Detecting the presence of bed bugs in your home, apartment or commercial building is a crucial step in ridding the premises of these wingless and bothersome insects. Tiny in size and mostly nocturnal such bugs can be very hard to detect but they do leave some telltale signs that they are around and knowing what to look for, and where, will make finding these critters that much easier.
You may find a solitary bug in your search but more often than not bed bugs gather in groups and this clustering will lead to evidence that bed bugs are present. Insect c ongregations tend to leave behind various clues including eggs, old skin and shells, dried excrement and in some cases blood. Often marked by a reddish-brown or black color you will notice these stains in mattress seams, sofa cushion liners, underneath carpet edges and along floor baseboards.
When searching for bed bugs remember their preferred residence is in dark, small crevices and underneath bed frames and furniture. Though not entirely nocturnal bed bugs tend to avoid sunlight and will keep to hidden spots like holes where wires and pipes extend, within mattresses and underneath chair and sofa cushions. Small, flat and very thin these bugs have the ability to move where cockroaches and other insects cannot which makes it even more difficult to find and exterminate them.
Unfortunately, the easiest way to detect bed bugs is to be bitten. If you find yourself waking in the middle of the night with what seems like a mosquito bite, including minor swelling and a light red rash, you may have bed bugs. Though not painful and rarely serious these bug bites are annoying and will most certainly itch and cause some form of irritation. In some extreme cases a person may develop an allergic reaction to bed bug bites. Though bed bugs are not know to transmit or carry infectious diseases their feeding habits on warm human blood is enough to ruin your sleep and cause anxiety and possibly insomnia.
New research indicates that congregations of bed bugs emit a distinctively sweet yet unpleasant smell. However this odor is not so strong that your average person could detect it and there is even less chance they could identify the smell. But specially trained dogs, known as bed bug dogs or bed bug sniffing dogs, have a much more keen sense of smell and have proven to be very adept at locating hard to find bed bug populations. Where exterminators may spend hours searching a home a well-trained bed bug sniffing dog can take a few minutes to identify infestations. These dogs don't require flash lights, the moving of furniture, money or harmful chemical sprays. Simply let the dog roam the house and he'll let you know exactly where the problem is coming from.