The question people often mean when they ask this is “why did I get them?” The honest answer is nearly always that they were carried in. But once they are inside, what they are drawn to explains where they hide, who in the house gets bitten, and why some home remedies fail.
What draws bed bugs to a person
Bed bugs feed only on blood, and they have a few ways of finding someone to feed on, mostly at night while you are still.
Carbon dioxide
Every breath out releases carbon dioxide, and bed bugs follow rising levels of it towards a sleeping person. This is the strongest signal over a distance, and it is why bed bugs gather round the head end of the bed and the headboard.
Body heat
Close up, warmth helps them home in. A body lying still in bed for hours is an ideal target. This is also why heat treatment is so effective: the same sensitivity that leads them to you does not protect them from rooms heated far beyond body temperature.
Skin chemicals and smells
People give off a mix of natural chemicals through their skin. Researchers think these help bed bugs find exposed skin, and they may partly explain why one person in a bed seems to be bitten more than another. The evidence on why some people get more bites is still limited, and some people simply do not react to bites at all, so a partner may be bitten without knowing it.
Worn clothing
A study from the University of Sheffield (Hentley and others, 2017) found that bed bugs were about twice as likely to gather in bags of worn clothing as in bags of clean clothing, even when no person was present. That matters for travel: a suitcase of used laundry left open near a hotel bed is an attractive place to hide.
What does not attract them
Dirt and mess
Bed bugs do not feed on crumbs, rubbish or grime. They turn up in very clean hotels, new-build flats and tidy family homes. Being told you have bed bugs is not a comment on how you keep your home.
Clutter is different. It does not attract them, but it gives them far more places to hide, and it makes treatment harder because spray and heat cannot reach everything. That is why preparation lists always include clearing the floor round the bed.
Light and dark
Bed bugs are mostly active at night, but that is about when their hosts are still and asleep, not a fear of light. Leaving a light on does not keep them away; hungry bed bugs will feed in a lit room.
What draws them into a home
Because they cannot fly or jump, the only real “attractant” for a home is a route in:
- luggage and bags after travel;
- second-hand beds, sofas and bedside furniture;
- a house move, especially between shared houses;
- visitors’ bags and coats left on beds;
- shared walls and gaps from a neighbouring flat or terrace.
Our guide to how bed bugs spread goes into each of these.
Do any smells or products repel them?
You will find plenty of claims online about essential oils, lavender, tea tree and similar products. The evidence that any of these keeps bed bugs away in a real home is weak. Some may kill a bug on direct contact, but they do not clear an infestation, and some products just push bugs into other rooms. The NHS advice is to get professional help to treat bed bugs, and the British Pest Control Association recommends a professional for the same reason.
What this means in practice
- Keep sleeping in your own bed. Moving to the sofa just gives the bugs a new place to follow you to.
- Bag worn laundry when you travel and when you are dealing with an infestation.
- Reduce clutter round the bed and in the bedroom before treatment.
- Use interception traps under bed legs if a technician supplies them. They catch bugs walking towards you and help show whether a treatment has worked.
- Get it confirmed. If bites keep appearing, an inspection is the quickest way to know what you are dealing with. For hotels and short lets, see our page on hotels and businesses.
If you think bed bugs have found their way in, use the form below and we will find a Leeds technician to inspect and give you a fixed price.