In this guide, you will learn different ways on how to know if you brought bed bugs home.
If you are from a vacation or a visit to a place infested with bed bugs, you may be worried that you brought them home.
Bed bugs are tiny creatures that are good at hiding from human presence.
It may not be easy to know you have brought bed bugs, but there are signs that can easily tell you, especially if it has been a couple of days after the trip.
Also Read: Can Someone Who Has Bed Bugs Bring Them to Your House?
For instance, the quickest way to tell if you have bed bugs is from a bite.
However, the problem with this is that a bed bug bite is similar to other insects’ bites.
If indeed, you brought bed bugs home, they will spread on areas that are easy for them to hide and find food (human blood).
Here are the ways you can tell you brought bed bugs home.
Ways on How to Know If You Brought Bed Bugs Home
There are different methods that will help you figure out if you brought bed bugs home from your travels. They include:
1. A Bite
As mentioned above, you can easily tell you brought a bed bug home if you wake up with an itchy bite.
But how do you know whether the bite is from a bed bug and not from another insect?
Well, bed bug bites appear in-line with the edge of the surface you laid on.
You will also notice a bed bug bite before it starts itching, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
It is also not uncommon for you to experience a rash after being bitten by a bed bug.
This is true, especially if you have an allergy to the bed bug’s anticoagulant “poisoning” from them.
2. A Musty Odor
You can also tell you have a bed bug bite if you suddenly notice a different kind of odor in your home. The odor has a musty feel to it.
According to the National Health Service (NHS), bed bugs have a musty odor, which is not pleasant. (Source)
The musty odor is due to pheromones, a chemical the creature’s release to affect your behavior.
The parasites release these insects when they are disturbed in their hideouts.
3. Blood Stains on Your Bedding
Have you noticed any unexplained bloodstains in your bedding recently?
Well, this could be another indicator that there is a bed bug infestation in your home.
When a bed bug bites you, the bitten area will start to bleed, especially after eating.
The reason behind this, bed bugs release an anticoagulant, which stops your blood from clotting immediately after they bite you.
However, this bleeding is not heavy.
The bloodstains can also appear when you squash as you roll over in bed when asleep.
A fully feed insect is twice as big as an unfed insect, and they tend to be squishy.
If the insect had not fed, you would notice a yellowish-brown stain after squashing it.
4. Rusty Colored Stain on the Mattress
You can also tell you brought bed bugs home if you notice some spots on your mattress.
The spots are normally dark and rusty colored.
The dark spots are a major sign that the bed bugs are in large numbers, and the mattress is their major hideouts.
The dark stains are due to bed bug’s excrement combined with bloodstains.
Even though the bed bug’s poop consists of your blood, it won’t be red anymore but dark.
The rusty brown color is also caused when the mattress crashes the bed bugs or their eggs.
You will notice the rusty color on the area where your body appears with a rash or where you are normally bitten.
5. Bed Bug Shells
Bed bugs leave behind white, husk-like specks shells on their hideouts as reported by NHS. the shells are normally produced when the bed bugs shed off their skin.
You will notice these shells along with the areas where the insect has infested.
This could be along the edges of your bed, mattress, or between your furniture cushions and on the crack on the wall.
It is unlikely that you will find them on plastic or a metal object as they bed bugs prefer wood and fabric.
6. You’ve Been to Bed Bugs Infested Areas
if you were in a bedbug-infested, then that is also a sure way to know that you brought them into your home.
Bed bugs move around quite a lot.
So, it is likely that they got in your suitcase or clothes and you carried them home.
It doesn’t matter how many you carried with you like the bed bugs quickly multiply even in a short period.
The insect can attach easily to your luggage purse and even the clothes you are wearing.
Remember carrying a one-bed bug that is pregnant could be the beginning of your nightmare.
A pregnant bed bug will start laying eggs in every corner she finds comfortable and suitable to its needs.
The female also tries to avoid the males when pregnant, so they will spread in every corner in an attempt to hide from them.
Keep in mind that a pregnant bed bug can lay five eggs in one day and up to 500 in her lifetime.
These eggs start to hatch after ten days.
This shows that you can have a nightmare in less than two weeks since you brought the first home.
Also Read: Does 91 Alcohol Kill Bed Bugs: How to Use Alcohol to Kill Bed Bugs
What to Do if You Suspect You Brought Bed Bugs Home
If you are worried that you brought them home and it’s been a few hours or minutes since you arrived, you should take the following measures.
- Please take out your clothes and anything else you brought it with you, place them in a trash bag, and then seal it. Ensure you do this before going into the living room or the bedroom.
- Put your suitcase in a trash bag and seal it as well. The idea here is to cover and minimize the chances of the bed bugs from spreading.
- Once everything is properly sealed, go and take a shower and ensure you wash your bed well. This prevents any bed bug hiding in your body from moving to other areas in your home.
- After the shower, you can launder the clothes you put in the trash bag.
On How to Know If You Brought Bed Bugs Home
Above are six different ways on how to know if you brought bed bugs home.
Once you suspect that you have these bugs in your home, it’s time to take preventive measures to ensure that these pests don’t spread in your home.