Even if you don't invite bedbugs for a nightcap, they're sure to find their way into your home and in your bed if you share clothes or use dirty bedsheets.
Aside from soiled bedding or clothing, you can pick up these critters from hotels, theaters, buses and other forms of public transport.
The adult bedbug is six to seven millimeters long but the female can lay hundreds of eggs. These are usually found in cracks or crevices in the home or in bedsheets or mattresses. In warm weather, the eggs hatch into nymphs in six to 10 days.
For the nymph to grow and transform into an adult bedbug, it needs a steady supply of blood. This lust for blood starts the moment the insect begins shedding its skin.