Reviewed by William "Willy" Vizcarrondo, NYS Certified Pesticide Applicator (C1825832). Updated September 23, 2026.
Bed bugs are small, flat, reddish-brown insects that feed on people at night and hide within a few feet of the bed by day. They arrive in luggage, used furniture, and through shared walls, and they are far easier to deal with in the first weeks than after they've spread through a home.
| Size | Adults about the width of a credit card, roughly 1/4 inch; eggs about 1 mm, pale |
|---|---|
| Color | Reddish brown, flat and oval; darker and swollen after feeding |
| Look-alikes | Carpet beetles, bat bugs, spider beetles, ticks |
| Where you'll find it | Mattress seams and piping, box spring tags and seams, bed frame cracks, headboards, nightstands, outlet covers, loose wallpaper, seams of couches and chairs |
| Active on Long Island | Year round; travel season and moves bring most new cases |
| Danger level | Bites, sleep loss, stress; not known to spread disease |
Bed bugs have no season indoors, but summer travel, college move-ins, and used furniture bring new infestations into Long Island homes.
Bites are the wrong way to identify bed bugs; the EPA points out they look like mosquito bites, rashes, and other skin conditions. Look at the bed instead. Adults are about the width of a credit card, flat, oval, and reddish brown.
Check the piping, seams, and tags of the mattress and box spring, the cracks of the bed frame, and the headboard, and in a heavier case the seams of furniture, drawer joints, outlet covers, loose wallpaper, and where the wall meets the ceiling (EPA).
Bed bugs don't spread disease, but they cost sleep, money, and peace of mind, and they get harder to remove every week they're ignored. They travel 5 to 20 feet from their hiding spots to feed (EPA), so a problem in one bed becomes a problem in the couch and the next bedroom.
The EPA's point is the one that matters: treating a minor infestation is far less costly and easier than treating the same one after it has spread. On Long Island the common sources are hotel stays, college dorms, used furniture from the curb, and shared walls in multifamily buildings.
Identification, yes. Elimination, rarely. What you can do the first day: confirm it's bed bugs (bag one and compare it to the photos), strip the bed and wash and dry everything on high heat, vacuum the seams and frame, and isolate the bed from the wall.
Don't move the mattress to another room or throw furniture on the curb, which spreads them. Foggers push bed bugs deeper into walls and don't work.
Call us before you do anything else. We'll tell you honestly whether what you're seeing is bed bugs, what the options are, and what the right next step is for your situation.
More on contact Bobby Bugs.
Check the bed, not the bites. Rusty stains on sheets, pen-dot black spots along mattress seams, shed skins, and live flat reddish-brown bugs in the piping or behind the headboard are bed bugs. Bites alone don't tell you anything.
Luggage after a hotel stay, a used couch or mattress, a college move, a guest's bag, or a neighboring unit through shared walls. They don't come from dirt.
Rarely. Washing, drying on high heat, and vacuuming help, but the bugs and eggs in the frame, headboard, and walls survive DIY sprays, and foggers make it worse by scattering them.
No. They're not known to transmit disease. The harm is bites, lost sleep, and how fast the problem grows if it isn't caught early.
Think you have bed bugs? Call (516) 509-6001 for a free written quote.