Bed bugs are nocturnal insects who love hiding in the dark in tiny nooks and cracks. You may have difficulty confirming if you truly have a bed bug infestation in your home, they can be hard to find.
Knowing how to find these little vampires during the day will bring you one step closer to confirming your suspicions and eliminating the pests.Â
We’ve put together this article to show you how to find bed bugs during the day. Here are the basics:
- Closely examine your mattress for signs of bed bugs
- Inspect your bed frame, especially your headboard
- Check all the little nooks and ledges of the furniture in your room
Although it can be more challenging to find these bugs during the day than it is to find them at night, you can locate them if you know what signs to look for.
How to Find Bed Bugs During the Day
Step 1. Ready Your Tools
Searching for bed bugs during the day means you usually have ample light, so they should be easier to spot. If your blinds or curtains are closed, open them to let in whatever amount of sunlight is available.
To find bed bugs during the day, you’ll need a flashlight, a magnifying glass, a keen eye, and the knowledge of where to look.
To find bed bugs during the day, you’ll need a flashlight, a magnifying glass, a keen eye, and the knowledge of where to look.
Adult bed bugs are about the size of an apple seed, and their eggs are about the size of a grain of salt (but shaped like a grain of rice). We’re talking small here.
Step 2. Examine Your Mattress and Box Spring
Bed bugs love hiding in and around mattresses, as they can easily reach you from them and feed on you while you’re sleeping. Inspect your box spring and examine the seams of your mattress using your flashlight. Ensure you examine all six sides of the mattress and box spring; stand them up and conscientiously inspect the seams and stitches.Â
When examining the box spring, remove the stapled-on cover on the bottom, and look inside the box spring. There are often bed bugs hiding inside.
You know you have a bed bug infestation if your search reveals any bugs, their casings, or fecal matter.
Step 3. Examine Your Bed Frame
Check the bed frame, and focus on the corners and crevices, the hollowed holes for bolts and fasteners, and any little nooks where the pests might hide. The little blood drinkers often hide behind the headboard, so carefully inspect it.
Also, examine any picture frames near your bed. When searching, look out for black ink-like marks. They may be the fecal droppings of bed bugs.
Bed bugs like to infest beds (it’s in the name, after all!). But they don’t just infest beds. They can be most anywhere in the room!
Step 4. Inspect the Furniture
Search all the furniture, especially those near your bed, for signs of bed bugs. Inspect the dresser and nightstands in your room.
Check your couch and sofas, too. Â
Finding bed bug nymphs may be difficult because they have a transparent color and they are small. However, some nymphs may have a reddish-brown color in the middle of their body, which means they are already feeding.
Look out for eggs, too. They are incredibly tiny and are usually lodged in items that aren’t usually disturbed or easily moved.
Finding bed bugs in your home may take a lot of time, especially if you have no idea where their hiding places are.
Where Can You Find Bed Bugs During the Day?
Finding bed bugs in your home may take a lot of time, especially if you have no idea where their hiding places are. Knowing where they enjoy hiding will help you in your quest to find them.
Besides your bed, there are several spots where you can find bed bugs. Some of the places you may find them include:
- Couches and sofas
- Upholstered furniture
- Wall crevices
- Dressers
- Nightstands
- Behind paintings
- Electrical outlet covers (note: don’t stick anything in your electrical outlets if you find bed bugs!)
- Clothing
- Backpacks
- Luggage
You can also find bed bugs on carpets or rugs, but they don’t typically nest there, as they are likely to be constantly disturbed.
Although they can be seen with the naked eye, bed bugs are tiny and can be difficult to detect. So as we mentioned, a magnifying glass will be helpful.
Signs of a Bed Bug InfestationÂ
1. Blood Stains
As bed bugs come to feed at night, you may roll over them as you sleep and crush them. The blood stains you see on your bedding materials are signs of bed bugs in your room.
You may also find blood stains on couches or carpets, and rugs.
2. Shed Exoskeletons
Bed bugs undergo molting multiple times before becoming an adult. The molting process involves discarding their exoskeleton and developing a new one. You will find these molted exoskeletons at their hiding places or near their hiding places, which you may mistake for dead bed bugs.Â
3. Egg Cases
Their egg cases are off-white and incredibly tiny, almost like dust-like particles. They’re usually found hidden in gaps and cracks. When you find exoskeletons and egg cases, bed bugs are always near.
4. Nymphs
Their nymphs are off-white and tiny, making them extremely difficult to spot. Their color and size make it easy for them to blend in with white bed sheets and other materials.
However, when they feed, they become more conspicuous as they have a reddish-brown color in the middle (want to guess why they turn red…?).
Their bodies are translucent, and you can see their meal. The color makes them easier to spot.Â
5. Stench
A musty odor usually accompanies an infestation of bed bugs. If you can smell it, the infestation is severe, and you should call a professional.
6. Alive and Dead Bed Bugs
Seeing bed bugs in your home, dead or alive, is a sure sign that you have a bed bug problem. You may even see them out during the day if their populations are large and there’s little space for them in their hiding spot.
When you see them during the day, they are searching for new places to nest.
What You Should and Shouldn’t Do After Discovering a Bed Bug Infestation
It can be quite difficult to eradicate bed bugs. They can live for up to a year in vacuum-sealed bags. They’re tenacious pests!
If at all possible, bring in a professional. Dealing with bed bugs is a big project, and you’re going to need help.
You can try several DIYs like diatomaceous earth, but they likely won’t cover your entire house. They also don’t remove the eggs and nymphs, which are key to destroying the population.
Here are two things you shouldn’t do after discovering an infestation:
1. Don’t use bug bombs or bed bug sprays. They make matters worse and can be a hazard to your home. They also low residual toxicity and don’t get to where the bugs nest, and don’t get the eggs. Using bug bombs and sprays can actually cause the bugs to find other places in your home to hide, thus spreading the infestation.
2. Don’t Dispose of Infested Furniture. Keep the furniture in your home till you hire a pest controller.
Disposing of them before a professional comes in will increase the chances of the infestation spreading to other homes in your neighborhood.
We’ve seen what you shouldn’t do in light of an infestation. Here are some things you should do:
1. Use Rubbing Alcohol. Spraying rubbing alcohol is an efficient way to get rid of these pests. Spray around your bed and possible hiding places.
2. Use a Steam Cleaner. A steam cleaner is usually disregarded by people when trying to eliminate bed bugs. However, steam cleaners are the best way to eliminate them.
Bed bugs, including their eggs and nymphs, can’t withstand the heat of heat cleaners and subsequently get killed.Â
However, make sure you tell the rental company you have bed bugs, as they will need to sanitize the cleaner. You don’t want the steam cleaner to spread your infestation to the next peson!
3. Use a mattress protector. A mattress protector will be a barrier between your skin and the bug-infested mattress.
However, these tips only serve as temporary assistance. To eliminate the entire population of bed bugs in your home, you need the assistance of a professional exterminator.
Final Thoughts
Although bed bugs are notoriously hard to find, knowing where to search for them and what signs to look for makes their presence in your home more manageable. They are usually found around and near you or your bed, no surprise there!
Search every possible hiding spot and call a professional exterminator if you have an infestation.
