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Where do bed bugs come from?

Bed bugs are one of the most unpleasant infestations to find in your home.

These tiny insects are nocturnal and can be very hard to detect, so by the time you do notice them it’s quite likely that you might have a significant infestation.

Prevention is a far preferable option to having to eradicate a stubborn swarm of these creepy creatures – so it’s important to know where bed bugs come from, to make sure you can avoid them!

So where do bed bugs come from? The 4 most common places…

Common Bedbug - Vector Illustratiion

Visitors

Rental properties, holiday lets and guest rooms are particularly prone to picking up nasty bouts of bed bugs. If you have a visitor who is living with their own infestation, they can very easily bring these unwelcome guests along with them. They may not even be aware of the risk, it only takes a tiny number to have hitched a ride with them – in a bag, purse of coat, and they can easily make themselves at home in your mattresses or other soft furnishings. Once there, they can take hold – popping out at night to feed on their hosts – us!

Travel

Even high-quality hotels can suffer from bed bugs if they aren’t very carefully maintained. It only takes one guest to inadvertently bring bed bugs in with them, and they can quickly take hold. Of course, this is probably more prevalent in low-budget hotels, and multi-occupancy rooms in youth hostels. The sheer number of people travelling through and staying for just a few days increases the risk of someone bringing bugs in with them in their clothes or sleeping bags.

Second-hand furniture

If you are sourcing furniture from a charity shop, or buying from a stranger online – make sure that you take proper precautions before you bring it into your home. Whether this is a sofa, chairs, cushions – or even clothes and handbags, you have little way of knowing whether it has come from a home suffering from an infestation of bed bugs. Most charity shops will exercise a reasonable level of hygiene and cleanliness, but they may not spot a subtle infestation – so make sure you carefully inspect anything you are buying. Look for dead bed bugs, or nasty smears of faeces staining the fabric. If in doubt, just don’t risk it!

Whilst charity shops have a duty to try and protect you from picking up these nasties, private sellers might have no such sense of conscientiousness. Make sure that you’re inspecting anything before you buy, to protect yourself from these tiny invaders from making their way into your home.

Hitching a ride from a public place

Although bed bugs feed on human blood, they don’t generally linger on humans for too long. However, they can still crawl onto your clothes or belongings if you are unfortunate enough to sit on an infested piece of furniture. Public transport is a particular hotspot, as is furniture in public areas like libraries, or the sofas or chairs in hotel rooms.

If you are worried about a possible infestation, it’s always worth getting professional advice sooner rather than later, to help stamp out the problem before it takes hold! Get in touch to find out how we can help.

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