Tips For Moving without Bed Bugs
The most widely utilized defense mechanism of bed bugs is their incredible ability to hide and avoid detection. They are so skilled at hiding in fact, that until you discover them, it very well could have been weeks and even months since they first arrived into your home. Bed bugs transfer this technique to every area beyond the bed as well – including on your person and when it comes to hiding their eggs.
Finding bed bug hiding spots can become more difficult once you have begun trying to eliminate them, so it is important to know their hiding behaviors and where to look.
Where do bed bugs hide during the day, their eggs and on your body? Bed bugs are incredibly adept at hiding from their host. As a predominantly nocturnal insect, bed bugs typically prefer to hide during the day when their host isn’t around. The usual hiding places are the seams and folds of mattresses away from light, inside of box springs along with the coils and compacted fabric, and underneath baseboards, dressers, and furniture.
These areas are also where bed bugs nest their eggs and reproduce. Bed bugs usually avoid hiding on their host due to body heat and the possibility of detection. When traveling to their next destination, bed bugs will latch onto shoes, socks, clothing, and accessories to reach their next harborage and host.
Bed bugs will only feed and appear at night when their host is sleeping, however, there are occasions when you can spot bed bugs during the day. If elimination procedures have begun, bed bugs will typically be on the move to find their next safe harborage. The insects will crawl on the walls and throughout the dwelling to find a new nesting area and escape poisons. If their harborage has remained undisturbed, the only way to find them is to search them out in their preferred area where you will also find their eggs.
Why Do Bed Bugs Hide and Where Can I Find Them?
Where do bed bugs hide? Bed bugs are lazy creatures and this goes hand in hand with their hiding techniques. They do not crawl out in the open since they cannot jump and fly away like other insects and even though they can move pretty quickly in distances up to twenty feet, they are not as quick as cockroaches when it comes to fleeing.
Their behavior involves finding their way to a person’s home and sensing their way to a host’s preferred sleeping spot. Instinctively, bed bugs have known for thousands of years that in order to survive, they must hide. They are the epitome of a silent houseguest.
In addition to the rapid development of resistance to insecticides, the ability to hide superbly is one of the traits that make bed bug elimination such a difficult task. A good rule of thumb to remember is bed bugs will typically nest only in areas that are close to their host. When waging war against them, inspect all cracks and crevices daily and use yourself as bait to draw them out.
Where Can I Find Bed Bug Eggs?
Due to their relative inactivity on a daily basis, bed bugs prefer to keep their eggs in a safe spot that is within easy access to their host and a safe space to reproduce. So where do bed bugs hide their eggs?
Since the bed is their preferred nesting area, you will find eggs clustered within the box spring, along the seams of a mattress, and in the corners of bed frames and even within the headboard if it is made of wood. The larger the infestation, the more areas of the bed the colony will spread out to. If your infestation is severe, the bugs will start branching out to other areas of the bedroom or living room.
Bed bug eggs have a milky white color and are about 1mm in diameter. When the eggs hatch, the nymphs will shed their skin after each feeding and the exoskeletons will have a dingy, yellow color after molting. Following the trail of molted skins will usually bring you to fresh egg sacs. It is important to check your entire home for bed bugs and their eggs because like an insidious disease, the longer the problem goes, the more it will spread.
Can Bed Bugs Hide on my Body?
One of the most common questions asked when a person experiences a bed bug problem is where do bed bugs hide on your body? Thankfully, bed bugs typically avoid hiding on a person’s body. It is not a safe environment for them and even though they have a similar mechanism like lice, they do not like body heat and generally avoid areas with hair on their host. Bed bugs prefer to hide in areas close to their host for their own safety.
Apart from feeding, the only time bed bugs will crawl on your person is if they are hitching a ride to find a host and a new harborage. They do not burrow into the skin or infest orifices like the ear canal or nose. In incidences where a person has isolated and treated their bed, bed bugs will seek new areas to be near you, such as computer chairs and desks and sofas. Bed bugs will also hide in clothing, which is why it becomes crucial to launder and seal all fabrics in bags or containers.
Related Questions
Will Bed Bugs Lay Their Eggs on Me?
Bed bugs will not lay their eggs on their host. They prefer to keep their eggs safe to ensure the next generation of their species. Heat is one variable that bed bugs cannot develop a resistance to–and they prefer to avoid it at all costs. When dealing with a bed bug problem, it can become distressing to try and sleep without having thoughts of insects crawling all over you and possibly laying eggs in your hair or ear canal. You can rest assured in knowing that this is not the case. Bed bugs do not want to be noticed.
Will Bed Bugs Hide in my Kitchen or Bathroom?
Bed bugs dwell where you reside the most and longest, which is typically the bedroom and living areas. In cases of extreme infestation, bed bugs have been known to venture into every room in the house.
This problem can also manifest in smaller units such as studio apartments. If you are living in an apartment or condo, the entry point of the bugs could be cracks and crevices through ventilation and plumbing from other infested units, but for the most part, bed bugs will avoid rooms that do not have their host lounging for long periods of time. Additionally, when moving items from one room to the next during treatment, bed bugs can be transferred to other areas.
Will Bed Bugs Bite During the Day?
ed bugs do not prefer bright light. Their vision is limited and bright light is known to repel them – but if hungry enough, they will still come out during the day. Additionally, if you are thinking of just leaving your lamp on while you sleep to keep them away – this will not work.
Your blood is their tool for survival and light will not prevent them from seeking it. Although they match the description of vampire perfectly–sunlight will not kill them.
In Summary
Cimex lectularius is a nocturnal species that ensures its survival by hiding and remaining unseen. The purpose of a bed bug’s life cycle is to hitch a ride, hide, feed on your blood in secret, and use that blood to survive and create more bed bugs.
Bed bugs do not prefer daylight hours and will hide in their harborages during the day digesting the blood they received from you the previous night. You can find them hiding in dark corners of your mattress, underneath your box spring and any dark area close to your bed.
Bed bugs will also keep their eggs hidden in this area and do not lay their eggs in places that are too far away for the nymphs to reach their host. Their eggs are small in shape and have a white, milky color. Eggs will always be present in the preferred harborage areas and this area is always going to be within close proximity to you. They want to keep their eggs safe, so a good place to find them would likely be underneath a bed’s box spring.
Bed bugs do not prefer to hide on their host. They want to leave you alone at all times apart from when you are sleeping. The only times you can expect bed bugs to hide on your person is when they are hitching a ride back to your home. Knowing where bed bugs do and do not hide takes away their strategy and ensures elimination.
