Do Bed Bugs Live In Closets? {How To Find Them}

Bed bugs in the closet are something we don’t believe in. But the truth is that these insects can live anywhere and seek out humans so that they can suck their blood.

Check for black stools first as they can be identified and are the most common sign of a bed bug infestation. Explore all corners to find bed bugs, dead shells, and their eggs. To make your task easier, remove all clothing and use a flashlight to make the bed bugs visible.

The closet is a favorite hiding place for bed bugs since it is dark, has a lot of hiding places, and is the easiest place for them to reach their hosts.

If your closet is infested with these tiny bloodsuckers, then this article is for you. Because in this article, you will learn about, why bed bugs live in closets, where to find them, and how to get rid of them.

How Do Bed Bugs Get Into The Closet?

As we mentioned bed bugs are attracted to the human smell, but many other factors can invite these unwanted guests into your closet.

Form Outside

The first thing that comes to mind when one hears about bed bug infestation is that he can only stay inside the bed. But there is anecdotal evidence from many pest controls that show these insects can infest many places, even your garden or movie theater.

Bed bugs have six legs that help them to climb on your clothes very quickly. So if you came from a place that is already infected, then these insects can hide in your clothes and enter your closet.

Many of us have a habit of keeping the clothes we wear in the corner of the closet or hanging them on the walls. Bed bugs can climb up walls and make their way onto your clothing.

From Other Furniture

Bed bugs are very good climbers and runners they can easily walk on the furniture. All the more, these bugs love to infest on your furniture they do not care whether it is wooden or leather-made furniture. 

So, if your furniture is infected and is close to your closet, these insects can walk on the floor and enter your closet.

Bed bugs can also hide inside your stool. This means if you leave your stool near your closet, which is very common, then these bugs can easily get into your closet. 

Can Bed Bugs Live In Closet?

In order to infest a site, bed bugs take into account certain conditions such as whether they can lay eggs in that location and whether they can hide there.

Bed bugs can live in a closet if it is made of wood. A closet provides many hiding places such as crevices and cracks. In addition, they can easily lay eggs on a wooden surface.

Bed bugs can also infest a metal closet, but a metal wardrobe cannot provide a hiding place. Wood cracks due to moisture and aging but metal don’t crack unless someone makes one.

However, there are more conditions that attract bed bugs to live in a closet such as.  

Dark Place 

Bed bugs are photophobic which means they hate to face the light that is why they bite mostly at night. 

For bed bugs, a closet is the best place because they can hide in corners and crevices, which allows them to escape from the light.

Also, hiding in a dark closet they can hide their eggs so that no one can notice them. Since bed bugs spend most of their time mating and with their eggs, a dark closet may be the perfect place.

Best Place To lay Eggs

As we mentioned above bed bugs need a quiet place where they can lay their eggs. Fortunately for them, a closet is one of the places in your home where these bugs can lay eggs. 

After being fertilized and feeding on blood, a female bed bug searches for new places where she can lay eggs.

She is always on the lookout for a place that is more secure and reliable than her previous location. Once found in a good location, she can lay up to twelve eggs per day, which can lead to an infestation.

Places To Hide

Bed bugs can find lots of places to hide in a closet. These bugs can get into cracks where they can easily hide from human eyes. 

Plus, A closet is made from so many wooden sections which give these bugs many surfaces to hide underneath.

As mentioned, these insects are attracted to human odor, which is why they hide inside your clothes, shoes, socks, hats, and so on.

Also, if your closet is made of dark-colored materials it is easier for bed bugs to live inside the closet. Because they are brown or almost black which gives them the advantage of easily hiding on dark surfaces.

How To Tell That Bed Bugs Are Living In Your Closet?

It’s very easy to tell that bed bugs have infested your closet. Because they have some habits which are quite common and easy to recognize.

Like…

Bed bugs suck blood and digest it at their site of infestation. For example, if you’re dealing with bed bugs, you’ll likely see spots of black feces everywhere these insects are living.

There’s more evidence you can look for to suggest that bed bugs have infested your wardrobe such as:

Colorless And Tiny Bugs In The Closet

If bed bugs are living in or near your closet, the most active and dangerous thing you’ll see are tiny bed bugs (also known as bed bug nymphs) in your closet.

These insects are mostly white or colorless. They are also known as the early stages of bed bugs. These tiny insects look for potential hosts in that closet.

They can easily climb onto the fabric and stay there because the fiber provides them with warmth. And, if you wear those clothes, they can bite you and suck your blood.

Dead Bed Bugs Shells

Dead bed bug shells refer to all dead bugs that are no longer alive due to starvation or aging. After a bug dies, it takes some time for its shell to decompose.

However, the dead shells can also be the shells of live bed bugs. Bed bugs shed their skin 5 times in their lifetime.

They live behind all shed shells at infection sites. Also, if you have shells of dead bugs in your closet, this indicates to other bugs that it’s a perfect place to make an infestation. You can find these shells in most crevices and different corners.

Bed Bugs Eggs In the Closet    

If you find shells or feces of dead insects in your closet, it is very likely that your closet contains their eggs as well. Bed bugs hide for two reasons: first to move closer to their host and second to lay eggs.

A closet is always at some distance from your bed which means bed bugs can’t reach up to the top. This can clearly indicate that bed bugs are using your closet to lay eggs which can cause an infestation.

Where Can Bed Bugs Infest Your Closet?

Bed bugs can infest a closet just like any other piece of furniture. Since closets have many corners and cracks, these bugs have many hiding places in which they can lay their eggs.

Drawers

After reading about bed bugs in a closet, you might be wondering, can these insects infest your closet drawers?

Well, the correct answer to this question is…

Bed bugs can infest your closet drawers, just like any other piece of furniture. Even so, your drawers are the first place you can find these little bugs because they are closest to the floor.

Because drawers are closest to the floor, bed bugs can easily access there. 

Moreover, since you rarely use closet drawers, they can reproduce and lay eggs without being disturbed. A bed bug’s eggs are always laid in places not frequently accessed by humans.

These bugs are especially prone to infestation if they have many places to hide. Even random items in drawers like electronics folded clothes, bags, scarves, and shoes in a drawer are the best places for them to hide.

Hangers

There are some places where bed bugs cannot live like for example:- on hangers. They cannot and will choose to live in hangers. To survive, these bugs need a smooth and quite long surface, which hangers do not provide.

Also, items like hangers are difficult to access by bed bugs as they are very far and hard to climb.

In addition, hangers are mostly made of plastic and steel materials that are not fit surfaces that attract them.

Footers

Footers are the best place for bed bugs to hide. There are several reasons why they choose to live in the footer of your closet.

Footers are the best place for bed bugs because:-

• Bed bugs like places where no one can see their presence.
• They can find lots of surfaces to infest and stick their eggs.
• Unlimited cracks to hide and grow the populations.

 If your closet’s ends are closer to your bed then chances are high they are living there.

Do Bed Bugs Live In Clothes In Closet?

Yes, Bed bugs can comfortably live inside your clothes in the closet. They don’t even need blood to survive as they can live up to 3 to 5 months without a potential host.

Bed bugs are most attractive to dark outfits because they can easily hide and suck blood from you. They are attracted to carbon dioxide and the body scents of humans.

They can still get attracted to your clothes even after you wash your clothes with a good quality detergent.

How To Treat Your Clothes In Closet?

Bed bugs can give real problems to your clothes. These bugs have one habit that can damage your clothes and other clothing. The problem is bed bugs poop.

Yes, bed bugs poop or feces are one of the biggest problems and most embracing things in an infestation. As they only live on blood and nothing else so their poop looks like a black or brown color sports.

They tend to poop on your clothes which can make your clothes look dirty. However, you can clean these poops’ marks with detergent.

You can take these easy steps to protect your clothes from bed bugs in the closet.

• Use a spray to protect your clothes from bed bugs or other viruses
• Don’t throw your clothes in a basket or in the corner of your closet, this will either spread bed bugs in your closet or invite them into the clothes you wear.
• Put your clothes in a plastic bags after coming from places like a hotel, resort or a park where you stay that a lodge.

How To Find Bed Bugs In Your Closet?

Let’s admit finding bed bugs is much harder than killing them. But with the right information, you can easily find these bugs and eliminate them from your closet.

To find bed bugs in your closet you need a few things:- Cello tape and a UV flashlight.

Don’t worry, we will tell you why and how to use these things.

First of all, you need to keep in mind that these bugs are very fast and if they get disturbed they can move to many other places as well.

Use cello tape to keep bed bugs from escaping. Tape the cracks before using light on them.

After sealing all the entre points, use a flashlight to make them visible. You can also use a UV light to make these bugs more visible.

If you don’t have UV or a regular light then you can also use your smartphone flashlight. When I used to have bed bugs I mostly used my phone’s flashlight. The coolest part about using a smartphone is you can use both a camera and flashlight. 

As you know, bed bugs nymphs, and eggs are nearly invisible to human eyes. So if you want to find these bugs fully effectively then using a smartphone is a good option.

How To Kill Bed Bugs In Your Closet Without Damaging Anything?

Killing these bugs in your closet can be a daunting task. As you keep all the precious clothes in your closet. That is, using any kind of chemical spray can spoil the look of your goods.

Before applying any type of chemical spray to your closet, you must first identify its advantages and disadvantages.

However, a study conducted by scientists has shown that bed bugs are now developing their immune systems to suffer from these killer sprays.

But a spray is not the only one that can kill these bugs from your closet. You can use many other techniques like heat treatment and steam.

Heat Treatment

If you are ready to spend some dollars we suggest you try this incredible technique called “heat treatment“.

Just call your nearby pest control, they will raise the temperature inside the room to 140 degrees or higher, which is the temperature required to kill bed bugs.

Note:- You should inform everyone in your apartment, house, or hotel before using heat treatment.

Steam

Using steam to kill bed bugs works as same as heat treatment. In fact, using the steam method is much cheaper than heat treatment. 

It is also much easier to use steam rather than heat treatment. You should also consider what can affect the insect by applying steam directly to it.

Drag your steamer wand across clothing you can use a steamer on like you would normally.

Depending on the type of furniture, you should check the flat surfaces and pay attention to crevices and areas where there are bolts and screws, as that is where bed bugs would hide.

Final Words

Bed bugs can live inside your closet. They can lay eggs inside your closet and increase their population. These bugs infest your closet because they are attractive to human odor and prefer dark places.

If you want to confirm that bed bugs are living in your closet then you can check their eggs, feces, dead shell, and tiny nymphs.

They can also live inside your clothes which can be very irritating as these insects bite a lot and can give you some scars if you scratch them too much. But luckily, you can get rid of these insects by washing your clothes with a good detergent.

You can find bed bugs in your closet’s drawers, footers, and corners. However, bed bugs can not infest hangers as they do not get long surfaces to lay eggs.

Hopefully, now you have gotten all the amazing information about bed bugs in the closet. Now it’s time for taking the right action.

So if you like this post then please share this with your family and friends. Also, please comment below your bed bugs story and how did you deal with them.

Till then enjoy…

Related Articles:-

• Bat bugs vs bed bugs: Which one is worst
• Ants bite vs bed bugs bite
• Chicken pox vs bed bugs
• Can raid kill bed bugs?
• Where To Sleep If You Have Bed Bugs?
• Does cedar oil work to kill bed bugs?
• Does cockroach spray kill bed bugs?
• Can bed bugs live on plastic mattresses?
• What can you eat to repel bed bugs?