Bed bugs – they’ve earned a gnarly reputation for biting people at ungodly hours of the night and being exceptionally difficult to get rid of. They have also become well known for their place of residence – your bed (hence the name)!
Despite what you may think, these tiny insects aren’t just found on mattresses, bedsheets, and/or in the cracks of your bed frame, they also venture outside the vicinity of your sleeping area and can rear their ugly heads in a plethora of other places. In today’s blog, we’re uncovering all the unexpected places bed bugs can hide.
Five Bed Bug Hiding Spots You Didn’t Bargain For
1.Luggage
Most of us have been guilty of stuffing a bunch of dirty clothes into our suitcase after a long trip. Well, you might want to reconsider waiting to do laundry until your home on your next trip, because it turns out that bed bugs are attracted to dirty clothes.
Try to keep your luggage off the bed and floor of your hotel room and if there’s absolutely no way you can get your laundry done, at least keep your suitcase closed. Also, take the extra precaution of getting your luggage professionally cleaned. Bed bugs are a memento you definitely don’t want to bring home!
2.Furniture other than a bed
Bed bugs aren’t limited to making a home out of your bed; they can also spread out to other furniture if your place is heavily infested. Bed bugs can reside in any crack or crevice that they stumble upon. These areas include folds in a curtain, seams on a couch, or joints in any piece of furniture.
To prevent your bed bug problem from getting out of hand, cover your mattresses and box springs with a protective covering and try to keep the clutter in your home to a minimum.
3.Libraries
Books might not be the only things you bring home from the library these days; bed bugs are on the rise in these buildings. Bed bugs often hitch a ride to the library on people’s borrowed books, bags, or other items. They then find a place to call home in the crevices of comfy reading chairs that are an essential part of any library.
To lessen the chance of bringing home bed bugs from the library, thoroughly inspect books and check their spine before borrowing them.
4.Walls
Bed bugs are pretty resourceful, and when worst comes to worst during a bed bug infestation, they can make pretty much anywhere a place to stay. That’s right; they don’t just look for fuzzy, warm places to slip their flat bodies into, they can also find refuge under loose wallpaper, in electrical outlets, or the corners of a room.
If you spot even a single bed bug on your wall, you need to up your cleaning game immediately!
5.Clothing stores
Bed bugs are highly skilful hitchhikers, which is part of the reason they’re so dang difficult to get rid of. Since they are so good at hitchhiking, they can make their way into clothing stores via shoppers’ purses and backpacks. After they make their entrance into a retail store, they make do with any space that has the potential to be a good home.
Even though these cases of bed bug infestations are sporadic, it’s still a good idea to inspect clothing before making a purchase and avoid placing your belongings on the floor of fitting rooms. When it comes to bed bugs, it’s always better to air on the side of caution!
There you have it, five unexpected places bed bugs hide. We kept this list pretty short, but these critters can get pretty creative, so here are some other honourable mentions:
- Trains and buses
- Schools
- Office buildings
- Movie theatres
- Healthcare facilities
All in all, bed bugs can live pretty much anywhere that humans are despite what their name implies, so always be on the lookout.
Why Bed Bug Exterminator Pro
At Bed Bug Exterminator Pro, our bed bug heat treatment will rid your home of all bed bugs in one go. We’re so confident in our exterminators’ ability to treat your bed bug problem that we offer a 100% money-back guarantee to all our clients. Contact us today – the only thing you’ve got to lose are those pesky bed bugs!
