How to know it is this one
Adults are 4 to 5mm — about an apple seed — flat, oval and reddish-brown, turning darker and rounder after feeding. They do not fly and they do not jump. Young ones are smaller and almost translucent, which is why they are usually missed.
Bites are not a reliable identifier on their own. They tend to appear in a line or a loose cluster on skin left uncovered in bed — arms, shoulders, neck — and some people show no reaction at all while a partner in the same bed is covered in marks.
Where they hide
Within a few metres of where someone sleeps, and almost never on open fabric. Check the mattress seams and the tag, the joints of the bed frame, behind and underneath the headboard, the seams of upholstered furniture, behind skirting, the back of bedside units, and behind loose wallpaper or picture frames near the bed.
The stains are the proof
- Small dark spots on the mattress seam, like a fine felt pen dot that has bled slightly into the fabric — digested blood
- Rusty or reddish smears on sheets, from a bug crushed while feeding
- Pale shed skins, in the same seams and joints
- In heavy infestations, a sweet, musty smell in the room
Why one treatment is never enough
Bed bug eggs survive most chemical treatments. That single fact governs everything: any treatment that ignores the egg cycle appears to work for about ten days and then fails, which is why so many people pay for a treatment and are bitten again a fortnight later.
The standard answer is two visits about two weeks apart — the first treats the active population, the second deals with everything hatched since. Heat treatment is the alternative where the property cannot be out of use that long: it kills every life stage including eggs in a single visit, which is why furnished rentals and hotel rooms usually choose it.
If you are moving in
Tenancy handover is when bed bugs most often move between properties. An inspection before your own furniture goes in costs a fraction of a treatment afterwards.