There’s a lot of confusing information out there about bed bugs. Here are our straight answers to the questions we get asked on a daily basis by our customers.
Can bed bugs fly?
No. Bed bugs have no wings and can’t jump either. They get around entirely by crawling. If you’ve spotted something flying near your bed, it isn’t a bed bug.
Can bed bugs live in your hair?
Unlikely. Unlike head lice, bed bugs aren’t built for living in hair — they don’t have the right body shape for gripping onto strands. A bug might crawl through your hair on its way to your skin, but it won’t stay there. Bed bugs prefer to feed quickly and move back to wherever they’re hiding. If you’re finding bugs in your hair, it’s much more likely to be lice or fleas.
Can bed bugs jump?
No. They crawl — that’s it. They can move at roughly a metre a minute, which is fairly quick for something so small, but they have no ability to jump or leap.
Can bed bugs make you sick?
Bed bugs aren’t known to pass on disease. What they can do is leave itchy bites that, if scratched repeatedly, can become infected. A long-running infestation can also seriously affect your sleep and general wellbeing — the stress and anxiety of living with them shouldn’t be underestimated, even if the physical risk is relatively low.
Can bed bugs bite through clothes?
No. To bite you, a bed bug needs to reach bare skin. It cannot feed through clothing. BAD Patient Hub This is why bites tend to show up on exposed areas — arms, neck, hands, and feet — rather than anywhere covered up in bed.
Can bed bugs kill you?
No. Bed bugs don’t transmit disease and can’t kill you directly. In very rare cases, someone might have a severe allergic reaction to a bite, but this is genuinely uncommon. The real harm they cause is to your quality of life — disrupted sleep, persistent worry, and the stress of an infestation that feels like it’s never going away.
Can bed bugs survive in the cold?
Cold slows them down but doesn’t reliably kill them unless it’s cold enough and sustained for long enough. A freezer set to at least -18°C, kept there for four days, will kill bed bugs and their eggs. Stride Pest Control A cold room or a cool night won’t do anything useful. In fact, in very cold conditions their bodies slow right down, which can actually help them survive longer without food.
Will bed bugs die without a host?
Eventually, but it takes much longer than most people expect. At normal room temperature they can go two to three months without feeding. In a cooler environment, potentially up to a year. Leaving a room empty and waiting for them to disappear is not a plan that works.
Can bed bugs live in clothes?
They can, though it’s not where they prefer to be. Clothes left on the floor or draped over furniture near an infested bed are most at risk. Anything hanging in a wardrobe on the other side of the room is much less likely to be affected. If you’re dealing with an infestation, wash everything you can on a hot cycle as a precaution.
Can bed bugs feed on pets — cats and dogs?
They can bite cats and dogs, but they can’t live on them the way fleas do. They can’t attach their eggs to fur either. Your pet might get an occasional bite, but they won’t carry the infestation around the home or spread it the way other parasites can.
Can bed bugs only be in one room?
Not necessarily. They tend to start in the bedroom because that’s where they have the easiest access to sleeping people, but they do spread. In houses they can move between rooms over time. In flats they can travel between properties through small gaps, plug sockets, and shared walls. Finding them in one room doesn’t mean they’re contained to that room.
Can bed bugs only bite one person in the bed?
It can feel that way, but usually both people are being bitten — it’s just that people react very differently. Some people come up in clear, red welts. Others show no visible reaction at all. If one person is being bitten, the other almost certainly is too, even if there’s nothing to see.
Can bed bugs fall from the ceiling?
It’s possible. Bed bugs prefer to stay low and close to where people sleep, but in a heavy infestation they can spread onto walls and ceilings. From there they can drop down onto a bed. It’s not the most common way they travel, but it does happen when an infestation has been left to grow for a long time.
Can bed bugs eat through sheets?
No. They can’t bite or chew through fabric of any kind. They move across sheets to reach exposed skin, which is why bites tend to appear on uncovered areas rather than under the covers.
Can bed bugs eat through wood?
No. They don’t chew through anything. They use gaps and cracks that already exist in wooden furniture and bed frames — spaces that are there naturally or have developed over time. They’re not making their way in, they’re simply finding a way in that’s already there.
Can bed bugs embed in your skin?
No. This is a common worry but it doesn’t happen. Bed bugs bite, feed for a few minutes, and leave. They don’t burrow into the skin or stay on the body. By the time you notice a bite, the bug has been gone for hours.
Can bed bugs escape a vacuum?
Yes, if you’re not careful. They can survive inside a vacuum bag, and some can crawl back out through the hose if it’s left unattended. After vacuuming any area where you suspect bed bugs, remove the bag straight away, seal it inside another bag, and put it in an outside bin. Don’t leave it sitting in the machine or indoors.
Can bed bugs drown in water?
Not quickly. Bed bugs can survive being submerged in water for several hours, and even longer in cooler water where their bodies slow down. ThermoPest Washing items in a hot wash kills them because of the heat, not the water itself. Trying to drown bed bugs is not a reliable approach.
Can bed bugs die in the dryer?
Yes. Running items through a tumble dryer on a high heat setting for at least 30 minutes will kill bed bugs at every stage of their life cycle. You don’t even need to wash things first — if something can go in the dryer safely, the heat alone will do the job.
Will bed bugs die in the freezer?
Yes, but only if the temperature is low enough and the items stay in long enough. Your freezer needs to be set to at least -18°C, and items need to stay in there for a minimum of four days. This works well for individual things like bags, soft toys, or shoes. It won’t help you treat a mattress or a room.
Can bed bugs eat through plastic bags?
No. Bed bugs cannot chew through plastic. Terminix A properly sealed bag will contain them. The catch is that they can survive inside a sealed bag for a long time — months, if they went in well-fed. If you’re sealing items to deal with them, put the bag in the freezer, or accept you’ll need to leave it sealed for a very long time.
Can bed bug eggs attach to clothing?
No. Bed bug eggs aren’t sticky in the way nits are. They’re usually laid in fixed spots — mattress seams, bed frame joints, cracks in furniture — where they sit rather than cling. You might find eggs in clothing that’s been left near an infested area, but they won’t be stuck to the fabric itself.
Can bed bugs ever go away on their own?
Very rarely, and not without a very long time passing. Bed bugs reproduce steadily, can go months without food, and have no reason to leave a warm home with sleeping people in it. Without treatment, numbers grow. The sooner you deal with them, the easier it is — an infestation caught early is a much simpler problem than one that’s been quietly building for months.
Still not sure what you’re dealing with?
If you’ve spotted the signs of bed bugs in your Surrey home, or you’re just not certain what you’re looking at, the Bug Blitz team are happy to help. We cover the whole of Surrey including Guildford, Woking, Farnham, Reigate, Camberley, Weybridge, Dorking, Cobham, Esher, Walton-on-Thames, Hersham, Epsom, and Redhill. Get in touch for a free consultation.