How Did I Get Bedbugs?
Bedbug infestations often start the same way. You find a bite, or a couple of them. You may not think anything of it, especially in the summer. After all, bedbug bites look very much like the bites of any other insect. But over time, the bites don’t go away. In fact, more and more itchy red bumps start to appear on your skin. Wondering what bed bugs look like?
Maybe you go looking for the source of the problem. Maybe it just appears before you one day, while you’re in bed or on the couch. But either way, sooner or later, you’ll either see droppings, shed skins, or the bugs themselves. And there’s no longer any way to deny it. You have bedbugs and need to get rid of them.
Where do bed bugs come from?
So where did these horrible bloodsuckers (Cimicidae) come from? It’s one of the first questions many people ask when they find they have a bedbug problem. Unfortunately, it’s not an easy one to answer. You may never know why you got this irritating pest. But there are a few likely suspects. Travel, secondhand furniture, neighbors, and guests can all be sources of a bedbug infestation.
Travel
The current ease and affordability of international travel is often one of the factors people point to in order to explain the dramatic return of bedbugs from near extinction in the middle of the last century. Bedbugs have evolved more than 100 million years and travel very easily. They can survive being in the hold compartment of aircraft, even on long-haul flights. And since they are so good at hiding, it’s easy for a bedbug or two to stow away in your luggage.
Bed bugs are great at hiding, they will easily hide in your luggage
It’s quite possible to pick up bedbugs from your hotel. Even luxury hotels suffer from bedbug problems. All it takes is for the previous guest to have brought some bedbugs with them from home. If even one bug manages to hide during the cleaning of the room, it can come out to bite you after you’ve checked in and gone to bed. Worse, it could find its way into your luggage and come home with you.
When staying in hotels, it’s a good idea to keep your luggage far away from the bed to reduce the likelihood of a bedbug finding its way inside. You can also check your room before you go to sleep for any signs of these troublesome creatures. If you find any, ask for a new room, or find a different hotel.
Secondhand Furniture
Bedbugs don’t care what’s in your bank account. But it wouldn’t be accurate to say that wealthy people suffer from bedbug problems at the same rate as the poor. They don’t. Part of the reason for that is because they don’t generally buy secondhand furniture.
Bedbugs love furniture. It provides them with everything they need to live a happy bedbug life. Places to hide. Places to lay eggs. Easy access to humans for food. Beds and sofas are a bedbug’s favorite places, but these insects can hide in all kinds of furniture. Wooden dressers, chairs, and tables can all become infested.
If you want to avoid having bedbugs, it’s best to stay away from secondhand furniture. But if you can’t do that, try to only get furniture from people that you know, so that you can be sure they don’t have bedbugs. Remember that not everyone reacts to bedbug bites, and someone can have bugs without knowing it. So even if someone promises you that they don’t have bedbugs, it doesn’t mean they don’t. They may just be unaware.
Neighbors
If you live in a detached house, you’re in luck. While it doesn’t guarantee that you won’t get bedbugs, at least you can be sure you won’t get them from your neighbors. Bedbugs are quite defenseless as insects go, and they can’t survive for long outside. Other bugs such as ants, wasps, and beetles will readily kill and eat any bedbugs they find outside. So bedbugs try to avoid going outdoors wherever possible. They’re not going to march across the neighbor’s lawn to get inside your house.
But if you live in an apartment, a townhouse, or any structure where you share walls with neighbors, you are at higher risk. Bedbugs travel very easily from one unit to the next. They generally travel along water and heat pipes, but can also follow electrical conduits from one unit to the next. If they end up in the hallway of the building, they can even walk right under your door.
This is why communication is so important, and why the stigma of having bedbugs is harmful to treatment efforts. Getting bedbugs out of a multi-unit building is a challenge, and the only way it can be done successfully is for everyone involved to be on the same page. If you have bedbugs and you live in an apartment, don’t be ashamed. Tell your property manager or building owner so that they can take the necessary steps to protect not just you but your neighbors too.
Guests
Bedbugs don’t travel very well on people. Unlike fleas, they don’t have the specialized claws that allow them to cling to people’s bodies. Also, since bedbugs are considerably larger than fleas, if you have one on you while you’re awake, you’ll soon know about it.
When bedbugs do travel, it’s generally in luggage, on furniture, or on clothing. Which is just as well for those of us who regularly deal with this pest. If bedbugs easily hitched a ride on people, every exterminator’s house would be overrun!
But unlikely isn’t the same as impossible. If you have a regular visitor to your home who has a bedbug infestation, they might bring a bedbug with them. And all it takes is one adult female to begin an entire infestation. Be very careful about who you let into your home, especially if you suspect they have bedbugs. While it’s not likely that they have brought any with them — unless they’re carrying a bag or some other item — you can’t rule it out, either.
But it’s important to remember that bedbugs can happen to anyone. It doesn’t matter whether you’re clean or dirty, or whether you live in a mansion or a squat. Bugs don’t care whether a person is rich or poor. All they care about is the sweet, sweet blood. So don’t feel ashamed if you’re afflicted with this bug. It really can happen to anyone.
Looking to Get Rid of Bedbugs?
Check out my article on this topic: https://medium.com/@crosfieldd/five-ways-to-kill-bedbugs-56aa338629e8
