Bed bugs typically cluster together in favorable harborage areas. However, some bed bugs will live by themselves, away from the rest of an infestation. The best way to determine if you have an infestation is to look for bed bugs where you sleep (or rest). In bedrooms, look particularly on and around boxsprings, mattresses, bed frames, tufts, folds, and buttons on mattresses, furniture, such as desks and chairs, behind wall paper, clocks and pictures, cracks in wood floors, and under the edge of carpet. If you travel also check your luggage, where you typically set it down when you enter your home and where you store it. While bed bugs are most commonly found in bedrooms, infestations can also occur in other rooms, including: bathrooms; living rooms; and laundry rooms. Dark blood spots on sheets and bedding may indicate bed bug feeding. Bed bugs will sometimes excrete while they are feeding.

You can use your washing machine and dryer to kill bed bugs that may be infesting clothes. Clothes laundered in hot water and/or dried in temperatures hotter than 122° F for 20 minutes will kill all stages of bed bugs. This is typically the medium-high setting. If you are not sure what temperature you drier can reach, ask a professional to test it for you. You can also sterilize curtains and other fabrics, rugs, shoes, backpacks, stuffed animals, toys, and similar objects by drying them for about 30 minutes (for a full load)..

Cold temperatures can kill bed bugs if they are exposed to it long enough and at temperatures that are cold enough. If you place objects into a freezer, at 0° F all stages of bed bugs will be killed when they are left in it for 7 to 10 days.It is a common assumption that if you put infested furniture outdoors during winter when it is cold, that the temperatures are sufficient to kill bed bugs. While you will undoubtedly kill some bed bugs, there is no guarantee that you will kill all of them. There is little research that has examined how cold and for what duration you need under those circumstances. The U.S. military believes that if you expose furniture to 0° F or less for four days or more, that may be sufficient.