Swallow Bugs Vs. Bed Bugs: How to Tell the Difference

Although swallow bugs are not as prevalent, particularly in urban and suburban areas, they are commonly mistaken for bed bugs. Both pests are small and similar in appearance, and many assume that they are dealing with a bed bug infestation when they may have just found a swallow bug. For this reason, it’s important to understand the differences between them.

The easiest way to differentiate between a swallow bug and a bed bug is based on appearance. Swallow bugs are generally smaller than bed bugs, are grayish in color, have long, fine hairs, and visible antennae. Bed bugs, on the other hand, do not have body hair, are reddish in color, and their antennae are not immediately visible.

However, there is much more to this battle of swallow bugs vs. bed bugs than appearance. Continue reading to learn more about how to identify these two pests properly so that you can address the problem accordingly.

Swallow bugs are one of several different types of bugs that look similar to bed bugs. Though, they are quite different. Swallow bugs get their name because they typically infest barn and cliff swallow nests. They are parasites that feed on these birds, but will also bite humans.

Swallow birds make their nests out of mud pellets and organic materials like hair, grass, fur, and feathers. These materials make a convenient place for swallow bugs to hide inside the birds’ nests. A swallow bug infestation can become so severe that many adult swallow birds may abandon their nests and even their hatchlings.

These pests attach to adult swallows’ feathers, which allows them to move from nest to nest. Swallow bugs can live without a source of food (blood) for an entire year, but may survive for up to three years without feeding. Because of this, they will wait in a nest until a swallow bird returns. The pests remain dormant during periods where swallows are not present and tend to emerge in late winter to early spring in anticipation of a new host.

Swallow bugs cannot reproduce unless they drink blood. They also can only develop and reproduce on the blood of cliff swallows. In fact, cliff swallows usually only return to nesting locations every other year to evade high populations of swallow bugs.

It is possible to find swallow bugs in residential settings. If you have swallow birds nesting on your property in your building, you may end up with swallow bugs in your home. Perhaps they fell out of the nest they were infesting and crawled into your home. While inside, they may hide in cracks and crevices in your flooring, gaps in your upholstery, mattresses, or even in your closet.

However, it is unlikely that you’ll have a full-on swallow bug infestation in your home unless you have a swallow nest in your home as well. Ohio and Colorado have previously reported swallow bug infestations in hotels and high rises, as swallow birds are very common in these particular states.

Since they survive on blood, swallow bugs do bite. Swallow bugs also can and will readily bite humans. There are two main periods when bites tend to peak. The first is in the spring and right before migrant swallows return to their nests and swallow bugs start to resume activity. Since most of the survivors are starved adults, they may aggressively seek out alternative blood sources.

Problems with swallow bites tend to subside when swallows are present and swallow bugs make their way to nesting areas. When the swallows abandon their nests, swallow bugs will be more commonly found inside homes and biting can occur.

Bed bugs, on the other hand, likely get their name from their habit of hiding in beds and feeding on human blood while they are sleeping. Although humans are their most common victim, bed bugs will also drink from a variety of warm-blooded animals.

The pests have been linked to humans for well over 3,300 years and are found virtually anywhere that humans like to gather, including homes, offices, hotels, schools, retail establishments, and even public transportation. Bed bugs are known for being brilliant “hitch hikers,” which is how they can travel such long distances. They will latch onto clothing, linens and even suitcases, ending up wherever these items go.

Since bed bugs are commonly confused with many other types of bugs, detection is challenging which populations to grow unseen.

Bed bugs are small, flat, oval-shaped, flightless pests with six legs that, like mosquitos, live off of the blood of humans and animals. They have a reddish-brown color and usually roughly the size of a poppy seed. Though, they can range in color from almost white to brown, turning a rust red after they’ve fed.

The common bed bug doesn’t grow much bigger than 0.2 inches and can be seen by the naked eye to the perceptive onlooker. However, nymphs are much smaller, approximately the size of the head of a pin, and can be more difficult to see. Although adult bed bugs have structures on their back that look like wings, called wing pads, they do not and cannot fly.

Related Questions

Do swallow bugs fly?

Swallow bugs do not and cannot fly. They also lack any sort of wing structure. Though, swallow bugs do have exceptionally strong hind legs that allow them to crawl and climb around swallow nests and potentially make their way into your home.

What bugs are often mistaken for bed bugs?

In addition to swallow bugs, booklice, fleas, ticks, cockroach nymphs, carpet beetles, and spider beetles are some of the bugs that are commonly mistaken as bed bugs. The welts that form as a result of bed bug bites also do not distinguish the pest, as the bites look very similar to itchy bug bites from a number of other pests.