What Attracts Bed Bugs? Carbon Dioxide, Heat and Clutter
Bed bugs are attracted to people, not to dirt: the carbon dioxide you breathe out, your body heat and the odour of your skin are what draw them to a bed. In laboratory trials, carbon dioxide pulled more bed bugs into traps than heat did, and worn clothing drew about twice as many as clean clothing. Once fed, they gather where other bed bugs have left their scent, and in light they choose red or black hiding places over yellow or green. Clutter does not attract them; it gives them somewhere to hide.
That distinction changes what prevents an infestation. CDC states plainly that how clean a place is does not determine whether bed bugs are present. What raises the odds is bringing them home, and what keeps them is a sleeping person every night.
What attracts bed bugs: the research at a glance
| Cue | What the research found | Study | What it means at home |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carbon dioxide (breath) | CO2-baited traps caught 79.8 per cent of bed bugs in six hours against 51.6 per cent for heat | Wang and others, J. Economic Entomology, 2009 | A sleeping person is a beacon; this is why bed bugs concentrate around beds and sofas used for sleep |
| Extra CO2 in a bedroom-sized room | Only 1.6 per cent of bed bugs stayed in their refuge, against 25 per cent in normal air | Hentley and others, University of Sheffield, 2017 | Breath starts the search; it switches them on rather than steering them precisely |
| Body heat | Attractive on its own, but adding heat to a CO2 trap did not raise catches significantly | Singh and others, Rutgers, 2012 | Heat matters most at close range, once a bug is already near you |
| Skin odour on worn clothes | Bed bugs were twice as likely to gather on bags of worn clothing as on clean clothing, with no person present | Hentley and others, 2017 | Dirty laundry in an open suitcase is a pickup point when travelling |
| Other bed bugs (pheromone) | Five airborne compounds draw them to shelters; histamine makes them stop and settle on contact | Gries and others, Simon Fraser University, 2015 | Once a few are established, their own droppings and scent make a spot more attractive |
| Colour of hiding place | Red (28.5 per cent) and black (23.4 per cent) chosen most; yellow and green avoided | McNeill and others, J. Medical Entomology, 2016 | Relevant to traps and to where they hide in daylight, much less to sheet colour at night |
| Dirt and clutter | No relationship between bed bugs and cleanliness; clutter adds hiding places and hinders treatment | University of Kentucky Entomology; CDC | Decluttering helps you find and treat them, but will not stop them arriving |
What attracts bed bugs to humans
Bed bugs feed only on blood, and the common bed bug prefers people, though University of Kentucky entomologists note it will also bite pets, birds and rodents. They find a host by layering several cues, which is why no single trick hides you from them.
Carbon dioxide starts the hunt
Your breath is the long-range signal. In 2009 pitfall trap trials by Wang and colleagues in small arenas, traps baited with carbon dioxide caught 79.8 per cent of bed bugs within six hours, compared with 51.6 per cent for traps baited with heat alone. Traps combining CO2 with heat or a chemical lure caught at least 86.7 per cent.
The Sheffield team found something subtler when they raised CO2 in a bedroom-sized room by about as much as a breathing person would. The extra carbon dioxide did not change which clothing the bugs went to, but it got them moving: only 1.6 per cent of the bugs were still in their refuge four days later, against 25 per cent in normal air. The authors read this as CO2 initiating host-seeking rather than directing it.
Body heat guides the last few inches
Heat is attractive on its own. In the Rutgers trials, though, adding hand warmers to a trap that already released CO2 did not significantly increase the catch: 93.2 per cent with CO2 alone and 91.0 to 95.8 per cent with heat added.
Skin odour lingers on clothes
The Rutgers team screened twelve chemicals and found that a mixture of four, including nonanal and 1-octen-3-ol, raised trap catches when added to CO2: 87.5 per cent against 71.7 per cent for CO2 alone. The Sheffield study, which put worn and clean T-shirts and socks in tote bags around a room with no person present, found bed bugs were twice as likely to settle on the bags of worn clothing. As the authors put it, careful management of holiday clothing may be an important strategy in preventing bed bugs coming home.
What attracts bed bugs to bite you rather than someone else
No study we read shows that blood type, diet or a particular person’s skin chemistry makes one sleeper reliably more attractive. What the evidence does explain is why one partner may appear to be the only one bitten: University of Kentucky reports that about 30 per cent of people do not react even when bitten repeatedly. The bites are often shared; the welts are not. Bed bugs bite whatever skin is exposed during sleep, including the face, neck, shoulders and arms. If you are unsure whether marks are bites at all, our bite identification guide covers the common causes, and CDC advises speaking to a healthcare provider about any allergic reaction.
Are bed bugs attracted to dirty houses?
No. University of Kentucky’s fact sheet is unusually direct: unlike cockroaches and flies that feed on filth, there is often no relationship between bed bugs and cleanliness, and pristine dwellings can be as vulnerable as places of squalor. CDC says bed bugs are found in five-star hotels and resorts.
Our own analysis of New York City’s landlord filings points the same way. In the 2025 filings, Manhattan, which has the most units covered, reported one of the lowest infestation rates at 2.26 infested units per 1,000, while Brooklyn reported the highest at 3.33. The full analysis is in what 722,000 New York bed bug filings show.
There is a real link with poverty, but it runs through treatment, not attraction. Kentucky notes that poverty is often associated with persistent problems because people cannot afford professional control. Bed bug work is expensive for reasons set out in our guide to bed bug treatment costs.
Clutter is a hiding place, not a lure
Clutter does not draw bed bugs in. It gives them more places to hide once they are there, especially under and around beds, and makes inspection and treatment harder; Kentucky lists clothing and clutter in closets and items stored under beds among common hiding places. Clearing the area around a bed is one of the most useful things to do before a professional visit.
What colours attract bed bugs?
In the 2016 study by McNeill and colleagues, bed bugs given seven coloured cardstock shelters under light chose red most often, then black, then orange. Green was chosen by under 3 per cent, and yellow performed no better than white in two-way tests, which the authors interpreted as avoidance of colours that resemble brightly lit places. Their best guess at why red wins is that bed bugs themselves look red, so a red shelter may read as one already occupied.
Before replacing your sheets, note the limit. Bed bugs look for shelter mostly in darkness, and an earlier study the authors cite found they cannot distinguish coloured shelters in complete darkness. Colour is most useful in designing traps, not in choosing bedding.
Aggregation pheromones: why one bug leads to many
Bed bugs prefer to hide together. In 2015 a Simon Fraser University team identified the pheromone behind this: five airborne compounds that draw bed bugs to a shelter, and histamine, which makes them stop and stay when they touch it. A blend of all six was highly effective at luring bed bugs into traps in infested premises.
That histamine stays behind. A 2018 North Carolina State University study measured it in household dust and found mean levels of 54.6 micrograms per 100 mg of dust in infested homes, against under 2.5 in homes without bed bugs. Heat treatments that eradicated the bed bugs did not reduce those levels even three months later. The research does not show that this residue draws new bed bugs into a cleared home, so treat any such claim with caution.
What attracts bed bugs to the house in the first place
None of the cues above pulls bed bugs in from outdoors. They cannot fly or jump; Kentucky describes them as efficient hitchhikers. They arrive on luggage, clothing, used beds and furniture, backpacks and other belongings. CDC adds that frequent travel and sharing sleeping space where others have slept raise the risk. How they move once inside a building, including between apartments, is covered in how bed bugs spread.
| Common belief | What the evidence says |
|---|---|
| Dirty homes attract bed bugs | No link with cleanliness; they feed only on blood |
| Sleeping with the lights on keeps them off | Unlikely; Kentucky says hungry bed bugs adjust feeding to the host’s sleep pattern |
| Insect repellent at bedtime will protect you | Repellents for ticks and mosquitoes do not appear as effective; applying them at bedtime is not recommended |
| Red sheets will attract them | The colour preference was measured in light; they hunt in the dark |
| Bed bugs fly or jump onto you | They do neither; they crawl, and arrive on belongings and used furniture |
| Antique shops are risky | Kentucky rates the risk from antique shops as insignificant; used mattresses and sofas are the concern |
How to use these attractants against them
The same cues that draw bed bugs to you can be used to find them. Monitoring is a homeowner job; eliminating an established infestation usually is not.
- Pitfall interceptors under each bed leg. Bugs travelling to the sleeper fall in and cannot climb out. Kentucky notes that pulling the bed a few inches from the wall and keeping bedding off the floor makes the bed an island the bugs must cross the traps to reach.
- CO2 and lure traps for a quiet infestation. In four infested apartments, the 2009 team removed every bed bug a visual inspection could find, an average of 12, and a single trap baited with CO2 and a chemical lure still caught an average of 15 overnight. A later Rutgers study found carbon dioxide from a sugar and yeast mixture was as attractive as CO2 from a cylinder.
- Bag worn clothes when travelling. The Sheffield result is a direct argument for keeping dirty laundry sealed and suitcases off the floor and bed.
- Clear clutter near the bed so that any inspection, yours or a professional’s, can see the places they hide.
Confirm what you catch: our bed bug identification guide shows every life stage at size, and bugs that look like bed bugs covers bat bugs, carpet beetles and other lookalikes.
What makes bed bugs go away, and what causes them to die
Bed bugs do not leave a home that has a sleeping person in it. Heat is the factor that reliably kills every stage, but it takes time. In University of Minnesota trials, adults held at 113°F (45°C) needed about 95 minutes to reach 99 per cent mortality, and eggs survived seven hours at that temperature, dying in about 72 minutes at roughly 118°F (48°C). That is why professional whole-room heat treatments raise the air to about 120 to 130°F and hold it.
For bedding and clothing, Kentucky recommends washing at 120°F or more, or running items through a dryer on medium to high heat for 10 to 20 minutes. Freezing below 32°F also works but needs one to two weeks. Raising or lowering the thermostat will not work.
Kentucky notes that most bed bug sprays sold to householders have limited effect once the spray has dried, and resistance is increasing; our guide to pesticide resistance explains why. Kentucky is explicit that bleach, alcohol, lighters and foggers should not be used against bed bugs: they are ineffective and can result in fires. Our analysis of bug bomb illness data shows the other risk. Any product should be used strictly according to its label. An established infestation, especially in an apartment, is a job for a licensed professional.
Frequently asked questions
What will keep bed bugs away?
No spray or repellent reliably keeps bed bugs away; University of Kentucky says tick and mosquito repellents do not appear as effective against them and advises against applying them at bedtime. The measures with evidence are preventive habits: keep luggage off the floor and bed when travelling, seal worn clothes in bags, avoid discarded mattresses and sofas, run secondhand fabrics through a hot dryer, and use interceptor traps under the bed legs to catch an introduction early.
Are bed bugs due to poor hygiene?
No. Bed bugs feed only on blood, and University of Kentucky entomologists state there is often no relationship between bed bugs and cleanliness. CDC notes they occur in five-star hotels. Poverty is linked to persistent infestations because professional treatment is costly, not because dirt attracts them. Clutter matters only in that it gives bed bugs more places to hide and makes inspection and treatment harder.
How to trick bed bugs out of hiding?
Use the cues that draw them to a sleeper. Traps releasing carbon dioxide, alone or with a chemical lure, attract bed bugs from their hiding places; in a 2009 field trial one baited trap caught an average of 15 bugs overnight in apartments that had just been inspected and cleared by hand. Carbon dioxide from a sugar and yeast mixture worked as well as bottled CO2 in Rutgers tests. Interceptors under bed legs catch bugs heading to the sleeper.
What kills bedbugs instantly?
Nothing safe for home use kills a whole infestation instantly. Steam and direct contact with a labelled insecticide kill the bugs they reach, but neither reaches deep harbourages or leaves lasting protection. Heat kills every stage given enough time: at 113°F, adults took about 95 minutes to die in University of Minnesota trials. A dryer on medium to high heat for 10 to 20 minutes kills all stages in fabrics. Never use alcohol, bleach, lighters or foggers.
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, About Bed Bugs, 2024.
- University of Kentucky Entomology, Potter, Bed Bugs, ENTFACT-636.
- Wang, Gibb, Bennett and McKnight, Bed bug attraction to pitfall traps baited with carbon dioxide, heat, and chemical lure, Journal of Economic Entomology 102, 2009.
- Singh, Wang, Cooper and Liu, Interactions among carbon dioxide, heat, and chemical lures in attracting the bed bug, Psyche, 2012.
- Singh, Wang and Cooper, Effect of trap design, chemical lure, carbon dioxide release rate, and source of carbon dioxide on efficacy of bed bug monitors, Journal of Economic Entomology, 2013.
- Hentley, Webster, Evison and Siva-Jothy, Bed bug aggregation on dirty laundry: a mechanism for passive dispersal, Scientific Reports 7: 11668, 2017.
- McNeill, Pereira, Koehler, McNeill and Baldwin, Behavioral responses of nymph and adult Cimex lectularius to colored harborages, Journal of Medical Entomology 53(4), 2016.
- Gries, Britton, Holmes, Zhai, Draper and Gries, Bed bug aggregation pheromone finally identified, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2015.
- DeVries, Santangelo, Barbarin and Schal, Histamine as an emergent indoor contaminant: accumulation and persistence in bed bug infested homes, PLoS ONE 13(2), 2018.
- Kells and Goblirsch, Temperature and time requirements for controlling bed bugs under commercial heat treatment conditions, Insects 2(3), 2011.
- The Pest Control Brief, analysis of NYC HPD bed bug disclosure filings, 2026.
