How do bed bug feces look like? Are bed bug feces hard or soft? Well, in this article we examine at great length how to notice bed bug fecal stains from any other stains in your home. You could be asking is what I am seeing bed bugs feces or dirt? I will also provide pictures or photos sourced from the web showing bed bug droppings and shells.
Page Contents
Bed Bug Feces and Droppings
Many people don’t differentiate between bed bug feces and droppings and their eggs. Bed bug excrement is small in size and dark in color. The droppings and feces appear like dark spots.
Just like a marker would, bed bugs can bleed on the cloth. Their eggshells and eggs are tiny; measuring approximately 1mm. Bed bug nymphs shed pale yellow skins as they grow bigger.
Bed Bug Feces On Sheets Photos
Here you’ll see images of marks of fecal stains from bed bugs in their hiding places, on furniture, and mattresses.
If anyone has bed bugs at home or are thinking about how to avoid carrying them to their residence, here is an idea. The picture below provides them a good view of where to look and what they should look for.
Fecal Stains
If bed bugs are biting you, then the probability of finding their fecal stains is very high as well. The look of fecal stains on bedcovers or sheets resembles felt tip pen marks. These stains somehow get absorbed into the cloth or bed sheets.
The picture below gives a perfect illustration of what fecal stains from bed bugs look like. Also, see how flat live bed bugs appear in the picture.
Are Bed Bug Feces Hard or Soft?
Well, the hardness or softness of the bed bug feces depends on what one considers soft or hard.
However, taking a position relative to what other tins people consider soft or hard, I can categorically inform you that the bed bug feces tend to be soft.
REVIEWS: Find the best steamers for bed bugs in your house
Bed Bug Shells – Hard or Soft
The key signs one may see to realize that the home is bedbug-infested are bed bug shells. Throughout the bed bug life cycle, they molt or shed their skin in five phases from infancy to adulthood.
The castoff bed bug shells look like empty, clear exoskeletons.
The sheds can easily be found in places like carpet, radios, and telephones. Other likely places are inside books, wood framing, and box springs among others.
Like said earlier, as nymphs or baby bed bugs develop close to maturity, they shed their casing numerous times before reaching their prime age. At every fresh growth level, the nymph sheds their skin once.
You can know the bed bug shed skin by having a look at its appearance. Typically, their appearance would resemble that of a brighter colored blank bed bug casing or shell. That is essentially what baby bed bugs are.
Do Bed Bugs Shed Their Shells?
The question of whether or not bed bugs shed their shells is very important. Bed bugs shed their shells five times in their life cycle. This knowledge can provide you with inevitable indications that you have great difficulty coming your way.
The cast bed bug skin is really the shed bug exoskeleton. The molt shows bedbugs may have completely infested your home. In fact, as many put it if you see a single bedbug crawling in your house chances are you have a serious infestation.
Ecdysis, aka bed bug molting process, offers this revealing evidence of the existence of bed bug behind. At every developmental phase, the bed bug sheds its skin after a blood meal.
How Frequently Do Bed Bugs Molt?
Based on the temperature and sources of animal and human blood, it takes about a week for each stage to complete under ideal conditions.
However, if blood is not readily accessible or weather conditions are not favorable, for example too cold, each shed and successive molting may take longer.
Bed Bug Stains
Crumpled bed bugs cause reddish or rusty stains or tints-like spots on mattresses or bed sheets. The stains are caused by a bed bug crush.
In most cases, blood stains occasioned by a bed bug bite are noticeable on brighter-colored pillowcases and bedsheets.
But then again, these symptoms of bed bug infestations are not at all times established on bedding. That is because bed bugs are extremely traveling and travel fast.
Furthermore, other than seeing bloodstains on bedding, the tints can be found on walls, clothes, and even furniture.
Bed Bug Stains On Sheets Pictures
Bed bug stains on sheets are one way you can tell if bed bugs have infested your home. One may see mysterious bloodstains on bed-covers. The pictures below depict typical bed bug stains
You are likely to notice on bedsheets.
Bed Bug Eggs
After bed bugs mate, the females lay oval, white eggs measuring approximately 1/32″ or 1/16″ long. The eggs are laid into crevices and cracks.
On average, a single bedbug may lay between 200 and 250 eggs throughout her lifespan.
Although you can see these eggs with your naked eyes, finding them can be difficult. You may need the help of a flashlight and use of magnification due to their small size.
It takes about 6 to 10 days for the laid eggs to hatch. Thereafter, the newly hatched nymphs or baby bed bugs look for a blood meal.
Are Bed Bug Eggs Hard
Are bed bug eggs soft or hard? Many people freak out any time they find what they imagine is a bunch of bedbug eggs on bedding or bedcover. But, the main problem is to certify if the found eggs are really from bed bugs.
To some people, bed bug eggs look like sesame seeds and somewhat hard. However, no literature clearly defines the texture of bed bug eggs that way.
From what people have experienced in their homes and seen with their naked eyes, bed bug eggs are not somewhat hard, and neither do they look like sesame seeds.
Most people describe bed bug eggs as tiny, sometimes nearly resembling specks of dust and maybe actually difficult to notice.
Bed bug eggs can be undetectable to your naked eyes and may require shinning an LED-kind Maglight to see them. A batch of bed bug eggs looks like a cluster of dust.
Where Do Bed Bugs Hide Their Eggs
To know where bed bugs hide their eggs, you must learn the pests’ main hiding places. You can trace bed bug eggs in locations close to places where bugs hide as depicted in the image underneath.
How to Find Bed Bugs during the Day
Finding bed bugs during the day can sometimes be difficult. However, despite the fact that many people think bed bugs are actually nocturnal, they aren’t.
Although these insects prefer coming out of their hideouts before dawn, you don’t have to wait till darkness fall to outsmart them. Bed bugs from studies are believed to be opportunists.
Even though their greatest time to feed is between 2 AM and 5 AM, they will surface from their retreats during the day if their host works at night.
Thus, if your house is infested with bed bugs and you want to see them during the day, deny them access to your blood by working at night. They will automatically resurface during the day to source a blood meal.
Where Do Bed Bugs Hide During The Day?
Bed bugs are good hitchhikers and like to travel. They can hide in shoes, boxes, and in suitcases to be near the supply of their food. Other than being nocturnal, they are also elusive.
They may hide in folded bed areas, crevices, cracks, and behind baseboards. Other potential hideouts for these pests are furniture adjacent to bedding and in the bedding itself, especially box springs and mattresses.
Study findings compiled in a report by the University of Kentucky on infested living environments describes the places and proportionate chances of bed bug infestations.
They found that the most frequent areas where bed bugs hide in percentage include:
- Head Board and/or Bed Frame (13.4%).
- Baseboard (1.4%).
- Night Stand and/or Dresser (0.2%).
- Box Spring (34.6%).
- Mattress (22.4%).
- Ceilings and/or Walls (2.3%).
- Chair and/or Couch (22.6%).
- Other (3.1%).
The remainder, also known as “Other” at 3.1% represents additional unnamed probable bed bug hiding places.
The percentage may represent curtains, door hinges, clothing, in wallpaper seams, and inside/behind electrical switch plates and outlets.
It can also depict window and door moldings, bedding, and backpacks, gym backs, handbags, and Luggage.
Places such as toy boxes, books, cars, cat/dog cages, and dog beds, and electronic devices such as Stereos, Computers, and Cell Phones cannot be left out either.
The truth is that almost all time, bed bugs will hide very near and in the vicinity of their food source. That indicates that areas you rest for the longest time such as places where you lounge and your bed when you’re not asleep harbor bed bugs.
Areas Where Bed Bugs Usually Do Not Hide
You may have advanced bed bug infestation if you find them in these places. Under such circumstances, look for the bedbug control professional because your immediate action to be taken.
These are the places where you don’t expect to find bed bug infestations:
- Garages
- Kitchens (except if the place your area of lounging)
- Unfinished basements
- Bathrooms – particularly not the hip bath
- Less used rooms
READ MORE: Pictures of bed bug bites and treatment
- Where Can I Purchase Bed Bug Bombs? - January 30, 2023
- Where Can I Buy Something to Kill Bed Bugs? - January 30, 2023
- Where Can I Buy Bed Bug Spray? - January 30, 2023
English 
Deutsch