What Are These Weird Black Dots on My Mattress in Spring Hill?
You pulled back the sheets this morning and noticed something. Tiny dark specks along the seam of your mattress. They were not there before or at least you never noticed them before. Now you cannot stop looking at them and you are trying to figure out if this is something you need to deal with immediately or if there is a reasonable explanation that does not involve bed bugs.
There are a few things those black dots could be. One of them is significantly more serious than the others.
What Bed Bug Droppings Look Like
Bed bug droppings are one of the most reliable indicators of an infestation and they look exactly like what you are describing. Tiny dark specks, dark brown to black, roughly the size of a pen tip, found in the seams and folds of your mattress and along the edges where the mattress meets the box spring.
The key characteristic that separates bed bug droppings from other dark specks is what happens when you dab them with a damp white cloth or paper towel. Bed bug droppings are digested blood and when moisture hits them they smear and leave a reddish brown stain on the cloth. If the specks on your mattress do smear reddish brown when dabbed with a damp cloth you have confirmed bed bug activity and you should call us today.
If they do not smear they could be something else. Dirt, mold, fabric dye or other debris can leave dark specks on a mattress that look similar to droppings on first glance. The damp cloth test is the fastest way to tell the difference without needing to find an actual bug.
Where to Look Beyond the Mattress Seam
If you found dark specks on the mattress seam do not stop looking there. Bed bugs deposit droppings wherever they spend time and they do not stay exclusively on the mattress. Check the box spring seams the same way. Check the joints and crevices of your bed frame, particularly the corners and any area where two pieces of wood or metal meet. Check behind the headboard if it is mounted close to the wall. Check the inside of the nightstands on both sides of the bed.
Bed bugs stay within a few feet of where they feed which is you while you sleep. That means the infestation is almost always concentrated in the immediate area around your bed during the early stages. The further the droppings spread from the bed itself the longer the infestation has been established.
Finding droppings in multiple locations around the bedroom means the colony is larger and more established than finding them in one spot on the mattress seam. Both warrant the same response but the extent of what you find gives you a sense of how long this has been going on.
Other Signs to Look for at the Same Time
While you are checking for the droppings look for the other evidence bed bugs leave behind. Shed skins are the translucent exoskeletons bed bugs leave behind each time they molt as they grow from nymph to adult. They are pale, slightly curved and roughly the shape of a bed bug but hollow and empty. Finding shed skins in the seams of your mattress or box spring alongside the dark specks is a strong confirmation.
Blood spots are another indicator. Small rust colored stains on the mattress surface or on your sheets are caused when a fed bed bug gets crushed while you roll over in your sleep. They look like a small smear of dried blood and they are distinct from the darker droppings.
If you find dark specks and shed skins and blood spots together in the same area you do not need to find an actual live bug to confirm what you are dealing with.
What Not to Do Before You Call
Do not strip the bed and wash everything immediately. It feels like the right response but it removes the evidence that tells us exactly where the infestation is concentrated and how established it is. Leave everything in place until we can inspect.
Do not spray the mattress with anything from the hardware store. Repellent sprays cause bed bugs to scatter from their established hiding spots and spread to other areas of the room and potentially to other rooms in the home. A scattered infestation is significantly harder to treat than a contained one.
Do not throw the mattress out yet. In most cases a mattress with bed bug activity can be treated and does not need to be replaced. Carrying an infested mattress through your home to get it outside also risks spreading bed bugs to every room it passes through.
Call us and leave everything exactly as it is. Do not strip the bed. Do not spray anything. Do not throw the mattress out. Our Spring Hill bed bug treatment starts with a thorough inspection of the full bedroom so we know exactly what we are dealing with and where before anything else happens.