Helpful Guides on each Category
Tracing and identifying bed bug poop or dropping is the most effective way to spot the bed bugs themselves and take action to get rid of them.
Have you woken up to see red stains on your mattress or bedding? Not only mosquitoes cause these stains, bed bug feces are also reddish but how can you differentiate bed bug droppings from other stains you see on your bed? This blog post will help you easily tell if bed bugs are in your bedding by helping you identify bed bug droppings.
Read Also: Cockroach Poop (Roach Droppings): What does it look like.
How to Identify Bed Bug poop
Bed bug droppings are a sign of an infestation in your home. Since bed bugs feed solely on blood, their waste reflects this diet. Here’s what they look like:
Bed bug droppings appear as rusty-brown or black spots, about the size of a period or a small dot from a marker. Fresh droppings are reddish brown, but they’ll darken as they dry.
Bed bug droppings are dark, rusty smears on your sheets and bedding. Due to their liquid nature, bed bug feces smear when smudged or wiped. On fabric surfaces, they bleed a little, resembling tiny ink stains.
Where to Find Bed Bug Droppings
Bed bug droppings are always located where the bedbugs’ nocturnal activities occur, where they hide, sleep and rest. Since they stay very close to their host, their droppings are also where their host stays mostly mattresses and cushions.
But since they are nocturnal, they stay in hidden spots during the day and so do their digestive activities.
Let’s see the locations you can easily find bed bug poops in your home:
- Your mattress, under its labels and around its tight seams are the primary places you’ll see bed bug stains. You can expect to find other clues such as shed skin or bed bugs.
- Old second-hand furniture.
- Electrical outlets or curtain rods are spots for bed bug nests. When the infestation is fully blown.
- Your Pillow and its seams
- Sofa and cushion
- curtain
- seams of the box spring, bed frames
- Any other wooden or fabric materials in an infested place.
How Can You Tell Bed Bug Feces From Other Stains?
So you found a suspicious stain, but how can you be sure it’s not just, well, a stain? Don’t worry, there are a few detective tricks you can use to crack the case. Here’s the first one: the smear test! Grab a damp paper towel and gently swipe the stain. If it smears a little and leaves a reddish residue, that’s a red flag for bed bugs.
Next, are there more of these stains clustered together? Those patterns are strong hints that bed bugs might be the culprit.
Bed bugs occasionally come to your home’s walls, especially around cracks and near the ceilings. However, these areas can have cockroach droppings, which look similar to the feces of bed bugs. One way to know the difference is to put on gloves and press the droppings. Cockroach droppings are granular, while bed bug poop is softer and will smear.
But just finding droppings isn’t just it. To be sure, look for some extra clues. Are there any tiny, flat, brown things hanging around? Those could be shed bed-bug skins. And while bed bug droppings themselves aren’t dangerous, the musty odor some infestations have can be a giveaway. So keep your nose peeled (but maybe not too close!) for that as well.
Does Bed Bug Poop Smell?
Bed bug poop itself doesn’t have a strong odor. This is because it’s mostly digested blood. However, in large infestations, you will notice a faint, rusty smell. This smell comes from the iron in the blood oxidizing.
The more noticeable odor of bed bugs is actually from their scent glands, not feces. These glands release an oily, aldehyde-based compound that has a sweet, almost musty odor. This odor is not always present but is a good indicator of a heavy infestation.
Does Bed Bug Poop Cause Health Problems?
Bed bug poop doesn’t cause any major health problems but it triggers allergic reactions in some people.
This is because bed bug droppings contain histamine, a chemical that causes itchiness and rash.
So, while not that dangerous, bed bug poop worsens allergies for some people.
How to Clean Up Bed Bug Feces
- For stains on mattresses, furniture, or walls, dampen a rag with hot, soapy water (dish soap or castile soap works well). Gently blot the stain to lift the feces. Don’t scrub so the stain won’t spread.
- For stubborn stains use commercially available enzyme cleaners designed for organic matter. Follow the instructions on the product label.
- If you have a garment steamer, use it to steam clean mattresses and furniture. The high heat will kill bed bugs and their eggs.
- Wash all bedding, clothes, and linens that may have come into contact with bed bugs in hot water (at least 140°F for at least 15 minutes). Dry them for at least 30 minutes under hot air.
Related Links
