Bed bugs can be hard to spot because of their size and their quiet operation. It can be hard to find bed bugs during the day since they don’t enjoy the company of light.
But if you know the hideouts of bed bugs during daytime, and you have the right tools to use. You can spot bed bugs during the day without much effort or time.
Are Bed Bugs Active During the Day?
Like I mentioned before, bed bugs do not enjoy the company of light.
In scientific terms, they are known as the nocturnal insects. The ones that only come out at night, and prefer staying in their hideouts during the daytime.
Which means that bed bugs are not active during daytime.
Their nocturnal behavior supports their appetite and protects them from potential dangers.
They only come out when their prey (Humans) are sleeping. They feed on our blood while we sleep, and move back to the same crevices they came from to digest the blood during daytime.
Identifying bed bugs during the daytime is still possible. Whenever you try to expose bed bugs to daylight, or mess with any cloth of furniture they’re hiding in.
They would become active and try to run away from light and the potential danger. If you are wondering where do bed bugs come from and how you can find them during daylight read on
Can You See Bed Bugs with the Human Eye
Bed bugs can definitely be seen with a naked eye. These insects are small but cannot be missed if you pay attention.
Here are some details on the appearance of bed bugs:
- Adult bed bugs are about 3/16 – 1/4 inch. About the size of an apple seed.
- They are reddish brown in color with a flat and oval shaped body (if not fed recently)
- Balloon-like and more elongated (if fed recently)
- The more they age, the darker they get in color
- Bed bugs have two antennas sticking out of their head, with 6 legs
How to Find Bed Bugs During the Day:
When you have moderate to severe bed bug infestation. You don’t have to go out and look for bed bugs. You can easily conclude the presence of bed bugs by their signs such as bed bug bites or even blood spots on your mattress.
However, when inspecting a lower-moderate level infestation that is fairly new. You can have a relatively difficult time finding bed bugs.
Here are a few things you need to increase your chances of finding bed bugs during the day.
- The Right Tools
- Knowing the Right Places
Tools to to find Bed Bugs During Time
Bed bugs are definitely spottable with the naked eye, but if you don’t have a goodvision.You can surely take help of some easy to find tools to spot bed bugs.
Before starting inspection, make sure you have a maximum amount of daylight coming into the house. Ensure this by opening any curtains or blinds you may have in the room.
If you’re still not able to see in the cracks and corners of your furniture and walls, try using a flashlight.
The second most important tool you need to get is a magnifying glass. Combined with a flashlight, this would drastically improve your chances of finding bed bugs during the day. If you are looking at the right places.
Where Do Bed Bugs Hide During the Day
Bed bugs enjoy hiding in dark and secretive places. Somewhere they won’t be disturbed by light. As they are nocturnal in nature.
The ideal hiding place for a bed bug is dark, damp and near to your bed. This allows them to hide and digest food during the day. And helps them get back to your mattress quickly the next night.
It’s important to keep a note of all these hiding spots. Later in the extermination process, you have to target these areas for best results.
Examples of most popular hiding spots for bed bugs are:
- You would find bed bugs in and around the piping of your mattress. If you have not turned your mattress upside down for a long time. You might be surprised at what you can find underneath.
- Bed bugs do enjoy hiding in mattresses (hence the name). But they can also hide in between small and dark cracks and crevices in furniture and walls. If you never had bed bugs before, chances are you might have brought in the infestation with used furniture.
- The less adored hiding spots for bed bugs are cracked floorboards and walls. These are uncommon places for bed bugs because the floor is exposed to increased human activity throughout the day. Which is not an ideal home for bed bugs.
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How to Check Mattress for Bed Bugs During the Day:
If your house has bed bugs. You are most certain to find at least some sort of bed bug activity on or around your mattress and the bed frame.
Bed bugs need a spot they can easily use to feed on human blood during the night. Your mattress is the only place that checks all boxes.
Try to closely examine your mattress and sheets in daylight for infestation. Turn the mattress upside down to see if you can find any moving bed bugs.
If you don’t see bed bugs or their eggs on or below the mattress. This means that you are not facing a severe bed bug invasion yet.
Incase of moderate-high infestation, you should be able to see live or dead bed bugs around the mattress without moving things a ton.
For fairly new infestations, you might not be able to find bed bugs on the mattress. In this case, try to search for other signs of bed bugs.
You might find dead bug bugs, or their fecal staining (black spots). These black spots are left behind by bed bugs after they digest the consumed blood. If you find any blood spots on the mattress or the sheet.
This could be caused by a recently fed bed bug dying by getting under your body.
Make sure to inspect all tufts, folds and crevices of your mattress, in addition to any corners and crevices of your bed.
How to Check Furniture for Bed Bugs:
The next hotspot for your inspection should be furniture next to your bed. This can include chairs, sofas, end tables.
If your furniture is darker in color. It can be a little difficult to spot bed bugs. But again, you need to make sure maximum sunlight is hitting the room and additionally, keep a flashlight handy.
Look for bed bugs in the seams, corners and cracks of your furniture. If your furniture is infested, you should be able to see feces of bed bugs.
These feces are really small and black in color, more like a dot from an ink pen.
Be sure to turn the cushions, and look closely in the zippers. Try unzipping a few of the cushions to see any signs of infestation.
What you should also be looking for is cast skins. Bed bugs shed their skin just like a skin 5 times within their lifetime. This is part of their growth cycle using which they transform from a nymph to an adult.
Lastly, when you are done looking through all the zippers and seams of the cushion.
Pull the couch, and lift it up. Now you should inspect the dust cover of your couch. Use your flashlight to light the area inside the couch.
Lesser Known Hideouts of Bed Bugs During Day:
Apart from your mattress and furniture, there are a lot of lesser known hideouts where you can find bed bugs during the day.
Bed bugs can be found in curtains. Although it’s not the place to rest, it’s worth checking the seams of the curtains for bed bugs.
Also inspect underneath table lamps and behind wall-mounted lamps. If possible unscrew and remove wall socket covers and inspect behind them using a flashlight.
Lastly, take all the picture frames off the wall, and inspect them for bed bugs.
Hire a Bed Bug Sniffer Dog:
If you’re unsure about how accurate your bed bug inspection results are, or simply feel like the process is too much work for you.
You can definitely outsource things by using a bed bug dog. These dogs are professionally trained to sniff out bed bugs.
Dogs have 45 times more smell receptors than an average human being. Which is why they are used by law enforcement to spot drugs or any illegal material.
Bed Bug Dog Cost
Bed Bug Dog inspection cost can vary depending on your location. By any means, bed bug dogs are not cheap!
The cost of bed bug inspections can range anywhere from $150 to $450 per inspection.
If you are short on time and have the resources to spare. You can use sniffer dogs for bed bug inspection.
Are Bed Bugs Dogs Accurate?
The accuracy of bed bug dogs depends on a few factors. Not all dogs have the same sense of smell.
How sensitive a dog is to smell varies from breed to breed. For instance, dogs like german shepherds, beagles and bloodhounds have been long used for their insane ability to smell.
These dogs are still used in hunting by many hunters. But they can also help out an average homeowner with bed bug inspection.
A good breed alone does not guarantee accurate inspection results. Dogs have to be trained properly in order for them to tell the difference between bed bugs and a bunch of other pests that might be present in your room.
A good breed properly trained can even tell the difference between an adult bed bug and their eggs.
Do Spiders Eat Bed Bugs?
If you have already spotted bed bugs in your home. And they are making a noticeable impact on your sleep and quality of life.
If you are still not ready for professional extermination services. Home remedies and taking help from mother nature might not be a bad idea.
Bed bugs are small and miniscule pests that are not on top of the food chain in their natural habitat.
There are many other pests that feed on bed bugs such as spiders. A variety of commonly found spiders in the US such as Cobweb spider and Philodromid crab spider regularly eat bed bugs as their appetite.
The only problem is, spiders being the scary creatures they are. Are much more disliked in any household in the US. Probably, more than bed bugs. So getting spiders to control the bed bugs might not be the solution you need.
In any case, even if you do decide to use spiders as a prevention strategy. You would have to live in a room overrun by spider webs to even cause small damage to the bed bug population.
Signs of Bed bug Infestation
If you want to confirm the presence of bed bugs in your home. You don’t necessarily have to go inspect the whole house for bed bugs.
With bed bugs come a lot of signs that can confirm the presence of bed bugs. The most prominent signs of bed bugs are:
1. Bed Bug Bites
2. Fecal Remains
3 . Shedded Skin
Bed Bug Bites
If you have bed bugs in your house. They would feed on your blood, if you like it or not. You can’t do much to stop bed bugs from biting you.
Bed bugs bite you in your sleep, and the bites do not have any sensation or pain initially. This is because bed bugs release chemicals in your body that numb the sensation of pain while they are feeding on your blood.
The tricky part about bed bug bites on the body is that it’s hard to tell if the bite came from bed bugs or any other insect. Moreover, not all people react the same to bed bug bites. Some people may have no reaction at all.
Bed bug bites are usually confused with mosquito bites.
Bed bug bits have the following characteristics:
- Burning and itching sensation
- Rashes around localized area
- Multiple bites in straight lines
- Raised, red welts
Here is a compilation of bed bug bite pictures that you can use to better identify bed bug bites.
Bed Bug Bites vs Mosquito Bites
Most victims confuse bed bug bites with mosquito bites because of their similar appearance. If you look closely, you can find noticeable differences in the appearance of both bites.
Here’s a rundown of what you need to notice to tell both bites apart.
Appearance
Bed bug bites usually appear in clusters. They have a specific pattern, either a zig-zag or in a straight line. This shows the movement of bed bugs on your body. They don’t suck all the blood they need from one bite.
They keep on moving on your body and biting as they move. Bed bug bites usually only appear in areas that are exposed while you sleep.
On the other side, mosquito bites are isolated in nature. Since mosquitos have the tendency to suck out all the blood they require from one bite.
Reaction Time
Mosquito bites are immediately itchy and visible to the human eye. You can feel the burning sensation on your skin. Mosquito bites generally get better after 1 to 2 days.
Conversely, bed bug bites may have little to no reaction at all depending on the person. If your skin does react to bed bug bites these can take a week to get better.
What Does Bed Bug Poop Look Like
Bed bugs feed on blood to survive. Just like every other insect, the feaces can be seen in areas where they exist.
Unlike common belief, bed bugs do not poop red blood. Their droppings are actually solid and black in color. Once digested the blood loses its original color.
Their dropping look familiar to a bunch of black ink dots.
Being able to identify these signs would help you prepare for any future action you have to take against these bugs. You can find these feaces on your bed sheets and on the edges and the corner of your bed.
Bed bug droppings are not exclusive to the bed or the mattress. You can find these dropping on your carpet, behind wall sockets or even on the furniture, depending on how severe the infestation you have.
If you become good at identifying these symptoms. You are less vulnerable to taking bed bugs in your home unintentionally.
You can inspect any new or used furniture for bed bug droppings, and reduce your chances of bringing in bed bugs to your home.
Finding bed bug droppings is a very obvious sign of infestation. But it does not guarantee it. The only way to absolutely confirm such infestation is seeing an actual bed bug. Which can be done through professional services as well.
Why do Bed Bugs Shed Their Skin
Another telltale sign of bed bug infestation is shedded bed bug skin. Just like every other insect, bed bugs are also exoskeletons meaning they have their skeletons on the outside of their body.
To grow into the next stage of their bed bug lives. Nymph bed bugs have to cast out a molted exoskeleton of their body, and this continues until a baby bed bug transforms into a dark adult bed bug.
Finding these molted casts can indicate a full swing infestation taking place in your home.
Here is what you need to know to identify shedded skin from bed bugs:
What Does Bed Bug Skin Look Like?
Bed bug skins look exactly the same as bed bugs. They are lighter in empty and lighter in weight, and do not move obviously. For homes that are just seeing newer infestations, you are less likely to see a pile of shedded bed bug skin in your home.
This is because adult bed bugs hardly shed their skin. Once the infestation ages, bed bugs reproduce. You would start seeing more and more nymph bed bugs shedding out their skin multiple times trying to reach the adult stage.
Since the rate of decomposition is lesser than that of shedding. You would ultimately start seeing a pile up of bed bug shedded skin in your home.
Which means for homes with bed bug shedded skins. The infestation is severe and has been going on for a long time. This could be a good time to call on a professional and exterminate bed bugs before things get out of hand.
HOW OFTEN DO BED BUGS SHED?
Bed bugs shed and evolve throughout every 5 stages of their life. In ideal condition, bed bugs would have adequate supply of food (blood) and would have the perfect temperature to shed. If all these conditions are met the shedding process can take one week.
If conditions are not perfect in temperature or food, shedding can take over a week.
