The short answer
Bites alone cannot prove bed bugs. An early infestation can be very hard to find, but fleas, mites, mosquitoes and skin conditions cause similar marks. Search the bed again carefully at night and in daylight, check for black spots and pale skins, put interceptor cups under the bed legs, and get a professional inspection if the bites keep coming. See a pharmacist or GP about the bites themselves.
Waking up with new bites and finding nothing in the bed is maddening. It is also very common. Either the bed bugs are there and not yet easy to see, or something else is biting you, or the marks are not bites at all. This guide helps you work out which, without spending money you do not need to.
One thing first: we are not medical advisers. If a bite is very swollen, spreading, hot or weeping, or you feel unwell, the NHS advises speaking to a pharmacist, NHS 111 or your GP.
Why bed bugs can be hard to find
There are not many of them yet
An infestation often starts with one or two bugs carried in on a bag or a second-hand piece of furniture. For the first few weeks there may only be a handful in the room, hiding in a seam or a screw hole for most of the day. A handful of bugs can still give you plenty of bites.
They hide very well
Unfed bed bugs are flat enough to fit into cracks the width of a card. They come out mainly at night, feed for a few minutes, and go straight back into hiding. Their favourite places are often not on the mattress at all but in the bed frame joints, the back of the headboard, or along the skirting.
Not everyone reacts the same way
Some people come up in itchy red lumps after one bite. Others hardly react. In a shared bed, one person can be covered while the other has nothing, which leads couples to think the problem is something to do with just one of them.
What else causes bites like this?
- Fleas. Common where there is a cat or dog, or where a previous tenant had one. Flea bites tend to be on the ankles and lower legs, and you may see the fleas jump.
- Mosquitoes and gnats. More likely in summer, with a window open, and usually on skin left uncovered.
- Bird mites. Can come in from a nest in the roof or under the eaves, and are tiny and pale.
- Skin conditions. Eczema, hives and reactions to a new washing powder can look like a line of bites.
If the marks appear in daytime as well as overnight, or on parts of the body covered by clothes during the day, bed bugs become less likely.
Search again, properly
A quick look under the sheet is not enough. Give it twenty minutes with a good torch.
- Strip the bed and check every seam, label, button and corner of the mattress, and the underside.
- Check the base or divan, especially the corners and any fabric stapled on underneath.
- Take the headboard off the wall if you can and look at the back and the fixings.
- Run the torch along the skirting board behind and beside the bed, and around plug sockets and picture frames.
- Look at any chair or sofa someone has slept on.
What you are looking for: live bugs, black dots like felt-tip pen marks, small rusty stains, pale empty skins and tiny white eggs. Our guide to what bed bugs look like shows each stage.
Try a night-time check
Bed bugs are most active in the hours before dawn. Setting an alarm for an hour or two before you usually wake and checking the mattress edges with a torch can catch them out in the open.
You can also put interceptor cups under the legs of the bed. These are small plastic dishes that trap bugs climbing up to the bed. Keep the bed away from the wall and tuck the bedding in, so the legs are the only way up. A few weeks with nothing in the traps is reassuring; one bug is an answer.
When to pay for an inspection
If the bites carry on for more than a week or two and you cannot find a cause, a professional inspection is worth the money. A technician knows where to look and can identify anything they find on the spot, which avoids paying for the wrong treatment. Typical inspection prices are on our inspection page.
It is especially worth it in Newcastle’s Tyneside flats and shared student houses, where bed bugs can come from next door or a housemate’s room. A neighbour above or below with bed bugs is a good reason to get checked even without clear signs.
What not to do
- Do not spray shop-bought insecticide on the bed. It rarely clears bed bugs and can push them into other rooms, which makes treatment harder.
- Do not move to the sofa. If it is bed bugs, they follow you.
- Do not throw out the mattress before you know. If it is not bed bugs, it is money wasted; if it is, you may spread them on the way out.
If you rent
Tell your landlord or agent in writing what is happening, even before you are sure. In a council home, report it to your housing office. Newcastle City Council does not list a bed bug service for private homes, so in a private let it is usually the landlord who arranges a firm. Check with the council or your landlord before you pay for anything.
Still getting bites? Send us your postcode and we will find a Newcastle technician to take a proper look.