According
to the work in the Journal of Medical Entomology, the blood-sucking insects
love black and red but hate yellow and green.
This
information could help make better traps to lure and catch the bugs.
But
it is too soon to say if yellow sheets can stop them nesting in your bed, say
the US researchers.
Bed bugs are tiny and they
like to live close to their next meal - your blood. They can hide in the seam
of your mattress or a joint in your bed frame. They tend to prefer fabric and
wood over plastic and metal.
But Dr Corraine McNeill
and colleagues wanted to find out if colours affected where bed bugs might
dwell.
They
carried out a series of experiments in their lab, placing bed bugs in dishes
with different colour shelters made out of card.
Rather
than taking cover at random, the bugs appeared to select the shelters according
to their colour, showing a preference for black and red.
Dr McNeill said:
"We originally thought the bed bugs might prefer red because blood is red
and that's what they feed on.
"However,
after doing the study, the main reason we think they preferred red colours is
because bed bug themselves appear red, so they go to these harborages because
they want to be with other bed bugs."
The
bugs appeared to dislike yellow and green shelters, possibly because these
bright colours remind them of brightly lit areas that are less safe to hide in,
say the researchers.
Past
studies have found these two colours are unattractive to other blood-sucking
insects such as mosquitoes and sandflies.
Dr
McNeill said: "I always joke with people, 'Make sure you get yellow
sheets!' But to be very honest, I think that would be stretching the results a
little too much.
"I
don't know how far I would go to say don't get a red suitcase or red sheets,
but the research hasn't been done yet, so we can't really rule that out
completely."
How to spot bed bugs:
Inspect the crevices
and joints of your mattress and bed frame for any visible bugs - they are flat,
oval-shaped and up to 5mm long and are red or brown in colour, depending on
when they last fed
Look for black spots
on your mattress - dried faeces from the bugs
Adult bugs can produce
an unpleasant musty odour that you might be able to smell
Check your sheets for
blood spots from squashed bed bugs
Look for any skin rash
or itchy bump from bed bug bites.
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