How To Tell If Your Bay Area Home Has A Bed Bug Problem

It can be difficult to tell that you have a bed bug problem in your Bay Area home. There are a few reasons for this. We're going to start by taking a look at these reasons. Then we'll give you some helpful tips to tell whether or not you have a bed bug problem inside your Bay Area home.

Why Bed Bugs Are Hard To Detect

• You might think that you'll be able to detect bed bugs because they leave painful welts on your skin. But bed bug bites aren't always severe at first. An infestation can start with small, slight bite wounds that are easily missed. It can take time, and repeated bite events, for bites to cause a severe allergic reaction.
• You may not know what bed bug bites look like. There are many bugs that can bite you. It's easy to mistake a bed bug bite for some other kind of bite. You may also mistake bed bug bites for a bumpy rash because the bites are often close together and each bite can have reddened skin around it.
• Bed bugs hide in tight spaces. You can have a dozen bed bugs living in the seams of your mattress and not know it.
• Bed bugs hide in compressed areas. Bed bugs will be between your mattress and box spring, underneath the cushions of your couch, or in some other hidden space.
• Bed bugs hide from the light. Bed bugs get into the dark voids of furniture, electronics, walls, and more. You're not likely to ever see them crawling around in the light.
• Bed bugs are small. When a bed bug hatches from its egg, it is only about 1mm long. That's pretty small. To make things more difficult, they're transparent. This can make detecting them a difficult task.
• You may not know what a bed bug looks like. If you've seen pictures of adult bed bugs, you might not recognize a pale-colored nymph. Adults are a rust color and they may look almost black when you find them in your home.

Tips For Detecting Bed Bugs

There are many ways you can detect bed bugs in your Bay Area home. Let's start by considering what we've talked about so far.

• When you see bug bites, you can distinguish them as bed bug bites in a few ways. Each individual bed bug bites a few times in a line or zig-zag. Bed bugs group together when they bite. This makes bites appear as a path across the skin. These bites are likely to be on skin that is exposed during sleep, and on the upper body.
• Running a debit card along the seams of your mattress or box spring can dislodge shed skins, white eggs, black feces, or the bed bugs themselves.
• Look in compressed areas and use a flashlight to search cracks and crevices when you inspect beds.
• If bed bugs are hiding inside an object, you may find black streaks, smudges, or specks on the outside. You may also see shed skins scattered around.
• If you see a tiny, pale insect with a red abdomen attached to your skin, you're probably looking at a bed bug. The blood it draws from you will be clearly seen inside its transparent abdomen.
• If you uncover bed bugs, they will be 1mm to 4.5 mm in length. They will be pale, tan, or reddish-brown. Unfed bed bugs will be flat and oval-shaped. Fed bed bugs will be bloated, pill-shaped, and have more red in their coloration.

You may have noticed that there are a few warning signs bed bugs leave around. If you don't see these bugs, you may notice these signs:

• Multiple bites that follow a path
• Black stains, specks or streaks
• Tiny white eggs in a batch or scattered about
• Shed skins that are pale or tan
• Brown stains caused by blood excretions

Keep in mind that a dozen bed bugs can be in a space the size of your thumbnail. You'll have to examine beds and furniture closely to find them. The best way to find and exterminate bed bugs in the Bay Area is to contact Bay Pest.

How Bay Pest Can Help

If you are a Bay Area resident, reach out to Bay Pest at the first sign of a bed bug infestation. We can guide you toward the right pest control solution. Don't let the bed bugs bite. Contact us today and schedule a service visit.