How to Check a Room for Bed Bugs | USA Today

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A magnifying glass helps you detect the presence of bedbugs. (Photo: pins image by dinostock from Fotolia.com )

You can identify bedbug infestations by noting reactions to bedbug bites -- small, itchy bumps or welts -- on a room's occupants. However, if you are staying in a room while traveling, you won't have that handy warning sign available, and you'll want to know about the problem before the first bite. If you suspect a bedbug problem, you can check a room for bedbugs, beginning with the places they most often live and hide -- in beds, sofas and chairs.

Pack and bring items useful for identifying bedbug infestations. A flashlight and a magnifying glass will help you see signs, often tiny, of infestations. You can use an old credit card or similar piece of plastic to scrape and dig for signs of bedbugs.

Examine the room's bedding. Check the mattress, box springs, frames and linens. Adult bedbugs are oval, brown, flat and wingless; they are approximately 1/4 to 3/8 inches in size, or about the size of an apple seed. They change from brown to purplish-red after they eat, becoming larger and more cigar-shaped. Young bedbugs are shaped like adults but smaller. In addition to looking for live bedbugs, search for signs bedbugs have been present earlier. Look for rusty or reddish stains on bed linens, pillows and mattresses -- signs left by bedbugs that have been crushed.

Look closely at the furniture. Bedbugs shed their skin as they grow, leaving eggs and eggshells, which are white and about 1 mm in size. Open and inspect any zippered coverings on furniture, and look at frames and feet of pieces such as sofas and chairs.

Check walls, including wall hangings such as paintings and clocks; baseboards and floorboards; and electrical outlets. Inspect electrical items by eye only. You can use a card from a deck of cards as a probe, or you can fashion a probe from an old credit card or similar piece of plastic. Cut the plastic into a long triangle with one sharply pointed end. Use the pointed end to probe into crevices around floorboards; scrape crevices with the probe to dig out any live bugs or remains.

Sam N. Austin began writing professionally in 1990, and has held executive and creative positions at Microsoft, Dell and numerous advertising agencies. Austin writes on health and well-being as well as linguistics and international travel, business, management and emerging technologies. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in French from the University of Texas where he is a Master of Arts candidate in Romance linguistics.

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How to Check a Room for Bed Bugs | USA Today

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