How to check for signs and symptoms of bed bugs?

If you or someone that has some itchy bites present in clusters, You should start suspecting bed bugs:

• Bed bugs bites typically occur in clusters, anywhere on the body.
• About half of the people are insensitive to bedbug bites.
• Bites occur most often at night but start itching only several hours after the bloodmeal, possibly late in the afternoon.

Actually spotting bedbugs can be difficult as they are small (from 1 to 4 mm), walk relatively fast, and as flat as a credit card. They are most active late in the night.

Check your bed for this:

The black dots are bedbug poop, black from the dried blood it contains. You will also see small white dots, which are bedbug eggs. This photo is from a very serious infestation, so you will hopefully not see as much.

Don’t go accusing every creature on your bed of being a bedbug and every welt on your skin as their bite. Bedbugs are very unique. They are wingless and flat and very small. If your creature has wings, it’s not a bedbug. This photo has an adult. You can get a sense of scale from the stitches on the mattress.

a professional opinion, but if you see the black dots and the eggs (salt and pepper sign), you should probably find a new hotel room or get the number of a good, name-brand exterminator service. You have a small nightmare ahead of you.

Bed bugs have returned! And they have done it in search of the best and most innovative “restaurant” in the city … Do you know what it is? No, it is not DIVERXO of the chef Dabiz Muñoz, but you!

How can this be possible? Well, because bed bugs are very traveling (it is very easy to move in your luggage for example) and they love making new friends like you in these journeys.

In fact, hotels are one of the main sources of propagation of these insects due to the daily movement of guests. We could say that this fact allows bedbugs to enjoy a free vacation hitchhiking from one suitcase to another.

In the event that you find a hotel room infested by bedbugs, we have to tell you that there is a high probability that you will bring them back home with you.

But do not spread panic!

As a leading company in Environmental Hygiene services and an expert in pest control, we will share with you our secrets so you can check if your hotel room is free of this plague in 5 easy steps.

We assure you that if you follow them to the letter, the only thing you will have is a pleasant memory of your trip (no pests involved).

1. Mattress and bed frame

Bed bugs usually like to live near their food sources. That is the reason why the beds always register a great activity on the part of these insects.

How to check the mattress and the mattress for bed bugs:

• Inspect the headboard completely, looking carefully at any detail of its design. Separate the bed from the wall and look under and behind it.
• Check all corners, crevices, joints, carved elements or any other small crack or hole in the mattress.
• Check the bedding. This includes analyzing the pillowcases and duvet covers both inside and out, without forgetting the sheets. In addition, pay special attention to the seams.

2. Sofas, chairs and blankets

The CO2 you produce attracts bed bugs, so you can often see this type of plague hidden in places where there are high levels of interaction with humans, such as chairs or sofas.

How to check sofas, chairs and blankets for bed bugs:

• Remove the seat cushions and check both above and below them. Look for any sign of activity of these insects between joints or cracks.
• Remove the covers from the cushions and analyze the seams, corners and zippers.

3. Cabinets and baseboards

While it is true that bed bugs tend to hang out in those areas near where their food source is located, this does not prevent them from exploring new places inside the room, such as cabinets.

How to check cabinets and skirting boards to see if there are bedbugs:

• Check all the cabinets, drawers and other pieces of furniture in the room both on the back, above and below.

• Analyze joints, handles and any groove, crack or crevices.

• Inspect the spaces between the walls and baseboards.

4. Nightstands

Furniture near the bed, such as bedside tables, is also a focal point for bed bugs.

How to check bedside tables for bed bugs:

• Look inside the drawers, especially along the joints and in the handles.
• Inspect the back of the tables and also below.
• Analyze decorative elements, lamps and picture frames.

5. Luggage

Luggage is one of the most attractive places for bed bugs. Therefore, it is recommended that you leave it in the bathroom before starting to inspect the room. In this way, you eliminate the risk of unwanted stowaways.

How to check luggage for bed bugs:

• Check the straps around the suitcase
• Inspect the creases and crevices of each suitcase or travel bag

What to look for when you inspect a hotel room for bed bugs?

At the moment you know where and how to detect the signs that indicate the presence of bed bugs in the hotel room, but … what should you look for?

Bedbug signs:

• Live bugs: these insects are small, flat and oval in shape. They have six legs and two antennae, and their color is a reddish brown. In its adult stage its size is usually around 5 or 6 millimeters.
• Blood specks: occur when the bugs have been crushed after a good feast and look like small red spots, due to the blood they have ingested.
• Dark spots: they come from the dark liquid that they excrete after feeding.
• Skin shedding: the bedbugs shed their skin in order to continue their process of development and growth until they reach the mature stage. Seeing these skins is a sign that there is an infestation.
• Eggs: Bedbugs can lay between 200 and 500 eggs anywhere in a period of two months, and usually in “lots” of 10 in 10. Bedbug eggs usually have a size of one millimeter and one color pearly white