Bed bugs had been the most notorious and annoying parasite or insect in the 19th to the early part of the 20th century. It is believed that during and after the World War II in the United States in the 1940s, the country had totally been declared bed-bug free. 

But travelers from other countries and continents where bed bugs may have continued to thrive made their return to the US possible. Usually, baggage and travel possessions serve as traveling ground or traveling spots for bed bugs from one area to another, from one country to another. 

You should know what bed bugs look like, to be able to identify them. Bed bugs of course, are insects. 

Size matters 

 Bed bugs are so tiny, that sometimes, one can hardly see them with just the naked eye. But when bed bugs mature, they look like other insects. They can be as long as a fourth of an inch. 

Bed bugs look like other wingless insects. Hatchlings or newly hatched bed bugs are about as small as a poppy seed. Looking or viewing bed bugs, from top to bottom, they are usually flattened. 

Bed bugs may sometimes look like ants or termites, except that when looked at closely, they have their own physical attributes. 

What color are bed bugs? 

 Bed bugs, like humans, have different colors. It can be funny, but bed bugs look like they also have races! Bed bugs’ colors usually are deep brown. 

However, there are bed bugs that look like biting ants---burnt orange, while there are those that have light tan complexion to almost white. 

When bed bugs are hungry, they exhibit a different color than that when they are fully fed. Bedbugs with blood in it look like balloons, but what is inside them is not air but blood. 

The host or victim’s precious blood may look like a black mass or dark red mass inside the bed bug’s tiny body. 

Bed bugs also do excrete. When they do, they produce small amounts of liquid that almost look like blood. Thus, beds or surfaces where bed bugs may have inhabited may be stained with tiny red spots. These spots most of the time have stinky smell, but sometimes, they are not sensed by our olfactory glands. 

Pexels Suzy Hazelwood

How can bed bugs be found? 

 Because they are so, so tiny and are always crawling at very unnoticeable speed, bed bugs can not easily be detected or seen. During daytime, they stay within their protective habitats or hiding places. 

Bed bugs look like small creeping objects in crevices and small holes in the floor, the walls or even your bed. 

If you are observant enough, bed bugs may look or seem as if they are vampires. They may not have the physical characteristics that may scare you the way Dracula does, but they suck your blood. And they can never survive without it. 

How to exterminate bedbugs 

 Bed bugs, like any other pests, are so persistent. You can hardly control bedbugs in your room without the professional help of pest control operators or providers. 

If you have been applying pesticides and harmful pest control substances in areas suspected of having these parasites, chances are greater that you will fail. 

It is because most of the pesticides in the market are repellant to insects. It means, when you have used one, bed bugs will not be killed. But they will be repelled or they will avoid getting at or near the surfaces or areas where the pesticide is applied. 

Through that, bed bugs start to wander. Thus, the spread of bed bugs is accelerated. They will start transferring from one spot to another. Or worse, from one household to another. 

Thus, attempting to control bed bugs on your own may look like attempting to get rid of bed bugs in your home and ushering them into your nearest neighbor. If you have the conscience to allow that to happen, or if your neighbor will not bug or sue you, then go on. 

But exterminating bed bugs can entail great responsibility and consideration to others on your part. Professionals know better, so leave the job to them. 

Besides, you may not want to kill yourself through poisoning along with the bed bugs, right?

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