If you have bed bugs in your house and have all the telltale signs to show – bites, stains, and even eggs – but have seldom seen any bed bugs, there are only two possible reasons. Either you do not know what bed bugs look like, or as usual, these creatures are great at hiding!
If your problem is the former, and you really wouldn’t know a bed bug if you saw one, here we are to give you some information on what bed bugs infestation look like.
First, let’s see how adult bed bugs look.
A fully grown adult bed bug may be light brown to reddish-brown in color, and since their body is fully developed, you will seldom see any changes in their color when they have fed. However, feeding certainly brings about a change in their shape!
Bed bugs are oval and flat in shape, and this enables them to easily find a hiding place when they are in search of a host. Once they feed, however, the blood they have fed on gives them a roundish shape and since their visibility slightly increases at this point, to avoid being squashed, bed bugs scamper away to their hiding place as soon as they are done feeding. The size of adult bed bugs can be anywhere between 4 to 5 millimeters in length and 1.5 to 3 millimeters in width.
When it comes to really young bed bugs, or nymphs as they are known as when they are hatched, these creatures are translucent and lightly colored, and when they feed, their color turns a bright red. As they digest the blood they have induced, their color turns to a darker red or almost black.
As a nymph progresses towards maturity, its color gradually begins to turn a darker brown.
Size and the ability to disappear in the tiniest of spaces remain the best defense mechanisms of bed bugs.