Guide · Home care
Bed Bugs
A calm, practical guide to recognizing, preventing and reporting bed bugs, with kind tips for travel and used furniture.
Where to start
- Think you have bed bugs?
Take a breath. It is a solvable problem, and no one’s fault. See if you think you have bed bugs.
- Traveling or buying used furniture?
A quick check takes about a minute. See travel and used furniture.
- Just want to keep them out?
Start with the checklist.
The short version
Bed bugs can happen to anyone. They travel on luggage, clothing and furniture, and they are never a sign of a dirty home.
Look for small reddish-brown bugs, tiny dark spots on mattress seams, shed skins and eggs. Bites alone are not a reliable sign.
To prevent them: check beds when you travel, inspect used furniture, use encasements, and dry clothes on high heat after trips.
If you think you have them, share right away in writing, don’t move belongings around, skip the foggers, and let an experienced professional help.
Rules about bed bugs differ from place to place, so we’d gently encourage a quick look at your local rules. If you ever have questions, we would love to help.
Four simple rules
- 1Bed bugs are no one’s fault
They hitchhike on luggage, clothing and furniture. Cleanliness has nothing to do with it, so there is no shame in sharing.
- 2Share early, in writing
A small problem found early is much easier to solve than one left alone for weeks.
- 3Don’t move things around
Moving bedding or furniture to other rooms or homes can spread bed bugs further.
- 4Professionals solve it best
Bed bugs are hard to clear completely on your own. Experienced pest professionals using integrated pest management work best.
Your bed bug checklist
From the guide’s own checklist. Tick each one as you go. These are examples; your home may need others.
All done. Calm, prepared and cared for.
If you think you have bed bugs
- Take a breath. Bed bugs are a solvable problem, and you did the right thing by noticing.
- Take a clear photo, or collect a sample. A piece of clear packing tape pressed over the bug and folded onto a card works great.
- Share it right away, in writing, with whoever handles pest control for the home.
- Leave furniture and belongings where they are, so bed bugs are not carried to new rooms.
- Wash bedding and clothing, dry them on high heat as the fabric allows and keep clean items sealed in plastic bags.
- Follow the pest professional’s preparation steps carefully. Your help is a big part of what makes treatment work.
Please don’t use foggers or bug bombs. They generally don’t reach bed bugs and can be unsafe.
Travel and used furniture
- The hotel check: pull back the sheet at a corner and look along the mattress seams, and behind the headboard if you can.
- Keep your suitcase off the bed and the floor.
- Coming home: unpack outside the bedroom if you can, put clothes straight in the washer and dry them on the hottest setting the fabric allows.
- Check the suitcase seams too, and store luggage away from beds.
- Used furniture: use a flashlight on seams, cushions and joints before you buy, and skip anything you can’t inspect.
Guides that go well with this one
How much do you remember?
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Simple, step by step checklists you can write in for moving in: the move in walk, moving day, your first week, utilities, keys and more.
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This guide shares general information to help you, and is not legal or medical advice. Bunklow does not inspect properties or provide pest control.