What Attracts Bed Bugs and How to Prevent Them

Bed bugs are attracted primarily by carbon dioxide from your breathing and body heat — not dirt or poor hygiene. They detect CO2 from up to several feet away and follow warmth to locate sleeping hosts. Bed bugs spread through luggage, used furniture, and shared laundry facilities. Inspect mattress seams, headboard joints, and outlet covers for small rust-colored spots. Professional heat treatment (raising room temperature above 120°F) is the most effective eradication method.

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Key Takeaways

Bed Bug Characteristics: Bed bugs are small, oval-shaped, reddish-brown insects about the size of an apple seed. They primarily feed on human blood and tend to hide in tight spaces close to where people sleep. Their presence can cause itchy bites and other health issues like insomnia and anemia.
Bed Bug Attraction: Bed bugs are attracted to the warmth and carbon dioxide that humans emit, using these cues to locate their hosts. They typically emerge at night and can be found in hidden spots near beds, such as mattress seams, bed frames, and cracks in walls. They are also adept hitchhikers and can easily travel via clothing, luggage, or furniture.
Prevention and Control: While there aren’t any specific repellents for bed bugs, certain measures can help deter and control infestations. Regular cleaning, heat treatments, and the use of steam on infested areas can help eliminate bed bugs. Maintaining a clutter-free environment and being vigilant during travel can also prevent the spread of these pests. Professional pest control services may be necessary for severe infestations.

Bed bugs are tiny, crafty creatures nobody wants in their homes. They measure about five to seven millimeters in length, which is almost the size and shape of an apple seed. These oval-shaped brown bugs are infamous for their itchy, red skin bites. They can also bring about other health problems, such as insomnia and anemia.

But what draws bed bugs to our homes in the first place? Let’s explore what attracts bed bugs and how to stop them. Bed bugs are attracted to dirty laundry and feed on human blood, which can result in itchy bed bug bites. In this article, we’ll uncover the reasons these pests come into our lives and how to prevent them from invading our spaces.

Quick Guide: A 30-Second Summary

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What Causes Bed Bug Infestations?

Bed bugs are attracted to two things: the carbon dioxide you exhale and the warmth your body produces — not filth or poor hygiene. They detect CO2 from several feet away and follow heat gradients to locate sleeping hosts, which is why they nest in mattress seams, headboard joints, and bed frame crevices where they can feed on a stationary warm-blooded host with minimal travel distance.

Bed bugs look like small, reddish-brown insects that have flat, oval-shaped bodies. They are typically about the size of an apple seed, and after feeding, their bodies can become more swollen and elongated.

Two things attract bed bugs: carbon dioxide and body heat. Bed bugs don’t see well, and some scientists even think they might be completely blind, as suggested by research. That’s why they rely on their sense of smell and the breath of their hosts to find their way to humans. Since we need to exhale to live, bed bugs have a built-in tracking system to make up for their poor eyesight.

Bed bugs like to come out at night and find cozy spots near where humans sleep. This way, they can feast on warm-blooded hosts while they snooze. These clever critters can adapt to our sleep patterns.

They create their nests in hidden places close to where humans sleep, like under bed frames, the underside of mattresses, nightstands, and even in tiny cracks in the walls near a bed. This is how they sneak into your home and set up a bed bug infestation.

How Do Bed Bugs Get Into Your Home?

Bed bugs are accomplished hitchhikers that spread almost exclusively through contact with infested objects rather than through the air or on their own — they travel on luggage, secondhand furniture, clothing, and bags, and can survive for months without feeding while waiting for a new host environment. Hotels, public transportation, libraries, movie theaters, and retail stores are all common pickup points, and even inspected secondhand mattresses can harbor bed bugs hidden deep in seams and folds.

Bed bugs are expert hitchhikers for insects that crawl everywhere, rather than Verified Source Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) The United States’ health protection agency that defends against dangers to health and safety. View source jump or fly.

They often catch a ride on people or their belongings like suitcases, purses, or coats. Any spot where you’ve sat or rested could be a place to pick them up. Travelers and those with guests have a higher risk of getting bed bugs.

You can spot adult bed bugs, nymphs, and eggs with your naked eye on your luggage and such. These tiny pests can be found in various public areas.

It’s a myth that bedbugs only live in dirty places. Here are some examples of where bed bugs can thrive:

Retail clothing stores
Public transportation
Libraries
Train and bus stations
Movie theaters
Hotels, hostels, and guest houses
Airports
Apartments
Second-hand wooden furniture

If you’re considering a secondhand bed, know that even inspected used mattresses can harbor bed bugs, since these insects are adept at hiding in seams and folds.

What Do Bed Bugs Feed On?

Bed bugs feed exclusively on blood from warm-blooded animals, with humans as their preferred host, and are completely uninterested in food, crumbs, or other organic matter that attracts most household pests. They don’t restrict feeding to nighttime — they simply prefer inactive hosts, which is why they concentrate near sleeping areas and emerge whenever their host is still long enough for a blood meal.

Bed bugs have no taste for human food. And you’ll notice they aren’t interested in other substances like human waste either.

Bed bugs have a preference for warm-blooded creatures, with humans being their favored food source. They are attracted to you through your body heat, exhaled carbon dioxide, and other scents. It’s worth mentioning that bed bugs aren’t picky when it comes to blood types; they’re equal-opportunity bloodsuckers.

These pests are called bed bugs because they’re often discovered around bedding. They seek refuge in nooks and crannies of box springs, headboards, and bed frames, patiently awaiting your stillness for a warm blood meal.

However, bed bugs aren’t confined to bedrooms. They feed day or night and don’t wait for your sleep. They’re just waiting for you to become inactive.

What Specifically Attracts Bed Bugs?

The three primary attractants are carbon dioxide from breathing, body heat, and the chemical compounds in human sweat and skin — none of which are related to cleanliness. Dark-colored sheets have also been shown in research to be preferred by bed bugs over lighter colors, and dirty laundry attracts them through the lingering human scent on unwashed fabrics, which triggers the same host-seeking behavior that CO2 does.

Intriguingly, what attracts bed bugs is a question that often leads to discovering what bed bugs are drawn to in our everyday lives.

Bed Bugs Are Attracted to Dark Bed Sheets

Bed bugs prefer dark bed sheets, as an Oxford study Verified Source Oxford Academic Research journal published by Oxford University. View source found, with red and black preferred over other colors. But when they’re hungry, the color of your sheets doesn’t matter to them, whether they are red or lighter in shade.

So when it comes to bed bugs, bedroom color won’t repel these pests from seeking a human host or guest bedding.

What does matter is whether you use sheets at all. Sleeping directly on a bare mattress removes a layer that stands between your body and the surface where bed bugs, dust mites, and bacteria accumulate.

Bed Bugs Are Attracted to Dirty Laundry

Scientific evidence suggests that scents attract bed bugs such as those left on soiled clothing. This lingering human scent tends to lure bed bugs, which quickly triggers their hunt for a host, similar to how increased CO2 in the room stimulates the bugs, making them seek out a human to feed upon, so washing dirty laundry and old guest bedding is vital in managing these pests.

Aside from dirty clothes, washing sheets weekly in hot water eliminates pests and the skin cells and body oils that attract them. Skipping sheets is one of the ways you might be ruining your mattress without realizing it, as the buildup of oils and moisture accelerates wear and creates conditions that are harder to clean and easier for pests to exploit.

Bed Bugs Are Attracted to Warmth

Bed bugs need to feed, and they are primarily attracted to warm-blooded animals, humans being their top choice. Verified Source National Library of Medicine (NIH) World’s largest medical library, making biomedical data and information more accessible. View source It’s our body warmth and the carbon dioxide we breathe out that attract these pesky insects to us, with their preference having nothing to do with our home’s state or our style of living.

What Keeps Bed Bugs Away?

No EPA-approved skin repellent exists for bed bugs, and most consumer insecticides cause them to scatter and relocate rather than die, which expands the infestation. The most practical deterrents are diatomaceous earth applied as a barrier around bed legs and baseboards, regular vacuuming of mattress seams and bed frame crevices, maintaining a clutter-free sleeping area, and encasing your mattress and box spring in a bed bug-proof cover that eliminates hiding spots entirely.

Right now, there aren’t any insect repellents approved for use on human skin to prevent bed bugs. And, according to pesticide specialists, using outdoor products indoors is both unlawful and could encourage the bed bugs to scatter from one or two hiding spots to many. This makes combatting their presence much more difficult.

But, essential oils like lavender, tea tree, and peppermint offer natural solutions to keep bed bugs away, while also serving as top essential oils for sleep.

Other alternatives that can prevent bed bugs from making their way into your home include:

A careful application of diatomaceous earth. Diatomaceous earth Verified Source National Library of Medicine (NIH) World’s largest medical library, making biomedical data and information more accessible. View source is a natural, fine powder composed of fossilized remains of diatoms. It dehydrates and damages the exoskeleton of bed bugs, leading to their eventual demise. Applied as a barrier, it effectively repels and controls bed bug infestations without the use of chemicals.
Frequent vacuuming around the bed, including the crevices of your bed frame. You want to leave no crack open and free for bed bugs to settle.
Maintaining a tidy and clutter-free living space.

What Should You Do if You Suspect Bed Bugs?

Start by vacuuming the mattress, bed frame, baseboards, and surrounding furniture, then wash all bedding in water at or above 120°F or run items through a hot dryer for at least 20 minutes. A steamer applied to mattress seams and furniture crevices can reach bed bugs that vacuuming misses, but for a significant infestation — particularly one that has spread beyond a single room — professional heat treatment that raises the entire room above 120°F is the most reliably effective eradication method available.

Getting rid of bed bugs can be an arduous task, and many individuals may prefer leaving the cleanup to professionals. But if you want to try tackling it yourself, there are a few things to do.

Start by decluttering the infested areas. Use a vacuum to clean the mattress, bed frame, and surrounding areas, including carpets, baseboards, and furniture.

You can effectively get rid of bed bugs through heat treatments. Simply wash your items in water that’s at least 120°F (48.9°C) or toss them in a hot dryer for 20 minutes. However, while this heat treatment can take readily care of bedding, it’s more difficult to apply that amount of heat to a whole bedroom.

Consider using a steamer to treat areas where bed bugs are likely to hide, such as mattresses, furniture, and baseboards. Steam can penetrate deep into these surfaces and eliminate the pests.

For items you can’t simply wash in hot water, you can try placing infested items in an enclosed vehicle. For example, if you live in a very hot place, bag up the items and leave them in a car parked in the sun with the windows up for a day.

When all else fails, it’s important to note that hiring professional pest control services is a key part of pest management. They conduct thorough treatments, including heat treatments if needed for a severe infestation, ensuring that bugs in the bedroom don’t stand a chance.

How Do You Prevent Bed Bugs From Returning?

Bed bugs can survive for up to a year in cooler conditions without feeding, making vigilance after treatment as important as the treatment itself. Inspect luggage after travel, avoid placing bags on hotel beds or floors, check secondhand furniture carefully before bringing it inside, and use mattress encasements long-term since they eliminate the seams and cavities where bed bugs most commonly hide and breed.

Most insecticides available to the public can’t effectively kill bed bugs, often causing them to hide until the insecticide loses its potency, sometimes forcing bed bugs to relocate to nearby rooms or apartments, making pest management a challenge.

There are no miraculous sprays to eliminate a bed bug infestation, and bed bugs can survive for months without a meal, even up to a year in colder temperatures of 55°F or lower.

Bed bugs are in fact extremely resilient when it comes to hot and cold temperatures. A study found Verified Source National Library of Medicine (NIH) World’s largest medical library, making biomedical data and information more accessible. View source that to kill bed bugs and their eggs, they need to use temperatures of at least 48 degrees Celsius or approximately 118 degrees Fahrenheit. If it’s a little hotter, around 50 degrees Celsius or 122 degrees Fahrenheit, the bed bugs can’t survive. The study also found that their eggs are stronger and need more time to be completely killed.

What Other Bedroom Pests Should You Watch For?

Bed bugs are one of the more persistent pests you can encounter, but they’re far from the only one that can establish itself in your sleeping space. Fleas, ticks, silverfish, centipedes, ants, cockroaches, spiders, mites, and lice each find their way into bedrooms through different routes and require different responses — and mold on mattresses and in bedroom walls, while not a pest, thrives in the same conditions that attract many of these insects.

FAQs

What scents are bed bugs attracted to?

Bed bugs are primarily attracted to scents associated with carbon dioxide, body heat, and the scent of human skin. They locate their hosts by detecting the carbon dioxide exhaled during respiration, body heat, and certain chemical compounds found on human skin, such as sweat and pheromones.

Bed bugs are not particularly drawn to sweet or fruity scents, unlike some other pests. So you don’t need to worry about any essential oils, scented candles, or pillow sprays for sleep attracting any bed bugs.

Are bed bugs due to poor hygiene?

No, bed bugs are not exclusively associated with poor hygiene. Bed bugs are equal opportunity pests and can infest even the cleanest of environments. They are primarily attracted to the presence of hosts (humans or animals) for blood meals, not the cleanliness of the surroundings.

While clutter and debris can provide hiding spots for bed bugs, they can thrive in both tidy and unkempt spaces. Bed bug infestations are more related to travel, used furniture, or other factors that introduce them into a home rather than a reflection of personal hygiene.

How did I get bed bugs when I haven’t been anywhere?

Bed bugs are highly adept at hitchhiking and can be introduced into your home in various ways, even if you haven’t traveled recently. Common sources of bed bug infestations include used furniture, particularly upholstered items, as well as luggage that has come into contact with bed bugs in hotels or other infested areas.

Bed bugs can also be transported through clothing, bags, or belongings that have been in infested environments. They are resilient pests that can survive for several months without feeding, making it possible for them to remain hidden until they emerge.

What keeps away bed bugs?

Preventing bed bug infestations involves a number of proactive measures. These include regular cleaning and decluttering of living spaces, using mattress and box spring encasements to trap any existing bed bugs, and practicing good hygiene. Minimizing potential entry points for bed bugs, such as cracks and crevices in walls and furniture, can also help deter them.

While some recommend natural repellents such as certain scents, their effectiveness in keeping bed bugs away is limited. Professional pest control measures are typically required for full, effective prevention.

What to do if you’ve slept in a bed with bed bugs?

If you’ve slept in a bed with bed bugs or suspect that you have, take immediate action to minimize the risk of bringing them home with you. If possible, leave your luggage and any potentially infested items outside or in the bathroom of the infested location. This prevents bed bugs from spreading to other areas.

Thoroughly inspect your luggage, backpack, or bags for any signs of bed bugs. Use a vacuum cleaner to remove any visible bugs or eggs. Wipe down the exterior of your luggage with a damp cloth to remove any potential hitchhikers. Seal your belongings in plastic bags until you can ensure they are bedbug-free.

Once you return home, inspect your living space for any signs of bed bugs. Check your mattress seams, furniture, and nearby areas for tiny reddish-brown bugs, shed skins, or small black fecal spots. If you’re concerned that bed bugs may have come home with you, consider hiring a pest control professional for an inspection. Early detection can prevent a full-blown infestation.

Conclusion

Bed bugs are uniquely frustrating because they have nothing to do with how clean your home is — they’re opportunists that follow CO2 and warmth, hitch rides on your luggage, and hide in places you’d never think to look until the evidence appears on your skin.

That’s why the most effective defense is awareness: knowing where they come from, what draws them in, and how to spot the early signs before a handful of insects becomes a full infestation requiring professional intervention.

The good news is that the practical steps aren’t complicated. Inspecting secondhand furniture, washing bedding weekly in hot water, vacuuming mattress seams regularly, and encasing your mattress in a bed-bug-proof cover address the majority of risk factors most households face.

If you do find evidence of an infestation, acting quickly and calling a professional rather than reaching for consumer sprays that scatter rather than kill will save you significant time, money, and stress in the long run.

Have you dealt with bed bugs? Share what worked — or what didn’t — in the comments below. Your experience could save someone else from a sleepless night, and if this guide helped you, share it on social media so others can get ahead of the problem before it takes hold.

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