How To Look For Bedbugs In Your Home

Bedbugs are a growing menace owing to travel, lack of effective pest control and the deceptive nature of their occurrence. Bedbug bites look similar to mosquito bites. Sometimes, bedbug bites are mistaken as rashes or hives. Since bedbugs do not live on their hosts like other parasitic creatures tend to, it is even harder to spot them. Bedbugs detest light and can usually be found by carefully scrutinizing the dark and possibly damp corners of the bedroom and living room. Don’t be surprised if they have moved to the bathrooms that are perhaps only 10 feet away from your bed or couch! Although bedbugs are rarely dangerous, their bites can cause shocks and delirium at highest potential. Children and elderly people are most troubled victims of bedbug bites. Even an adult who may be slightly sensitive sort of a person can experience shock and delirium due to bedbugs. You should be able to identify a bedbug bites for what they are or you will never begin to think of how to look for bedbugs in your home.

How to identify bedbug bites

• Bedbug bites look like mosquito bites but appear in clusters of 3 or more. Do not dismiss more bites for mosquitoes. It just might be bedbugs.
• If your child or any sensitive person in the family wakes up during night and is scared or delirious, it might be a sign of a bedbug infestation although bedbugs don’t always give shock or delirium it is good to know that it is one of the symptoms.
• Although you find no blisters on skin and you are not itchy, if you spot tiny bloodstains on clothing or bedcovers and sheets, it is possible there are bedbugs. It just means your skin is slow to react to bedbug saliva.

Why getting rid of bedbugs is a lengthy process

Just knowing how to look for bedbugs in your home isn’t sufficient to completely get rid of these pests. Bedbugs can live for months together without feeding and they stay hidden throughout. Even after an apparent disinfestation, you must carefully check every nook, corner, and crevice of your home for several weeks before you are satisfied that you have actually gotten rid of these nasty little parasites.

How to find bedbugs in home

• Bedbugs love warm conditions. If your bedroom is a cozy and comfortable, be assured you are susceptible to bedbug infestation given the other conditions.
• Bedbugs can easily enter your home hitchhiking through luggage and other articles such as shoes, scarves and coats that you leave lying about in your hotel or hostel during travel.
• Bedbugs can also enter your home through your pets like cats and dogs or even hamsters and rabbits. Bedbugs don’t discriminate as long as the host is warm-blooded and is accessible for a nice midnight splurge.
• Bedbugs leave bloodstains on sheets and covers. The stains are tiny but can be spotted through careful scrutiny.
• Bedbugs also shed their exoskeleton. If you find small dark brown shell like things in your bedroom or any place in the house, you can be sure of more of these creatures lurking, literally, in the shadows.
• How to find bedbugs in home when they hate light and are unlikely to be seen? You must actively look for bedbugs in the dark cozy corners of the bedroom and living room like the seams of the mattress, under the covers, on the pillow seams, between cushions, behind the headboard, underneath the bed, and even warm dark corners of the bathroom.
• As soon as you move your bed, bedbugs hiding between the headboard and wall might flee from the light. Look for fleeing bedbugs and bedbug excreta on the wall behind the headboard.
• There may be a sweet obnoxious smell in the environment infested with bedbugs.
• The frame of the bed underneath the mattress and the underside of the bed provide space for bedbugs to hide during the day. You can easily spot fleeing bedbugs if you pull out your mattress from the cot.
• You must also check upholstered furniture, using a flashlight if need be, for signs like shed exoskeleton, bloodstains, and bug excrement.
• Thoroughly vacuum all corners and cervices of your home and examine the contents of the garbage bag. You could see live bugs, exoskeletons and their excrement if there is an infestation. Pack and seal the bag and discard it carefully before you proceed to vacuum another part of your house.
• When you vacuum, be sure to cover all areas of the room including the bed and furniture (covers, sheets, mattress, pillows, soft toys your children take to bed, headboard, underside of the cot, upholstered furniture, cushions – especially the seams, any other upholstery decorative material).
• If you just got back from travel, do the following before unpacking
  • Vacuum your suitcases, bags, and kits
  • Dry all your clothing at as much high temperature as the fabric permits
  • Disinfect all plastic non-disposable material before putting them all over the house
  • Vacuum your shoes, wash your socks, dry-clean your coats and sweaters (the chemicals used in dry cleaning kill bedbugs)

“How to find bedbugs in your home” is a question you must ask yourself every time you travel, take your pet to an unfamiliar park or have houseguests. Bedbugs come in uninvited and are mighty hard to get rid of. Even if you believe you have gotten rid of bedbugs, this list of how to look for bedbugs in your home will prove handy many times over.