Bed bugs hidden in plain sight is the last thing anyone wants to think about, yet it’s a reality. They make no distinction between clean/organized and dirty/messy environments, nor between public and private spaces. Bed bug control can be more challenging in congested homes with various hiding places. Warmth, moisture from your body, and CO2 attract these insects, and they can sense these host-seeking signs from around three feet away. The availability of blood meal hosts affects where bed bugs hide, and blood feeding relies significantly on their ability to stay hidden until the chance occurs. Let’s look at some of the most often asked questions about bed bug hiding places and bed bug pest control.
During the day, where do bed bugs hide?
Because bed bugs are nocturnal, meaning they are most active at night, what happens as the sun rises? Because bed bugs can’t travel great distances and don’t have wings, they tend to congregate around probable blood meal hosts. The parasites’ flattened shape allows them to easily hide in cracks and crevices, such as walls, wood floors, electrical outlets, and other small spaces inside and outside your home or other location.
While bed bugs are more common in bedrooms than in other parts of the house, they can be found almost anywhere people sleep or rest. Cushions in movie theaters and airlines, seats in buses and cabs, chairs in break rooms, storage spaces, offices, or lounges with upholstered furniture are some examples of alternative hiding spots. To reduce the danger of a bed bug infestation, take precautions like keeping your handbag on your lap rather than on the ground at an airport and leaving luggage in hotel rooms on a hard, uncarpeted area until you search the room for any evidence of bed bug activity.
Is it Possible for Bed Bugs to Hide on Your Body?
The procedure of blood feeding normally takes three to ten minutes. When most people are unaware, they are being bitten while blood feeding, bites can result in painful welts caused by a reaction to bed bug saliva, which can be uncomfortable for up to a week or longer. Bed bugs return to their hiding places to digest the blood once the blood feeding is over. Between each of the five nymph phases, male and female bed bugs require a blood meal. Female blood fed bed bugs use the protein in the blood to generate eggs after mating after they reach adulthood. Females can deposit 10-50 eggs per batch under ideal conditions with access to blood meal hosts, and the interval between feedings normally ranges from five to fifteen days. Adult bed bugs are roughly the size of a seed.
Bed bugs lay their eggs in a variety of places.
Adult female bed bugs bury their eggs in hidden areas after mating. They’ll strive to get as close to a food supply as possible, looking for cracks and crevices, even mattress seams, mattress tags, and other difficult-to-reach places. The female bed bug produces a sticky material that helps eggs stick to surfaces, and each female can generate hundreds of eggs during her lifetime. Bed bug eggs are small, white, and roughly the diameter of a spaghetti noodle, making them difficult to see without magnification. When temperatures are over 70°F, eggs can hatch in 7-10 days; at lower temperatures, the process takes longer. Newly hatched nymphs (immature bed bugs) seek blood immediately after hatching. Knowing where bed bugs lay their eggs can aid investigators in identifying a potential problem and preventing an outbreak.
Don’t put off discovering where bed bugs can be hiding in your home. If you need a cheap bed bug exterminator, give ATAP Exterminators a call to set up an inspection.