Bed bugs are tiny, nocturnal, blood-sucking creatures. These creatures are hard to be found but easy to detect due to red-color based stains left behind by them. These creatures could be spread easily by means of the luggage, furniture, mattresses, and the exchange of clothes. Also, once infected a house, they easily spread inside the entire house by simply crawling long distances. These creatures mostly live under box spring bed frames, tufts of mattresses, furniture, walls, etc. These creatures crawl out of their hiding spots and start sucking blood from your bodies. They are not at all drawn by dirt, and neither do these creatures spread any kind of disease. Hence, it is not necessary that a thorough process of cleaning might drive them away, though, it could surely kill them slowly. If your house or hotel is infected by bed bugs, then you must read this entire article to find every possible solution to this problem. Also, we have measures to help you on ‘how to remove bed bugs stains on sheets?’
Signs of bed bugs
There are a lot of signs that can be checked to see if your building, house, or hotel is infected by bed bugs. Signs like bed bug feces, bed bug fecal stains, bed bug eggs, bed bug bite marks on body parts, bed bug skin shells, etc. are some of the prominent ones. They prefer biting deeply sleeping hosts who would eventually leave swollen, red, and itchy bite marks on body parts like feet, neck, chest, back, face, arms, etc. You might at times find tiny yet, visible bloodstains on your bed, which might be smashed bed bugs. You might also find bed bug poop on bed sheets and pillows, which could be of deep-black color. There could be rice-grain shaped tiny shells that can be identified as bed bug eggs, which could further spread the infestation. If you see corn-kernel type translucent shells on your mattresses, pillows, and bedsheets, you should be prepared to kill bed bugs as you are infected by them.
Bed bug bites
As we have mentioned earlier, bed bugs bite when they come out at nights to suck the blood out of their deeply-sleeping hosts. Bed bug bites are not dangerous but could cause a lot of pain and infection on the host’s body; hence, treating bed bug infestation should be one of your priorities after finding of them. If you want to identify bed bug bites, then it is easy as they can be recognized as red welts, itchy, protruded, or even flat. These swollen or flat patches can be usually found in clusters around the same body part as a sign of the bed bug, trying to detect the best spot to suck blood from. These bites can also show patterns like zig-zag, clusters, or rows. These infected spots should not be scratched as they can attract bacteria, which can cause severe infection and pain. Bed bug bites can be found as rashes or as liquid-filled blisters on the hosts’ body parts. Getting rid of your bed bug issue is not at all impossible, and you could probably even manage it on your own.
Bed bug eggs
When you have to constantly remove bed bugs stains from walls, bed sheets, mattresses, wooden furniture, and pillow covers, you should be quite clear that you have a serious infestation going on at your place. These signs definitely mean that the bed bugs are increasing in number, and bed bugs lay eggs. The amount of time an egg needs to hatch in just 6-10 days after which the nymphs roam around in search of blood meals. These eggs can be identified as white or translucent things stuck to surfaces. These eggs are really tiny in both shape and size as they are rice grain shaped about 1mm in size. As you might have suspected by the size that the eggs are really very tiny but are still visible to a naked eye. If you discover flattened and less shiny pieces of shells, then, you just discovered empty eggshells. These eggs are mostly found around their place of penetration like on rough wooden surfaces, fabric surfaces, along with bed frames and under mattresses. It is quite necessary to get rid of the bed bug problem as a bed bug can live up to 300 days if provided with proper room temperature and food supply. Bed bugs have the capability to lay 1-5 eggs per day and as much as 200-500 eggs in their entire life span.
What does bed bug poop look like?
Now that you all know that bed bug poop can leave stains, you must be wondering how to find them out and what does bed bug poop look like? Well, bed bug poop can be easily defined as black felt tip marks usually found on bed covers, pillow covers, walls, wooden furniture, behind mirrors, and beneath mattresses. Bed bug fecal stains can be best defined as the blood digested by their bodies and released out as feces. These can be gross and dirty but are not at all dangerous and can be removed or cleaned by water. If you want to see the exact results of bed bug fecal stains, then you might as well just surf the internet and type ‘What does bed bug poop look like?’ and you will find relevant images related to the search.
How to remove bed bugs stains on sheets?
Bed bug stains can be caused either due to the sticky film over the eggs, smashed bed bugs or bed bug feces. The question which pesters people the most is ‘How to remove bed bugs stains in sheets?’ Here are some steps to get rid of bed bug stains –
- The first and foremost thing to be kept in mind is that you need to clean your sheets as soon as they are stained because these stains tend to dry up soon.
- You should never use hot or warm water to wash your stained sheets, always use cold water to remove bed bug stains.
- You should know the fact that bed bug stains are organic protein-based type; hence, you should prefer enzyme-based stain remover to get rid of them while washing. You could find products that are proven bloodstain or simply stain removers in nature.
- Take your sheets and gently rinse and scrub it under cold water, apply the enzyme-based stain remover and leave it like that for a few minutes before finally rinsing it away. This is the best remedy on ‘how to remove bed bugs stains on sheets?’
- You could also use club soda, bleach, hydrogen peroxide, and ammonium for blood stain removal, but it would be suggested to test the usage of hydrogen peroxide in a smaller area to see if the color of the sheet fades away. Discontinue if it does.
- If you have bloodstains on your mattress, then you could use a dry washcloth that pulls out moisture, bed bug feces matter, and blood making it easier to clean.
How to remove bed bugs stains from wood?
Bed bugs prefer wood and walls over plastic and metal surfaces as the former provides them with cracks and crevices to hide and thrive. Here are some of the basic ways to remove bed bug poop stains off of walls and wooden furniture –
- Remove bed bugs stains from walls by spraying water over the stained parts and scrubbing them gently with a rag.
- Cleaning products that contain hydrogen peroxide can remove bed bugs stains from wood, but it might also fade its color or discolor the paint, so it would be better to try the product over a small portion.
- Oxalic acid can also be used to remove bed bug stains from wood, but as it is caustic in nature, you should be careful with your hands and wear gloves while using it. Also, you might want to use sandpaper and sand the area because oxalic acid can lighten the wood.
- To remove bed bugs stains from walls, you can also create a mixture of baking soda and water, apply on the stained parts of the wall and then finally dab it out with a tissue and let the portion air dry.
It is essential to get rid of these creatures from your home so that you could live and sleep in peace. You might have to take proper bed bug removal treatment at least twice in a row, taking a gap so that you could assure complete elimination of the bugs.
