How To Find Bed Bugs - How To Know If You Have Bed Bugs

How To Find Bed Bugs - How To Know If You Have Bed Bugs

Bed Bugs Appearance and Life Cycle

Knowing what to look for is the first step in identifying and controlling bed bugs. There are many bugs that look like bed bugs, so an accurate identification is a critical first step to avoid costly treatment for the wrong bug. The types of bugs that look like bed bugs will vary somewhat depending on your region of the country, but photos and descriptions of common look-alikes have been compiled by researchers:

Adult bed bugs, in general, are:
about the size of an apple seed (5-7 mm or 3/16 - 1/4 inch long);
long and brown, with a flat, oval-shaped body (if not fed recently);
balloon-like, reddish-brown, and more elongated (if fed recently);
a “true bug” (characteristics of true bugs include a beak with three segments; antenna that have four parts; wings that are not used for flying; and short, golden-colored hairs); and
smelly, with a “musty-sweetish” odor produced through glands on the lower side of the body.
Young bed bugs (also called nymphs), in general, are:
smaller, translucent or whitish-yellow in color; and
if not recently fed, can be nearly invisible to the naked eye because of coloring and size.
Bed bug eggs, in general, are:
tiny, the size of a pinhead;
pearl-white in color; and
marked by an eye spot if more than five days old.

https://www.epa.gov/bedbugs/bed-bugs-appearance-and-life-cycle