Why Bed Bugs Like Beds – #1 Reason Revealed

There are thousands of posts on the web that tell you about the havoc that bed bugs unleash on the bed.

But have you ever wondered why bed bugs like beds?

How likely it is that bed bugs can be elsewhere in your home and bedroom? Or do they restrict themselves only to your bed or bed mattress.

Let’s find it out.

Here’s Why Bed Bugs Like Beds

The only reason that bed bugs like beds because beds keep them close to their food source, which is you or humans.

Bed bugs only survive on human blood. And unlike many bugs, bed bugs can neither fly nor can they crawl fast.

So, it’s essential for their survival that they remain close to their host.

Bed bugs sense humans. They don’t see humans. Bed bugs detect the carbon dioxide that humans exhale during your sleep. That’s what draw bed bugs to you.

Bed bugs bite humans when they’re stationary. So, most of the bed bug bites occur during your sleep.

When bed bugs get their regular blood meals from you in your bed, they decide to set up camp there.

In your bed, bed bugs will hide in the bed mattress, box spring, and inside the cracks on the headboards and bed frame.

The hiding bed bugs will also breed in your bed.

That’ll cause them to lay eggs, which will lead to newborn baby bed bugs. These baby bed bugs are known as nymphs.

For the nymphs to grow, it’s critical for them to feed. So, the baby bed bugs will bite you too.

The more frequently bed bugs have their blood meals, the faster the nymphs will mature into adults and the more they’ll breed.

That’ll result in the spike of the bed bug population in your bed and in your home, within a few weeks.

Result? Itchy sleepless nights with bed bug bite marks on your body.

Point to note here is that bed bugs can infest any soft furnishing, especially when the infestation is severe.

So, couches, carpets, accent chairs with soft cushioning, pillows, curtains, closets, and wardrobes can also be hiding places for bed bugs.

Another bug, which is a bed bug look-alike, is a swallow bug. Swallow bugs can also be on your bed but they’re not the ones who rely more on human blood.

But bugs like swallow bugs, rat mites, and bird mites can rely on human blood as an alternative when their primary hosts are not available.

Where Else Bed Bugs Can Hide In Your Bedroom And Home?

Though bed bugs like beds and they prefer to hide in your bed the most, they’ll hide elsewhere in your home too.

Your bed has limited space to occupy thousands of bed bugs. Bed bug numbers can easily cross over hundreds of thousands if you don’t eliminate the infestation.

And they’ll hide in places like pillows, curtains, closets, dresser drawers, in the cracks on the furniture, and even inside the electrical sockets.

The worst part?

It’s not just beds. Bed bugs can infest other types of soft furnishings too like couches, rugs, carpets, and cushioned chairs.

So, bed bugs will bite you even when you lay idle in these places.

One more point to keep in mind is that bed bugs don’t go beyond 6ft-8ft distance from the place where they get regular blood meals.

So, when their numbers increase in your bedroom, they’ll hide in other areas of your bedroom within that distance.

But how do bed bugs spread from one room to another?

Bed bugs are hitchhikers. They’ll latch onto the objects that you move from one room to another. That causes bed bugs to spread in other areas of your home.

Bed bugs can even be present in cars and baby car seats and all of these bed bugs come from infested homes.

How Do Bed Bugs Look Like To The Human Eye?

Bed bugs look like tiny flat oval-shaped tan bugs. Their legs and tiny antennae can also be visible.

A fully matured adult bed bug is 5 mm in length. And on a casual look, they appear as an apple seed crawling or lying stationary on your bed.

But the nymphs or baby bed bugs can be hard to spot. They’re extremely small and transparent.

Baby bed bugs are off-whitish. So, they mix up well with bed linen which makes it hard to spot them.

When the baby bed bugs have their blood meals, they turn into like blood-red spot. That’s when you can detect them with the naked eye.

What Causes Bed Bugs?

The #1 reason that causes bed bugs is when you transfer stuff (with bed bugs on them) from one infested place to another.

In an infested home, bed bugs can be in present in furniture, luggage bags, clothes, cardboard boxes, and soft furnishings.

And when someone, who has bed bug infestation in his home, bring anything from his home to yours, you get bed bugs.

That’s the most common way that bed bugs spread.

Bed bugs are so contagious that entire apartment complexes can have bed bug infestation if only one apartment has it.

So, preventing bed bug infestation is more difficult than preventing infestation of other bugs and insects.

Early Signs Of Bed Bugs In Your Bed

Bed bugs in bed can be hard to spot. And when you start to notice adult bed bugs crawling on your bed, it’s a telltale sign that their numbers have increased.

So, to control them, it’s critical to look for early signs of bed bugs.

Here are three signs that bed bugs leave behind on the bed –

1. Bed bug poop. The poop is in the form of tiny blackish-red dots on the bed
2. Rusty red blood stains on the bed because the bed bugs got crushed under your body weight
3. Tiny off-white shells. These can be eggshells of the bed bugs or their shed skin

If you’re waking up with itchy bites on your body, and you can’t see any bed bugs on your bed, it’ll be prudent to look for these signs.

However, the itchy bites can also be a sign of fleas in your bed too.

To protect yourself from bed bug bites, the first thing that you can do is to use mattress encasements.

Mattress encasements will deny bed bugs the access to your skin. That’ll help you a lot in reducing the bed bug bites.

Do Bed Bugs Ever Go Away?

If you think that bed bugs will go away on their own, then it’s a big mistake. An average lifespan of bed bug is between 6 and 12 months.

And a female bed bug in her lifespan can reproduce 3000-5000 bed bugs.

So, it’s essential that you get rid of bed bugs. And getting rid of bed bugs can be an expensive affair and it might need repeated treatments.

But if your finances are tight, you can refer to our guide on how to get rid of bed bugs on a tight budget.

However, there’s one method that guarantees elimination of bed bugs. And that’s heat treatment.

We’ve laid out the entire process on how heat treatment works.

Conclusion

Easy access to human blood and proximity to the host make bed bugs hide in the bed. But bed bugs can hide in other places of your home too.

This guide reveals what are those places. It also discloses the signs of bed bugs because being tiny, you will find it hard to detect live bed bugs.

Check our in-depth guide on bed bug infestation if you want to go down the rabbit hole and want to know it all.