Bugs that look like bed bugs
Bed bugs are tiny insects which feed on human and animal blood and using this blood they grow and reproduce. These are incapable of distinguishing between dirty and clean homes and can occupy beds/homes of anyone. Bed bugs can also feed on animals such as cats, dogs and other pets.
Bed bugs are commonly found in areas where people sit, sleep or rest for longer time periods. Hungry bed bugs tend to move from their hiding places to reach out to humans through exposed skin. Bed bugs mostly bite on hands, legs, arms, head and neck.
Adult bed bugs have oval shape, are flattened, brown in color and are wingless having size of 5 to 9 mm. They look much like wood tick. Once these bug takes blood, its color change from brown to red or purplish red. Also it becomes larger after feeding and develops cigar shape. Young bed bugs are smaller in size, generally 1.6mm in size at the time of first hatching and are almost colorless if they have not fed.
Here are some common bugs which look like bed bugs and these are the bugs which are commonly mistaken for bed bugs.
1. Spider Beetle: The size of adult spider beetle ranges from 1.5 to 4 millimeters. Its color ranges from black to dark reddish-brown with a shiny round abdomen. They are in the shape and size of fleas, oval and are dark brown in color. Spider beetle feed on several goods that are commonly found in household pantries. They have a similar characteristic like bed bug that forage usually during night or in dark places. Spider Beetle can also be present in places like cracks, crevices, attics and within walls. These are not the blood suckers.
2. Cockroach Nymphs: Like all cockroaches, the cockroach nymph likes to live at the places having food, warmth and moisture. They usually hide in cracks and crevices which are active during night time while aggressively searching for water and food. Cockroach nymphs are big enough to be seen by human eye clearly but after hatching or molting they are white and later turn into reddish-brown. There’s a difference in the shape with cockroach nymph being cylindrical in shape and bed bug having a short, oval or apple-seed shape. Exposure to cockroach nymphs can cause asthma and therefore trigger asthma attacks.
3. Booklice: These are found in a variety of color rangingfrom gray to translucent white or brown. Booklice are found in furniture, wallpaper, on window sills and along the sides of windows or in the highly humid areas. Booklice are much smaller in size than bed bugs and their size ranges from 1-1.5 mm. Booklice feed on cereals, pollen, fungi and fragments of dead insects.
4. Carpet Beetles: There are three common species namely: furniture carpet beetle, black carpet and common carnet. All these species are nearly 3 mm in length and may cause harm to the furniture, fabric, clothing and carpeting which have natural animal fiber. Carpet Beetles prefer to live in rodent, insect and bird nests and can very easily enter indoors. The color of these bugs varies depending upon the type of specie. Carpet Beetles do not bite but people who easily develop allergies can get welts on exposure to their tiny hairs.
5. Bat Bugs: Bat bugs closely look similar to bed bugs and it becomes very hard to distinguish between bat bugs and bed bugs. The main difference which can help establish the difference between these two bugs is the length of fringe hairs on pronotum (a segment just below the head of bug). Fringe hairs are longer in bat bugs than bed bugs. Like bed bugs, bat bugs also feed on blood, mainly the blood of bats and are mostly fund in attics or near bats or bird nests. In case when there’s no bird or bat in the surrounding, they tend to occupy places such as mattresses and bed frames and as such they will bite humans. Bat bugs are also found on ceilings and these are some of the reasons that people mistake them for bed bugs.
6. Poultry bug: Also known as Mexican chicken bug, have similar appearance like bed bug. They feed mainly on poultry farms and are the parasites of birds and domestic bird like eagles, hawks and turkey. On the other hand, bed bugs live on human blood but they also have a choice of feeding on warm-blooded animals.
7. Barn swallow bugs: They look like bed bugs and have almost same color and size except that swallow bugs have long, silky hair. Barn swallow bugs dwell in the nests of cliff swallows and tend to shift in human live-ins when birds migrate. Swallow bugs breed during summer season and have ability of surviving without the food for longer span by remaining semi dormant.
Bed bugs are tiny insects which feed on human and animal blood and using this blood they grow and reproduce. These are incapable of distinguishing between dirty and clean homes and can occupy beds/homes of anyone. Bed bugs can also feed on animals such as cats, dogs and other pets.
Bed bugs are commonly found in areas where people sit, sleep or rest for longer time periods. Hungry bed bugs tend to move from their hiding places to reach out to humans through exposed skin. Bed bugs mostly bite on hands, legs, arms, head and neck.
Adult bed bugs have oval shape, are flattened, brown in color and are wingless having size of 5 to 9 mm. They look much like wood tick. Once these bug takes blood, its color change from brown to red or purplish red. Also it becomes larger after feeding and develops cigar shape. Young bed bugs are smaller in size, generally 1.6mm in size at the time of first hatching and are almost colorless if they have not fed.
Here are some common bugs which look like bed bugs and these are the bugs which are commonly mistaken for bed bugs.
1. Spider Beetle: The size of adult spider beetle ranges from 1.5 to 4 millimeters. Its color ranges from black to dark reddish-brown with a shiny round abdomen. They are in the shape and size of fleas, oval and are dark brown in color. Spider beetle feed on several goods that are commonly found in household pantries. They have a similar characteristic like bed bug that forage usually during night or in dark places. Spider Beetle can also be present in places like cracks, crevices, attics and within walls. These are not the blood suckers.
2. Cockroach Nymphs: Like all cockroaches, the cockroach nymph likes to live at the places having food, warmth and moisture. They usually hide in cracks and crevices which are active during night time while aggressively searching for water and food. Cockroach nymphs are big enough to be seen by human eye clearly but after hatching or molting they are white and later turn into reddish-brown. There’s a difference in the shape with cockroach nymph being cylindrical in shape and bed bug having a short, oval or apple-seed shape. Exposure to cockroach nymphs can cause asthma and therefore trigger asthma attacks.
3. Booklice: These are found in a variety of color rangingfrom gray to translucent white or brown. Booklice are found in furniture, wallpaper, on window sills and along the sides of windows or in the highly humid areas. Booklice are much smaller in size than bed bugs and their size ranges from 1-1.5 mm. Booklice feed on cereals, pollen, fungi and fragments of dead insects.
4. Carpet Beetles: There are three common species namely: furniture carpet beetle, black carpet and common carnet. All these species are nearly 3 mm in length and may cause harm to the furniture, fabric, clothing and carpeting which have natural animal fiber. Carpet Beetles prefer to live in rodent, insect and bird nests and can very easily enter indoors. The color of these bugs varies depending upon the type of specie. Carpet Beetles do not bite but people who easily develop allergies can get welts on exposure to their tiny hairs.
5. Bat Bugs: Bat bugs closely look similar to bed bugs and it becomes very hard to distinguish between bat bugs and bed bugs. The main difference which can help establish the difference between these two bugs is the length of fringe hairs on pronotum (a segment just below the head of bug). Fringe hairs are longer in bat bugs than bed bugs. Like bed bugs, bat bugs also feed on blood, mainly the blood of bats and are mostly fund in attics or near bats or bird nests. In case when there’s no bird or bat in the surrounding, they tend to occupy places such as mattresses and bed frames and as such they will bite humans. Bat bugs are also found on ceilings and these are some of the reasons that people mistake them for bed bugs.
6. Poultry bug: Also known as Mexican chicken bug, have similar appearance like bed bug. They feed mainly on poultry farms and are the parasites of birds and domestic bird like eagles, hawks and turkey. On the other hand, bed bugs live on human blood but they also have a choice of feeding on warm-blooded animals.
7. Barn swallow bugs: They look like bed bugs and have almost same color and size except that swallow bugs have long, silky hair. Barn swallow bugs dwell in the nests of cliff swallows and tend to shift in human live-ins when birds migrate. Swallow bugs breed during summer season and have ability of surviving without the food for longer span by remaining semi dormant.
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