In-Depth Guides for Smarter Pest Control Decisions
February 10, 2026
Practical bed bug prevention strategies specifically for Genesee County residents, including seasonal factors and local insights.
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Bed bugs are hitchhikers that travel to new places by hiding in furniture, suitcases, or other objects that get moved around, requiring thorough inspection of used items before bringing them home. With Michigan’s active second-hand market, this prevention step could save you thousands in treatment costs.
Before bringing new items into your home, especially used or antique furniture, mattresses, or bedding, you should inspect them for signs of bed bugs. Don’t assume that expensive or clean-looking furniture is automatically safe—bed bugs don’t discriminate based on price or appearance.
Look for small black spots after bed bugs feed, which appear as groups of pinpoint spots on hard and soft surfaces, with fabrics also showing reddish streaks or smears. Bed bugs leave behind droppings of digested blood that look like dark stains, about the size of a marker pen dot.
Bed bugs shed their exoskeleton five times before reaching full growth, so empty shells indicate possible bed bug presence in the furniture. Bed bugs lay white eggs that resemble tiny grains of rice, easier to see on dark surfaces, and due to their tiny size you might need a magnifying glass to see them well.
Bring the right tools for your inspection. A magnifying glass helps spot shed skin and eggshells, latex gloves protect your hands, and a flashlight helps you better spot potential problems. An old credit card works perfectly for running through furniture crevices, as bed bugs have very flat bodies and can fit in tiny spaces the width of a credit card.
Bed bugs love tight spaces, so check wooden furniture joints, underneath drawers, and any cracks using your flashlight and magnifying glass, leaving no stone unturned. If the furniture has cushions, zippers, or removable covers, check underneath and inside, as bed bugs like to hide in fabric folds, under cushions, and between cracks.
Even after a thorough inspection, take additional precautions. Keep secondhand items in a garage or enclosed space for a few days before moving them into your home, and vacuum thoroughly, including inside drawers and under cushions. Scrub furniture with soapy water or a household cleaning product to remove any possible bed bugs or their eggs.
Consider heat treating furniture in a dark plastic bag, with your target being at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit for three hours or more. If that’s not feasible given the size, place it in quarantine in an empty bathtub, as bed bugs can’t escape up the slippery sides, making them contained and easier to detect.
Avoid using furniture from uncreditable stores or sources, dumps, garbage bins, or the side of the road, as furniture thrown away is usually discarded for a good reason, which could sometimes be bed bugs. Storage units present risks because many customers cycle through different units, bed bugs can spread from one area to another, and people often store mattresses and upholstered items in these units, creating ideal living conditions for bed bugs that can survive more than a year without feeding.
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The real reason bed bugs seem worse in summer is due to increased travel and movement during peak vacation time, with increased travel allowing bed bugs to move from place to place quickly. Whether you’re visiting Detroit, Grand Rapids, or staying local in Genesee County, smart travel habits protect you from bringing bed bugs home.
When staying in any accommodation with lots of visitors, check for bed bugs anytime you stay there, and if you find signs, let management know and ask for another room that doesn’t share a wall with the room you just vacated.
Don’t toss your suitcase in your room when you arrive—hold off on taking luggage inside until you’ve fully inspected the space, as having luggage in the room before you know it’s clear can allow bed bugs to sneak onto your bags. Don’t place bags on the luggage rack after entering, as luggage racks are common spots for bed bugs to hide; instead, keep belongings in the bathroom inside your luggage, as acrylic bathroom appliances like bathtubs are too slick for bed bugs to crawl on.
Pull back bed sheets and blankets and check the mattress and box spring seams for bugs, especially at the head of the bed, as adults, nymphs, and eggs are visible to the naked eye. Carefully check mattress seams, headboard, and nearby furniture for dark spots, stains, shed skins, or live bugs, remembering that bed bugs prefer quiet, dark places, making any crevices in the mattress suitable hiding spots.
Use your cellphone’s flashlight app to look at dark crevices in and around the mattress. If available, use the hotel hairdryer to blow really hot air into cracks around the headboard edges you can’t see, as the high temperature and air movement should push any bed bugs up and out of crevices so you can see them.
Check any upholstered furniture or fabric for potential bed bug hotbeds, including chairs and couches, especially the seams at head and neck areas, and look at curtain areas where fabric meets the rods. Bed bugs are most commonly found around the bed area but can infest other parts of the room, including walls or ceilings behind wallpaper, picture frames, electrical outlets, and baseboards.
If you encounter bed bugs while traveling, take immediate precautions to avoid bringing them home by putting all belongings into sealed plastic bags, as bed bugs may have crawled into belongings or luggage stored near the bed. When arriving home, unpack bags in locations other than the bedroom, such as the garage, mud room, laundry room, or foyer, and any non-clothing items that may have contacted bed bugs should not be brought into the house at all.
Unpack suitcases on a hard surface under bright light so you can see any bed bugs, place clothing directly from sealed plastic bags into the laundry, and wash on the highest heat setting the clothing can handle, ideally with water temperature between 100-120 degrees Fahrenheit. Before washing clothes, place them in the dryer on high for 30 minutes to kill potential bed bugs, then wash all clothing, linens, and fabric items in hot water and dry on high heat, with dry cleaning also killing these pests for items that cannot be washed at home.
Inspect your luggage using a flashlight to check seams, folds and pockets for bugs or eggs, vacuum the suitcase using brush and crevice tool attachments, then enclose the vacuum bag or dirt in a plastic bag sealed with tape. The suitcase can be washed with hot soapy water or common household cleaners using a scrub brush along seams and folds, and you may also use a household or industrial steamer to heat-treat the luggage.
Bed bugs remain active in both winter and summer, adapting to varying conditions, and aren’t strictly seasonal as they can thrive year-round as long as conditions allow. They’re known to be at their peak from June to October, but prevention efforts need to continue throughout Michigan’s changing seasons.
Reduce hiding spots by sealing cracks, crevices, and gaps around baseboards, windows, and doors, and use bed bug-proof encasements on mattresses and box springs to prevent infestations and make inspection easier. Treating a bed bug infestation early will save much time and expense.
Remember that bed bugs are not a sign of a dirty home or poor personal hygiene—they can happen to anyone. When prevention isn’t enough, we at First Choice Pest Control offer Genesee County residents the expertise and specialized services needed to address bed bug concerns quickly and effectively.
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