Are Bed Bugs Attracted to Certain Colors? | Bed Bug Facts | Orkin (2024)

FAQs

Are Bed Bugs Attracted to Certain Colors? | Bed Bug Facts | Orkin? ›

What colors attract bed bugs? Bed bugs prefer black and red shelters more than white and yellow because darker colors offer better protection from predators. Bed bugs might mistake red and black colored harborages for their other bed bug buddies since bed bugs prefer to harbor in clusters, rather than individually.

The study, published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, found that when bed bugs are exposed to light and looking for a hiding place, they tend to favor darker colors – particularly red and black.

Bed Bug Attraction: Bed bugs are attracted to the warmth and carbon dioxide that humans emit, using these cues to locate their hosts. They typically emerge at night and can be found in hidden spots near beds, such as mattress seams, bed frames, and cracks in walls.

The carbon dioxide that we emit from our breath combined with our body warmth is what attracts bed bugs to humans, and it has nothing to do with the state of the home or style of living of the host.

Tea tree oil, renowned for its antibacterial properties, is like a natural bug repellent that bed bugs can't stand. Peppermint oil, with its invigorating minty freshness, overwhelms their acute senses. And eucalyptus oil, known for its refreshing aroma, is a formidable deterrent against these tiny intruders.

An effective way to keep bedbugs that are hiding inside your bed from biting you is to invest in a good-quality covering for your mattress and box spring. The best option is to use a cover with a good seal that zips around your mattress and box spring.

Bed bugs hate scents such as lemon scents, cinnamon oil, neem oil, spearmint, and silicone. They will hide from you when you use these smells. This is so that they can easily attack and feed off of you! Even just the threat of these scents will keep them away from your house for good.

So what is the main cause of bed bugs? Travel is widely recognized as the most common source of bed bug infestations.

Bed bugs typically come out at night. What actively attracts them is the carbon dioxide and body heat emitted from humans and animals. Sleeping (or sitting) means that a person is still long enough for a bed bug to emerge from hiding and have an easy source of sustenance, sucking blood.

What scent kills bed bugs instantly? ›

Smelling citrus scents like lemon is pleasing, but for bed bugs, it's death. Some bed bugs cannot resist the smell of lemon juice and having it around will help you eliminate the problem once and for all. You have to use fresh lemon juice to kill those bed bugs since it has harsh properties which are bad for the pest.

It is commonly believed that baking soda is able to absorb all the fluids on the waxy layer of a bed bug's shell causing them to dehydrate. The small granules of baking soda can also cut into a bed bug shell and cause internal bleeding.

If bed bugs have one weakness, it's that they're intolerant of extremely high or low temperatures. Washing clothes and bedding at the highest possible setting followed by drying for at least 30 minutes at high heat should do the trick. You can also freeze clothing or other objects you suspect of being infested.

Bed bugs ex- posed to 113°F will die if they receive constant exposure to that temperature for 90 minutes or more. However, they will die within 20 minutes if exposed to 118°F. Interestingly, bed bug eggs must be exposed to 118°F for 90 minutes to reach 100% mortality.

Diatomaceous Earth

In terms of the most widely talked about bed bug repellents, homemade options often include diatomaceous earth. Because of its abrasive properties, it works by absorbing water-protecting fats and oils from the outer layer of a bed bug's exoskeleton.

Specifically, bed bugs prefer red and black and hate yellow, white, and green. To reach these findings, scientists put bed bugs in Petri dishes that contained bed bug-sized tents made out of different colors of paper.

If you suddenly move or shift your body in your sleep, you might inadvertently crush a bed bug that just finished feeding. While it doesn't usually kill them, it causes some of the blood they just fed on to leak out and create a noticeable red or rust-colored stain.

Yellow and amber LED lights will attract the fewest number of insects and bugs. White and blue LED lights attract the most amount of bugs, with ultraviolet and green LED lights also attracting bugs. Red LED lights are the least appealing to bugs—but unfortunately can be less useful for human use.