These are some of the early signs that you may have bedbugs

As the bedbug pandemic continues to rip its way through Europe, there are some signs to look out for which may show if they are in your house.

Bedbugs have caused a lot of chaos and mess in Paris, France with streets being littered with mattresses as people struggle to live with the tiny bugs which can cause itchy skin and some discomfort for humans.

However, it is no longer just French citizens who are growing concerned about the tiny bugs as they have also been spotted regularly on certain parts of London’s Underground services and Spain have failed to avoid them either.

Pest control company Anticimex, have reported that bedbugs in Spain have seen an increase of around 71% between January and September 2023 compared to the same period last year.

How to notice bedbugs?

It has been claimed that there is a year-on-year increase in the number of bedbugs being reported by people who are calling on pest control to help solve their problems and there are two key reasons for this season.

The first one is because more and more people are going on holiday and travelling to further parts of the globe, meaning there are more bodies and pieces of clothing for the bedbugs to attach themselves to and they are also becoming more resistant to the insecticides that have long been sued to exterminate them.

There are indeed multiple ways that people can spot early signs of their house becoming infested with bedbugs before it becomes too late and they start to cause problems.

Rust-like spots on mattresses

This could either be with your home mattress or when staying at a hotel, but checking for rust-coloured spots is the first way to spot signs of bedbugs. When they get squashed and killed, they can leave blood stains and point towards where other bedbugs may be hiding.

This, as disgusting as it sounds, will then leave a rust-like colour on a mattress and if so, it’s a sign there could be several bedbugs around your mattresses.

A musty odour

While everyone starts to smell some odour from time to time in their home and it can often be fixed by letting in some fresh air or even lighting a scented candle, however, if it lingers and is stronger than normal, it could be much worse.

According to Mattress expert, Martin Seeley: “If the bedroom area has a strong, musty and unpleasant odour. This could possibly come from a bedbug’s scent glands and is strongest when there are large amounts of bugs present.”

Eggs

If eggs are spotted in a room or hotel room, then it’s pretty obvious there is indeed a bedbug issue at hand and action should be taken immediately. However,e they are not always the easiest to spot and don’t just crop up on mattresses.

Martin has explained what they look like and how people can try and spot them, he said: “They are about 1mm wide and are often a pale yellow colour. If you do find any of these eggs, it could mean the bedbugs are still very much alive and this should be reported immediately.”

Dark spots on the wall

This one is certainly far less common than the other three mentioned above, but in certain circumstances, bedbugs can manage to leave dark spots on walls and unfortunately, it’s probably bedbug excrement.

Mattress expert, Martin has urged people, to not ‘touch any of the affected areas’ and instead, either alert reception if staying in a hotel, or contact a form of pest control to get the issues sorted as soon as possible.

So, while there is indeed a lot of panic and concern around Europe about the influx of bedbugs right now, following the steps mentioned above should ensure that the risk of them harming anyone in your family is reduced significantly.