Where bed bugs hide in the home — Brittany’s student essay

Where Bed Bugs Hide In The Home?

Bed bugs have become the bane of many over the years. Striking paranoia into those who haven’t experienced them and fear in those that have. The latter always hoping that they won’t ever have a repeat. As someone who has had bed bugs in the pest and lived in a home where we successfully got rid of them while it can be a daunting task at first to find them there are ways. And where they lurk when you aren’t looking may surprise you.

Let’s start off with one everyone knows at this point.

Furniture.

We’ve all seen the couch or mattress on the side of the road. Sometimes just by itself which is all implication you need to have your mind veer to bed bugs. Other times who ever threw it out was pretty overt about the issue having tacked a sign reading bed bugs on it to make you aware. In either case you’re probably giving that furniture on the side of the road a wide breadth and maybe mourning a good haul if it’s a particularly nice piece.

Let’s move on to something different. I remember when my mother first had her suspicions about our house possibly contracting the little bugs she would have my sister, cousin, and myself empty our things outside and check our book bags and jackets each day after school. 

At the time we thought it was excessive but honestly that’s what you should do. Bed bugs have no problem hitching a ride on backpacks, jackets, and other clothing to make their way into your home.

Be careful where you leave your clothes too. If they’re already in your home they’ll hide in your clothing as well. Next time you get dressed you might be putting on more than just your shirt or jacket.

So at this point, you may be saying I knew most of this and that’s fair. Clothing and furniture are big for bed bugs and going to public places like a school increases your chance of getting them. That’s common knowledge at this point. But what about books?

Bed bugs can hide in the nooks and crannies of books. And when you’re getting books from your public library where anyone can check them out there is a chance when you bring home that book for some evening reading you’re bringing home a buggy friend or two.

Bed bugs can be found pretty much everywhere. They hide well in large items or in places with lots of small nooks and crevices for them to weasel their way into. They can tag along in books, on clothing, and in bags. They’re pretty resilient critters.

But there is a place I haven’t mentioned that might surprise a few people. It’s light bulbs. Specifically fluorescent light bulbs but I digress. Bed bugs can hide in and around electrical areas. These places tend to be small and dark which is perfect for them. This can make finding them in these areas a bit dangerous.

At the end of the day bedbugs can hide pretty much anywhere as long as it’s not hot or cold enough to kill them. The best policy is just to be cautious when in public and make sure to check so you don’t end up bringing home anything unwanted.

Author: Brittany Bradford

University of Cincinnati

Student Scholarships

Every year Thrive Pest Control hosts an essay contest and the reward is a 1-year scholarship at a 4-year university in the United States. This blog post is one of those scholarships.