Worried that you might have bed bugs?

It isn’t always easy to identify bed bugs or know there’s a problem. They remain hidden in tiny cracks and crevices during the daytime. Often the first sign of bed bugs is bites that appear on your body after you wake up.

Common Signs 

It’s difficult to confirm presence of bed bugs just by looking at your bites.  

Look for these clues to their presence:

• Dark/black stains - on the mattress and surrounding area from bed bug excreta.

• Sweet scent - An unpleasant, sweet, sickly scent.

• Small dark spots - Small dark blood spots on bedding known as 'faecal spotting'.

• Live insects - despite being small (adult are only 4-5mm long) it’s possible to spot live bed bugs and shed skins.

Bed bugs can be difficult and costly to control. It’s important to act as soon as you have noticed evidence of activity.

Locating Bed Bugs

Although your bed is the first place to check, bed bugs can also hide in furniture and furnishings including:

• Bed frames and headboard crevices
• Mattress seams
• Carpets and underlay
• Skirting boards
• Between timber floorboards
• In cracked or broken plaster, behind peeling wallpaper
• Inside electrical sockets and fittings
• Drawers and cupboards
• Wardrobes
• Bedside cabinets

Bed bugs are usually found in bedrooms and sleeping areas because they need easy access to a bloodmeal at night. They are also attracted to bodyheat and carbon dioxide from our breath.

How Do Bed Bugs Spread?

They’re usually carried into a home or business on clothing, or in luggage or furniture. Given their size, bed bugs are well adapted to travel.

Second hand / vintage furniture

• Second hand furniture can also harbour bed bugs. Carefully inspect for signs of infestation before taking items home, especially cracks and crevices. Rentokil can treat items before you bring them into your home.

Staying away in an overnight accommodation

Spending a night in a hotel with an infestation is the most common way of spreading bed bugs.

• Check for blood spotting on bed linen and other common signs in your hotel room when you arrive.
• Inform hotel management if you have suspicions.
• It may be necessary to launder, fumigate or treat belongings before returning home to ensure they are free from bed bugs.

Visiting friends and neighbours

If your home has bed bugs, don’t risk spreading them by taking clothes, suitcases or furniture to hotels or people’s homes.

Established bed bug infestations can migrate to adjoining properties by crawling through wall or floor cavities.  If you live in a flat, apartment or terraced house, inform your neighbours and other tenants to take action quickly.