I Found A Bed Bug Crawling On Me

Bed bug infestations are on the rise. Bit by bit they invade our homes, and before you know it, your sleeping quarters become their sleeping quarters. Finding bed bugs on our skin can be alarming, especially if it’s the first time. A few minutes of internet research can make you feel like a pro, but it’s unlikely to remove the horror or to help you or your children overcome the psychological trauma that may result in your first encounter with these night-crawling critters. Here are some things I learned during my experience.

I Found A Bed Bug Crawling On Me

It’s so easy to bring bed bugs into your home. If you don’t spot them in time, you could end up with a full-scale infestation. Unfortunately, they’re also one of the hardest household pests to get rid of completely.

It’s possible that you could have only one bed bug, but this is unlikely. Finding a bed bug is usually a sign that you have an infestation.

Let’s look at the implications of finding one bed bug in your home. We’ll explain how to tell if it’s a bed bug, and whether it’s male or female. You’ll learn how to identify the signs of an infestation. We’ll then go through the next steps that you should take to become bed bug-free.

How Do Bed Bugs Get Into The Home?

According to the University of Arkansas, the bed bug population has been growing every year since 2004. Bed bugs have now officially reached epidemic status in the U.S. They’re prevalent in every U.S. state, with the highest infestation rates in California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Ohio.

So, if you live in the U.S., there’s a good chance you’ll have to deal with bed bugs at some point. How do they get into homes in the first place? Bed bugs move about via people. They can do this by traveling on:

• Clothing
• Luggage and suitcases
• Purses and backpacks
• Gym bags
• Any item kept in the bedroom, or an area where you don’t move about much, such as the couch
• Second-hand furniture

Pretty much every kind of dwelling where humans spend a lot of time can be infested with bed bugs. The most common places for bed bugs include:

• Houses, apartments, and condominiums
• Hotels and motels
• College dormitories
• Homeless shelters
• Nursing homes

Though these are the most common places, bed bugs can be found anywhere that humans spend a lot of time. This could include offices, hospitals, schools, movie theaters, and public transportation.

Knowing how a bed bug got into your home is helpful, but not always possible. You could have picked it up almost anywhere – or someone else could have brought it in.

And remember, you may not have even spotted it for days or weeks after it arrived. Wherever it came from, though, the outcome is the same: you’ve got a potential bed bug infestation on your hands.

How to Identify a Bed Bug

If you’ve found a mysterious bug in your home, what’s the first thing you should do? Before you panic, remember that many bugs look quite similar. To deal with it, first, you must make sure that it is a bed bug.

So, what do bed bugs look like? According to the Environmental Protection Agency, this is what to look out for. Bed bugs are:

• Approximately 3/16” to 3/8” in length (smaller when unfed, larger after a blood meal)
• Reddish-brown to mahogany in color
• Oval in shape when unfed. Fed bed bugs are more long and pointy. Both fed and unfed, bed bugs have a segmented body
• Flat when they haven’t fed (they swell up after feeding)
• Six-legged, with short, segmented antennae
• Wingless, though they have small vestigial wing pads that serve no function
• Covered in small, pale hairs (though these may only be visible under magnification)
• Unable to jump or fly, but they can crawl quite fast

Bed bugs also have a long proboscis (straw-like mouth part), which they use to pierce the skin and drink blood. This proboscis isn’t always visible from above, as they mainly keep it tucked up underneath the body. You may be able to see it if you flip the bug upside down.

Nymphs (young bed bugs) are smaller – between 1-4mm. They’re lighter in color, starting out translucent and getting darker as they get older. Eggs, on the other hand, are tiny and white. Young bed bugs and eggs are often quite hard to see.

Do Males and Females Bed Bugs Look Different?

Now that you know how to identify a bed bug, what about the sex? If you’ve found one male bed bug, you might not have to worry. Male bed bugs can’t lay eggs. So, if there is only one male bug, it won’t turn into an infestation.

Females, however, are another ball game. Pregnant female bed bugs can carry sperm inside them for 4-6 weeks. During this time, they can produce eggs and lay them every day. So, if the single bug that got into your home is female, it could create an infestation.

According to the Australian Environmental Pest Managers Association, you can identify the sex of a bed bug by careful visual inspection. Female bed bugs have a rounded abdomen. Males, on the other hand, have a pointier abdomen. Picture an orange and a lemon side by side. Lemons, like male bed bugs, are slightly less round and have a pointy part at the bottom. This only goes for unfed bed bugs, however. Both male and female bugs will appear long and engorged after feeding.

It can be quite hard to tell the sex of a bed bug. This is particularly true if you’re inexperienced with them, or if you only have one bed bug to examine. So, to be on the safe side, you should assume that your lone bug is a female. If it’s laid eggs around your home, you must deal with it before the infestation grows.

Is One Bed Bug Possible?

By this point, you’re probably wondering what your chances are of avoiding an infestation. If I’ve just found one bed bug on my couch, purse or suitcase, could it be the only bug? Is it possible that there isn’t an underlying infestation?

We can’t claim that it’s impossible for there to only be one bed bug. There is a chance that you’ve picked up one single male bed bug, and happened to notice it. It’s also possible that you’ve picked up a lone female, but she hasn’t laid any eggs yet.

However, it’s best to be on the safe side, and assume that there is an underlying infestation. Bed bugs are small, sneaky and good at hiding. The more bed bugs there are, the more likely it is that you’ll find one. So if you’ve spotted one, there could be many more that aren’t visible.

Not only that but the bed bug population snowballs. If there are any eggs hidden around your home, you’re in trouble. Females can and will mate with their own offspring. According to the University of Arkansas, one single pregnant bed bug can turn into an infestation of 500 bugs within two months.

Bear in mind, also, that just because you haven’t found any bites does not mean you don’t have bed bugs. Bed bug bites can take weeks to cause a skin reaction, and some people develop no reaction at all. You could be being bitten without realizing it.

I Found a Bed Bug Crawling On Me

So, let’s assume that you’ve identified your lone insect as a bed bug. What do you do next? How do you identify whether there’s an infestation, and deal with it?

After finding (and safely disposing of) your bed bug, it’s crucial that you follow these next steps. Don’t wait – remember, bed bug populations can grow quickly.

1. Clear the area where you found it. Clutter and mess is a bed bug’s dream. It provides so many spaces for them to hide. They’re small and can fit into even the tiniest cracks and crevices. So, for your best chance of finding more bed bugs, thoroughly tidy your home. Focus particularly on the area where you found the bug, and of course the bedroom(s).
2. Check for any signs of more bed bugs. Below, we’ll go into more detail about how to spot the signs of an infestation.
3. Call an exterminator for a consultation. If you think that you might have bed bugs – or you’re not sure – it’s best to call an exterminator. They’ll examine your home thoroughly and may spot something that you didn’t.
4. Start treatment, or safeguard your home. If the verdict is bad, you’ll want to start treatment for bed bugs straight away. If no signs of an infestation have been found, you can still take steps to safeguard your home. Again, we’ll go into more detail below.

Found one bed bug, but can’t find more? That’s good news. It either means that you haven’t got a bed bug problem, or that if you do, it’s probably a very mild infestation. If you can’t find any signs of bed bugs, here are the next steps to keep your home bug-free.

• Arrange a consultation with an exterminator. This is optional, but it will help to give you peace of mind. Bed bug pest control experts are very experienced and know what to look for. They will generally be better able to find the signs of bed bugs than you.
• Encase your mattress and box spring. Mattress and box spring encasements are designed to keep bed bugs out of nooks and crannies within your bed. This means that if you do get an infestation, it will be far easier to spot the signs. As a bonus, encasements also trap any bed bugs which are already living there, meaning they eventually starve.
• Set bed bug traps. Traps aren’t designed to get rid of an infestation. Their purpose is to alert you to a potential bed bug problem. You can buy interceptor traps that sit underneath your bed legs. If a bed bug tries to climb the bed leg to reach you, they’ll get stuck in the trap.
• Be vigilant when you travel. Don’t sit down on public transport unless you have to. Thoroughly examine hotel rooms before you get into bed. Also, store your luggage away from the walls and floor (like on a luggage rack).
• Keep your home tidy. Having a clean home doesn’t mean bed bugs are more likely to invade. However, keeping your home tidy and clutter-free gives bed bugs fewer places to hide. This means you’ll be able to spot any new invaders more easily.

I Found A Bed Bug Crawling On Me

I found a bed bug crawling on me. I was reading a book at work, and suddenly I felt something moving near my feet. I looked down and saw it—a tiny brown bug with six legs, slowly making its way across the blanket. It was a bed bug! I jumped up from my seat and started screaming for help. My colleague came running into the room to see what was wrong, and when she saw the bed bug, she yelled at me for bringing it in from outside.

She told me that we needed to get rid of it immediately or else we would all get sick from having them in the office. She ran downstairs and grabbed some spray from the store two buildings away from us and some masks also. We sprayed every inch of our office with an insect killer spray until there weren’t any more bugs left anywhere in sight!

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