how do you know if you have bedbugs at home?

Bed bugs – and their bites – scare you? You are not alone. This is the number one fear of the French, according to a survey carried out in 2019 by Odoxa for the CS3D (Union Chamber of rat control, insect control, disinfection). They are even ahead of cockroaches, which are the second most feared type of insects in their home. However, according to the same survey, only 8% of French people have ever been confronted with bedbugs and 18% with cockroaches. A phenomenon visibly on the rise, since the CS3D indicated at the end of 2020 that the number of interventions by professionals because of bedbugs had jumped by 76% in France last year. An increase undoubtedly reinforced by the multiple confinements that have forced people to spend more time at home … and therefore to deal in depth with this underlying problem, which is absolutely not related to cleanliness – or dirt – of your accommodation.

The health consequences of bedbugs

A bedbug infestation can have real consequences on the quality of life of people (bites and itching) but also on their health (allergy). They do not transmit disease but their bites can generate allergic reactions with slightly swollen buttons, such as an insect bite (especially mosquitoes). The key is also insomnia (39% of those infected) and a form of psychological distress that develops over time in the face of the feeling of not coming to an end.

Knowing how to spot and recognize them is therefore essential in order to be able to react quickly to limit bedbug infestations as much as possible. For this, we will have to spend time inspecting its interior (its furniture and even its clothes) because, behind, the treatment is particularly heavy and complex to get rid of this plague that stings faster than its shadow (and at night). . It is often necessary to call in a professional pest control to overcome it.

How to detect the presence of bedbugs at home

The first difficulty when you fear an infestation of bedbugs at home is knowing how to spot them (before even thinking about treatment). Their size and behavior doesn’t make it easy. Here are their specific characteristics:

• They are visible to the naked eye, are oval in shape and the size of a flattened apple seed (4 to 7 mm).
• Adult bedbugs are usually brown color (but it can also be red if it has just been gorged with blood after an injection).
• They don’t jump or fly. They usually hide from light and will come out and seek heat after about 30 minutes to 2 hours in dim light (making them difficult to spot)
• They move at a speed of about 1 meter per minute (a bit like an ant)
• They have a average lifespan of 5 to 6 months BUT they can live for more than a year without feeding (they then go into a state of dormancy, when they are in a freezer for example).
• They are particularly active at night.

How to spot bed bug eggs at home

• Bed bug eggs are whitish color (when the adult goes from red to dark brown).
• They are tiny, barely visible to the naked eye – like a pinhead.
• They are often found in groups, even cluster, which makes it easier to identify them. In this case, they are most often localized in narrow, confined places.
• The gestation time of these bed bug eggs ranges from 10 to 14 days after laying before hatching.

Understand the behavior of bedbugs to better identify them

They are insects that live mainly at night so it is not easy to detect their presence, even in the event of an infestation. But you will be unlikely to see them when you go to bed because bed bugs shy away from the light. These pests particularly appreciate narrow places, difficult to access and without light. The bedroom is often their favorite room (the sofa in the living room too). They can be found in the corners of a bed or an armchair, behind the baseboards of a house and the switches … But then how to spot if they are hidden? Some signs are clear.

If you have some bites on the skin – which itch more or less like a mosquito bite – with a rather particular characteristic: they are in line (or in any case grouped), spaced a centimeter or less. If necessary, take a photo of the bites and seek the advice of your attending physician or the pharmacy. Apart from these symptoms, no other physical consequence is to be deplored (fever or other). The bites do not leave a trace over time.

The “bed bugs” – as we say in English – which have infested one or more beds in your house will very often wait until you fall asleep (30 minutes or more) to come out of their hiding place and feast on your body. To know : the bug bites in a burst and that’s not a pretty sight! On the treatment side, nothing special to do except take your pain patiently. However, you can apply an itchy cream to calm the irritation.

They will puncture your blood just under the skin without you noticing it while you sleep. The itching may wake you up, but we often tend to think of it as mosquito bites at first. The large number and fairly regular alignment of the punctures is indicative of the insect. If this wakes you up, you can quickly turn on the light and immediately inspect the inside of the bed. Namely: you have about ten seconds to see them before they go back into hiding.

Other clues and signs can detect a bedbug infestation in your home, such as traces of small black spots (in bedding: on the sheets, mattress or around the bed). These are actually the feces, droppings bedbugs … You can also spot the presence ofbed bug eggs ordead insects in – or around – the bed.

Inspect the bedbug’s favorite hiding places for them

ANSES (National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety) has drawn up a list of the favorite hiding places of these pests in the house or apartment:

• The bed and the sofa are the two elements that are almost always infested.
• Mattresses and box springs: drawstring, brand label, ventilation hole, strap fasteners, etc.
• Bed structure: slat, screw, upright, box spring… do not hesitate to dismantle or unscrew the structure.
• Bed linen (sheets, pillowcases …).
• Baseboards, brick partition or paneling in contact with the bedding.
• Curtain: top and bottom hems, rods and hooks.
• Other objects near the bed or sofa such as paintings, rugs, bedside tables, books, etc.

In addition, also check these different alert points:

• Clothes
• The furniture
• Backpacks and suitcases
• Handbags
• Frames and back of posters
• Any cracks in the wall
• The gaps between the floorboards (or under the carpet if it has corners that are slightly off)
• Radios, clocks, landlines.

Protect your home from bed bugs

• keep the accommodation clean and airy, free from clutter of furniture or unnecessary items.
• vacuum regularly and watch for signs of bedbugs.
• Avoid bringing second-hand items of which you are not sure (clothes, furniture – especially with upholstery and stains – recovery mattresses and beds, etc.) into the home.
• watch and check for any suspicious bites on your body and that of those around you. On the skin, ankles and back are often the favorite targets of these insects.

How the bed bug spreads

This is the difficulty of this scourge. Their size and their propensity to hide in every nook and cranny allow them to move around very easily. Very often, they are propagated during trips and stays in places of passage (hotel, rental, lodging …).

• In trip, they very often catch on your suitcases, your bags, your clothes, your sleeping bags … if you put them in contact with infested objects and furniture (pajamas in contact with a mattress, suitcase placed on an armchair, jeans in prolonged contact with a sofa, etc.). When you return from your trip, place your suitcases on a hard surface (such as bathroom tiles or in your garage) in order to carefully inspect the suitcase and its components. Prevention is better than cure.
• At the time of a move, you can take bed bugs with you or move into an already contaminated place.
• From one apartment to another, it is possible that these insects pass from one home to another through the pipes, along the cables, through the carpet of a hallway or a rug. If an apartment in a building is infested, it can be useful to place petroleum jelly around the doors and the various points of opening to the outside to prevent it from spreading.
• When you clean your laundry, your clothes, your curtains … in a public laundromat, at the dry cleaning or in a laundry room shared with the occupants of a building.
• When you buy second-hand clothes, second-hand objects or furniture on a flea market, an antique store or at Emmaüs for example, inspect all the nooks and crannies with the greatest care. Ditto for the furniture undertaken in the street. A good deal can turn into a puzzle.

A bedbug infestation? Call in an expert

Have you discovered bed bugs in your home? It is best to contact the health or hygiene action services of your Town Hall for advice and possibly help. You may also need to call in a pest control specialist. This expert will guide you towards the most suitable solution in your case. Generally, the insecticides sold in open access in the trade are not sufficiently effective and it is therefore necessary to move up a gear with solutions applied by a professional (often treatment with heat and with aggressive chemicals according to a sanitary protocol. very precise). These disinfection specialists will be able to guide you towards a mechanical, chemical or thermal treatment (or a combination of the three) depending on your situation.

Florence santrot

Every day, aufeminin’s editorial staff addresses millions of women and supports them in all stages of their lives. The aufeminin editorial staff is made up of committed editors and …