Detecting if you have bed bugs

Look for signs of an infestation that may include:

• Itchy skin welts on your body
• Small blood smears on bedding from crushed insects
• Tiny dark spots on your sheets, mattress or box spring which are their fecal droppings
• Dried remains of shed bed bug skins

Be aware that other insects, such as fleas, ticks, and mosquitos, can leave bites that look like bed bug bites. Bites alone cannot prove you have a bed bug infestation.

If you suspect you have bed bugs, you will have to conduct a thorough search of your home. Bed bugs are hard to find because they hide in, under, and around beds. They also hide inside, under and behind furniture, and in small cracks or corners in furniture, floors or walls or in carpeting close to where they feed at night.

Newly hatched bed bugs are about the size of a poppy seed, pale yellow in color, almost transparent, and very difficult to see. Once they have fed, they become larger and are red or brown in color which makes them easier to see. Bed bug eggs are white and about the size of two grains of salt. When laid, they are cemented to surfaces making them difficult to remove.