How to tell if you have bed bugs?

Follow this detailed step-by-step guide.

If you woke up with unexplained bites, found something suspicious on your mattress, or your neighbour just told you their unit has bed bugs, this guide will tell you exactly what to do in the next 30 minutes. Do not throw anything out and do not spray anything, spraying before inspection drives bugs deeper into hiding and makes professional treatment harder.

Call us at 416-451-7659 and we will walk you through it on the phone at no charge.

Note: If you find a live insect at any point, collect it. Use a damp piece of tape to pick it up without crushing it, then transfer it to your zip-lock bag. Do not crush the bug, it destroys the identifying features. A clear specimen photograph or a physical sample allows a professional to confirm the species with certainty.

Step 1: Bed bug bites

Examine your skin, particularly the back of your neck, shoulders, upper arms, forearms, and legs. These are the areas most exposed during sleep and the most common bite locations.

Bed bugs follow trails of CO2 produced from human breathing. Thus, depending on your sleeping positions and which body parts are close to your nose and mouth you may find bites on other areas of your body like fingers and hands.

Bed bug bites are red, bumpy and itchy. What sets them apart from mosquito bites is the pattern. Bed bugs feed, move slightly, and feed again leaving bites in a line, a curve, or a small cluster of 3–5 bumps close together.

Note where the bites are, how many, and whether they form a pattern. Take a photo. This information is useful when you call us.

Three things to know before you read too much into bites:

bites alone cannot confirm bed bugs. Mosquito bites, flea bites, heat rash, and contact dermatitis all look similar. You need physical evidence in the room to confirm.
reactions are delayed. Some people do not see bites until 24–48 hours after being bitten.
approximately 30% of people show no visible skin reaction at all. If your partner is not being bitten but you are, that does not mean they are not being fed on too.

Step 2: Inspect your bedding

Disturbing bedding before checking it causes evidence to fall away. Look at the sheets and pillowcase in their current state first.

What to look for:

Blood spots – small rust-coloured or reddish-brown smears, often irregular in shape. These are caused by a fed bed bug being rolled on and crushed during sleep, or by a bite site bleeding slightly onto the fabric after the bug finishes feeding. Fresh spots are bright red. Older spots darken to rust or brown. A single spot could be anything, a pattern of multiple spots, especially near where you rest your head or shoulders, is significant.

Fecal staining on the sheet – small dark brown to black dots or smears along the sheet edges and the seam where the sheet meets the mattress. These look like ink spots on fabric they spread slightly with blurred edges. If you see a cluster of these near the mattress edge, it is a strong indicator.

Photograph anything you find before stripping the bed. Then remove all bedding, sheets, pillowcases, mattress protector and place them directly into a sealed plastic bag. Set the aside until speaking with a professional. Do not carry them through the house loosely.

Step 3: Inspect your mattress

With your bedding removed, work slowly around every seam of your mattress: top, bottom, and all four sides. Note that bed bugs are nocturnal creatures and prefer hiding in places where light can’t reach. Lift and look under the piping and labels where you can. You are looking for any of the following signs:

1. Fecal staining

small dark brown to black spots, approximately 1–2mm, appearing in clusters or lines along mattress seams, headboard edges, baseboard junctions, and furniture joints. On fabric they bleed like ink. On hard surfaces they dry as raised dots.

2. Cast skins

translucent, hollow exoskeletons that bed bug nymphs leave behind after each moult. Finding several cast skins in the same location indicates an established infestation that has been present for weeks. Cast skins hold the exact shape of the nymph that left them.

3. Eggs

tiny white ovals, 1mm, slightly glossy, cemented in place in clusters. They look like a scattering of white sesame seeds stuck firmly to the fabric. They do not brush off easily.

4. Bed bugs at any stage in the life cycle

Bed bugs look completely different depending on their age and whether they’ve recently fed. Look for any insects that match the pictures below, they can range from 1.5mm to 5mm in size and vary in colour from almost translucent or pale yellow through to golden-tan, brown, and deep reddish-brown depending on their life stage and when they last fed.

Step 4: Inspect your box spring and bed frame

The box spring is where the majority of bed bugs hide in an established infestation, and most homeowners never look there. Stand it upright against a wall and examine the underside, you’ll see a thin dust cover, a piece of fabric stapled across the bottom. Using a bright flashlight, check carefully around all of the seams and staples for the evidence shown in Step 3. If you don’t have a box spring, check around and underneath all the wooden slats on your bed frame. If you have a metal frame, inspect every corner, joint, and crevice closely.

An established bed bug infestation may look like:

Step 5: Review what you have found

You found fecal staining only – This is enough to warrant a professional inspection. Fecal evidence means live bugs have been present. They may still be.

You found fecal staining plus shed skins – An active or recently active infestation is almost certain. Book an inspection immediately.

You found eggs – The infestation is actively reproducing. Do not delay.

You found live insects – Confirmed infestation. Call a professional today. Do not move furniture or bedding to other rooms, this is the fastest way to spread bugs throughout your home.

You found nothing – Either there are no bed bugs, the infestation is too early to leave visible evidence yet, or the bugs are in a part of the room you haven’t checked. If you are still getting bitten, a professional inspection with trained eyes and specialised equipment is the next step.

Do Not DIY an Established Infestation

If your inspection turned up real evidence, resist the urge to reach for supermarket sprays. Over-the-counter products cannot get rid of bed bugs and will only make it worse.

A Level 1 infestation caught early is a contained, affordable problem. Left for another month it becomes a Level 2. Left for six months it can spread to multiple rooms and cost three to four times as much to resolve. The inspection you just completed is the most important step, acting on what you found is the second.

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Your call connects directly to our lead entomologist so you can receive the best consultation for your bed bug infestation situation and ask questions about our industry-leading bed bug extermination services.

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+1 416 451 7659