How Bed Bugs Find Their Way Into Baltimore Homes

Have you seen a bed bug in a news report or on the internet? If so, you may immediately have an answer to this question. Bed bugs in Baltimore look like apple seeds with legs. But bed bugs don’t always look like this. They’re also not easy to locate, so you may not see them at all. Let us explain.

Identifying Bed Bugs: There are many ways you may detect a bed bug in your home. The easiest way to examine bed bug identification is to consider these potential encounters.

• You’re watching television in the evening and you look at your arm. Attached to your skin is a tiny red insect. You swat it, and it leaves a red smear of blood. What on earth was it? Most likely, you just saw a bed bug. A newly hatched nymph is about one millimeter long and is hungry for its first meal. Baby bed bugs are what you’ll most likely see in your home. They can bite you while you’re fully awake.
• You’re making your bed. As you pull the covers down, you see a tiny tan insect disappear into the folds. When you search for it, no insect is found. Bed bug nymphs often look tannish yellow with a hint of black appearing within the insect. They range from one to four millimeters in length.
• You think you may have a bed bug infestation. As you pull your bed apart, you notice something moving inside a gap in your bed frame. When you shine a light in there, you can tell that whatever is tucked in there has legs. Bed bugs hide from the light. If you see something moving in a gap and it doesn’t want to come out, you’re likely looking at bed bugs.
• You move a couch cushion for a quick vacuum cleaning. Tucked in a tiny spot about the size of your thumbnail are a dozen apple seed-shaped insects, some black-colored insects, one red, and a few white insects. That is a full-blown bed bug infestation. You’ll also see shed skins, black fecal matter, and brown stains. Use your vacuum to suck them up immediately.      

There are many ways to uncover bed bugs or to catch a glimpse of them. Sadly, it is rare to see bed bugs. They’re so good at hiding that many Baltimore residents ask us if they’re microscopic insects. Let’s quickly look at a few places you may find these bugs in your home if you use a flashlight and a tool to probe around in cracks and crevices.

Where Bed Bugs Hide:  We touched on the places bed bugs hide. They prefer tight spaces, darkness, and locations in your home where you sleep, sit, or lounge. Here are a few specific examples.

• You know bed bugs hide in your bed. They have the word “bed” in their name, after all. But you can inspect your bed and not find a single bed bug. They hide inside mattresses that have rips, around vent grommets, underneath labels, in frame gaps, and in mattress seams. You’ll likely need to dig and probe to find them.
• You know that bed bugs might hide in your couch. We pointed that out above. But where in your couch will you find them? They tuck themselves in the seams of cushions, within pockets and folds, inside cushions where there are zippers or rips, in the gaps of the framing, and in any tight space where cushions touch.
• Bed bugs don’t have to live in a bed, couch, or chair. They may live near these items. You could find them hiding in an alarm clock, computer, bed stand, duffel bag, pocketbook, piece of luggage, hardback book, laundry bin, guitar, piano, etc. They can be in any object that has a recess or a void.
• Bed bugs can hide in the structure of your home. They get into wall outlets, wall voids, and other structural voids. They hide under carpet edges, behind crown molding, behind baseboards, and more.

When you detect bed bugs in your home, there are a few simple facts you should know about them. The more you know, the greater the chances are that you’ll stop bed bugs early and prevent them from making your life miserable.