If you know what to look for, a thorough visual inspection is the most reliable way to spot a bed bug infestation even in its earliest stages.
Bed bugs can be very stealthy pests.
Spotting the early warning signs of an infestation often takes the experienced eye of a professional pest control professional.
Call us to book an inspection service, we can almost always get there the same day.
What you’ll need to do a bed bug inspection:
- flashlight
- small spray bottle
- magnifying glass
- Latex gloves
Where to look for bed bugs:
- Any furniture where you sit, sleep or rest for more than 45 minutes per day
- Bed bugs CANNOT penetrate fabrics. They cannot live INSIDE of a mattress or pillow
- The less clutter and storage underneath and around the beds couches and chairs the more thorough and conclusive an inspection can be
How to Inspect for Bed Bugs:
- Use Your flashlight to look carefully at every surface on, or close to, furniture where you spend 45+ minutes per day sitting, sleeping or resting
- Focus especially on cracks, folds, seams and corners
- You will need to prop up your mattress and box spring and flip over your couches and chairs
Make sure you check the surface and seams of all of these pieces of furniture:
- the sides and bottoms of the mattress
- the sides and bottoms of box springs (always pull off the dust cover on the bottom, and check the plastic cups at the corners)
- bed slats
- bed frame
- headboard
- the underside, cracks and drawer tracks of side tables
- all items in storage bins or drawers underneath the bed
- folds of the bed skirt
- baseboards around the bed
- electrical sockets around the bed
- picture frames hanging above the bed
- curtains close to the bed
- couches
- lazy-boys
- office chairs
- any piece of furniture within 4 feet of beds or couches
What you’re looking for:
1. Bed Bug Faecal Markings
- Round dark rusty-brown dots about the size of a pinhead in clusters
- Bed bug faeces is dried blood
- If you wet these spots with your spray bottle and rub them with your finger they will leave a smear marking
2. Bed Bug Eggs
- Glassy white and oblong in shape
- Often clustered together in a protected area close to the bed or couch surface
- Bed bug eggs hatch within 10-14 days
3. Bed Bug Nymphal Skins
- wispy exoskeleton casing
- light tan translucent colour
4. Bed Bug Nymphs
- Nymphs are smaller and lighter in colour than adult bed bugs
- They can be smaller than one millimetre about the size of a grain of salt
- If nymphs have fed they have a dark red dot in their interior
5. Live Adult Bed Bugs
- Adult bed bugs are the size and shape of an apple seed
- An oblong abdomen that narrows towards their back end
- Bed bugs have a single pair of antennae and a pair of wing pads.
- They have a series of horizontal segments along their dorsum that will expand when they are full of blood
Book a professional Pest Control Inspection in the Greater Tornoto Area with QAP:
2. Furniture Leg Interceptor Traps
- An effective method of monitoring for bed bugs is using interceptors traps also known as passive pitfall traps.
- These traps can be filled with mineral oil or diatemaceous earth
- Bed bugs may hide directly on the bed or in a crack or crevice nearby the bed
How to monitor bed bugs using interceptor traps
- You must set up your bed as an “island”: the only thing making contact with the ground is the bed legs inside the interceptor traps
- Be very careful to eliminate other pathways for bugs to access the bed:
- The bed should not be touching a wall or side table
- infested clothing or linens should not be deposited directly onto the bed
- Sheets and linens should not hang down from the side of the bed and make contact with the floor
3. Preventative Insecticide Treatment
If you are at high risk of a bed bug infestation you may opt to perform a preventative bed bug treatment.
You should consider a preventative insecticide treatment if:
- You live in a Toronto-area building that is repeatedly dealing with bed bug issues
- A close friend or family member has been dealing with a bed bug infestation infestation
- An adjacent neighbour has a confirmed bed bug infestation
- A personal care worker or anyone who visits your home regularly has a confirmed bed bug infestation
Addison’s preventative bed bug treatment can keep you protected from bed bug infestation for up to 6 months.
4. Mattress Encasements
Zip-up mattress encasements are a useful monitoring tool, but they will not prevent bed bugs from infesting your home.
- These zip-up covers are useful for spotting bed bug infestations in the early stages
- By sealing off the folds and cavities of a typical bed and box spring bed bugs have fewer hiding places
- The white surface makes it easier to spot blood spots and bed bug faecal markings
- We do not advise customers to put on an encasement AFTER an infestation has been identified. This will not eliminate the bed bug problem
- Encasements can rip and tear easily giving bed bugs MORE places to hide out of sight
