SALT LAKE CITY — Some people may know bed bugs from the children’s rhyme, "Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite," but the blood-sucking pests are anything but cute and quaint.

Bed bugs are a growing problem in Utah and across the country, according to Utah State University insect diagnostician Ryan Davis. People often expect to find the pests in dirty locations, but they can survive in even the cleanest of homes and are one of the most difficult bugs to get rid of.

Being able to quickly recognize bed bugs can help stave off an infestation and prevent the pests from entering the home.

What bed bugs do

Bed bugs evolved from pests that fed on the blood of bats, researchers believe. When cavemen started sleeping in caves with bats, a new species evolved over time that survived on human blood. The cavemen left the areas where the bats were, but the bed bugs tagged along and have been traveling the world with humans ever since.

The pests need blood to survive, so bed bugs stay close to a human “host” and become active at night between midnight and 5 a.m., according to bed bug expert Dini M. Miller. She wrote that bed bugs are attracted to CO2 emitted from a sleeping host’s breath and their body heat.

“The way bed bugs work is that they aren’t on the host all of the time; they sort of hang out near the habitat and then they go and feed for 10 minutes to 15 minutes and then retreat back to their surroundings and hang out until they feed about once a week,” Davis said.

People who are bitten by a bed bug often develop an itchy spot that looks like a mosquito or spider bite in the coming days or weeks, but not everyone reacts. Luckily, bed bugs aren’t able to infect humans with diseases.

How to identify bed bugs

Bed bugs are visible to the naked eye at all phases of development, according to Davis. An adult bed bug is about the size of an appleseed, while nymphs are similar to the size of a sesame seed and eggs are about the size of the head of a pin.

The pests hide in cracks and creases during the day, typically close to where the human host sleeps, but even if the bugs are hiding they can leave behind signs of their presence. Clues that bed bugs are active include finding smears of blood on sheets and black fecal spots or molted skins along mattress seams, Miller wrote.

The bugs don’t only live in beds — they also like baseboards, loose wallpaper and personal belongings. Couches, wheelchairs and other places where people spend significant amounts of time are favorites as well.

How bed bugs spread

Bed bugs hitch rides into new homes on luggage, used furniture, bags and other items. After the pests have been introduced into a building, the bed bugs can quickly spread between rooms and housing units.

“Sometimes people don’t care or don’t have the means to take care of things (related to controlling bed bugs) so the population just grows and grows, and once it reaches a certain level they tend to start dispersing,” Davis said. “Sometimes it’s just a matter of time. Sometimes a person leaves them without food so they move. Other times friends visit and bring one or two in a bag.”

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When the bed bug population reaches a certain point, the pests will often start looking for more blood. A neighbor moving or leaving for vacation can also prompt the bugs to search for a new host.

“If they have a good host, if they were in an adjacent apartment and that person was there every night, they would probably just stick around there for a couple of months,” he said. “If that person found out they had bed bugs and then left, they would migrate pretty rapidly to other apartments.”

What you can do

Leaving the home isn’t really an option because it takes too long for the bugs to die, according to Davis. Researchers found adult bed bugs can remain dormant for several months without feeding on blood.

To prevent bugs from spreading, people should continue to sleep in their bed, even if that means they will continue to get bitten.

“Some people will go sleep on their couch, but (the bed bugs) move quite readily,” he said. “In one night they could walk down the hall and move to the couch. You have to be careful with that.”

Davis said the bed bugs aren’t likely to stay on people or clothes, but it is a good idea to wash and dry all items on hot before putting them in plastic bags. Heating the bed bugs to about 140 degrees will kill all stages of life, so if the items are kept separate they won’t become re-infested.

Tools like the Protect-a-Bed bed bug mattress encasement and Climbup Interceptors came recommended by Davis, who said those two products have been proven to protect items from the pests.

“They used to say throw everything out, but that is not the line of thinking anymore,” he said.

However, people with bed bugs should not attempt to tackle the problem by themselves. Davis strongly recommends hiring a professional pest management company, which will likely have to return multiple times depending on the treatment. The use of bug bombs should also be avoided because researchers have determined the devices do not actually kill any of the bed bugs, he said.

In situations where multiple homes share walls, Davis said it is especially important for everyone to work together.

“If they are in one apartment they are probably in other apartments, and unless everyone is on board with a treatment plan it could just be a re-occuring problem time and time again,” he said. “It is the whole apartment complex’s responsibility to partake.”

Treatment plans and additional fact sheets written by Miller about bed bugs can be found online.

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