Bed bugs are masters of hide and seek that can turn your sweet dreams into full-on nightmares quicker than you can say “Goodnight!” But where do bed bugs hide?
From the recesses of your bed frame to the innermost sanctuaries of your fluffy pillows, these little vampires are adept at finding crannies that you didn’t know existed. Here’s everything you need to know about the covert operations of bed bugs and how to become the pest detective that can bust them in the act.
Where Do Bed Bugs Come From?
Origin stories aren’t just for comic book heroes; even bed bugs have one. These little nuisances didn’t just pop out of nowhere, and the first known records are since ancient times. More precisely, Aristotle made reference to them in 400 BC in ancient Greece.
These tiny critters are believed to have initially preyed on bats in caves where early humans resided. As adventurous as mankind is, when we began to travel, bed bugs hitched rides across continents, lodging in our luggage and furniture, and ultimately settling exactly where humans do: anywhere that’s warm and has a ready supply of their favorite food — blood.
They can come into your home off the back of someone else, or, more embarrassingly, you might have unwittingly brought them in yourself. It could have been that second-hand armchair that was a steal at the thrift store or the hotel stay during your last vacation.
In apartment buildings, they can even travel between units, so even though you’re living in a spotless apartment, your neighbor’s infestation might become yours. The fact is: Bed bugs don’t discriminate; they are equal-opportunity squatters.
8 Places Where Bed Bugs Hide in Your Home
Bed bugs don’t maintain permanent addresses like ants or bees. They’re nomadic creatures, always on the move, seeking the ultimate comfort that is your warm bed. Here are their top hideouts:
1. Mattresses and Bed Frames
The name “bed bug” wasn’t just a cute choice made by a lazy entomologist; these pests adore your mattress just as much as you do after a long day. They tuck themselves into seams, stitching, beneath the labels, crevices, and any small openings they can find around your bed frame or box spring.
This is also where they usually lay their eggs. Safe, dark, and close to their food supply, your bed is the perfect breeding ground. Remember that any gap wider than a credit card can hide bed bugs.
2. Couches and Chairs Seams
When you’re binge-watching your favorite show, beware. You might not be alone. The seams of a couch or chair create a perfect, cozy crevice for these tiny tenants.
Just like in your mattress, they love to dig deep into the folds and hide away until it’s dark, when they can emerge for a quick snack courtesy of your nearest extremity. Underneath your cushions might be more than loose change, so check regularly for any signs of bed bugs.
3. Curtain Folds
It may sound dramatic, but these bloodthirsty critters really love cozy corners, and your elegant curtain folds can offer them the seclusion they crave.
While you’re admiring the sun filtering through the drapes, bed bugs might just be settling in for their next daytime siesta, just waiting for the lights to go out and the feast to begin. Regularly shaking your curtains and washing them can help dissuade these pests from turning your curtains or drapes into their home.
4. Wallpaper and Art
Think about the last time you eyed that quirky wallpaper or took a moment to appreciate the art on your walls. Chances are you weren’t considering these intruders.
Bed bugs can slide behind wallpaper that’s peeling away or hide in the nooks behind your canvas prints or framed pictures. These spots are rarely disturbed and provide a safe haven for bed bugs to reproduce.
They are just waiting patiently for nightfall to come out and play. The next time you’re dusting off your decorations, it might be wise to peek behind them, too.
5. Laundry
Dirt or clean, it doesn’t matter to them. Bed bugs see your laundry bin as a neat place to squat. They are drawn to human scents and the warmth trapped in the fibers of your clothes.
So, if you’re piling up those clothes thinking you’ll eventually get around to them, remember that in the meantime, bed bugs might be calling dibs on your discarded outfits.
6. Drawers
Peek into a drawer, and what do you find? Hopefully not a bed bug hideout. Undisturbed clothing and clutter make for an excellent bed bug retreat. They love to get into the folds and seams of clothing, biding their time until you decide to wear that rarely used sweater and surprise! It’s not wool that makes you itchy.
Keeping things neat and tidy and regularly inspecting garments might save you from an itchy revelation. While you’re at it, it doesn’t hurt to inspect the corners and joints of the drawer themselves.
7. Outlets and Appliances
You wouldn’t think electrical outlets and appliances would be hangouts for bed bugs, but these insects know their way around your hardware.
They can easily sneak into small spaces, which are often overlooked during regular cleaning sessions. From there, they have the perfect vantage point to plan their next move and remain undetected for a long time.
8. Walls and Baseboards
Photo Credit: NY State IPM Program at Cornell University / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
When you sweep or a mop, do you really get into the seams where the walls meet the floors? Bed bugs do. They find the slender cracks and gaps along baseboards to be good hiding spots.
These crevices are snug enough to feel secure and spacious enough to start a little bed bug family. So, you’ll want to ensure that your baseboards don’t become a nursery to generations of these unwelcome guests by sealing up any crevices and keeping an eye out for signs of uninvited squatters.
These areas can also serve as entry points for invasions from adjacent rooms or apartments.
4 Ways to Find Bed Bugs During the Day
Bed bugs are true survivalists. Their entire existence is based solely on going unnoticed. They scuttle away from the light, flee from disturbances, and essentially live by a “You can’t eat what you can’t see” philosophy.
Their apple-seed size and dim brown color, depending on their feeding status, make them really impressive hiders. Combine this with their nocturnal habits, and you have yourself some seriously stealthy invaders.
If you’re scratching your head and wondering where in the world these pests park themselves when the sun’s up, it’s time to play detective.
1. Check for Bed Bugs in Cracks With a Card
Whip out a credit card (or any other card, really), and let’s get down to business. Slide in through cracks and crevices or anywhere that could be a snug fit for a bed bug.
Shuffle it along the mattress seams, tight spaces in the furniture, the edges of carpets—basically anywhere that might provide refuge for these insects. Pay special attention to corners or junctions where different surfaces meet.
2. Check for Small Spots on Bedding
Keep your eyes peeled for tell-tale signs on your sheets, pillowcases, and mattresses: little dark spots. They could be bed bug droppings or even the actual bed bugs trying to pull a fast one on you.
3. Check for Shed Bed Bug Skins
They might not be the actual bugs, but shed skins are a dead giveaway. Bed bugs go through five molts before becoming adults, and they leave their outgrown skin behind. If you spot these translucent shells, it’s a good bet you’ve found their hangout.
4. Vacuum or Steam Bed Bugs
Get your vacuum or steamer in on the action: both can be effective for outing these bugs from their daytime dens. The suction from a vacuum can pull bed bugs from their hideouts, while the heat from the steamer can kill them on contact.
Remember to empty your vacuum outside and seal any bed bugs in a bag before chucking them out to avoid re-infestation.
How to Find Bed Bugs at Night
Like the relentless answer to Liam Neeson’s character in Taken, bed bugs have a very unique set of skills; skills that allow them to find you…even when you don’t want to be found.
Sure, they may not conduct international espionage or have some motorbike chases through the streets of Paris like our movie hero. But what these blood-loving invaders excel at is tracking down their one and only source of sustenance: your blood.
And when do you make yourself available to them, all warm and vulnerable? In the dead of night, as you slumber blissfully unaware.
Nightwatch Like a Pro
Alright, so you fancy yourself as a night owl? Perfect! Grab that flashlight and set an alarm for some late-night recon work. Bed bugs typically come out to play about an hour before dawn.
Shine that light to scan the bed area, around the box spring, and along the joints of the bed frame. Peel back the bed sheets slowly and also have a look around the seams and edges of your mattress. Just be careful not to wake up your partner, or you might end up with some explaining why you’re conducting a bed bug stakeout in your underwear at 4 AM.
Use Bed Bug Traps
Photo Credit: OtuaB / Wikimedia Commons / CC0 1.0
Entomologists stand by bed bug traps that you can sneak under the legs of your bed. Bed bugs have to climb up to get to you, so intercepting them en route can be a slick move. Bed bugs climb in, and then…well, it’s more of a “Hotel California” situation: they can check out anytime they like, but they can never leave.
These traps not only help you gauge the severity of an infestation but also reduce the numbers as they attempt to climb up for a midnight feast. The traps won’t eliminate an infestation but are a solid play in your defense strategy.
Coax Them Out With CO2
As clever as they are at hiding, bed bugs are suckers for CO2. After all, this is how they usually find you: following the sweet scent of your exhaled breath.
As these critters are drawn to the carbon dioxide we exhale, you could try setting up a DIY trap using dry ice (solid CO2) as bait. As long as you handle it with care (don’t touch it with bare hands!), the bugs will beeline for what they think is a tasty human, only to find themselves in a trap.
Where Do Bed Bugs Hide in Public Areas
Thought your home was the only playground for these minuscule marauders? Think again! Bed bugs aren’t shy about making themselves at home wherever humans frequent.
Public Transportation
We all love the public transportation system for those character-building moments, but it also offers bed bugs free rides across town. They hide in seats, seams, and cracks in buses, taxis, trains, and ride-shares. If someone has a bed bug hitching on their coat or bag, it can easily disembark at the next stop: your seat cushion.
Movie Theaters
The next scary feature could very well be real if you’re sitting in a cinema that hasn’t been cleaned properly. With plush, rarely moved seats and plenty of human traffic, bed bugs can enjoy a movie marathon at the expense of unsuspecting film buffs. They move into the crevices between cushions and within the fabric, waiting patiently for the credits to roll and the dinner (aka you) to settle in.
Office Buildings
Think working 9 to 5 exempts you? Not a chance! Your well-decorated cubicle, the break room sofa, or even that meeting room chair that everyone fights over could harbor bed bugs. With so many people coming and going from various homes and places, these pests can easily hitch a ride on belongings and establish new homes in office furniture.
Physical documents, meeting room cushions, or the corner where your backpack always ends up can all become infested with bed bugs looking to expand their empire. With everyone focused on productivity, these stealthy squatters can reproduce undetected until someone starts noticing the itch.
Libraries and Bookstores
Ever thought of a book as more than just a story? Well, bed bugs aren’t literary critics, but they sure do enjoy a good hideout between the pages and along the spines of books. These buggers settle into libraries and especially second-hand bookstores with ease.
Next time you’re leafing through a library book or checking out the use book collection, remember these critters could be skulking near the bindings or tucked away inside protective covers.
Dressing Rooms
Dressing rooms are all about quick changes, and while you’re trying on that snazzy jacket or those jeans, bed bugs might be hopping from clothing to clothing. They can come in on someone else’s items and decide your shopping bag is a nice place to settle in.
The hooks on the walls and the benches where piles of clothes are tried on and discarded offer the perfect hideaway for our little vampire friends. It’s especially risky in stores with high turnover of garments, like thrift shops or busy retail outlets.
A quick tip: Shake out new clothes before taking them home, or better yet, throw them into a hot dryer as soon as you’re back to ensure that any stowaways will be given a warm farewell.
Hotel Rooms
Hospitality and hygiene go hand in hand, but even the swankiest of hotels aren’t immune to bed bug incidents. USA Today reports that 79% of hotels in the U.S. had personnel shortages as recently as 2023, which impacts the cleanliness and maintenance of guest rooms.
Bed bugs can hide in headboards, mattresses, carpets, and even behind mirrors, anywhere they might get close to their next victim.
You Found Them. Now What?
Caught the bed bugs? Nice work! But don’t start celebrating just yet. You have some cleanup to do because if there’s one thing worse than discovering bed bugs, it is thinking you’re free of them when you’re not.
Wash all your clothes
Clean well
Call the pros
Check out our guide on How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs for more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do bed bugs hide on your body?
Fortunately, bed bugs don’t make a home on you like fleas and lice. They’re hit-and-run feeders: they come, they feed, and they leave. So, while they can hitch a ride on your clothes or bag briefly, they’re not interested in sticking around on your body after their meal.
Can bed bugs live on memory foam mattresses?
Memory foam mattresses might remember your sleeping position, but they know nothing about warding off bed bugs. The absence of traditional seams does make it tougher for these critters. However, if there are rips or areas where the foam has broken, bed bugs will find a way. They’re adaptable like that.
Can bed bugs live on plastic mattresses?
Plastic mattresses or bed covers are actually a different story. These can actually prevent bed bugs from taking up residence. Smooth and impenetrable, they leave no room for bed bugs to borrow and hide. Still, it doesn’t mean that you’re completely out of the woods. Bed bugs can linger around the edges or on the surface if it’s covered by a sheet or blanket.
Unwanted Sleepover Guests: A Bed Bug’s Tale
Look, nobody wants bed bugs as housemates. They don’t split bills, they’re terrible for cuddles, and let’s face it, they literally suck. But now that you’re clued in on their hideouts and habits, you’ve got the upper hand.
Pest Gnome helps you connect with experienced pros who can help you reclaim your territory and make sure the only thing you share your bed with is your choice—bed bugs not included.
Main Image Credit: Yxyv / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
