# Chinche de cama

*Cimex lectularius*

**Confianza en la identificación:** Identificable con cuidado — Adult bed bugs are identifiable with care. Eggs and first-stage nymphs are close to invisible without magnification, so an inspection that finds nothing is not proof of absence.


## Cómo reconocerla

- Adults are 4 to 5 mm, roughly the size and shape of an apple seed — flat and oval when unfed, swollen and elongated to nearly cylindrical after feeding.
- Colour is mahogany to reddish-brown, becoming darker and redder after a blood meal.
- The body is wingless with short, thick antennae and a distinctly flattened profile that lets it occupy very narrow seams.
- The abdomen has visible horizontal ridges giving a segmented, banded appearance across the back.
- Nymphs are smaller and translucent to pale yellow-white, becoming visible mainly after feeding when a red blood spot shows through.

## Qué rastros deja

- Dark, ink-like fecal spotting along mattress seams, in the box spring frame, along headboard joints, and behind loose wallpaper. The spots bleed slightly into fabric like a felt-tip pen mark, which distinguishes them from ordinary dirt.
- Shed skins — pale, empty, adult-shaped husks — accumulated in harbourage areas. These are often the easiest evidence to find.
- Eggs about 1 mm, pearly white, cemented into crevices in small groups.
- A sweet, musty odour in heavily infested rooms.

## Por qué persiste una infestación

Bed bugs feed on blood, usually at night, and spend the rest of the time hidden in tight seams and crevices close to where people sleep. This harbourage behaviour explains why a single surface spray application fails: the population is inside mattress seams, bed frame joints, and behind skirting, not on the open surfaces that get treated. They survive long periods without feeding, so leaving a room empty does not clear it. They are not associated with dirt or poor housekeeping — a clean home is as susceptible as any other, and clutter matters only because it creates more places to hide. They are not known to transmit disease to people, which is a genuinely important thing to know for anyone frightened by an infestation.


## Dónde se encuentra

Throughout the United States in every kind of housing and lodging, with the greatest burden falling on multi-unit rental housing.

## Qué la previene

- Encase the mattress and box spring in a purpose-made bed bug encasement and leave it on — this traps anything inside and removes the most difficult harbourage from the problem.
- Launder bedding and clothing and dry on the hottest setting the fabric tolerates; the dryer, not the wash, is what does the work.
- Inspect luggage and second-hand furniture, and keep luggage off beds and floors when travelling.
- Reduce clutter around the bed and pull the bed away from walls where practical.

## Se confunde con

- **Escarabajo de alfombra** (*Anthrenus spp. / Attagenus spp.*) — Adults are small, rounded, almost domed beetles 2 to 5 mm, mottled in black, white, and orange scales, or uniformly black depending on species.
- **Chinche de murciélago** (*Cimex adjunctus*) — Essentially identical to a bed bug in size, colour, and flattened oval shape at normal viewing distance.

**Verdict:** professional-recommended. Harbourage behaviour puts most of the population out of reach of anything a resident can do, and failed partial attempts spread the infestation. This is also where the two most dangerous DIY practices occur — flammable liquids applied as a treatment, and improvised heating — both of which have caused fatal fires.


Source: https://againstpest.shop/es/identificar/chinches-de-cama/chinche-de-cama/