stay that there is even a website or two that lets you know if anyone has reported bed bugs after staying in a hotel or motel.
The surest way to know if there are bed bugs in your home is with a home inspection. Reach out to our team to schedule an inspection. Bed bugs are common in apartment complexes, rentals where people move out often, such as around a college, and in some of the finest places in the world.
