Where do bed bugs hide?

Bed bugs can hide in more places than just beds. They can slip into tight spaces throughout your home or business. They stay close to where people rest, and their flat bodies help them hide in places you may not expect. This makes finding them a tough job without professional help.

Bed bugs typically live in mattresses, bedding, box springs, headboards, and bed frames. They also hide in crevices where they have easy access to people during the night. Bed bugs may also hide behind wallpaper, under carpets, inside wall cracks, and in curtain folds. When you travel, they can ride home on luggage, clothes, or personal belongings, making travel hubs a common source of infestations. Read on to discover more about the unexpected places where bed bugs can be found.

Strange places bed bugs can be found

The name "bed bugs" pretty much gives away where you are most likely to find these pests. One of the main reasons bed bugs frighten people is that they feed on unsuspecting sleepers during the night. These blood-feeding pests are like tiny vampires, needing a blood meal to reproduce. However, bed bugs are tiny and reproduce fast, which means they have to spread out. They'll find hiding places just about anywhere they can wriggle their tiny flat bodies.

In fact, bed bugs can sometimes show up in the most unlikely places. As long as the location provides them with easy access to people from whom to draw blood, they’re perfectly happy.

Western Exterminator bed bugs technicians know all of the places where bed bugs can hide, and we’ve treated for bed bugs in any number of strange places. If you have spotted the signs of bed bugs around your home or have spotted them around your business, contact your local Western Exterminator office today.

Strange places bed bugs hide in the home

Western Exterminator has found a number of places where bed bugs can hide, breed, and feed outside of the bed or the bedroom. Bed bugs prefer to hide between feedings to digest the blood and use it to create eggs and reproduce. Plus, bed bugs can go long periods of time between feedings, so they may be hiding in these places for a while.

Some of the unexpected places our technicians have found bed bugs include:

• Electrical outlets – more specifically, behind the plastic or metal electric outlet covers. These are often located in the bedroom, but these insects can also be found in other rooms around the house or building.

• Living room furniture – bed bugs will gladly set up their homes and hiding places anywhere they can feed on stationary people. So sofas and easy chairs are also areas where bed bugs might be found. These can be in any room of the house.

• Clothing – bed bugs are expert hitchhikers and will easily transfer to a home from a hotel room by riding along on clothes. However, they can also just as easily set up their hiding places in closets among pants, shirts and other clothing.

• Picture frames – if you have photos or paintings hanging on your walls, there might be bed bugs hiding behind them.

• Bathrooms – bed bugs can even hide out in the bathroom. They are even small enough to hide in cracks between tiles in the bathtub or the walls.

Bed bugs will hide behind baseboards and carpeting, too. This is why a house with a full-on infestation can be so difficult to clean. Missing just a couple of bed bugs in the living room or spare bedroom can lead to another infestation.

Really strange places bed bugs can be found

Bed bugs have been found in places outside of your wildest imagination. The industry publication for the Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA) recently published a survey in which they looked at the places bed bugs have been found and the countries where they seem the most prolific. They also included a special section showing the truly weird places where bed bugs have been found. Some of the most unique included:

• Airplanes – bed bugs will travel just about anywhere. They are happy to find hiding places in airplane seats or even within the walls. There are plenty of immobile, sleeping people to feed on aboard an airplane.

• Stuffed animals – closets are great hiding spots for bed bugs. Anything shaggy or furry can offer shelter to these insects. In addition to the clothes, your stuffed animals are an easy target for hiding bed bugs.

• Wheelchairs – yes, even in hospitals and medical facilities are susceptible to bed bugs. You can find bed bugs hiding in the nooks and crannies of wheelchairs. This means you can also find these pests in nursing and convalescent homes.

• Lights and light bulbs – bed bugs have been reported in nightstands beside beds and even in the curly fluorescent bulbs inside the lights.

• Purses – there have even been stories of bed bugs ending up crawling around inside a woman’s purse, mixed in with the crumbs and other debris at the bottom of the purse.

• School buses – public transportation is an incredibly probable place for bed bugs. City buses and subway cars are especially likely to fall victim to a bed bug infestation. Sometimes bed bugs come out even during the day in order to feast, and they are likely to do so in crowded public transportation vehicles.

There are nearly as many places for bed bugs to be found as there are bed bugs. Bed bug infestations have been reported at restaurants and movie theaters, for example. If you own a business, you could be as much at risk for a bed bug infestation as homeowners. Check out our commercial pest control services for more information.

How fast do bed bugs spread through a home?

Bed bugs multiply quickly, with females laying eggs daily. A small problem can turn into a full infestation within months. Their ability to hitch rides on luggage, furniture, and clothing allows them to travel between rooms and even into nearby apartments.

Because of how easily bed bugs live in many areas, early detection matters. The longer they go unnoticed, the more places they hide, making treatment harder. Acting quickly helps control the problem before it grows.

Western Exterminator finds and gets rid of bed bugs

It takes a professional to find all of the places around a building or inside a home where bed bugs may be hiding. Western Exterminator knows the latest methods to find bed bugs and we may even use our bed bug dogs and their powerful noses to spot all of the places bed bugs hide, including some of those unique places. Even bed bugs hidden behind electrical outlets cannot escape the noses of the bed bug dogs.

If you find bed bug bites or other signs of bed bugs in any room of the house, then you need to get a professional out to your property right away. Contact your local Western Exterminator branch to discuss your bed bug detection and treatment options.

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