On the list of pests that inspire terror in homeowners, bed bugs are definitely near the top. However, most people couldn’t identify the pest in a lineup of bugs that look like bed bugs.
That’s not good! If you’re not sure what bug you’re dealing with, you can’t properly eliminate it. Thinking you have bed bugs when your home is infested with a different pest—or vice versa—delays correct pest treatment and can allow the problem to get worse.
To prevent this scary scenario, it’s important to know what a bed bug is and isn’t. Keep reading to learn the top five bugs that look like bed bugs.
What Do Bed Bugs Look Like?
What a bed bug looks like depends on its stage in its life cycle.
Bed bug eggs are small—about the size of a pinhead—pale yellow in color, and oval-shaped. Recently hatched nymphs are only slightly larger than the egg and translucent (until they feed). Adult bed bugs are the most recognizable and visible stage. As adults, bed bugs are about the size of an apple seed, oval-shaped, flat, wingless, and reddish brown in color. Their head is smaller than the body, and they have six legs and two straight antennae.
Most homeowners find bed bugs (or what they think are bed bugs) at the adult stage.
Top 5 Bed Bug Look-Alikes
What bugs look like bed bugs? Here are the top 5 bugs most often mistaken for bed bugs.
#1 Bat bugs
Bat bugs are often mistaken for bed bugs, and understandably so: these two related pests are so similar-looking that you essentially need a microscope to differentiate them. (Most homeowners aren’t inspecting their home’s pests under a microscope, though.) Bat bugs have longer hairs than bed bugs.
Bat bugs, however, don’t feed on people. Like their name suggests, this pest feeds on bats and only wanders away when it no longer has a host. Homeowners might find bat bugs in their attic or chimney.
#2 Carpet beetles
Carpet beetles are also oval-shaped like bed bugs, though they are smaller (about 1/16 to 1/8 inch). Where carpet beetles differ, however, is in their coloring and their wings. Carpet beetles have a speckled pattern of white, yellow, brown, and orange on their body.
Carpet beetles are often mistaken for bed bugs because they feed primarily on carpet and fabric materials like wool, leather, and silk. Homeowners typically find carpet beetles in their bedroom or closet and—because bed bugs also prefer bedrooms—confuse the two.
#3 Ticks
While ticks are arachnids, not insects, their similar appearance and behavior make them easily mistaken for bed bugs. Ticks are also small, flat, and oval-shaped, like bed bugs. Both pests are similar in size. However, ticks have eight legs and can be brown, black, or reddish in color.
People usually confuse ticks with bed bugs when they find ticks in their home not yet attached to a host. Like bed bugs, ticks stay near their host and can be found in similar places.
#4 Fleas
Like bed bugs, adult fleas are small, wingless, oval-shaped, and reddish-brown in color. However, fleas have long legs used for jumping. Their body is also flattened from the side, rather than from the top.
Because fleas can inhabit household furnishings (as well as on pets), they are sometimes mistaken for bed bugs.
#5 Baby cockroaches
Cockroaches in their earlier life stages can be mistaken for bed bugs because both are small, flat, and brownish in color. They both also have six legs and antennae. However, cockroaches are more oblong than oval-shaped, with longer antennae.
Homeowners sometimes confuse the two bugs, since cockroaches are also more active at night. Cockroaches, though, prefer kitchens and bathrooms over bedrooms and living rooms.
Not Sure If You Have Bed Bugs?
If you suspect you have bed bugs or a look-alike pest, we can help. We’ll let you know what pest is the problem and the best way to get rid of it—quickly, discreetly, and permanently!
Contact Scherzinger Pest Control, a trusted pest control company in the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky areas, including Dayton, OH, and now Columbus, OH. We’ve been pioneers, engineering new standards for ways of eliminating and controlling bugs and pests. Contact us by phone at 1-877-748-9888 or through our website, Facebook, or Twitter.
