Yes, bed bugs can live in dressers. Bed bugs prefer to live in your mattress, box spring, or bed frame, but if an infestation has become too big, the bed bugs will spread across your room. They will infest the area within six feet of your bed. This includes the floor, carpet, and furniture. Dressers are typically made of wood which bed bugs like. Wood has lots of cracks and gaps that bed bugs can squeeze into and call home.
Signs of a bed bug infestation
These are the signs one should watch out for if you suspect a bed bug infestation.
Dried blood stains on your linen or mattress could be from squashed bed bugs from when you rolled around in bed while you were sleeping.
Bed bug feces is usually absorbed into the fabric and will stain your sheets and mattress. The stain will look like an inkblot.
Bed bug babies, or nymphs, go through five stages of growth before they become sexually mature adults. At the end of each stage, they shed their old exoskeleton so they have room to grow. These shed exoskeletons can also be seen under your mattress or anywhere bed bugs are known to hide in your home.
Bed bug eggs may be difficult to spot with the naked eye. They are only about 1mm long, pearly white and hidden by the female bed bug in the dark, hard to reach areas around your bed.
The most obvious sign of a bed bug infestation is when you see adult bed bugs. They are reddish-brown in color, with a flat and wide body that resembles an apple seed. It may take you a few weeks into an infestation to realize you have one because bed bugs are experts at hide and seek. If you spot one out in the open, it usually means that the infestation has become quite sizable.
Can bed bugs live in dressers?
Yes, bed bugs can live in dressers. They do not care if it is an old dresser or a new and fancy wood dresser. Bed bugs like to live in dressers because they have plenty of hidden and dark spots that the bed bugs can crawl into to hide and to lay their eggs.
When the bed bugs discover their point of entry, they will crawl through it to reach the most secluded areas for the best harborage.
Can bed bugs live in hardwood floors?
Yes, bed bugs can live on hardwood floors. Even if the floor is relatively far away from the bed where the host sleeps, the floor under the bed is still accessible enough for the bed bugs to crawl up the bed when they need to feed.
Floorboards have cracks between them that are the perfect size for bed bugs to seek refuge in. Some female bed bugs might even lay eggs in those cracks.
Finding bed bugs in between your floorboards is a probable sign of a growing infestation. Bed bugs will always choose to live on the bed, but if there are too many of them, they will have to find harborages in areas around the bed, such as the floor.
Can bed bugs climb wood?
Yes, bed bugs can climb on wood. In fact, bed bugs have little difficulty climbing most surfaces. The only surfaces they really have a problem with are glass and chrome. This is because bed bug feet have hooks on them that help the bug grab onto the surface. Wood, fabric, cement, and even metal have enough texture for the hooks to grab onto. Glass and chrome are too smooth and the hooks do not have anything to grab onto.
Even polished wood, that looks and feels smooth, has microscopic indentations that the bed bug can hold onto.
Can bed bugs live in wooden bed frames?
Yes, because a wooden bed frame is actually one of the most ideal homes for bed bugs. They are close to their host so they can feed easily and the wood has cracks that they can squeeze into to hide during the day. Wood contracts and expands due to the changing seasons. The contracting and expanding will yield cracks on the wood. The cracks can then become homes for bed bugs.
How do I check my dresser for bed bugs?
Before checking your dresser for bed bugs, get a light-colored sheet, a knife, and a flashlight. Remove each drawer and place it on top of the sheet. Inspect each joint with the flashlight and run the knife through every single joint and crack to dislodge any bed bugs and bed bug eggs.
If there are bed bugs, they will fall onto the sheet.
How do I kill the bed bugs that are in my dresser?
Declutter and clean
Before you start cleaning your dresser, remove all of the items inside every compartment. Vacuum each drawer and all of the joints of the dresser. Make sure you also vacuum the bottom and the back of the dresser.
You can use a pesticide spray and spray it on all surfaces of the dresser. Concentrate on all the cracks, gaps, and joints to hit even the hidden bed bugs and their eggs.
If you have a steamer at home you can also use it to kill the bed bugs with heat.
If you can afford to, hire a professional pest control service to do a heat treatment in your house. This is quite expensive but it is also, far and away, the most effective method. Heat treatment is when industrial heaters are brought into your home to elevate the temperature. It has to reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit because this is the temperature where bed bugs and their eggs are killed. No chemicals are used and the results are instantaneous.
Conclusion
Yes, bed bugs can live in dressers. Bed bugs prefer to live in your mattress, box spring, or bed frame, but if those areas become too crowded with other bed bugs, they will move into the areas around your bed.
Wooden furniture, such as dressers, provide plenty of hidden and secure places for the bed bugs to squeeze into and lay their eggs in. Wood expands and contracts due to the changing seasons resulting in the formation of cracks in the surface. These cracks are ideal harborages for a growing bed bug population.
Image: istockphoto.com / zuzulicea