Bed Bug Facts

Bed bugs get their name because one of their favorite places to live is in your bed. While the bed is one place they like to live, it is just one of many. Bed bugs will live anywhere they can easily hide and that is trafficked by humans. Therefore, there is a possibility you’ll run into bed bugs anywhere from the movie theater to an airplane to the subway.

Here are some facts about bed bugs that can help you keep them under control.

What do Bed Bugs Look Like

• Size: Bed bugs are about 1/4 of an inch in size or about 6 mm.
• Legs: 6 Legs
• Wings/Antennae: No Wings, 2 Antennae, so they can’t fly.
• Color: Brown/Mahogany color when normal and a dark red color after sucking blood. Similar to a mosquito.

Fighting Back

There are several Bed Bug Protection Tools that can help you root out and destroy bed bugs. Things like chemicals, traps, and mattress encasements will stop bed bugs in their tracks. If you’re going on a vacation, make sure you take adequate bed bug travel precautions.

Diet

Bed bugs need blood to live, but it doesn’t have to be human blood. Bed bugs have been known to feed on everything from humans and dogs to pet birds. Unfortunately for us, however, they prefer the easier targets and our lack of hair makes humans a prime meal. Bed bugs are attracted to carbon dioxide (CO₂) which any living being exhales while breathing. That’s why traps like the CO₂ Trap and the Bed Bug Monitor and Lure are so successful, because they mimic humans by exhaling CO₂. Furthermore, Bed bugs can live for more than 1 full year between feedings, so if your hope is to go on vacation and let them all die off, you better make it a long one.

Habitat

Bed bugs enjoy seclusion and rarely come out. They enjoy any place dark and out of the way. Their favorite locations are inside mattresses, box springs, and pillows, couches, chairs, curtains, carpets, base boards, towels, and any other nooks and crannies. Bed bugs rarely come out during the day time and prefer to do most of their feeding in the early morning just before first light. An easy way to tell if you have a bed bug problem is to check your sheets periodically and look for signs of blood. When bed bugs are feeding on you during the night, you will often roll over on them squishing them and leaving a blood stain. For some helpful hints on how to detect bed bugs in your home, check out our bed bug detection guide.

How the Operate

When bed bugs bite you, they inject your skin with their saliva which stops you from clotting and has an anesthetic that keeps you from feeling them while they feed. While they don’t spread disease, bed bug bites can become itchy, red welts. Here are some bed bug bites images of what to look for if you suspect bed bugs:

Bed Bugs Pictures

So if you find yourself with bed bug bites that match the above bed bugs bites pictures, you’ll want to take steps immediately to protect yourself against bed bugs, detect bed bugs within your home, and exterminate bed bugs that exist. For more information on protecting yourself from bed bugs, check out the remove bed bugs guide.