What if I slept in a bed with bed bugs?
If you slept in a bed with bed bugs, you’d most probably wake up with tiny red spots on your skin. Bed bugs are insects that feed on blood—preferably that of humans. They feed mostly at night. But then, if you sleep in the afternoon with hungry bed bugs around you, you could still get bitten. Here’s how. With a mouthpart specially adapted for piercing the skin, they suck the blood of their host. The sucking process is made possible with the aid of their beak.
No one ever feels bed bugs suck their blood. The moment the sucker of the bed bug pierces through the skin, the saliva is immediately introduced into the host’s bloodstream.
The saliva has constituents that temporarily numb the area, making the host totally unaware of the feeding.
The saliva also contains enzymes that make the blood fluid-like, i.e., easy to suck. So, there’s really no hindrance for the bed bugs after that.
It sucks until it is full and that could take about ten to twenty minutes. After that, it crawls off the body of the host and finds someplace to hide till its next feeding time.
Sadly enough, bed bugs never come in ones. There are always many of them, thereby creating a bed bug infestation.
The reason for that lies in the ability of the female bed bugs to lay as many eggs as possible. Most of them can lay as many as a thousand eggs in their lifetime.
What to do if you slept in a bed with bed bugs
If after sleeping in a bed infested with bed bugs, you notice tiny red bumps all over your skin. What do you do? Let’s look at the options below;
- If the infested bed is in your house, you should immediately seek for their hideout. Since clothes are one of their hiding sites, ensure that you wash them and then, dry them at high temperature.
Bed bugs cannot handle too much heat. For materials that cannot be washed, ensure that you have them sealed with bags that contain bed bug killing powders.
- If the mattress is heavily infested, you should discard it immediately. If it’s the other way round, you could seal the mattress with a leather sheath.
Because of the ability of bed bugs to survive for a long time without feeding, you’d need to keep the seal on for a year or thereabout. The sheath you choose to use here shouldn’t make you uncomfortable as you sleep.
- Ensure that you clean your house as regularly as possible. Use a vacuum cleaner to get rid of the bed bugs and then, use brushes with hard thistles to swipe across the inner crevices of your furniture.
Interesting facts about bed bugs
Let’s look at a couple things that are peculiar to bed bugs;
1. Bed bugs are small insects with brown and oval bodies. The older bed bugs are usually about 3/16” long. They look very much like carpet beetles and even ticks.
2. Bed bugs cannot fly. They move by crawling, and they do that at fast rates.
3. The female bed bugs usually lay their eggs in corners that are dark and out of sight. The rate at which they lay eggs is around two per day.
The eggs are white and relatively microscopic. The reason these eggs are able to stick to surfaces is because they are usually sticky when they are freshly laid.
4. The eggs usually hatch after about five days of being laid by the female bed bug. The nymph usually sheds it skin often before it finally forms the adult bed bug.
The factor that sponsors the molting process is continuous feeding.
5. Bed bugs are pretty stubborn insects. Once they are around, it’s almost difficult to get rid of them. The reason for this is that they can go on for months without having to feed.
6. You’d see bed bugs crawling out of their hideout mostly at night. Most times, their hideout is usually around their host—under the bed, cupboards, cracks in the wall, etc.
7. As a result of their flat bodies, they can easily tuck themselves into any crevice or opening in the wall. Bed bugs mostly aggregate within furniture, headboards, etc.
8. If you want to know whether or not bed bugs are in a place, search for signs of their poop. It’s usually a small dark spot.
You may also find the cracked or whole eggs of the bed bugs, moulted skins of the bugs, red smears from crushed bed bugs, etc. In scenarios where the infestation is great, you’d also note a thick rusty smell.
9. After a bed bug bites you, your body would react to the saliva injected during the process. It is this reaction that causes hives, severe itching, and other issues.
In some people—mostly aged people—this reaction may not be noticed. The reason for that is their weakened immune system.
10. Bed bugs will only bite exposed skin. Bed bugs aren’t also known to be carriers of microbes or other harmful pathogens. They only cause discomfort and inability to sleep.
If there’s any descriptive term to be used for bed bugs, it’d be the silent crawlers. Numbers of them can latch on to your clothing even before you knew it.
And yes, you’d move around and not even know they are there. It is as a result of this trait of theirs that they are spread easily from house to house.
If you also bought second-hand furniture at a time and suffered a bed bug infestation shortly after, you can blame the furniture.
So, unlike the belief most people have, you can be clean and still suffer a bed bug infestation. It’s really not your fault that you sat somewhere that was already infested with bed bugs.
Even when you travel or sleep over at motels, you can’t be too sure you’re safe from the bugs. They take every chance they have to latch onto your luggage and other materials.
Where do you check for bed bugs?
Have you ever wondered why you just never see these bed bugs? Maybe all you see are their blood stains, poop stains, or cracked eggs? Let’s see some places you should check right away;
- Mattress seams and folds
- Bed frames
- Headboards
- Box springs
- Furniture—sofas and other upholstery
- Dressing tables
- Junctions between the ceiling and the wall
- Framed pictures
- Loose wallpaper
- Clothing
- Luggage
- Book lapels
- Clocks
- Television
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