But, before you arrive at any conclusion, you should know that besides bedbugs, your mattress can be a jungle of dust mites and other insects feasting on dead skin and dried remnants of blood, saliva, sweat, and any other bodily fluids you can imagine.
The mattress can be a jungle of dust mites and bedbugs, milling around among dried remnants of blood, saliva, sweat and basically all the other bodily fluids you can think of.
Bacteria and viruses. A number of bacteria may thrive in mattresses, feeding on skin and hair cells. Among these are the common Staphylococcus aurea, as well as bacteria in the families Micrococcus, Enterococcus, Psuedomonas, Bacillus, Fel d1, Can F1 and Coliforms.
Sweat, skin cells and even bacteria are some of the examples. Over the course of a year, one human body can generate up to 26 gallons of sweat. This along with the heat that is generated by your body being trapped in the mattress provides the perfect environment for fungi and bacteria to grow and multiply.
Fungus and Bacteria
The average adult sweats 26 gallons a year in bed. That makes your mattress a warm, moist home for fungus and bacteria. Recent lab tests from swabs taken from 7-year-old mattresses found more than 16 million colony-forming units of bacteria per square inch.
Though too small to see with the naked eye (only about . 33 millimeters long), dust mites are easily visible through even a cheap microscope. You can pick up an inexpensive microscope from any store that sells toys, a hobby store, or a thrift store and use it to discover whether your home has dust mites.
They favor warm and moist environments, so they often reside in mattresses, pillows, bedding, upholstered furniture, carpet and rugs.
Adult bed bugs are reddish brown in color, wingless, and are about the size of an apple seed. Immature bed bugs (there are 5 immature or nymphal instar stages) can also be seen with the naked eye but they are smaller than adults, and translucent whitish-yellow in color.
Bed Bugs will try to live as close to their food source as possible. They can often be found directly on the mattress in the tufts and folds, along the seam, and even inside the mattress. They can also be found in the box-spring, bed frame, headboard and furniture near the bed.
Besides bedbugs, numerous insects bite at night. These night biters can be mites, fleas, mosquitoes, lice, spiders, and ticks. Most of these insect bite marks look alike; hence, you should first look for bedbugs and investigate further. These insects certainly don't bite you when you're in bed.
Dust mites are generally found in beds, pillows, upholstered furniture, rugs, or other places where people sleep or sit for long periods. Bed mites require a damp environment and that is why beds are a mites favorite place to hang out.
Dust Mites
They thrive in warm and humid environments and are usually present in mattresses, upholstered furniture, carpets, and curtains. As scavengers, they don't directly feed on humans as bedbugs do. Instead, they feed on dead skin, pet dander, pollen, and bacteria.
"A snake may burrow into bedding to seek warmth. If you have a vent under or near your bed, snakes will likely hide there for warmth and to feel safe." And since snakes are such skilled hiders, the first sign that one is cozying up under your bed may come from your ears tipping you off that they're hiding out.
Physical things like restless leg syndrome, some sleep problems, night terrors, and sleep paralysis may give these sensations. You may want to talk to your doctor if this becomes a real problem.
Dust mites
If you have dust mites in your bed, the chances are you won't even know about it. These tiny little creatures are barely visible with the naked eye. And unlike bed bugs, they don't chow down on live flesh – so you won't have bite marks to give away their presence. They do, however, feed on dead skin – nice!
Bed worms, also known as mattress worms, are not a specific type of pest, but a group of pests and their larvae that can end up infesting your mattress or bedding. Unlike adult bed bugs and fleas, their larvae have not yet developed into an insect with a hard exoskeleton, giving them a worm-like appearance.
Since bed bugs are such tiny creatures, you may be wondering how they transfer from place to place, causing awful infestations. The primary way they are transferred by attaching onto clothing or luggage that is moved from one infested area to a non-infested area.
Adult bed bugs, in general, are: about the size of an apple seed (5-7 mm or 3/16 - 1/4 inch long); long and brown, with a flat, oval-shaped body (if not fed recently); balloon-like, reddish-brown, and more elongated (if fed recently);
Normally, bed bugs don't like to wander around unless they need to feed. During the day, they typically find a hiding place and stick to it. For this reason, many people never see live bed bugs until the infestation becomes severe.
Dust mites are related to spiders and scorpions and look like them too. Millions of them can live on your mattress at a time, even if you can't see any of them with the naked eye. Dust mites can be found particularly in mattresses, carpets, and upholstery.
Wash all sheets, blankets, pillowcases and bedcovers in hot water that is at least 130 F (54.4 C) to kill dust mites and remove allergens. If bedding can't be washed hot, put the items in the dryer for at least 15 minutes at a temperature above 130 F (54.4 C) to kill the mites.