Do Bed Bugs have wings?  Maybe not.  But once you’ve experienced Bed Bugs I can guarantee that you’ll never want to see them ever again.

Just the thought of these nasty bugs crawling onto me creeps me out. 

And the thought of them feeding on me while I’m trying to sleep makes my skin crawl all over again.  I don’t even want to think about them sucking on my blood while I’m sleeping.

Getting an infestation of these bugs will make your life miserable.  Once you have them it can be really hard to get rid of the infestation in your home.

In this article, I’m going to answer the most common questions about Bed Bugs so you can get right to getting rid of them.

My First Experience With Bed Bugs

My first experience with these bugs was while I lived in an apartment that was located in a building in downtown Denver.

The building was clean and well kept but shortly after I moved in a problem came up that made living there a nightmare.

The Nightmare Starts

I started to get bitten every night when I was sleeping.  I didn’t know what was doing it but it was making my nights miserable.  

These bites, even though they were small, were extremely itchy and swollen.  That was enough to keep me awake at night.

Bed Bugs can also be hard to find.  I wasn’t even sure what to look for at the time.

But soon another thing came to light that indicated that my problem was happening to others living in the building.

The managers of the property were constantly having exterminators come through the apartments.  They were looking for bugs but they wouldn’t say what type of bug they were checking for during the inspections. 

Realizing That We Had Bed Bugs

Then I learned from a neighbor that it was Bed Bugs that they were looking for in our homes.  Once I learned this it made immediate sense.  I’d already heard how horrible Bed Bugs were and how hard it can be to get rid of them.

So I read everything that I could find on the Internet and quickly became an expert in all things BedBug.

Using An Exterminator

I wanted to get rid of the bugs and tried having the exterminators spray my apartment several times.  But it seemed that they didn’t know any more than I did about getting rid of Bed Bugs.

It turned out that the problem was that they were using the same methods that were commonly used to get rid of other bugs and that just won’t work with Bed Bugs.

Is Your Apartment Dirty

One of the things I read was that the bugs weren’t attracted to dirty conditions.  But I still felt that admitting that we had these bugs in our apartment somehow meant that our apartment was somehow dirty.   It felt like that was the reason that we had become infested.

But gradually over time I learned the best ways to increase your chances of getting rid of the bugs.  Many of these work whether you did it yourself or had an exterminator come in.  You can find more on what I did in other areas of this blog or check out my facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pancreatitisfacts/

What Do Bed Bugs Look Like

I learned a lot about Bed Bugs surfing the web.  It turns out that they are pretty small and this makes it difficult to see them unless you know where to look for them. How To Find Bed Bugs

A full grown adult can be less than 1/4″ in diameter. Their body is nearly flat and oval-shaped which makes it easy for them to crawl through small cracks and openings.

Adults are a normally a dark brown in color but their bodies will redden after feeding on your blood.

How They Travel

These bugs are also wingless but are very adept at crawling.  They’ll hitchhike in boxes or on furniture or clothes to travel great distances.

The bugs start out hatching from eggs and then grow through several stages.  They molt and discard their shells as they grow into adults.  The eggs and newly hatched bugs are very small.  They can be hard to see unless you know where and how to look for them.

Because they are nocturnal and only come out late at night it can be hard to find them

Can Bed Bugs Fly

You might wonder how something so small gets into your home.  Luckily, Bed Bugs can’t fly or they would be a worse pest than they are already when they infest your home.

Adult Bed Bugs do have the vestiges of wings that are called wing pads.  But these do not fully develop into working wings.  So the bugs can’t fly but this doesn’t stop them from traveling great distances to get into your home.

How Do You Get Bed Bugs In Your Home

There are many ways that you can get a Bed Bug infestation in your home.

But one of the most common ways is if you live in an apartment or condo building.  These bugs can crawl between attached units.

Once there is an infestation in someone’s unit that becomes either too large or because it is treated the bugs will seek out new sources for their blood meals.  They do this by crawling to other units that are nearby (including yours) that are in the area.

These bugs, because of their small size, can reach numerous other apartments.  Just by crawling along carpet edges, along pipes and by following electrical wires.  Their small, flat size allows them to fit through even very small holes and cracks.

Places To Get Bed Bugs

You can also get the bugs in your home by bringing in a piece of furniture that has an infestation hiding in it.  So carefully check any used furniture that you bring into your home.

There have been cases where these bugs were delivered in boxes that came from an infested warehouse.  Theaters, Hospitals, Restaurants and Libraries have all reported cases of infestations.  You can pick up the bugs on your clothes and bring them home.

Picking Up Bed Bugs When Traveling

Another common way the bugs get into your home is when you travel.  They can get into your luggage when you stay at an infested hotel or motel room.

You need to carefully check motel and hotel rooms for bed bug signs when you travel.  If you find the signs of an infestation you should ask to move to another room or go to a different hotel.  The last thing that you want to do is bring them home with you!

It’s also a good idea to check the comments on the various hotel booking websites.  See whether anyone has reported problems with Bed Bugs.

If you have sons or daughters that are in college and their dorm room is infested.  They can bring the bugs home with them during visits.

Are Bed Bugs Nocturnal

Bed bugs are usually considered a nocturnal bug.  This means that typically they will feed in the early morning hours just before dawn.  This is when we are in our deepest sleep and they can feed undisturbed.

But the fact is that they are also an insect of opportunity and will feed anytime that their host is at rest.  So if you nap on a bed or sofa that is infested you might get bitten no matter what time it is.

Many times people will try sleeping in another room when they have an infestation.  They do this hoping it will keep the bugs from getting to them but this simply won’t work.

These bugs will just follow you into the other room, spreading the infestation throughout your home.

Do Bed Bugs Jump

Bed Bugs get around by crawling or attaching themselves to other objects that are being moved.  A typical bedbug can crawl up to 20′ each night.  They do this to reach their host each night from the places that they hide during the day.

When you consider how many places there are to hide within 20′ of your bed you can see how hard it can be to find and get rid of these bugs.

Bed Bugs don’t jump but have been known to crawl up a wall and drop down on the bed below as a way of getting to their goal.

Do BedBugs Make You Itch

Bed Bug bites can be very itchy depending upon the reaction of the person that they bite.

Some people have no reaction at all to the bites.  Others can get experience extreme itching and swollen areas around the bites.

Even two people sleeping in the same bed can react differently to the bites.  

Part of this is because the bugs tend to return to the same person once they start feeding on them.   So one person can be getting bit more that another in the same bed.

Luckily there are ways that you can treat the itch and make it go away.  Then you can work on killing the Bed Bugs in your home.

Can Bed Bugs Live In Carpet

These bugs look for places to hide during the day and between feedings.  They want to be close to the people that they feed on.  

Their hiding places include mattresses and box springs,  and bed frames.  You can often find them along the edges of carpet next to your bed.

They can find hiding places in furniture, behind picture frames and in books.  Anything that is close to the victims that they are preying on.

Bed Bug Signs

It’s pretty easy to tell if you have a bed bug infestation. How To Look For Bed Bugs

One of the first signs of the bugs can be the itchy bites that they can cause.  Although the reaction to bites can differ from person to person.

Look for the signs of these bugs in and around the places that you sleep.  You need to look closely around the seams and edges of your mattress.  There you’ll find the actual bugs, discarded shells, blood smears and fecal droppings.

The more of these signs that you see the larger the infestation.  And the larger it is the harder it is going to be to get rid of them.

These bugs won’t go away as long as they have someone to feed on.  So the  sooner you start working on it, the easier it will be to rid your home of this pest.

The Tools To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs

There are a number of different things that you are going to need to get rid of Bed Bugs. Here is a link to some of them.

Conclusion

It’s important that you know that there are numerous ways to get rid of bed bugs.  The way that you got them in your home is actually less important than how you get rid of them once they are there.

You can choose to treat for them yourself or pay to have an exterminator come in to treat your home.  Do bed bugs have wings.  No, so that makes it a little easier to get rid of them.

But there is one important thing you should remember even if you have an exterminator come to your home.  It’s that there are many things that you can do to improve the odds that you are going to get rid of the bed bugs.

You’ll find that this blog is filled with all sorts of information on what to do once you get an infestation.

But the most important single tip that I can give you is to start as soon as possible.  An infestation will only continue growing until it becomes too large to be sustained by the available food sources – you and your family.

The sooner that you start the easier it is going to be to get rid of Bed Bugs.