If you’ve woken up with itchy red bites all over your arms or legs, you might be looking at a bed bug infestation. One of the best ways to ID pests is to look for their droppings—and since bed bugs are so small, searching for their feces is a great way to double check which pest you’re dealing with. Keep reading to learn how you can tell whether or not you have bed bugs in your home to start treating them today.

1

Look for reddish-brown, rust-colored stains.

  1. Bed bug droppings are mostly digested blood. As you’re checking for bed bug feces, it might look red, reddish-brown, or muddy brown. Old feces will generally look darker, while new feces could be bright red. Bed bug feces is the consistency of soft mud.[1]
    • If you're having trouble seeing the color of the feces, try doing the smear test. Take a baby wipe or an alcohol swab and gently wipe the feces up. If the color on the wipe is red or reddish-brown, then it's probably from a bed bug.
    • As you look around, be sure to check the seams of your mattress, box spring frames, behind your headboard, and along any baseboards in the room.
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4

Look along the mattress seam and the tag.

5

Check the wood frame of the box spring and the headboard.

  1. Sometimes, bed bugs will hide in your bed frame instead of your bed. If you couldn’t find any in your mattress, start checking in the crevices of your box spring frame and behind the headboard. Use a flashlight to look into dark areas, and don’t be afraid to lift up your mattress and check underneath it.[5] [6]
    • If you are squeamish about touching bed bugs or their feces, wear gloves as you search.
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7

Check behind electrical outlets and curtain rods.

  1. Grab a screwdriver so you can unscrew the electrical outlets nearby. Bed bugs sometimes nest behind electrical outlets or underneath the corners of curtain rods. If you think that the bed bugs are deep inside a crevice somewhere, you can use tweezers or a pen to poke and prod the holes and drive them out. Use caution around electrical outlets, and never stick anything inside of them.[8]
    • Bed bugs can stay hidden easily, but their feces is usually a little more prominent. You might see reddish-brown smears strewn around your outlets or near your curtain rod.
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10

Look for shed skin and dead bugs around the feces.

11

Avoid checking pets or pet bedding.

  1. If you see dark black droppings on your pet, they probably have fleas. Fleas and bed bugs often get mixed up, so it’s important to double check before starting treatment. Fleas also poop mostly blood, and can drop reddish-brown feces on your pets or their bedding. However, bed bugs usually don’t congregate near animals, and their droppings are slightly bigger than flea droppings are.[13]
    • The best way to get a positive bed bug identification is to bring an expert in.
    • If you do have a flea infestation, start treating the source by giving flea medicine to your pets. You can also wash their bedding with hot water to kill any fleas or eggs that might be living there.
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12

Kill bed bugs with heat or steam.

  1. If you’re positive that you have bed bugs, start treating them right away. Wash all of your bedding on high heat, and take a hair dryer to any areas you can’t wash, like walls or windows. You can also use a steam cleaner to get into cracks and crevices that you can’t reach. Eradicating bed bugs can take a long time (sometimes up to a year), so check back every day to see whether the bugs are still there or not.[14] [15]
    • If DIY methods don’t work, consider calling a professional. They can use chemical treatments to treat your home and kill the bed bugs quickly.

Expert Q&A

  • Question
    What else looks like bed bugs?
    Kevin Carrillo
    Kevin Carrillo
    MMPC, Pest Control Specialist
    Kevin Carrillo is a Pest Control Specialist and the Senior Project Manager for MMPC, a pest control service and certified Minority-owned Business Enterprise (MBE) based in the New York City area. MMPC is certified by the industry’s leading codes and practices, including the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), QualityPro, GreenPro, and The New York Pest Management Association (NYPMA). MMPC's work has been featured in CNN, NPR, and ABC News.
    Kevin Carrillo
    MMPC, Pest Control Specialist
    Expert Answer
    There's carpet beetles, cockroach nymphs, shiny spider beetles, and book lice, to name a few. Lots of bugs and insects resemble bed bugs, though, so you're better off getting a professional opinion.
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  1. https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef636
  2. https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef636
  3. Kevin Carrillo. MMPC, Pest Control Specialist. Expert Interview. 22 October 2019.
  4. https://www.thisoldhouse.com/pest-control/21294002/identifying-flea-vs-bed-bugs
  5. https://www.epa.gov/bedbugs/do-it-yourself-bed-bug-control
  6. Kevin Carrillo. MMPC, Pest Control Specialist. Expert Interview. 22 October 2019.

About This Article

Kevin Carrillo
Co-authored by:
MMPC, Pest Control Specialist
This article was co-authored by Kevin Carrillo and by wikiHow staff writer, Hannah Madden. Kevin Carrillo is a Pest Control Specialist and the Senior Project Manager for MMPC, a pest control service and certified Minority-owned Business Enterprise (MBE) based in the New York City area. MMPC is certified by the industry’s leading codes and practices, including the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), QualityPro, GreenPro, and The New York Pest Management Association (NYPMA). MMPC's work has been featured in CNN, NPR, and ABC News. This article has been viewed 27,009 times.
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Updated: January 7, 2022
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