Bed bugs are one of the most common household pests and with good reason: they can be found in any home, apartment or hotel room. But where exactly is this pesky critter hiding? Because of their superb “hitch hiking” abilities, bed bugs can move large distances. They can land everywhere these objects are transported since they can grip onto clothing, bedding, and bags. This explains why bed bug infestations grow so quickly. Additionally, bed bug bites are sometimes hard to distinguish from those from other pests, making infestations challenging to find and allowing populations to increase undetected.
Here’s what you need to know about bed bugs in Hametown, Pennsylvania, where to find them, and how to identify them before they get worse!
Table of Contents
Bed Bugs Can Live Anywhere
Bed bugs can live anywhere. They may be found in your bed, on the floor, or in cracks and crevices behind baseboards and beneath furniture. They are small enough to fit into the tiniest of spaces, making them very hard to see if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Bedbugs are nocturnal, meaning that they come out at night as adults (and other times).
Where They Like to Hide
Bed bugs are found in many places around the home, but they’re especially attracted to areas where their favorite hosts — humans — spend most of their time. These include:
- Beds and couches
- Wall sockets and light switches (especially if you have a bed bug infestation)
- Baseboards behind furniture (like dressers, sofas and desks)
- Picture frames hanging on walls
If you have an infestation, it’s important to take action right away before things get worse.
Where You Can Pick Up Bed Bugs
You can pick up bed bugs pretty much anywhere. They’re found in hotels, motels and dorms; airplanes, trains, buses and other modes of transportation; libraries, schools and daycares; restaurants (especially fast food places), grocery stores and movie theaters—even gyms and fitness centers!
Churches are another common place for the spread of these pests. Bed bug spreading hubs might emerge in settings where humans frequently interact. The pews at church or the large, comfortable seats at your favorite coffee shop fall under this category. Even though there aren’t always humans in some of the locations on the list, like the seats of a church, bed bugs may go months without feasting on blood. Bed bugs may therefore endure a week without churchgoers or even a summer vacation in a dorm bed.
If you find yourself attending services regularly or have been visiting recently, make sure to double check so you don’t end up carrying these pests around.
Where They Hide During Daytime
Being nocturnal, bed bugs are most active at night. What happens when the sun rises? Due to their inability to travel great distances on their hind legs and lack of wings, bed bugs prefer to remain close to possible blood meal hosts. Bed frames, mattresses, and box springs are examples of places in a bedroom where bed bug infestations may be discovered. Bed bugs only adhere to hosts’ bodies when they are feeding on blood. Bed bugs can also be discovered close on furniture, behind wallpaper, and beneath the edge of carpet between blood meals.
Bed bugs may hide anywhere humans prefer to sleep or rest, while bedrooms often have more of them than other parts of the house. The seats in buses and cabs, the backs of chairs in break rooms, storage spaces, offices, and lounges with upholstered furniture are a few more examples of hiding places. Consider taking precautions to reduce the likelihood of a bed bug infestation, such as placing your purse on your lap rather than the ground at an airport or leaving your luggage in the bathroom on a hard, uncarpeted surface until you have checked the room for any possible indications of bed bug activity.
Where They Hide Their Eggs
Adult female bed bugs conceal their eggs in isolated areas after mating. They will make an effort to get as near a food source as possible, searching for food in crevices and cracks, even in mattress seams, mattress tags, and other difficult-to-reach places.
Each female bed bug has the capacity to create hundreds of eggs over the course of her lifespan. The female bed bug's sticky material helps eggs attach to surfaces. Without magnification, bed bug eggs are small, whitish, and roughly the thickness of a spaghetti noodle, making them challenging to see carefully.
Eggs can hatch in 7–10 days when the temperature is above 70°F, but it takes longer when the temperature is lower. Nymphs (immature bed bugs) that have just hatched instantly start looking for a blood meal.
The Signs of a Bed Bug Infestation
Looking at the signs, you can tell if you have a bed bug infestation.
- Bed bugs are small, flat and reddish brown in color. The size of an apple seed, they’re about 1/16th of an inch long.
- They tend to hide in cracks and crevices, so be on the lookout for small dark spots in your mattress or box spring coverings near baseboards or walls where insects may hide out during the day (or night).
- A red-brown coating around their mouths reveals how old they are; younger ones usually don’t show any signs at all because their skin is still soft enough not to engorge with blood when feeding on humans' bloodsucking human hosts!
Conclusion
Remember, you should always check for bed bugs if you suspect they may be in your home. If possible, use a flashlight to check suspicious areas. Remember that bed bugs can be hard to see and many people do not have an obvious sign of an infestation because they are so small. Bed bug bites are often mistaken for flea bites or mosquito bites so keep this in mind when doing an inspection on your home for bed bugs in Hametown, Pennsylvania!
