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Bed Bug Identification

Bed bugs are reddish-brown, oval-shaped insects that are about the size of an apple seed. After feeding, their bodies become engorged with blood and they outwardly appear redder. Bed bug eggs are white, oblong, and 1 mm in length.

Bed bugs can show up in many different areas around your home, including your mattresses, upholstered furniture, power outlets, baseboards, cracks and holes in your wall, and even your picture frames!

Some signs to look for that may indicate a bed bug problem include small brown or red spots on your bedding or bright red, itchy marks on your skin from bed bug bites.

Bed bugs are able to move around easily by hitching rides on all sorts of things. Although they most often spread by traveling in used furniture and mattresses, they also latch onto suitcases, purses, and more.

You can tell apart bed bugs and carpet beetles best by looking at their larvae. Carpet beetle larvae have a fuzzier and rounder appearance, while bed bug larvae look like little worms.

Bed bugs feed by biting hosts to draw blood. Bed bug bites most often occur overnight when they find their host sleeping. Their bites won’t be painful in the moment, but they usually lead to itchy, red marks on your skin the next day.

It’s easy to confuse bed bug bites for other types of bites. Bed bug bites can be told apart by their bright red center. They have a lighter, swollen bump around their center and sometimes lead to welts and rashes.

Bed bug bites are infamous for being one of the itchiest kinds of bug bites. As is the case with insect bites in general, you should try not to itch them, because it will only lengthen the healing and worsen the symptoms.

Bed bugs may be a serious annoyance, but they aren’t considered to be dangerous insects. They do not pass on diseases when they bite and they don’t usually cause any structural property damage.

Unlike many kinds of insects that bite humans, bed bugs have not been found to transmit diseases. However, they have been noted to carry several kinds of disease organisms with them on their bodies.