Bed bugs are mysterious insects. They live in the dark in tight cracks, crevices, and holes near sleeping areas.
New bed bug infestations are usually centered on the mattress and bed frame. In severe infestations, bugs move out to occupy hiding places further from the bed as well.
Bed bugs can hide in beds, furniture, piles of clothing, back packs, and in similar everyday items. They can live for 6 or 7 months between feedings.
Bed Bugs – Common Ways for Bed Bugs to Infest a Home
The most common way for bed bugs to invade your home is for you, your family, or your friends to bring them in without knowing you did. Bed bugs are exceptional “hitch-hikers.” Here are some ways you can bring bed bugs into your home:
- Picking up bed bug-infested beds, mattresses, or furniture that has been discarded and placed on the street or by a dumpster.
- Visiting someone who has bed bugs and bringing them back with you on your clothing or possessions.
- Staying overnight in a bed bug-infested room in a hotel or home can cause you to bring them home in your luggage, purse, or other possessions.
- Renting furniture infested with bed bugs from furniture rental companies.
- Buying bed bug-infested second-hand furniture, carpets, blankets, luggage, pictures, and fixtures from stores, yard sales, auctions, and flea markets.
- Bed bugs can also transfer from one area to the next through pipe and wiring runs, and through wall and ceiling voids, similar to way that cockroaches move between areas.