You don’t have to be a bed bug detective to search your own home for bed bugs. Visual inspections can be done by people who know what they are looking for. Bed bugs can often be found by looking for small black stains, which are the bed bug droppings. These marks are easily seen on light-colored bedding. Sometimes when an engorged bed bug is crushed it will disgorge blood, leaving visible stains. Crushing bed bugs will produce a unique sickly sweet scent, which can also be detected in the air in a severe infestation.
You can look to see if you can identify the fecal stains, egg cases, and exuviae (shed skins) in crevices and cracks on or near beds. Inspect all the seams, creases, tufts and folds of mattresses and box springs. You should also look at other areas such as under wallpaper, behind picture frames, in sofas and other furniture, in bed springs, and even in articles of clothing. While fecal stains and skin casts suggest that bed bugs have been present, these do not confirm that the infestation is still active. Finding one bed bug does not mean that your home is infested and that is why it is important to know where and how many more your home may have.