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Bed Bug Identification

Bed bugs are reddish-brown in color, oval-shaped, and about the size on an apple seed. After feeding, their bodies can appear more engorged and red in color. Bed bug eggs are white, oblong, and only about 1 mm long.

What Do Bed Bugs Look Like? | New Berlin WI | Batzner Pest Control

You may find bed bugs in a variety of areas in your home, including mattresses, baseboards, upholstered couches, power outlets, picture frames, and even the cracks and crevices in your wall!

Noticing small red or brown spots on your bedding or suffering from red, itchy marks on the skin from bed bug bites are two of the major signs you have a bed bug problem in your property.

Although they do not fly or jump, bed bugs can travel around easily by hitching a ride on just about anything! Bed bugs often spread through traveling or in used furniture. They can jump onto suitcases, purses, and more.

Bed bugs and carpet beetles are often confused for each other. Looking at their larvae is the best way to tell them apart. Carpet beetle larvae look fuzzier and more stout than bed bug larvae, which can appear like tiny worms.

In order to feed, bed bugs bite their hosts. Bed bug bites usually occur overnight or whenever their host is at rest. Bites aren’t painful, but they may result in red, itchy marks on your legs or arms a day later.

Bed bug bites can appear just as any other bug bite would. A bed bug bite often has a very bright red center with a lighter, swollen bump surrounding the bite. Although rare, rashes or welts can form.

Out of all bug bites, a bed bug bite is considered extremely itchy. As with most insect bites, it’s important to resist the urge to itch, which will just hinder the healing process or make the bites worse.

Although bed bugs are certainly annoying, they aren’t considered especially dangerous. Their bites do not transmit disease, and they don’t typically cause any structural damage to your property.

Unlike other biting insects, bed bugs are currently not known to transmit disease. However, they have been found to be able to carry several disease organisms on their bodies.