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If you’re not observant enough, a bed bug infestation1 is often hard to catch in the initial stages. They are tiny brownish-colored insects that feed on human blood, and you often detect their presence once you notice new bite marks on your body every morning.
Since these insects can’t fly, you begin to wonder how they found their way into your home out of nowhere. Where do bed bugs come from? Bed bugs can find a way into your house through various means, and it’s often a hassle to get rid of bed bugs once they’ve multiplied while hiding under your mattress seams.
Where do bed bugs come from?
Bed bugs can make their way into your private space through various sources. It’s easy for a bed bug to move from one room to another as they’re efficient crawlers, but they can’t fly. It’s quite common to bring these pesky stinging insects into your homes unknowingly.
Source #1: Used Furniture/ Second-hand furniture
Where do bed bugs come from? One of the most common ways to bring bed bugs home is through hand-me-down furniture. They often hide in the nooks and corners of furniture during the daytime.
Used mattresses, box springs, bed frames, tables with drawers, and beds are some of the most familiar places they’re found in.
A thorough clean-up should be done if you’re buying used furniture. If a handful of these bed bugs make their way into your room, it won’t take long for them to lay eggs and multiply in number, thus beginning their infestation.
Source #2: Travel luggage
If a bed bug infestation began in your house a couple of weeks after you came back from traveling, there’s a high chance that you brought these bedbugs with you. This usually happens if you participate in hotel stays.
Hotel rooms are one of the common places where bed bugs spread. They can travel from room to room in an apartment-unit setting, often hiding in your suitcases and luggage in the morning while they wait for their blood meal at night time.
When you think about where do bed bugs come from after experiencing an infestation, you wouldn’t expect your baggage to be a likely source.
To avoid a bedbug infestation after your trip, make sure to clean your travel luggage thoroughly after coming home. Proceed to dry those items using high heat as they are fatal to bed bugs.
Source #3: Public Transportation
People who use public transportations are often likely to carry bed bugs home unknowingly. These little pests can travel from clothes to clothes as well, crawling from one host to another upon close contact. Although it is rare for them to do so, it is not entirely out of the ordinary.
Bed bugs prefer traveling from furniture to furniture, but sometimes they can hide in seatings or walls of public transportations.
Sometimes they could be hiding in the baggage of your seat partner who perhaps came from an infested place, and then they can end up making their way into your baggage.
How can you avoid bringing bed bugs home with you?
It is easy to identify bed bugs once you suspect an infestation after suffering from bedbug bites and begin checking your furniture. You can’t avoid bringing bed bugs home since the question ‘where do bed bugs come from’ comes with various answers. They’re hard to spot because of their size.
They’re very small, they don’t technically transmit diseases, and although harmless, it’s troublesome to wake up with bed bug bites all over your body every day. These bites can turn into itchy welts and cause inconvenience throughout the day.
So, how can you avoid bed bug infestations?
Precautions to take and other signs to watch out for:
It’s, unfortunately, true that bed bugs might slip your gaze when you’re searching for them in your luggage or furniture because of how small they are. They’re also efficient hiders, determined to stay near their food source and feed on them with their elongated beak in the night.
#1 Check every corner of your room
Even if you’re confused about where do bed bugs come from, it’s not hard to figure out where you will find them in your house after getting bitten.
The most prominent signs of bed bugs can be found on your bed. Since they prefer to stay near the host, they’re likely to be hiding in the mattress or the bedding area. So, the first place you should check should be your bed.
Other items near the bed or on the bed should be checked too. This counts your pillows, bedsheets, and articles on your nightstand.
#2 Check even in the unlikely places
After you’re done with all the crevices around your bed, check all around your room.
This includes your desk, wardrobe, and other furniture you have lying around the room. You can find bed bugs even inside your electrical outlets if the area has been infected for a long time.
Bed bugs can often hide in unlikely places if the infested area has been left untreated for weeks.
#3 Consider professional help from pest control if you’re still having issues
It can be hard to completely get rid of bed bugs from your mattress if you’ve given them enough time to spread and multiply in number.
They’re about the size of a small apple seed, so it’s no wonder that even after you take hours to check the crevices of your room, they could still be around.
The last resort to get bed bugs out of your property is by resorting to a pest control service. They’re well-versed with the bed bug life cycle, their usual hiding spots, and they’ll clean your place efficiently to get rid of every bed bug present in there. They can also offer you more insight into where bed bugs come from and the necessary measures to take.
It is important to note that pest control should be your last resort at best. Although it is not necessary since bed bugs are not harmful, it’s more of a personal preference on your end.
It can be unnecessarily expensive to get assistance from pest control. However, these infestations can cause stress if you still end up with bites the following day after thoroughly checking your room.
#4 Signs to look out for, while checking for bed bugs
If you’re not sure if your bed has been infested, there are some signs you should look out for while checking your mattress.
Since these insects survive by feeding on the blood of humans, their bodies swell after a meal, and they might leave bloodstains on your sheets or pillows. If you spot little stains on your pillowcase or mattress, chances are that your bed is one of the infested areas for sure.
How to treat an infestation on your own
If you found out that your place has become infested by bed bugs and you want to get rid of them by yourself, here are some things that you can do to get bed bugs out of your house:
#1 Clean your bed accessories and mattress
Since a bed mattress is where bedbugs come to hide under during the daytime, you should wash your bed sheets, pillow covers, duvets, everything that you use while sleeping at night with hot water.
Many people consider throwing away their mattresses after finding out that bed bugs are present in them. It’s highly discouraged to do so since you can get rid of bedbugs by cleaning them the right way.
Also, you’re simply spreading the infestation to other places by throwing them away, and the cycle would never end. That’s why it’s vital to deal with this situation the right way.
You can clean your mattress by vacuuming it comprehensively. You can use insecticides that are mattress-safe to treat this area. Consider using covers for your mattress and box spring to reduce the risk of further infestation. You can also purchase an affordable steam cleaner to make your work easier.
#2 Heat is the most effective way
One of the best ways to kill bed bugs is by using intense heat on items that can withstand it.
Such heat can be provided through propane heaters, but those can get pricey, so you can use a normal dryer to clean all of your clothes on a daily basis until you’re sure that the infestation is receding.
Bed bugs will often try to escape from extermination attempts, so you should remember to vacuum every possible corner of your room. Most of the fancy heat equipment to eradicate bed bugs is expensive, so if you’re not looking to spend money on them, it’s best to go with the usual dryer and vacuum.
#3 Try researching for suitable pesticides
Since you can never be sure about where bed bugs come from, it’s good to have some bed bug sprays stacked.
There are a number of bed bug sprays available on the market to deal with these pests. Because of how quickly and rapidly bed bugs tend to multiply in number, using these sprays can be one of the best ways to clean every nook of your infested room.
These sprays range from $18 to $100, depending on various factors and home conditions. Not all bed bug sprays will be suitable for your mattress, so it’s essential to take note of that while researching for the best one. You might have to buy multiple ones for different sections of your house.
Bedbugs can come back even after an intensive treatment
They’re indeed one of the peskiest insects of all time2. Even if you spend thousands of dollars on expensive professional treatment, there is no guarantee that bedbugs won’t enter your house again after a couple of weeks.
This is attributed to the fact that they can travel from many unlikely places. So, where do bed bugs come from? They can enter your house from anywhere.
Some of the cleanest places can be suffering from a secret bed bug infestation, so the only way you can be away from bedbugs and escape their bites is by following a regular clean-up routine of your bedroom and other rooms.
Here’s an article that can help detect the early signs of bed bugs.
And you can read more from us here.
- Bernardeschi, Celine, et al. “Bed bug infestation.” BMJ 346 (2013). ↩︎
- Petrie, Kristin. Lice. ABDO, 2008. ↩︎
Last Updated on by Sathi Chakraborty, MSc Biology
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