You may not know that you have bedbugs until you see a bite on your body, as the insects themselves are notoriously hard to spot. The biting usually happens while you are sleeping, typically an hour or so before dawn, from bedbugs hiding in your bed.
“Bedbugs want to be as unnoticed as possible, which is why they retreat to the deepest, darkest crevices in your home, your apartment, or your hotel,” says Eric Braun, an Entomological Society of America–certified entomologist and technical services manager at the pest-control company Rentokil Terminex. “If they’re observed or spotted, they don’t have any means to escape quickly, with the exception of crawling back to the cracks and crevices where they came from.”
Bedbugs feed on blood. They target humans, though they also will bite other animals. They’re incredibly resilient and can go months without feeding, which makes them difficult to get rid of. Usually, however, they need to feed every 5 to 10 days. The bugs will usually feed for about five minutes, then retreat back to their hiding place.
What Do Bedbug Bites Look Like?
It’s easy to mistake bedbug bites for bites from fleas or mosquitoes. That can make it tough to know if you have bedbugs in the first place.
Not all bedbug bites look the same, and you may not have a reaction to one. You may not even feel it, as bedbugs inject fluids into your skin when they bite. If you do notice a bite, it may have these characteristics:
- Small mark
- Slightly swollen red area
- In a straight line
- Random positioning
- Itching and irritation
You might also experience insomnia and anxiety. In severe cases, bedbug bites may cause an allergic reaction. They are not known to spread disease.
Where Do Bedbugs Bite You?
The bites can show up on any part of your body that bedbugs can get to while you’re sleeping, including your back, neck, face, arms, hands, and legs. That’s a key difference between bedbug bites and flea bites, which tend to show up only around the lower legs and ankles.
The bite marks can take as long as 14 days to develop. This can make it difficult to identify an infestation quickly.
Do Bedbugs Leave a Trail?
Because bedbugs are slim and hard to spot on their own, you may end up noticing other signs that you have an infestation:
- Shedded skin that is translucent or light-colored, says Jerry Lazarus, owner of Braman Termite and Pest Elimination in New England
- Brown or red fecal spots, especially on mattresses or sheets
- Bedbug carcasses
Do Bedbugs Smell?
Bedbugs may have an odor, which Lazarus describes as sickly sweet, like the smell of rotting raspberries. Braun says that this smell usually only accompanies a serious infestation.
Some dogs may be trained to detect bedbugs, just as they sniff out drugs or bombs, he says.
Read the full article here
