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When Are Bed Bugs Most Active in North Carolina? What Homeowners Should Know

When Are Bed Bugs Most Active in North Carolina? What Homeowners Should Know

Jun 20, 2025 | Bed Bug

North Carolina’s warm, humid climate creates the perfect environment for bed bugs to thrive. These tiny pests aren’t just a nuisance; they can quickly turn your home into an uncomfortable and stressful environment. Whether you’re hosting holiday guests, moving into a new space, or coming back from vacation, bed bugs can become an unwelcome surprise at any time of year. But when are bed bugs most active in North Carolina, and how can you protect your home? Here’s what every homeowner needs to know to stay ahead of these pests.

Bed Bug Control: When Are Bed Bugs Most Active?

Bed Bug Activity by Season

Spring & Summer (March–August): Peak Bed Bug Season

The warmer months are prime time for bed bug activity in North Carolina. The rise in temperatures coincides with increased travel, making spring and summer the busiest seasons for these pests. Bed bugs are expert hitchhikers, often sneaking into your home through luggage, clothing, or even guests’ belongings.

Shared spaces like hotel rooms, vacation rentals, and public transportation give bed bugs plenty of opportunities to latch onto their next “ride.” This means your spring break getaway or summer vacation can accidentally bring bed bugs back home with you.

How to Protect Your Home in Spring & Summer:
  • Inspect your hotel or rental accommodations upon arrival. Check mattress seams, headboards, and furniture for signs of bed bugs, such as tiny dark spots or shed skins.
  • Once home, unpack your luggage outdoors or in the garage. Wash and dry travel clothes on high heat to kill any hitchhiking bed bugs.
  • Be cautious when bringing in secondhand furniture or items. Always inspect and clean them thoroughly before bringing them indoors.

Fall (September–November): A Sneaky Season for Bed Bugs

While the temperatures cool down, bed bugs don’t disappear. Fall is when many people move into new homes or apartments, increasing the chance of infestations spreading. These pests can hide in moving trucks, used mattresses, or even furniture left behind by previous tenants.

Additionally, the cooler weather often drives more time spent indoors, which can unintentionally give bed bugs more opportunities to travel from one home to another through visitors or shared spaces.

How to Protect Your Home in Fall:
  • If you’re moving, inspect the moving truck and your belongings carefully to ensure bed bugs haven’t hitched a ride.
  • Be cautious with rented or secondhand furniture. Check cracks, crevices, and fabric seams for signs of pests.
  • Inspect your home regularly, especially in bedroom areas and living spaces where bed bugs are most likely to hide.

Winter (December–February): Bed Bugs Stay Inside

Contrary to popular belief, bed bugs don’t hibernate in the winter. Thanks to North Carolina’s relatively mild winters and the use of indoor heating systems, they stay active year-round. The holiday season also brings increased travel and overnight houseguests, creating prime opportunities for bed bugs to spread.

Indoor heating provides a warm environment for bed bugs to thrive, while bedrooms, sofas, and carpets offer plenty of hiding spots for their populations to grow unnoticed.

How to Protect Your Home in Winter:
  • Encourage holiday visitors to check their belongings, especially luggage, before entering your home.
  • Wash all bedding, guest linens, and holiday travel clothes in hot water after guests leave.
  • Pay attention to baseboards, mattress edges, and upholstered furniture where bed bugs may hide.

Year-Round Tips for Prevention and Control

Regardless of the season, bed bugs can be a persistent problem. Here’s how you can reduce your risk and address infestations early on.

  • Inspect Regularly: Make it a habit to inspect your mattresses, box springs, and furniture for signs of bed bugs. Look for dark spots, shed skins, or live bugs.
  • Vacuum Often: Thoroughly vacuum carpets, baseboards, and mattress seams to remove any potential eggs or bugs. Dispose of vacuum bags immediately after each use.
  • Declutter Your Home: Bed bugs love hiding in cluttered spaces. Keeping your home tidy can reduce their hiding spots and make inspections easier.
  • Act Quickly: If you suspect bed bugs, don’t wait. Contact a pest control professional immediately. Early detection can prevent the problem from getting worse and spreading throughout your home.

Why Professional Help Matters

Bed bugs are one of the most difficult pests to eliminate without expert help. They’re resilient, multiply quickly, and can hide in places you might not expect. Professional pest control services have the tools, treatments, and expertise necessary to completely eradicate an infestation when bed bugs are most active.

Avoiding Bed Bugs in Your North Carolina Home

Avoiding Bed Bugs in Your North Carolina Home

Aug 1, 2022 | Bed Bug

Even though bed bugs can be removed with heat treatments, it doesn’t mean that they completely hate the heat. What it does mean is that bed bugs are still very active in the South, especially in North Carolina. When the heat is in the ‘80s and ‘90s, this increases activity for bed bugs. It’s best for every homeowner to begin preventing them now, so you can sleep soundly at night.

What Are Bed Bugs?

Bed bugs are tiny, oval, brown insects that feed on the blood of animals or humans. About the size of an apple seed, these pests are known to be passive spreaders, as they won’t spread from house to house but instead spread by hitchhiking. .

How Do We Avoid Them?

Bed bugs can enter your home undetected through luggage, clothes, used beds, used furniture, and other items. Being most active at night, that is when they will make their move to bite you and have their meal. If you discover you have bed bugs, you will need to move fast. They can produce up to 3 generations within a year, so they spread quickly.

Some ways to prevent bed bugs include:

  • Check secondhand furniture
  • Check underneath mattresses in hotel rooms
  • Keep luggage off the floor in hotel rooms
  • Reduce the clutter in your home to give them fewer hiding spaces
  • Be vigilant when using shared laundry facilities

If you believe your home has become infested with bed bugs, be sure to reach out to your local pest control company, and a technician will be able to come up with the best bed bug control solution for you.

Tips to Help Prevent Bed Bugs When Traveling

Tips to Help Prevent Bed Bugs When Traveling

Nov 23, 2021 | Bed Bug

While the holidays can be filled with fun and travelling to see family, one side effect that isn’t fun is dealing with bed bugs. Bed bugs are active all year but are more likely to infest your home after a trip. Below are a few tips to help prevent bed bugs now and throughout the year.

Inspect

Inspect your hotel room or rental for signs of bed bugs before bringing your luggage inside. It’s more common for hotels to have issues with bed bugs, regardless of the price or popularity, so it’s important to check every room. Bed bugs can be found in any type of furniture in the cracks and crevices, not just beds. Make sure you check sofa cushions, chairs, behind headboards, and around mattress corners. Look for evidence of bed bugs, which will usually be very small, dark-colored stains. Another indication of bed bugs is skin shells that have been shed during their growth phases.

Move

If any bed bugs evidence is found, request a different room or change your accommodations. If you do change rooms, make sure you are not right next door to the infested room.

Unpack

More often than not, bed bugs will go unnoticed because of their small size and nocturnal behavior. Even if you inspect your room and don’t find anything, be cautious when unpacking your clothes. Do not leave your luggage lying on any furniture. After inspecting, use the luggage racks provided by most hotels.

Contain

After you’ve returned home, don’t bring your luggage directly inside. Seal them in plastic bags or containers and store them for a few weeks somewhere outside of your home. You can take further precautions by steaming or vacuuming your bags before storing them.

It’s possible to take all of these precautions and still bring bed bugs indoors. If you’re experiencing bed bug bites or are seeing evidence of bed bugs, contact a professional pest control company to assess the situation. An exterminator can determine the best bed bug control plan and provide you with recommendations to prevent further infestations.

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