Bed bug
Cimex lectularius
- Identification
- Flat, reddish-brown, apple-seed sized; hides in mattress seams, furniture joints, and cracks. Leaves dark fecal spotting.
- Lifecycle & behavior
- Females lay eggs cemented in cracks; eggs resist many treatments and hatch after the initial service — the reason follow-ups are essential.
- When it's active in Central NY
- Active indoors year-round. Spreads through Ithaca-area student housing and rentals, especially during the August and May move cycles.
- Risk & damage
- Bites cause itchy welts and real stress; not known to transmit disease, but infestations spread quickly and are hard to eliminate.
- Why DIY falls short
- Store sprays scatter them and miss eggs; a single treatment fails because eggs hatch afterward.
- How we treat it
- Thorough inspection, treatment of all harborage, a required follow-up for the egg hatch, and coordination across units in rentals.
Bed bug or carpet beetle?
This is the most common misidentification in the whole library, and it goes both ways. Adult bed bugs are flat, oval, reddish-brown, about a quarter inch — roughly apple-seed sized — wingless, with no visible hair. Carpet beetle larvae, which are what people usually find, are small, elongated, and distinctly bristly or hairy, and they leave shed skins that look similar enough to cause real confusion.
Bite pattern is suggestive but not proof, since reactions vary enormously and some people show nothing at all. The reliable evidence is physical: live insects, shed skins, and small dark fecal spotting along mattress seams, box spring edges, headboard joints, and the seam where carpet meets baseboard.
Bed bugs in Central New York
Bed bugs move with people and belongings, which is why this region's calendar is so predictable: the student move cycles in late August and May redistribute them through the off-campus rental stock in Ithaca and Cortland as mattresses, couches, and secondhand furniture change hands and buildings. Hospitality exposure in Watkins Glen and along the wine trail runs on a different clock, peaking with the visitor season.
In connected buildings they travel along shared walls and through outlet and pipe penetrations, so treating a single apartment in isolation commonly fails — the population shifts next door during treatment and returns. That is the single most common reason a bed bug problem in an Elmira or Collegetown building seems never to end.
Nothing about bed bugs correlates with cleanliness. They are a transport problem, and a spotless home receives them exactly as readily as any other.
Dealing with bed bug?
Our bed bug control handles it — guaranteed, family-owned, and local.
Bed bug — common questions
How do I know if it is bed bugs or carpet beetles?
Look at the shape and the hair. Bed bugs are flat, oval, reddish-brown, about apple-seed sized, and hairless. Carpet beetle larvae are elongated and visibly bristly. Then check for bed bug evidence specifically — dark fecal spotting and shed skins along mattress seams, box spring edges, and headboard joints.
Does having bed bugs mean my home is dirty?
No. Bed bugs travel on people and belongings — luggage, furniture, boxes — and have nothing to do with cleanliness. A spotless home gets them just as easily. Clutter can make treatment harder by providing more harborage, but it is not the cause.
My neighbor has bed bugs. What should I do?
Ask in writing to have your unit inspected now. They move along shared walls and through outlet and pipe penetrations, so an adjacent unit is the most likely next one. Catching an introduction in its first weeks is a far smaller job than catching it months later.