How to inspect for Bed Bugs?

We inspect this Ikea bed for Bed Bugs. The client has had many attempts at getting rid of the Bed Bugs.

First of all, it is a tremendous help if you could have a second person to assist you.

A checklist of items that would be helpful:

• Thin comfortable gloves that would put you at ease while sifting through debris etc looking for some insects.

• Tools to illuminate the items and area of inspection. A flash light or excellent lighting in the room or good sunlight through windows would help greatly to see clearly the small debris from insects.

• Tools to hold, contain and store the specimen that you may collect such as a vial or pill bottle or zip-lock plastic bag.

• Tools to pickup the insects and put in the container to hold for inspection: These could be tweezers, a knife, index card, credit card.

• Magnifier lens or some other means to enhance the visuals of what you captured. You need to distinguish between what may be debris or an insect.

• Some trash bags. Just in case you come across a very severe infestation and some objects need to be sealed and stored away until you have resources available to sanitize them.

• Have a vacuum cleaner available just in case where you may across a severe infestation and you wanna be able to suck them away before they spread around looking for shelter. Afterwards seal and throw away the vacuum bag or carefully clean/wash the dust bag sealing and discarding the collected garbage.

When looking for bed bugs, you are in fact looking for not only the adults, but the nymphs and their eggs and feces too. An established infestation would have all the signs of a bed bug establishment:

• first and foremost the bed bugs red blood spots and black feces markings. The blood stains are from bed bugs being crushed by a host’s

• secondly the various sizes and shades of bed bugs on varying stages of life and some skin sheds too

• lastly – their white eggs cemented to the surfaces where they were laid.

Most situations would benefit from use of a flashlight. When something of interest or concern is found, a magnifying glass would be the second most valuable utility to discern whether what you found is just debris or lint or a moving insect.

Put away at a fair distance and out of the way all pillows, blankets and sheets and covers before you go on removing the mattress and the box spring.

You need to examine and inspect the piping and tufts and seams of mattress and box spring. Pay particular attention to the areas of corners and middle seams.

Take time and examine closely. Bed Bugs generally behave in a sneaky and shy way. They do not start running around when looked upon or lightly disturbed unlike many other insects. This is a typical nature of a parasitical behavior that it does not want to be noticed by the host.

No bed bugs yet? Look closely into the frame of your bed particularly any wooden elements of the bed frame. If it is all metal frame and no wood then it might be free of bed bugs. Consider next closest thing to the bed including any articles stored within 3 feet of the bed.

Now if you did find some bed bugs in mattress, box spring and/or bed frame; then, do not stop looking.

Expand your search to other places in the vicinity of the bed such as the pleats of curtains, beneath loose pieces of wallpaper near the bed, the corners and drawers of desks and dressers and shelving units, within spaces of wicker furniture, under or behind all kinds of trim and woodwork near the bed.

Any crack, crevice, hole or joint in bed frame, flooring, wood work of housing structure can be used as a nesting spot by bed bugs.
If you don’t find bed bugs but bites continue or you find blood spots on bedding, contact us for a professional bed bug inspection service.

Professional inspection is performed by an experienced bed bug exterminator. Since to exterminate these pesky bugs, one needs to be a good inspector who is knowledgeable and experienced about bed bug traits.