Using photos of bed bugs in different situations, you will be better able to identify them. Note that it’s often difficult to detect them on a mattress or a piece of furniture at the start of an infestation. Bed bugs most often hide until the middle of the night when you’re sleeping soundly, then feed on your blood. They then go hide inside the mattress, in a crack, under a fold, under a piece of furniture, behind a baseboard, or any other discreet location that allows them to elude your attention.
Learn to recognize bed bugs and the signs of their presence quickly and efficiently thanks to our bed bug photo gallery. There, you’ll find photos of adult bed bugs, photos of baby bed bugs (pupae), photos of bed bug eggs, photos of bed bug bites, photos of bed bug droppings on mattresses, photos of black bed bug spots on furniture, and photos of bed bugs in different environments.
The adult bed bug has an ovoid shape similar to that of an apple seed. Its size is around 4 to 7 mm. The colour of the bed bug can vary significantly from brown to reddish. When it has gorged on blood, the shape of the bed bug is more elongated and its colour more reddish. It is at this stage that the bed bug is capable of reproducing. A female can then give birth to a few hundred individuals. Here are some photos of the bed bug:
When they hatch, baby bed bugs already look like adult bed bugs, except for their size (1.5 to 5.5 mm). They are minuscule and more translucent than their parents. This makes them very hard to see and partly explains why it is so difficult to spot bed bugs at the start of certain infestations. Baby bed bugs—also known as pupae—need to feed at least five times to become adults. Each time, they shed their shell so that they can grow. Once it grows up, the bed bug continues to bite and reproduce at an impressive pace. Here are some photos of baby bed bugs:
Bed bug eggs are white-translucent and measure barely 1 mm. The bed bug ordinarily places them in small clusters near the places where it normally hides after its meals.
Photos of bed bug bites differ from each other, since the skin reactions and their sizes differ from one person to the next. Sometimes only redness, sometimes slight swelling, sometimes little blisters filled with liquid or blood, sometimes hives…sometimes even nothing at all is observed. These photos of bed bug bites can help you recognize them better.
After feeding, bed bugs digest the blood that they have ingested, then excrete small brownish or black droppings. These little black spots contain histamine, a component that allows them to mark the place where they like to hide and to inform other bed bugs of it, among other things. The black spots can be found on sheets but more often on mattress seams, where bed bugs spend the most time. They are also often found on the wooden parts of the bed frame, on certain pieces of furniture, and on baseboards. They are also sometimes found directly on the walls or even on the ceilings when the infestation is particularly extensive. Here are some photos of these black bed bug spots.
It is generally not recommended to throw away mattresses that only have a few bed bug droppings on them. Once treated and dried, the mattress and the bed base can be covered with an anti-bed bug cover. However, if the mattress or bed base is largely covered with bed bug droppings, it may be a good idea to replace it, since the droppings contain histamine, an allergen that can cause allergy symptoms. Here are some photos of bed bug droppings on mattresses:
Here are some photos of bed bug droppings at the base of walls. The droppings are easier to see on pale-coloured surfaces.
This photo shows bed bugs in a screw hole of a piece of wooden furniture. Bed bugs like to hide in the holes and crevices of wooden furniture.
These photos show bed bugs in a telephone jack, as well as bed bug droppings on an electrical outlet. Telephone wall jacks and electrical outlets are also places where bed bugs can hide.
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