Bed Bug FAQ

1. What are bed bugs?

Not just a nursery rhyme, bed bugs are small wingless insects that feed on warm blooded animals. Adult bed bugs, as seen in the top photo, are reddish brown, oval in shape and with a flattened abdomen. They are not microscopic and can easily be seen with the naked eye. They are approximately 4-5mm in length. Bed bug nymphs (bottom photo) are much smaller and can be more translucent in color. While small, they also can be seen without the aid of a microscope. There are numerous species of what are commonly called bed bugs including those that feed on birds and bats.

2. How does one become infested with bed bugs?

Human bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) are found throughout the world, basically wherever one finds sleeping humans. Bed bugs are spread because they act as hitchhikers on personal belongings such as luggage, furniture and mattresses. It is not as common for them to travel on a person and be transported that way. I recently treated a bed bug infestation that was the result of a frequent business traveler bringing home an infested carry-on suitcase. In approximately one month, the untreated infestation had spread throughout the entire upper floor of their house. Bed bugs in apartments, hotels, condos, or any other structure that share walls will spread by simply moving from unit to unit. Bed bugs are extremely flat insects that often hide in tight cracks and crevices, and thus can easily travel throughout a large building.

Bat bugs (Cimex adjunctus) and swallow bugs (Oeciacus vicarious) infest homes when homes have or have had bats or swallows nesting in the structure. When the host animal leaves, the bugs move down into the house to find another warm blooded animal to feed upon. It is important when getting your home treated to know what kind of bed bug you have. They are not easily distinguished and take a little time under a scope to determine the species. If bat bugs or swallow bugs have infested an attic area, treatments to bedroom areas alone, even by a pest management professional will probably not solve the problem. The source of the infestation will need to be treated as well. Bat bug problems are common in Colorado and many lingering bed bug problems in homes occur because the point source of the problem has not been identified and/or treated.

3. What is their life cycle and general behavior?

Bed bugs are nocturnal and they prefer to feed in the predawn hours, 2-4 am being the bed bug “witching hour”. During the daylight hours they are relatively motionless hiding in cracks and crevices mostly near the area where the head of its host sleeps at night. This is why checking headboards in hotels is always a good idea, most are wooden which bed bugs like, and they are located in the perfect spot. Females are breeding machines laying about 250 white eggs in their lifetime, 3-4 per day. These eggs hatch for the most part in 6-10 days and the new nymphs actively seek their first blood meal. These immatures will molt five times before becoming an adult. They do require a meal before each molt, but once they reach adulthood, they can survive many months without a meal.

Bed bugs find their hosts by following the carbon dioxide trail of sleeping, warm-blooded animals. They inject anti-coagulants, to keep the blood flowing, and anesthetics, so you will not feel their bite and wake up. This is important because bed bugs will feed for about 3 to 5 minutes if left to their devices. After their meal, they will retreat to a nearby crack or crevice to digest their food.

Bed bugs are not fantastic climbers. Bed bugs cannot climb up most smooth surfaces. I have done tests with bed bugs in numerous plastic containers, and they could not grip the smooth plastic adequately to climb out of the container. This is why wood (think headboards and nightstands) is appealing to bed bugs. They can grip its rougher surface sufficiently to climb up and down, and it often has many cracks and crevices for them to hide in. I have commonly found bed bugs in hotel rooms in cracks and crevices on the backsides of headboards. Another common spot is on the underside of wooden nightstands.

Check Your Hotel Room

People are bringing home more than souvenirs in their luggage when they return home from a trip. Bed bugs are hitching rides with travelers on a daily basis. Many people upon checking into a hotel room will leave their luggage on the bed they are not going to sleep in. This allows bed bugs to crawl into that container and travel home with them. Unlike other insects which have specialized appendages for holding onto human hairs, etc, bed bugs are spread most commonly through luggage, furniture, beds, etc. being moved from one place to another. This is why checking your hotel room for evidence of bed bugs should be the first thing you do when you enter any hotel. If the hotel room has a removable headboard, I generally start my inspection there. Bed bugs like tight cracks and crevices, and they like to “nest” near the head region of their unsuspecting host. Look for the bug itself or for small black dots as if someone used a Sharpie to make dots on the backside of the headboard. These are fecal droplets from the last blood meal. Upon finding any of these signs, it is time to leave the hotel room and inform the management. Bed bugs can and are found at any hotel, not just the cheap run down ones. I will soon include more information including photos of bed bugs and signs of their presence, and I welcome questions and personal stories concerning what is becoming a more and more common pest problem.