What do bedbug eggs look like in furniture? - briefly
Bedbug eggs are minute, roughly 0.5 mm long, oval, and translucent‑white, often appearing as a speck of dust. In furniture they are affixed to seams, folds, or hidden cracks, rendering them hard to detect without magnification.
What do bedbug eggs look like in furniture? - in detail
Bed‑bug ova are tiny, oval‑shaped structures measuring roughly 0.5 mm in length and 0.2 mm in width. Their shells, called chorions, are semi‑transparent to whitish‑cream, allowing the developing embryo to be seen as a faint dark spot when the egg is about to hatch. In upholstered items, the eggs are usually deposited in protected crevices: seams, folds, and stitching lines of cushions, behind the fabric, or within the hollow cores of wooden frames. The adhesive coating on the chorion makes the eggs stick firmly to fibers, threads, and wood grain, so they do not roll away.
Typical locations in furniture include:
- Seams and edges of sofa cushions, especially where foam meets fabric.
- Buttonholes, tufting, and decorative stitching where small gaps exist.
- Underneath removable covers, within the cavity of a mattress or box‑spring.
- Inside the joints of wooden chairs, bed frames, or headboards, often hidden by paint or varnish.
The eggs are often clustered in groups of 5–10, forming a faint white or pale yellow line that can be mistaken for lint or dust. When examined under magnification, the chorion exhibits a smooth, slightly glossy surface with minute ridges that help it adhere to the substrate. The coloration may darken to a pale brown as the embryo matures, providing a visual cue for infestation age.
Detecting these ova requires close inspection of fabric folds, stitching, and any exposed wood or plastic cavities. A flashlight held at an oblique angle can accentuate the reflective surface of the shells, making them more visible against the background material.