Found bed bugs? What to do in the first 24 hours

The short answerConfirm it is actually bed bugs, photograph what you found, keep sleeping in the same room, bag and hot-wash the bedding, and do not spray anything from a shop. If you rent, email the landlord today. Then ring two registered firms for written quotes. Nothing you buy in the first 24 hours will fix it, but several things you do can make it worse.

You have just found something on the mattress seam, or woken with a line of bites, and your first instinct is to do something, anything, right now. That instinct sells a great many aerosols and does very little for the bugs. Here is what the first day should actually look like.

First: make sure it is bed bugs

Not everything that bites in bed is a bed bug. Fleas, carpet beetle larvae, bird mites and plain skin irritation all get blamed. The NHS page on bedbugs lists the signs: the bugs themselves, which are reddish brown, flat and around five millimetres long; small dark spots on the sheets or mattress; tiny white eggs and shed skins in the seams; and bites, often in a line or cluster, on skin that was exposed overnight.

Check the mattress seams, the tufts, the underside of the bed frame and the headboard with a torch. If you find a live bug, put it in a sealed bag or a piece of clear tape. A firm can identify it in seconds. If you find nothing after a careful look, do not assume the worst yet. Bites alone are not proof, and a registered firm will say so.

Second: photograph everything

Take clear pictures of what you found, where you found it and the bites if you have them. Add the date. This costs nothing and may matter a great deal later, especially if you rent. Our guide to bed bugs when you rent explains how the record decides who pays.

Third: do not move out of the room

This is the one that feels wrong. Bed bugs follow the person. If you move to the sofa, they follow you to the sofa, and now you have two rooms to treat. Keep sleeping in the same bed. It is uncomfortable to hear, but it keeps the problem contained and makes treatment cheaper and quicker.

The same applies to belongings. Do not carry clothes, bags or bedding into other rooms unless they are sealed in a bag first.

Fourth: bag and wash the bedding

Strip the bed. Put sheets, pillowcases and duvet cover straight into a bin bag, seal it, and carry it to the washing machine. Wash at 60°C, which the NHS recommends, and tumble dry on a hot setting if you can. Items that cannot be washed hot can go in a tumble dryer on hot for half an hour, or into a sealed bag and the freezer for a few days.

Vacuum the mattress seams, the bed frame and the carpet edge around the bed. Empty the vacuum into a bag, seal it, and put it in the outside bin straight away.

That is the useful limit of what you can do yourself today.

Fifth: do not spray anything

Shop-bought insecticides, bombs and foggers feel like action. In practice they drive bugs deeper into cracks and into neighbouring rooms, they rarely reach eggs, and they make the professional’s job harder because the bugs are now spread out and the surfaces are already coated. BPCA’s public advice is blunt about it. Firms on the Manchester list and the London page tell us the same: the hardest jobs are the ones where someone has already fogged the flat.

Diatomaceous earth, essential oils, high-street steam cleaners and ultrasonic plugs sit in the same category. Some do a little. None finish the job.

Sixth: tell the landlord or managing agent today

If you rent, send an email or message now, while the evidence is fresh. State the date, what you found and where, attach the photos, and ask the landlord to arrange treatment. Shelter’s guidance on pests in rented homes explains when the landlord is responsible. Even if you think it was you who brought them home, report it. The record protects you either way.

If you live in a flat, tell the managing agent as well. Bed bugs move between flats, and a block that treats one flat at a time never gets clear.

Seventh: ring two registered firms

Now, and only now, look for professional help. You want a firm that is trading under a real name, covers your town and is on the BPCA or NPTA register. Those are the three facts we check for every listing; see how we check. Ask the firm the same three things on the phone, then ask how many visits and what the guarantee says.

Get two written quotes. Ask about the number of visits and the guarantee. Our cost guide gives the ranges we see on published price lists, so you can tell a fair price from a poor one, and our guide to what happens during treatment tells you what to prepare.

Firms covering most of the country are on the town pages: firms covering Leeds, the Birmingham page, the Sheffield list, technicians in Glasgow, firms around Edinburgh, the Liverpool page and the Newcastle list. Everywhere else is in the A to Z of towns. If you are weighing up heat against spray, the heat treatment page explains the difference.

What about the bites?

Bed bug bites are itchy but not known to spread disease. The NHS advises keeping the area clean, a cool damp cloth for the itch, and a pharmacist for antihistamines if it is bad. See a GP if bites become infected. The bugs are the problem, not the marks.

What not to do in the first 24 hours

• Do not throw the mattress out. It is rarely necessary and it spreads bugs through the building.
• Do not move to another bedroom or stay with family while taking your clothes with you unwashed.
• Do not buy a treatment kit online. By the time it arrives you could have had a professional inspection.
• Do not sign anything from a landlord or agent that says you caused the infestation.
• Do not accept a phone quote for a single visit from someone who will not name their trade body.

The realistic timeline

Day one: confirm, record, contain, report, ring two firms. Within a week: inspection and first visit. Four to six weeks: a spray course finishes, or a heat treatment is done in a day and you watch for a few weeks afterwards. Two months: you can reasonably call it over.

It is a slow, dull process and there is no shortcut through the shop. The good news is that the right firm will clear bed bugs in a few weeks. We list them so you can find one, and we never sell your enquiry.