Why Do Bed Bugs Bite Me And Not My Husband?

A bed bug is a tiny insect that drinks human blood to survive. Bed bugs are no larger in size than a 5 pence piece and have brown bodies that turn red when they drink. Bed bugs are as skinny as a business card and hide in groups. 

A bed bug's small size, brown colour, and tendency to hide make removing this insect from your home a difficult task.

You wouldn’t know that you had bed bugs living with you unless you’d spotted their small bite marks on your skin. These show up as small red dots that become itchy over time. 

If your house now hosts these critters, they are usually found in small gaps close to your bed. Bed bugs live in and around beds because this is where they have quick access to a tasty meal - you. Bedbugs can also live in and around sofas.

Bed bugs are most active at night when you’re asleep, because they require up to ten minutes of undisturbed drinking to obtain enough blood from you.

Is It Possible For Only One Person To Get Bed Bug Bites?

It is possible for only one person in a home to get bed bug bites. Whether you get bitten or not can depend on which side of the bed you sleep, and whether you or your partner sleeps closest to the bed bugs hiding place.

A bed bug won’t travel unnecessary distances if it can help it, so will bite the person closest to where it lives. Bed bugs don’t need the blood of a specific person to survive, so will try to obtain it with as minimal effort as possible. To a bed bug, all blood is the same.

Why Do Bed Bugs Bite Some People And Don’t Bite Others?

Bed bugs don’t have the capacity to target specific people in your home. They can’t detect varying blood quality or any other factor that would encourage them to bite one person over another.

While bed bugs might bite you and not your husband because you sleep closer to their hiding place, it is more likely that they are actually biting him too. You react differently because not every person’s skin is equally sensitive to bed bug bites. You and your husband likely have different allergy levels to the bites.

Your husband is likely being bitten too, but his skin is less sensitive to the bite of the bed bug, so his skin doesn’t show a red mark or itch. This gives the illusion that he hasn’t been bitten and that you’ve been targeted, despite this probably not being true.

How Do You Keep Bed Bugs From Biting You?

The best strategy to keep bed bugs from biting you is the prevention method. This involves ensuring that your house is kept to a cleanliness standard that would deter bed bugs from moving in. 

You should remove clutter from around your bed and sofa because this may offer a good hiding place for the bed bugs. If the clutter has come from an external source, for example, a friend’s house, you may now own the item that carried the bed bugs into your home in the first place.

Covering gaps in the walls behind and around your bed is effective in helping to prevent you being bitten by bed bugs. Removing potential hiding places means the bed bugs won’t have shelter, encouraging them to move out.

A bed bug can’t bite you if it can’t get to your skin. Wearing long sleeved pyjamas and socks limits the available skin, and will help to stop bed bugs in their tracks. Wrapping yourself in bedding is effective, too.

Conclusion

While it is possible that bed bugs are only biting you because you sleep on the side closest to their hiding place, it’s more likely that they’re biting your husband too. However, because his skin is less sensitive to the bed bug bites, your partner may show no signs.

There are methods to prevent bed bugs biting you, including reducing the clutter in key areas and wearing clothes in bed that cover more of your skin.