Unfortunately, there is no simply answer to this question. Increase in travel has brought more bed bugs into the country as well as spread their numbers domestically. Reduced use of pesticides as well as pesticide resistance have also played a large part.

Although there are misconceptions and social stigmas surrounding bed bugs, the answer is no. Bed bugs are not discriminators. They do not care how much your annual earnings are before or after taxes. They don’t care if you leave your dirty clothes on the floor instead of throwing them in the hamper or if you tend to leave food out overnight. Bed bugs don’t care how good you look in the morning or if you’re related to Teddy Roosevelt (by marriage or consanguinity). They are insects that can be picked up in an expensive resort, a motel that charges by the hour, the bus, or unwittingly brought into your home by your granny or in a nightstand you bought on Craigslist. There is nothing shameful about having an infestation, but get it taken care of by a pest management professional that specializes in bed bug remediation.

Yes. All stages (from egg to adult) can be seen with the naked eye. Adult bed bugs are comparable to an apple seed in size, but eggs and nymphs are very small and exceedingly hard to find especially in small numbers.

Current research has not shown bed bugs to be vectors of disease. They are considered a public health pest, though, because their bite creates an itchy irritation (in most) which may get infected if scratched.

No. Although some over the counter products will kill bed bugs when directly applied to the insect, many times an infestation will be made far more difficult to solve when home bought products are used. A “bomb” or “spray” around the bed will often cause bed bugs to disburse and find new harborage in areas which may be more difficult to locate and treat. I would always recommend a licensed pest management company (that specializes in bed bug remediation) be contacted to solve the problem once it is identified.

Oftentimes a vacuum is the best solution if live bed bugs are found in an area, but be careful with the bag! A mixture of 50% rubbing alcohol and water in a spray bottle can also be applied liberally to items which will kill bed bugs. These methods allow you to be proactive while not making the infestation harder to remediate!

Although bed bugs can harbor practically anywhere, a majority of bed bugs tend to be found on the mattress, box spring, and bed frame especially around the head of the bed. Inspect the head of the bed with a flashlight for fecal staining (which is inky black), cast skins, and of course live bed bugs (eggs, nymphs, adults). You may also want to look at the wall behind the head of the bed for staining around electrical plates (which is another favorite harborage for the bug). It is unlikely that bed bugs will be found on sheets, pillows, blankets, or other items which are easily moved or washed. Although I have certainly seen it happen, typically bed bugs want to find harborage which cannot be easily moved or exposed.

Unfortunately not. Although bed bugs do require blood for survival, they do not need to eat on a daily basis. Bed bugs can easily survive for months (and sometimes around a year!) without a single blood meal. In case you were planning to sleep in the living room for a year, if a host cannot be found in the area bed bugs are harboring they will often begin to move from one room to another in search for a new harborage closer to a host. Therefore, if the problem exists, it must be treated by a professional.

Although removing infested items (when possible) is certainly not a bad idea in and of itself, it is extremely likely that a percentage of bed bugs are still harboring in an area of your home.
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