General Questions:

2. What do bed bugs eat?
Bed bugs feed on blood of human beings in most cases. If they can not find human beings then they feed on blood of animals like mice, cat and dogs.

3. Do bed bugs fly?
No. Bed bugs do not have wings therefore they can not fly.

4. Where do bed bugs live?
Bed bugs live in small holes, cracks and crevices. Due to their very flat body, they can easily fit in a crack where your credit card can fit.
They are generally found close to their prey i.e. in bed rooms and living room.
Their favorite hiding places are in bed frames, box springs, mattresses, sofa, other furniture, clocks, phones, televisions, smoke detectors, cloths in closets, crevices in the line where floor and walls meet, loose wallpapers, in cracks in hardwood floors and behind picture frames.

5. How frequently bed bugs need their meals?
Bed bugs come out looking for blood meal every five to ten days.

6. If I leave my home for about ten days, will bed bugs die?
No. Even though bed bugs look for meals every five to ten days, they can survive without meal for twelve to eighteen months. Yes. You read it right: Months!!

7. Can you see bed bugs?
Yes. You can see bed bugs clearly without magnification.

What do bed bugs look like?

8. Can you see bed bug nymphs and eggs?
Bed bugs nymphs can be seen without magnification.
The eggs are very small about the size of a dust spec. Though you can see them without magnification, you need magnification to see them clearly.

9. What do bed bugs look like?
• Shape: Bed bugs are oval in shape.
• Size: They grow up to 4-5 mm. in length.
• Body structure: They have flat body.
• Color: They are reddish brown in color.
• You can see their pictures here: Bed bug pictures

10. What do bed bug nymphs look like?
Bed bug nymphs are translucent and lighter in color. They look like small adults. You can see their pictures here: Bed bug nymph pictures

11. What do bed bug eggs look like?
They are tiny and white in color. The eggs are very small about the size of a dust spec. You can see their pictures here: Bed bug nymph and eggs pictures

12. What do bed bug bites look like?
Bed bug bite marks are your skin’s allergic reaction to the bug’s saliva. So they look very different from person to person based on the person’s skins reaction. Some times it takes a few days for skin to react and hence marks to appear.
Some people do not get any marks after they are bitten. Others develop itchy bumps and rashes which are light red or pink in color. You can see pictures of bed bug bites here: Bed bug bites pictures

13. Do bed bugs spread diseases?
No. Bed bugs do not spread diseases.

How dangerous are bed bugs?

 14. What is the harm caused by the bed bugs?
• Physical harm:

• Bed bug bites cause itching and inflammation.
• Chemicals used for treating bed bugs may be harmful to people, pets particularly for children, pregnant women and elderly people.

• Mental and emotional physical harm:

• Due to bites people can not sleep well which leads to loss of concentration, loss of general well being, stress and anxiety.
• People who have suffered bed bug problem can not feel completely safe from them for some time. Even if they are gone, they feel they are around.

• Financial Harm:

• Bed bug treatment can be expensive in general. However it can get prohibitively expensive for small businesses like hotels, motels, day cares and nursing homes.
• You may have to throw away some furniture, electronics items if suggested by pest control company.

• Social stigma:

• Due to wide spread ignorance about bed bugs, people feel that only people with unclean homes and unhygienic habits get bed bugs. This leads to social stigma getting associated with this problem. Some small businesses like hotels and motels can not recover from it.

15. Do I have to throw away the mattress and the bed?
In most cases: ‘No’. However sometimes the pest control company may recommend doing so depending on the age, condition and the severity of infestation.

16. Do I have to throw away my cloths?
In most cases: ‘No’. It is easy to clean cloths: Just wash them and run them twice through dryer on high heat. Cloths which need dry cleaning is a different matter though: Talk to your dry cleaner about the problem. They may have a solution.

17. Can bed bugs bite pets?
Yes. They can. However they prefer human blood. They will bite pets only if human blood is not easily available.
Also it is hard for them to reach to pet’s skin because of long hair. And sometimes they find it difficult to get out of pets due to long hair.

18. Can bed bugs bite on genital organs?
Yes. They will bite on any organ exposed to them. However they avoid body parts with excessive hair because it is not easy for them to reach to skin.

19. Are bed bugs found only in dirty homes?
No. The dirt does not automatically produce bed bugs.
The dirtiest houses may not be infested with bed bugs. And the cleanest homes may be infested with bed bugs.
However having less clutter means less hiding places for bed bugs. So please reduce clutter in your home, especially in bed rooms.
Also vacuuming with a powerful vacuum cleaner could reduce some bugs and their eggs.

 Why me?

 20. Why only I am getting bitten and not my spouse?
Bed bugs get attracted to us by body heat, smell of perspiration and carbon dioxide exhaled by us. For some reason, bed bugs may find your body heat, smell or amount of carbon dioxide more attractive than your spouse.
Another possibility is your spouse is also getting bitten by the bugs; however his/her skin is not allergic to the bed bug’s saliva. Hence it is not showing any bite marks.

21. How did I get bed bugs?
Major sources of bed bugs are as follows:
• Visit to a bedbug infested place such as hotel, motel, bed and breakfast place, cruise ships, restaurants, public transportation, schools, day care, nursing homes, and hospitals.
• Your neighbor or previous tenant in your home
• Used furniture
• Guest, mover’s truck or your pet

22. Can bed bugs travel on my body or cloths and spread?
They can but they prefer other means like luggage, backpacks, in used furniture and mattress. These things provide better hiding places like cracks and crevices. Their biggest hurdles against traveling on your body or cloths are: your body movement and exposure to light.

Tenants:

23. I am renting an apartment. What should I do to get rid of bed bugs?
First of all contact your property manager. You are required by law to work with property manager. And property managers are required by law to provide a livable condition. Bed bugs infestation makes it unlivable in many states.

24. Why I should not attempt to get rid of bed bugs myself?
Two reasons: First, you could be hold liable to damage to other people’s property if bed bugs spread. Second, local laws require certain chemicals to be applied only by certified technicians.

Bed bug resurgence:

25. I thought bed bugs are found only in developing countries. Is that true?
No. Bedbugs occur throughout the world. They are found in Europe, North America and Australia in addition several developing countries.

26. How serious is the bed bug problem?
Numbers of bed bug cases are on a steep rise. Just two examples should be sufficient:
• According to National Pest Management Association, USA, pest control companies who were receiving one or two bed bug related calls per year are now receiving one or two bed bug related calls every week.
• According to Department of Medical Entomology, Australia, number of bed bug cases in Australia have risen by 5000% (50 times) in six years between 2000 and 2006.

How to confirm?

27. How do I know I have bed bugs?
This is a two step process: Gather evidence and confirm.
Step 1: Gather evidence: Look for bite marks on body, live bugs in the areas near bed, blood spots, dead skins and stains from the bug’s excretion. Or you can call local pest control company. They may come for free inspection.

Step 2: Confirm: If you can find live bug, put it in a plastic container and send the sample to a lab from a college or university.
• You can find the lists of such labs here:  List of places to test bugs.
• Or you can find a professional at National Pest Management Association – Find a Pro.
• Entomologists are scientists specializing in study of insects. The Entomological Society of America (ESA) is the largest organization in the world serving Entomologists. You can find a List of ESA Certified Entomologists here.

28. Can I get rid of bed bugs myself?
No. You will spend a lot of time, money and energy trying to get rid of the bugs but may not be successful.
The major reasons why you may not be successful getting rid of bed bugs yourself are:
• They need very little space to hide. How many cracks with thickness of a credit card can you find in your home? All of them are potential hiding places for bed bugs.
• Their infestation grows very fast.
• If you live in a multi unit place like apartment, hostel you may spread them to other units and eventually the bugs will come back from those units. All nearby units need to be treated and cracks be sealed.

Getting rid of bed bugs:

29. What is the harm in trying to getting rid of bed bugs myself?
Several things work against you as follows:
• Chemicals: Let’s say you treat them with chemicals. And you are not successful, so you call a pest control company. Now they treat the bugs with chemicals. So what do you end up with: More chemicals and a few extra sleepless nights before you called the pest control company.
• Time: Time works against you and in favor of the bugs. Let’s say you treat them. And you managed to kill most of the bugs but some survive. Some of their eggs survive too which are even more difficult to treat. The eggs will hatch and survived bugs produce even more bugs. Their population will spread to other rooms and keep on growing while you may think you got rid of them. When you detect them after some time their population might have grown to a very high level.
• Local laws: Local laws prevent you from using some chemicals.

 30. So are you saying I can not do anything?
No. We are not saying that. Please understand the complete picture and you role:
There are two phases of fighting bed bugs:
Phase 1: Getting rid of them.
Phase 2: Keeping them out of your home forever.

It is in the second phase of keeping them away, you can do a lot: Get knowledgeable. Make informed decisions so the bugs can not invade your home again. This is along term battle,
Just leave the first phase of getting rid of bugs to professionals.

 31. I am pregnant. Or I have pets, children or elderly people in my home. Is it ok for pest control company to use insecticides in my home?
Share your concern with the Pest control company.
• Ask them for a list of insecticides they are planning to use. The list should include the name of the product and EPA Registration number. Ask for Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).
• Use this EPA number and the product name to do your research on internet. One particularly useful site is National Pesticide Information Center.
• Take the information collected from above two steps to your doctor or veterinarian. To get their expert opinion.

 32. How long will it take to get rid of bed bugs? And why?
At least three to four weeks.
In the first week you will become aware of the problem, correctly identify the bug, contact a pest control company and prepare your home by reducing the clutter.
In the second week the pest control company will treat your home. This treatment does not kill the eggs which will hatch in two weeks.
In forth week, the pest control company will treat your home second time.

 33. The pest control company treated my home. But I still find bed bugs. Why?
There are two things working against you and the pest control company.
• As we mentioned earlier bed bugs can hide in a small crack where your credit card can fit. How many such cracks are there in your home? Is it realistic to assume all the cracks and small holes are identified and treated for bed bugs?
• Pesticide treatment does not kill eggs which will hatch in two weeks. So Pest control company has to come for second and possibly third round of treatment.

 34. Can I kill bed bugs without using insecticides?
In theory, ‘Yes’. You can kill bed bugs using extreme heat, extreme cold, steam etc. However these options have severe limitations as follows:
Bed bugs get used to hot and cold climate if the temperature rises or lowers slowly. So the hot or cold temperature required to kill bed bugs must be reached quickly. And how do you ensure that every deep crack and deep holes inside your home will become hot or cold quickly?
Similarly how do you ensure steam will reach deeply in the cracks in wood?

35. What kinds of insecticides are used to kill bed bugs?
There are mainly three types of insecticides as follows:
• On contact kill insecticides: They kill bugs on contact
• On contact dry insecticides: They make bug’s skin extremely dry and hence the bugs die quickly.
• Growth impacting insecticides: They impact development of insects. It also weakens their reproduction capacity. This reduces their infestation severely.

 Preventing bed bugs: 

36. What can I do to stop bed bugs entering my home?
There are several things you can do. Learn as much as you can about the bugs and prevention.
• Start with reading our article:    Where did I get the Bedbugs from.
• Never buy used furniture, clothing and other items. You may save some money initially, but the financial, emotional and health cost of losing sleep while fighting bed bugs is just not worth it.
• Seal holes, cracks and crevices in your home.
• If you have bird’s nests inside or anywhere near your home, please get rid of them.
• Discuss with your pest control company and make a long term plan. And work on it.
• Also read the next question for traveling related precautions.

37. I travel a lot. What precautions should I take?
• Research online hotels for bed bugs incidents before booking.
• When you reach hotel, carefully look for bed bug infestation. If you find evidence, find another hotel. If it is not possible, inform the hotel manager and ask for a room far away from the current room.
• When you return from trips, clean thoroughly the luggage with a hard brush, and Wash cloths and run them through two hot cycles of dryer.
• If you have guests, follow the last instruction for their luggage.