Fleas and bed bugs can be deceptively similar; they’re both small, brown coloured insects that bite and will live and breed in your home. So how do you know if you have a flea infestation or a bedbug infestation?
Sometimes the first sign of a bedbug infestation is bedbug bites. You will start to see small red bite marks which tend to be on the torso. A sign they are bed bug bites rather than flea bites, is that you may also notice blood spots on your bed sheets. Fleas also bite humans and leave a red, itchy bite mark but it’s not normal to see blood spots from flea bites.
As a bedbug infestation progresses you may notice actual bedbugs. Another sign of bedbugs are their eggs, which are small, white and oval shaped. Bedbugs are brown in colour, round, flat bodied insects that crawl. Fleas are also small brownish insects however easy to identify from bedbugs as fleas can jump. Bedbugs only crawl but you will notice fleas hopping from place to place and are active during the day.
Normally nocturnal, bedbugs will usually hide in cracks and crevices during the day, and are then attracted to body heat (yours) during the night when they come out to feed. If you have fleas in your house, they are normally brought in by pets – namely cats or dogs. An itchy pet can indicate they are carrying fleas, and if left unchecked the fleas will probably spread around your home.
Fleas will lay their eggs in carpets, sofas and pet bedding; basically all around your house. As the flea infestation gets worse, the fleas will start looking for extra food (or blood) sources, which is when they may start biting humans. Whereas the bedbug’s primary blood source is human blood, and they are not commonly associated with pets.
Whether it’s a flea or bedbug infestation in your home, it really is worth sourcing a good local pest control company that offers bedbug or flea pest control. Getting rid of fleas or bedbugs yourself is difficult, as off the shelf products may not break their life cycle. A bedbug extermination visit or flea extermination program by a professional pest service is usually well worth the money and should also save you time, stress and in the long term prove the best value.
