If you see small flakes all over your bed or clothing, you have a home bed bug
Yellow flakes are actually moltings from juvenile bed bugs that have become adults–not dandruff from a previous guest. Bed bug eggs look like uncooked grains of white rice. They're somewhat sticky and are typically found in small clumps.
Shed skin
After shedding, they leave their skin behind. Shed bed bug skin is a translucent tan colour. It will be very small and may be hard to spot. Shed skin becomes dry and flaky quickly, so it'll feel dry and may even crumble if you touch it.
If you don't know what you're looking for, you might overlook them or mistake them for something else. Bed bug eggs resemble grains of rice, but much smaller. Most are pearly white-gray in color with an elongated oval shape that's only about 1 millimeter long.
The molted skins of the bed bug look very similar to the bed bug itself. They are the same shape and generally translucent in color. However, you will notice that they look like an empty bed bug shell. They will be different sizes depending on the life stage of the bed bug that molted.
Rusty or reddish stains on bed sheets or mattresses caused by bed bugs being crushed. Dark spots (about this size: ), which are bed bug excrement and may bleed on the fabric like a marker would. Eggs and eggshells, which are tiny (about 1mm) and pale yellow skins that nymphs shed as they grow larger.
Adult bedbugs are reddish-brown, wingless, and about the size of an apple seed. They are flat with oval-shaped bodies. Young bedbugs, or nymphs, are smaller and can appear translucent or yellowish in color. If nymphs have not been recently fed, due to their coloring, they can be almost impossible to spot.
If you see small flakes all over your bed or clothing, you have a home bed bug infestation. The molted skins are a clear reddish-brown with an oval shape.
The cause of these stains is bed bug excrement or crushed eggs. Excrement is a rusty red, brown, or black color, and it tends to bleed into bed sheets, almost like a felt-tip pen or marker would. Excrement stains are quite small and look dot-shaped or splotchy.
Mealybugs
They have a white, waxy coating on their bodies which gives them the appearance of lint or dust particles. These pests feed on plants and crops by sucking sap from leaves, stems, and roots.
Bed bug egg shells appear as white, husk-like specks, according to the NHS. They can sometimes be mottled and are produced when the bugs shed their skin as they grow.
So if you are asking does dry cleaning kill bed bugs? the answer is yes! As long as the dry cleaner is using Perchloroethylene as part of the process. Place the plastic bag you used to carry the infested clothes in another bag and seal tightly before disposing of.
Myth: Bed bugs live in dirty places. Reality: Bed bugs are not attracted to dirt and grime; they are attracted to warmth, blood and carbon dioxide. However, clutter offers more hiding spots.
Dust Mites
They thrive in warm and humid environments and are usually present in mattresses, upholstered furniture, carpets, and curtains. As scavengers, they don't directly feed on humans as bedbugs do. Instead, they feed on dead skin, pet dander, pollen, and bacteria.
Though too small to see with the naked eye (only about . 33 millimeters long), dust mites are easily visible through even a cheap microscope. You can pick up an inexpensive microscope from any store that sells toys, a hobby store, or a thrift store and use it to discover whether your home has dust mites.
Bed bug poop appears as clusters of tiny spots on your bed. The droppings consist of digested blood, so they will no longer be red once they dry. The spots will be darker, rust colored or black, and are about the size of a dot from a marker.
In contrast, dust mites can really only be seen under the microscope. House dust mites are about 0.1–0.4 mm long [2], less than one tenth the size of a bed bug, at least. House dust mites are translucent to white in color and have been described as “globular” in shape [3].
Identify the infestation:
First and foremost, make sure you're dealing with bed bugs. Look for tiny, flat, reddish-brown insects, their eggs, or dark fecal spots on your pillows, sheets, and mattress.
Little White Flakes
You see the light yellow or white flakes on your shoulders or in your hair. Those are the telltale signs of dandruff. Dandruff flakes are dead skin cells that fall off your scalp.
The best way to confirm whether or not you have bed bugs is to find one. If you can't do that, you have to look for signs they leave behind — extra skin, eggs and feces. So yes, in between biting you and driving you crazy, these little jerks still have time to reproduce and poop in your bed.
The Presence of Eggs
Eggs are one of the earliest signs of bed bugs that you can look for. Bed bugs lay their eggs in small clusters, and each egg is about the size of a dust mite. You're most likely to find them in the seams of your mattress or on your bed frame.
Bed bugs have to drink human blood, to survive. So, when your head hits the pillow at night, they come out to feast. In the morning (or several days later, depending on how your body reacts) you wake up with itchy bite marks.