The adult bedbug is a flattened, wingless, oval insect about 6mm long and normally reddish brown in colour. Feeding usually takes place at night every 3-4 days, when the bugs emerge from their hiding places. Bed bugs spend the day hiding in cracks and crevices often in or close to the hosts bed. They may hide in the seams, piping and buttons of mattresses, under pillows, in the bed structure and frame, behind loose wallpaper, behind pictures, in electrical sockets and switches, behind skirting boards and above beds in ceiling cracks and a wide range of other places in furniture or structure of the room.
Each female during her lifetime of approximately 1 year, may lay a total of 300 eggs. The eggs are cemented on rough surfaces, in cracks and crevices in furniture on or near where bugs normally hide. Tiny bugs emerge when the eggs hatch, which requires a room temperature of at least 10 degrees centigrade.
Evidence to look for:
- Live bed bugs in bedroom
- Bite marks on the skin
- Faecal marks near cracks and crevices