Bed bugs! Their name is quite deceiving.Mainly, you’ll find these pests living in beds and suck human blood. But, can bed bugs live in carpet?”
The simple answer is, YES, bed bugs can live in the carpet and other dark locations. This is particularly common in the gap between the carpet and baseboard and edges of the carpet behind your furniture. The carpet is a great spot for females to lay eggs.
So, let’s get started!
Can Bed Bugs Live in Carpet?
Bed bugs prefer hiding in locations where it is easy for them to bite on a host (here’s how to remove the bed bug bite scars) and slip back into hiding without being noticed. So, apart from your bed, bed bugs will also hide in your carpet.
This is especially possible where your furniture presses against the wall leaving dark corners beneath. They also hide below the carpet and the spaces between the carpet and baseboard or the wall.
If you have an infestation, you’re likely to see bed bugs at the edges of your carpet behind the sofa set, cupboard or bed. In case you don’t see live bed bugs, their eggs or carcasses in these places are a clear evidence of their presence.
When bed bugs inhabit your carpet, they can create a very big challenge for pest eradication. Sometimes they get entangled in the fibres of the carpet and become extremely hard to locate.
1. Bed Bugs Are Very Swift
Despite their inability to fly, bed bugs can move very fast from one room to another by crawling on the walls, floors and ceilings.
If you have some bed bugs in your bedroom or in an old sofa that you brought home, they will easily find their way into your carpets.
2. Carpets Have Dense fibers
Some carpets have a dense network of fibres. This creates an ample hiding place for bed bugs and for female bed bugs to lay their eggs.
Thus, if a few bed bugs get into your carpet, they might soon develop into an infestation.
3. Bed Bugs Are Always Hunting For a Host
Bed bugs will not wait until you go to bed for them to have a blood meal – causing anemia, itching and allergy from the bed bug bite. That means, they will follow you wherever you go.
As they traverse across the floor to look for a host, there are chances that many bed bugs will find their way in your carpet.
Do Bed Bugs Lay Eggs in Carpet?
Bed bugs will lay their eggs in the same places they inhabit. Since these pesky creatures hide and live in your carpet, you will also find their eggs here. However, you may not be able to see the eggs with your naked eyes since they are very small and translucent.
Again, bed bugs won’t travel very far from their source of food. So, apart from your bed, bed bugs will find safe havens in your carpet where they’ll hide and lay eggs. The eggs are usually coated with a sticky substance that makes them stick on any surface.
Do Bed Bugs Crawl or Fly Across a Carpet?
Unlike insects, bed bugs won’t fly or jump around the carpet. They can only crawl through the carpet to get to you. Although they might get slowed by thick carpets, they usually have a way of getting through.
When you sleep on the couch or stay too late in the living room, bed bugs will travel from their hideouts and across the carpet in order to feast on your blood.
How to Inspect Your Carpet for Bed Bugs
Once bed bugs get into your house, they won’t go looking for specific places to hide. They can live anywhere in the house as long they have access to their favourite meal.
So, if there’re signs of bed bugs in your house, the best thing to do is to inspect all possible hideouts. Below is a guide for inspecting your carpet for bed bugs.
1. Inspect Space between Carpet and Baseboard or Wall
The mostly likely place where bed bugs will hide is the space between the carpet and the baseboard or wall. You can use a flashlight to look through the small gap. Even better, you can run your credit card through the space to ambush the bed bugs.
If there’re bed bugs inside, you’ll see them coming out in haste scampering for safety. In addition, dead bed bugs and debris might also come out from these spaces.
2. Check Underneath the Carpet
To check what’s underneath the carpet, lift one of the corners away for the floor and the baseboard. While holding the corner in place, look keenly for any bed bug movement, carcasses, feces, eggs or other debris.
If that corner of the house is dark, use a flashlight. Bed bugs may drift away into hiding, with the slightest flip of the carpet. However, if you see their carcasses or feces, you should be sure that bed bugs are living here.
3. Inspect the Debris in Vacuum Cleaner
You need a bagless vacuum cleaner for this exercise. Starting off with an empty canister, vacuum all your carpeted room thoroughly. Dump the debris outside and vacuum the house again especially along the edges of the carpet.
Now, the contents of the canister are little debris which can be easily differentiated. If there’re indeed some bed bugs in your carpet, you will see them scampering for safety.
4. Inspect Carpet, Behind Sofa, Cabinets or Bed
The part of carpet that is tacked behind sofa sets, cabinets or beds is very dark, meaning it is a safe haven where bed bugs can hide and breed. To inspect this place, you’ll need some extra muscle to move things around.
If you’ve bed bugs in your carpet, then this part of the house could be harbouring a host of them. Some will be on the carpet and others on the furniture just close to the carpet.
Conclusion
Bed bugs can get in your carpet and give you a hard time to eradicate. However, with the above remedies, you can easily get these pesky insects out of your carpet.
These include diatomaceous earth, borax powder, heat treatment, steam treatment and vacuuming. I recommend using a combination of these remedies to eradicate bed bugs and prevent future infestation.