What Attracts Bed Bugs? (Popular Myths Debunked)

Bed bugs, which are reddish-brown, wingless pests about the size of an apple seed, are a nuisance and hard to get rid of. To avoid a bed bug infestation, you need to understand what kind of environment bed bugs prefer and what could lure them into your living space. These bugs are attracted to warmth and the carbon dioxide humans put off during sleep, making mattresses, couches, box springs, and bed frames prime real estate.

The nocturnal insects are expert hitchhikers. They often catch rides on luggage, used furniture and clothing, or even in purses. This makes hotels, motels, and cruise ships potential infested areas for you to get bit by these creatures.

Understanding what attracts bed bugs helps prevent them from finding their way into your home. They seek out tight spaces like mattress seams, headboards, and electrical outlets, where they can hide during the day.

In this article, I’ll explain what attracts bed bugs into your home and share the knowledge and experience I’ve picked up over the years working as a pest control professional. I’ll explore some of the most common questions people ask about what attracts bed bugs to help you prevent conditions that attract these pests.

What Are Bed Bugs?

Bed bugs can invade many places besides beds. They infest any place where people gather, including upholstered furniture and even electrical outlets. These tiny wingless pests are very good at hiding in cracks and crevices. They come out at night to bite people and animals because they like their body heat. Bed bug bites leave red marks — often found in clusters — on your skin after sleeping. They also leave behind dark spots of fecal matter or droppings and reddish stains on your bed sheets.

Bed bugs are oval in shape and about the size of a flat apple seed. Their body shape allows them to squeeze into tiny spaces. Their bodies swell and turn a deep reddish color after feeding, leaving behind shed skins as they mature from nymphs to adults.

What Attracts Bed Bugs?

A prevailing myth suggests that bed bugs target dirty homes and are attracted by clutter, grime, and filth. However, this is not the case. Bed bugs look pretty nasty, but they don’t care about how clean your home is or your socioeconomic status when they decide whether to infest your home.

These pests are attracted to warmth, carbon dioxide, and access to their preferred food source: blood. Wherever humans and animals congregate, bed bugs are likely to follow.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much an individual can do to make a home less appealing to bed bugs. Maintaining cleanliness is important, as it can remove hiding places and pick up stray bed bugs. But bed bugs will still seek out humans to bite regardless of living conditions.

Do Chemicals Attract Bed Bugs?

Household cleaning solutions or naturally occurring human hormones don’t attract bed bugs. Rumors that ammonia, bleach, or scented products draw in bed bugs are false.

However, scientists have identified that bed bugs produce a chemical called histamine that’s very attractive to other bed bugs. Humans also produce histamine during some immune responses, but these small amounts are unlikely to attract bed bugs.

Instead, the accumulation of histamine in bed bug feces and shed skin alerts other bed bugs that a location is inhabited and safe. For homes with major infestations, this chemical buildup can draw in new bed bugs. But for minor infestations, promptly removing bed bugs prevents substantial histamine accumulation.

How Do Bed Bugs Enter Homes?

Bed bugs typically hitch a ride into homes by climbing onto clothing, luggage, pets, furniture, or other belongings. Their small, flat bodies allow them to hide in tiny crevices and gaps during transit. While bed bugs don’t care if a home is tidy or messy, reducing clutter does eliminate potential hiding spots.

Frequent and thorough vacuuming can also remove bed bugs that enter your home before they multiply. But ultimately, bed bugs are transported inside by accident, not attracted by conditions inside the home itself.

What Attracts Bed Bugs To Bite Humans?

Bed bugs feed exclusively on blood, which is why they bite humans — not because ‌humans are dirty. The CO2 emitted when humans exhale helps bed bugs pinpoint a blood meal host. The bugs are most active at night when hosts are sleeping soundly, making it easiest to feed without interruption.

Humans can’t change their CO2 exhalations or body temperature enough to be less attractive to bed bugs. Likewise, no evidence suggests certain blood types are more appealing. With humans being their sole food source, bed bugs bite simply because they require human blood to survive.

Do Crumbs Attract Bed Bugs?

Unlike some other household pests, bed bugs aren’t attracted to food spills, crumbs, or trash. They can’t survive on or digest human foods at all. Ridding the home of clutter and food debris provides fewer hiding places but won’t prevent bed bugs motivated to feed on human blood.

However, some limited research suggests bed bugs may be attracted to dirty laundry. The study found bed bugs were more attracted to soiled clothing than to clean garments. Stains, sweat, and skin cells on worn clothes could make it easier for bed bugs to detect a human host.

Regular laundering of bedding, clothing, and other washable fabrics is a smart precaution against bed bugs. But food spills and crumbs themselves pose no attraction or benefit to bed bugs. Their biological drive to obtain blood governs their behavior.

Preventing Bed Bugs in Your Home

While no home is immune from bed bugs, several proactive steps make infestations less likely:

So, Is Your Home at Risk of Bed Bugs?

While bed bugs don’t discriminate based on living conditions or demographics, certain behaviors increase infestation risks. Traveling, buying used furniture, and living in high-density housing make meeting bed bugs more likely. Clutter gives bed bugs more room to hide and multiply.

Most home infestations today start with bed bugs that come from other locations. Be careful to prevent bringing bed bugs in and to detect them early if they do enter your living space. Watching for signs like fecal stains and live bugs allows treatment before populations grow out of control.

With vigilance and preventative measures such as regular vacuuming, steam cleaning, and maintaining a neat environment, even homes in high-risk settings can avoid bed bug encounters. But if you do find yourself with an infestation, knowing how to get rid of bed bugs is key.

For severe infestation, call a pest control company or an exterminator. A pest control company focuses on long-term pest control management, while a bed bug exterminator typically guarantees to kill all bed bugs without additional treatments. A bed bug exterminator will give you a game plan to prevent further infestations. They can also provide a comprehensive plan to eradicate the infestation and prevent future occurrences.