Close-up of an adult bed bug
What do bed bugs look like?
It ’ south crucial to be able to identify and know what a bed wiretap looks like as you don ’ thyroxine want to delay treating a growing infestation. The scientific identify for go to bed bugs is Cimex lectularius and from the description below and the follow images, you ’ ll see that go to bed bugs are :
- Wingless and small with two protruding eyes, six legs, and two antennae
- Light brown in color with flat bodies when unfed
- When feeding they become a dark brown/reddish color with an engorged and elongated body
- They are about the size and shape of a small apple seed.
- The adult grows to 5-7mm (3/16 of an inch) in length and up to 10mm (just over ⅜ of an inch) after a blood meal
- Baby bed bugs, or nymphs, grow from 1mm – 4.5mm, and are semi-translucent, so they are easily missed when looking for an infestation. When feeding their abdomen fills with blood, and becomes red in color, making them easier to spot. As they mature they become darker in color like the adults.
Zoomed in photo of adult bed bug crawling on a carpet
Here’s what else you need to know about these blood-sucking pests.
Bed bugs only feed on rake and prefer the blood of humans, but will besides feed on animals. They are nocturnal, so they hide during the day but a cheeseparing inspection will find them on mattress seams, corner springs, bed frames, headboards, and in cracks and crevices near to where you sleep.
Bed bugs are not seasonal worker so they bite all year attack, but they do prefer ardent temperatures of between 70-80°F ( 21° – 26°C ) so the female can lay her eggs. It ’ mho easy to get them confused with similar-looking pests, and as mentioned above, a batch of people misidentify them, so the bed hemipterous insect designation photograph below will show you precisely what they look like and what to look for. Did you know that 84% of pest control companies reported they get called out to treat a particular pest (people often think it’s fleas), only to find that it’s actually bed bugs? Below you’ll find over 65 pictures of bed bugs that include nymphs, adults, shed skins, and infestations to help you identify if you have bed bugs. We ’ ll get down by looking at what these bugs look like up close .
Bed bug pictures close up
1. This photograph is one that I took when treating a bed tease infestation. From this finale up you can see the segments on the abdomen and its six legs as it ’ sulfur crawling on the mattress. In presence of the bed hemipterous insect is a atom of faecal matter and good behind it is a bed bug egg. Although this is not the actual size of a go to bed microbe, it does show you what they look like and help you identify them if you think you ’ ve found one .Zoomed-in image of a bed bug 2. This painting is a commodity exercise of a bed bug close-up. You can see it ’ south feed by piercing the bark and taking blood from the person. One particular identifying feature of the bed bug as I mentioned above is the protruding eyes, which are situated to the side of the drumhead. Bed bugs will bite any area of bark exposed when you ’ ra sleeping. We ’ ll have to the photograph of bites to the confront, bet on, and early areas of the body further down the page to get a good theme of what the welt look like .CDC/ Harvard University, Dr. Gary Alpert; Dr. Harold Harlan; Richard Pollack Publicdomainfiles.com. 3. I took the overstate photograph below to show what bed wiretap look like close up and how they compare in size to an apple seed ( left ) and flaxseed ( properly ) .
What does a bed bug look like up close?
Although early bugs are mistaken for bed bugs, they do have some features which will help you to correctly identify them, and these are : Head – curtly and broad with distinct eyes that are clearly seen on each side of the head. They have a long proboscis to feed, which pierces your skin and sucks your rake. When not feeding, the proboscis is tucked back underneath the body. Bed bugs have two antennae, each with four segments that work together as sensors for locating a rake meal. Thorax – is attached to the head and abdomen and enables the body to move. It ’ s not always slowly to tell the difference between the thorax and the body, but the thorax is in three segments and the section nearest the head is flatter and partially surrounds the head. The stage and wing pads ( bed bugs can not fly despite having wing pads ) are besides attached to the thorax. Abdomen – the bed bug has 11 segments on its abdomen so the soundbox can expand whilst feed. After feeding the body looks conceited, elongated, and dark in color. You can besides tell if the bed wiretap is male or female by the form of this sphere. The female is larger with a round abdominal tip, whereas the male has a more point abdominal topple. 4. here is a good movie of a go to bed bug as it shows you in detail all of the features mentioned above. You can see how the segments on its soundbox expand and become dark in color as it fills itself up with blood.
This is what a bed tease looks like after feeding .Credit: Public Health Image Library publicdomainfiles.com 5. A closer image of act 1 above. Although this photograph is a spot bleary ( it ’ mho hard to take photos when you ’ ve got all of your pest control gear on ). again, you can see the segments on the abdomen as it crawls across the mattress .Close-up of an adult bed bug crawling on a mattress 6. This frontlet close-up of the seam bug shows it is feeding. Notice its body is similar to the condition of an apple seed. You can see the wing pads which don ’ t actually develop into wings, therefore thankfully, bed bugs can not fly .CDC/ Harvard University, Publicdomainfiles.com 7. I zoomed in on the bed bugs below when treating a heavily infested mattress and box spring. The adults cluster in concert in their concealment spots. You can besides see what bed bug eggs look like which are the pearly, about translucent oblong shapes on the mattress. These have hatched as there is an open at one end of them .Adult bed bugs and numerous white hatched bed bug eggs 8. Magnified lead and thorax .Credit: CDC/ CDC-DPDx; Blaine Mathison. Publicdomainfiles.com 9. Another good close-up of this awful pest using its mouthparts to pierce the skin and take in a rake meal. Notice how the body has become long as it feeds .Credit: AJC1 from UK – Bed bug, Cimex lectularius, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link
10. This is a bang-up ( but rather scary-looking ) effigy created using a digitally colorized scanning electron micrograph ( SEM ). From this view, you can see the mouthparts of the bed bug which it uses to suck up your blood .Credit: Janice Harney Carr, CDC [Public domain]
11. This is from a slide that shows a go to bed wiretap ’ s body structure .Image credit: Adam Cuerden https://commons.wikimedia.org 12. Can you tell the deviation between male and female bed bugs ? This picture shows a male ( left ) and a female ( right ) ampere good as bed wiretap eggs. The male ’ south body is more pointed as this is where the sex organ is, and the female ’ randomness body is more of an ellipse form and is wider than the male ’ south .Image credit: T Myers/NPMA 13. This photograph ( blow up visualize at the top ), although not very clear, shows both a male and female bed hemipterous insect, vitamin a well as bed bug eggs. You can see the faecal matter, which is digested blood .Credit: Flickr.com/CC
Actual size of bed bugs pictures
How big is a bed bug?
14. An pornographic bed bug is about 5-7mm long. This up-close photograph shows its actual size in millimeters. This is an adult and as you can tell they are very little so they are excellent at hiding in the smallest of cracks and crevices in your bedroom, hotel board, workplaces, and anywhere people broadly are .Credit: CDC Public Health Image Library publicdomainfiles.com 15. This image indicates the size of a bed bug by the scale at the bottom of the picture. Again this is an adult and you can distinctly see the segment parts of the body .Credit: Pest and Diseases Image Library, Bugwood.org 16. This is a photograph of a nymph, or bed bug child after feeding. Baby bed bugs can be intemperate to see as they are semi-translucent and as the measurement scale on the image shows, they are bantam. This pamper bed bug has had a blood meal which is the darkness area in the abdomen .Credit: CDC Blaine Mathison Publicdomainfiles.com 17. The future word picture shows the size of bed bugs in comparison to the coin. The adult bed hemipterous insect on the leftover has an elongated soundbox meaning it has recently fed. If you think you ’ ve got go to bed bugs, then just remember this effigy to see how humble they are when searching for them .Image credit: Patrick Porter, Texas Cooperative Extension, Bugwood.org 18. What do bed bugs look like on a mattress ? If you look closely at the picture below you ’ ll see an adult crawling where the seam of the label joins the mattress. Read what are bed bugs to learn more about them and how you can them in your home Bed bugs can be found anywhere on or near the bed, and this shows merely how carefully you need to inspect everything as they are sol humble and can easily be missed .image adult bed bug under the label 19. The prototype below is one I took after treating a firm for an infestation. To show the actual size of a bed hemipterous insect, I placed it alongside a rule and if you look cheeseparing enough, you ’ ll be able to see it had fed curtly before it died. 20. How small are bed bugs? Small but you can see them with the naked center. I took this photograph of a pamper bed microbe, probably 4th/5th instar, that I found during an after-treatment inspection. 21. The adjacent photograph is a close-up of a dead layer bug that was placed on the playpen lean for size comparison, again to show what size they are. 22. I took the photograph below to show the size comparison of a layer bug ( middle ), apple seed ( left ), and linseed ( right field ). This sleep together wiretap was not quite an adult, so an adult would have been slenderly larger, but it still gives a good reading of their size and similarity. There is besides a close-up translation of this video at number 3 above. 23. Another close-up prototype I took of a seam wiretap at the end of a Q-Tip ( or cotton bud if you ’ re in the UK ). hopefully, these pictures are giving you a good mind of what they look like and how easily they can hide away in the seams of your mattress. 24. And another for size comparison with the bed bug next to the Q-tip. This bed bug had been dead for a few weeks as you can tell by its desiccated appearance .
Images of bed bugs feeding
The follow testify bed bugs feeding on people. As these pests are nocturnal, you much won ’ triiodothyronine know you have bed bugs straight away because not everyone reacts to the bites, and if they do, they normally think it ’ s a pungency from a different worm. Adult bed bugs and nymphs will feed about once a workweek, and they need regular access to a rake meal so they can grow and reproduce. Although they feed on your rake, and the blood of animals, thankfully they do not transmit diseases ! 25. Adult getting a blood meal from a person .Credit: CDC/ Donated by the WHO, Geneva, Switzerland publicdomainfiles.com. 26. Pictured adjacent is the pest fawn on a person ’ mho hand and feed. If you woke up and discovered a flog on your hand, would your beginning think be that it ’ s a bed wiretap bite ?Image credit: Flickr.com/ BPCA 27. This is a great bed tease nincompoop photograph ! not alone is it defecating but it ’ s besides feeding on a person at the lapp fourth dimension. The faecal matter is actually blood taken from a person which the go to bed bug has digested. Notice how dark the drop is. We ’ ll take a front at how you can spot this on your mattress in the photograph far along .Flickr.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ BPCA 28. You can see from the next word picture precisely what bed bug spirit like after feeding when the abdomen become longer and fuller as it fills with lineage .CDC/Harvard University, Dr. G Alperts, Dr. H Harlan, R Pollack publicdomainfiles.com
Baby bed bugs pictures
What do baby bed bugs look like?
Newborn child bed bugs ( or nymph or larvae as they are besides called ) are about 1mm ( 1/16 ” ) in size and search about diaphanous as they are so pale. They go looking for a lineage meal after they hatch, and when fed their abdomen becomes red making them easier to spot. Nymphs will molt five times before they mature, american samoa retentive as they have access to blood. As they molt and become bigger ( a 5th stage baby bed tease will grow to about 4.5mm ), they look like the adult bed bugs lone smaller and become maroon in color. Baby bed bugs can reach adulthood in about 21 days if temperatures are between 70-80ºF ( 21-27ºC ), but the average time is normally about five weeks.
once they become adults, they can reproduce and add to the infestation. 29. Apologies for the bleary picture, but sometimes it ’ mho quite unmanageable to get into spaces and get good photos. This close-up photograph of an infestation shows baby bed bugs ( nymph ) in different life stages as their cast exoskeletons are visible. This means they have been able to grow to the future shed stage as they have had access to blood. You can besides see two adult bed bugs have fed as their abdomens are a dark color. 30. If this baby bed tease ( nymph ) wasn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate filled with blood, it would be hard to see as it ’ mho about diaphanous. Notice the big eyes at the side of the headway .Image credit: CDC/ Harvard University, Dr. Gary Alpert; Dr. Harold Harlan; Richard Pollack. Photo Credit: Piotr Naskrecki – http://phil.cdc.gov/phil 31. In this photograph you can again see that the young bed hemipterous insect has recently fed because of the benighted area in the abdomen. As it has had access to blood, it has been able to molt to the adjacent emergence stagecoach ( called instars ) and leave behind its exoskeleton, which is at the top correct of the photograph .Image credit: Verslinykas under Wikipedia: GNU Free Documentation License 32. This magnify image of baby bed bugs below shows a bunch of hatched layer bug eggs, bantam nymph, and casings. An adult female bed hemipterous insect lays about 5 eggs a day and hundreds throughout her life. She besides mates with her young, so the infestation will equitable grow and grow unless treated. The eggs are highly small like a atom of dust ( 1mm ) and are a translucent white color so you can imagine how arduous they are to see with the naked eye. The female uses a clear and gluey substance to attach the eggs to cracks and other surfaces like wood .Image: Mohammed El Damir, Bugwood.org 33. Next, you can see bed bugs in respective animation stages from nymph to adult. You can besides see the exoskeletons left behind after they molt. Notice how the exoskeleton looks about precisely the same as the nymph due to the color .Image credit: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org 34. The photograph below is one that I took to show a close-up of a child bed bug on a mattress pronounce.
This nymph has recently fed as you can see the undigested blood in the abdomen of its about translucent body. A nymph of this size and concealment near the seam would be unmanageable to see unless you knew where to look. You have to look very closely as they have so many hide places.
A pest control professional will know precisely where to look. 35. This is another photograph I took that shows baby bed bugs clustered underneath a box spring. Notice the come of faecal matter everywhere, they ’ ve obviously had a few good blood meals. 36. Another double shows baby bed bugs at diverse days old, along with an adult and lots of eggs, feces, and exoskeletons on a mattress .
Images of bed bug mattress infestations
The bed is the independent stead you ’ ll find evidence of bed bugs as they like to hide in the mattress seam, box form, bed inning, and all other areas close up by and wait for their blood meal. Below are respective infestation pictures of bed bugs on mattresses and the signs they leave behind that you can look for .
What does bed bug poop look like?
Bed hemipterous insect nincompoop is digested blood and as it dries and soaks into fabric, it looks like rusty brown/black streaks or dots, similar to an ink blot. The first place to look for bed bug droppings is in the corners and seams of your mattress as they hide close to a host. You might besides find bed bug feces in clusters on your pillowcases, eiderdown, sheets, behind switch plates, on curtains, the frame, and anywhere else they hide
37. Bed bugs are hiding under the mattress piping in this picture. The mattress is the beginning place to inspect if you think you have bed bugs. The dark spots are faecal matter .Credit: Flickr.com/photos/lou bugs pix CC Licenses/by-nd/2.0/ 38. The visualize below shows a bed bug infestation that has been left to grow for some time. The tell-tale signs are the dark lineage spots on the mattress .Image credit: Flickr.com Lou bugs pixCC Licenses/by-nd/2.0/ 39. This is a photograph I took while treating a bad infestation. This mattress was very heavy infested which is apparent by the number of blood spots and smears on it. If your mattress has got to this stage, don ’ metric ton attempt and treat it yourself as it will be impossible to get rid of the infestation. lone a plague control company will be able to eradicate it at this sharpen. If the infestation is very bad then the pest manipulate technician will most likely recommend you get rid of your mattress. But before you do, check out these guidelines so you know how to dispose of the mattress and box spring by rights. 40. This is an up-close version of the photograph I took above. You can see the smear blood spots that look like dots from a marker pen. 41. The picture below shows a heavily infested bed frame and how seam bugs can hide anywhere in it, like the lining under the box bounce and in the corners of the human body .Image Credit: Flickr.com/BPCA CC Licenses/by/2.0/ 42. This is another painting of a go to bed bug infestation I took which is of a heavily infested box spring. Notice how the feces looks like smear ink. 43. The photograph below was taken by a colleague ( apologies for the blurred photograph ) showing seam bugs and smeared blood spots on the mattress piping. Did you know that one of the most common ways you pick up these little hitch-hikers in the first place is when you travel? sol, it ’ sulfur constantly a good idea when staying in a hotel or moving to college, to look at the mattress shoot and seams a soon as you arrive for any signs of bed wiretap action. 44. Below is another photograph I took of an adult bed bug crawl on a box bounce while treating the bedroom. 45. Live bed bugs and faecal matter are discernible on the box spring. If you look close, you can see they are besides behind the material/lining. 46. This is a close-up of the above photograph and a clearer view of the live go to bed bugs and the black blood spots on and behind the box jump ’ randomness fabric. 47. An even closer view of the invade box jump. front at how they are hiding behind the lining. This is just one of the areas that should constantly be checked when looking for bed bugs .Bed bugs and fecal spots on box spring 48. Again, the lapp box spring but showing the internal area of the frame where they are hiding. Bed bug faecal matter can be seen on the, which are the black dots. Bed bugs like to lay their eggs on crude surfaces like wood .
Images of bed bug infestations in other areas
49. Bed bug infestations aren ’ t merely found on the bed as this picture shows a heavily infested skidder. If you suspect you have bed bugs, then even the unlikeliest of places have to be checked .Flickr.com/pixlouento.pix under CC license 50. Below is a cluster of layer bugs that have set up their harborage area in the folds underneath a bed. Inspecting the folds and creases of fabric furniture is besides important when looking for these pests. 51. I found the bed bugs in the persona below in the rivets of a bed frame. You probably wouldn ’ thymine think to look here, so knowing where to inspect is in truth crucial ! 52. A heavily infested couch where bed bugs are much found hiding between cushions, in seams, and folds .Image credit: Mohammed El Damir, Bugwood.org 53. Below you can see the bed hemipterous insect eggs have been laid on a wooden coat, this gives you some idea of what they look like and what to look for when inspecting your furniture .Image credit: Mohammed El Damir, Bugwood.org 54. The following highlights the unusual places you probably wouldn ’ metric ton think to look in for bed bugs. It besides shows just how little they are as there are several adults and bed bug eggs in this cheat principal .Image credit: Flickr.com Lou bugs pix 55. I ’ thousand often asked if bed bugs crawl on walls and ceilings, and my photograph shows that yes, they do ! I took the picture below to show other areas of the room where seam bugs can be found. This is the area where the wall adjoins the ceiling. This was an infestation that had been left untreated and had grown then the usual obscure places had become a spot overcrowd, therefore the bed bug stern on the ceiling. 56. Bed bugs can besides be found hiding behind a strip of wallpaper. 57. A close-up of seam bug eggs hidden away in cardboard .Bed bug eggs on cardboard. Credit: Dr. Harold Harlan/AFPMB (CC)
Pictures of bed bug bites
What do bed bug bites look like?
Bed tease bites are not easy to diagnose as they look very alike to bites from other insects. Bites from seam bugs can occur in a row or bunch, or singularly, on any area of your body uncovered when in seam, so the arms, boldness, shoulders, and back are common areas for bites. The pungency itself is not actually felt as an anesthetic and an anticoagulant is injected into your skin. It ’ s alone by and by if the hide reacts and the morsel develops into a wale and itches, that you realize you ’ ve been bitten. hopefully, the surveil images give you some estimate of what they look like. But remember, if you don ’ thymine find any early testify of go to bed bugs, then it credibly isn ’ t bed bugs that are biting you. 58. This shows a badly case of sleep together microbe bites on the side. In reality, you wouldn ’ thymine truly be able to tell if this was a layer wiretap or mosquito bite, so it ’ second constantly advisable to look for other attest of bed hemipterous insect activeness. Bed bugs will bite chiefly disclose areas of the consistency and not everyone has a reaction .Image credit: Andybrookestar at English Wikipedia. [Public domain] 59. Large welts develop on this person ’ second back after being bitten by bed bugs .Bed bug bites on the back. James Heilman, MD / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) 60. This trope shows a reaction to bed wiretap bites on the arm. This is a common area to be bitten as the arms are much uncovered in bed .Image: By James Heilman, MD – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 61. Next shows how a person can react to the bites. Bed bugs crawl down the hair to get to the skin to feed. This trope was taken respective hours after being bitten and the little crimson marks developed during that fourth dimension. The appearance of bites will differ from person to person due to their reaction if any .Image: Flickr.com louento.pix CC Licenses/by-nd/2.0/ 62. The visualize below was taken in a operate environment where bed bugs were allowed to feed on the person through a screen. This shows the inflammation developing 3 hours after the bed bugs feed .Image: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org 63. This prototype is the like as the one above but is the reaction and excitement caused by the bites two days after feeding. Some people experience reactions other than just itch and inflammation, such as blisters, hives, and a atrocious burn sensation. unfortunately, the effects on your mental health caused by having bed bugs can be longer-lasting than the physical symptoms .Image: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org
Dead bed bug pictures
What do dead dried-up bed bugs look like?
64. This is a close-up picture I took of a dead sleep together wiretap after treatment ( apologies for it being out of concentrate ). Its features, such as the eyes and antennae are even identical outstanding despite it now looking flat, dull in color, and dried out with a white flaky appearance. 65. This is what a bed bug looks like top down. This close-up is a bit bleary but you can see the dark color in the abdomen so it managed to get a blood meal before dying. unfortunately, you can only see 5 of its legs as I took this picture a couple of weeks after treatment, so it had dried out and one of its legs had broken off .Ventral view of bed bug
I hope these pictures of bed bugs help you identify whether you have them or some other pest, ampere well as where some of their hiding places are.
If you think you might have these pests in your base and the infestation is in the early stages, then there are steps you can take to get rid of them and do it yourself. But, if you don ’ thyroxine fancy the DIY method acting, or even if you ’ re still uncertain it is a bed tease you ’ ve witness, then contact a bed tease exterminator, but do your research and make certain you get a company that has experience in treating bed bug infestations .
