Bed bugs waste material consisting of shed nymphal skins or molt and bedbug egg cases

Early Signs of Bed Bugs

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Bed Bug Signs

It isn’t always easy to identify bed bugs or know there’s a problem. They remain hidden in tiny cracks and crevices during the daytime. Often the first sign of bed bugs is bites that appear on your body after you wake up.

Common Signs of Bed Bugs

It’s difficult to confirm presence of bed bugs just by looking at your bites.  

Look for these clues to their presence:

    • Dark/black stains - on the mattress and surrounding area from bed bug excreta.
    • Sweet scent - An unpleasant, sweet, sickly scent.
    • Small dark spots - Small dark blood spots on bedding known as 'faecal pellets'.
    • Live insects - despite being small (adult are only 4-5mm long) it’s possible to spot live bed bugs and shed skins.

Bed bugs can be difficult and costly to control. It’s important to act as soon as you have noticed evidence of activity.

Blood Spots by Bed Bugs

If you’ve started to notice miniature blood stains appearing on your bedding, then there’s a possibility you could be suffering from a bed bug infestation. Please note that there are many reasons why blood spots may display on bedding – however, if combined with other major signs of bed bugs then it is a clear indication of an infestation.

The bite of a bed bug, in most cases is usually painless; which is why it does take a while before you notice any of the other more visual symptoms. These blood spots will usually appear in a linear, row-like arrangement due to the fact that bed bugs avoid prolonged migration when feeding on the blood vessels.

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Bed Bug Traces

A further indicator of a bed bug infestation is small-scale black spots appearing on walkways, in their hiding places and during the actual feeding process. The average size of their faecal excrement is roughly between 0.5 and 1.0 mm. There can be collections of these faecal pellets found in common areas such as mattresses, bed frames and even behind wallpapers.

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Locating Bed Bugs

Although your bed is the first place to check, bed bugs can also hide in furniture and furnishings including:

  • bed frames and headboard crevices
  • mattress seams
  • carpets and underlay
  • skirting boards
  • between timber floorboards
  • in cracked or broken plaster, behind peeling wallpaper
  • inside electrical sockets and fittings
  • drawers and cupboards
  • wardrobes
  • bedside cabinets

Bed bugs are usually found in bedrooms and sleeping areas because they need easy access to a bloodmeal at night. They are also attracted to bodyheat and carbon dioxide from our breath.

Have you noticed these signs?

An inspection by Rentokil will help to confirm a problem and enable our Technicians to offer the best solution using industry leading bed bug treatments.

Our Entotherm Heat Treatment solution is ideal for treating an entire room or specific items found with an infestation.

How to spot the early signs of bed bugs in messy bed and bedding

How Do Bed Bugs Spread?

They’re usually carried into a home or business on clothing, or in luggage or furniture. Given their size, bed bugs are well adapted to travel.

Second hand / vintage furniture

  • Second hand furniture can also harbour bed bugs. Carefully inspect for signs of infestation before taking items home, especially cracks and crevices. Rentokil can treat items before you bring them into your home.

Staying away in an overnight accommodation

Spending a night in a hotel with an infestation is the most common way of spreading bed bugs.

  • Check for blood stains on bed linen and other common signs in your hotel room when you arrive.
  • Inform hotel management if you have suspicions.
  • It may be necessary to launder, fumigate or treat belongings before returning home to ensure they are pest-free.

Visiting friends and neighbours

If your home has bed bugs, don’t risk spreading them by taking clothes, suitcases or furniture to hotels or people’s homes.

Established bed bug infestations can migrate to adjoining properties by crawling through wall or floor cavities.  If you live in a flat, apartment or terraced house, inform your neighbours and other tenants to take action quickly.