The short answer
No. Bed bugs cannot jump and they cannot fly: they have no wings and no jumping legs. They crawl, at roughly the speed of an ant, and travel further by hitching a ride in luggage, bags, clothes and second-hand furniture. If something is jumping, it is more likely a flea.
It is one of the first things people ask once they know they have bed bugs, usually while looking nervously at the ceiling. The answer is reassuring in one way and less so in another.
Bed bugs cannot jump
A bed bug has six short legs built for walking and gripping, not for jumping. There is no spring in them like a flea or a grasshopper has. A bed bug cannot leap from the floor to the bed, from one bed to another, or from a person onto you.
Bed bugs cannot fly
Adult bed bugs have only tiny wing pads, left over from their ancestors, which do nothing. They have no working wings at all. They will not fly across a room, and they will not drop from the ceiling and glide onto the bed. People sometimes report bed bugs “falling” from above; in practice that is a bug that crawled up a wall and lost its grip, not one that flew.
So how do they get around?
They walk, and they hitch lifts.
Walking
A bed bug walks at roughly the speed of a small ant. It is not fast, but it is steady, and over a night it can cover the distance from a skirting board to a bed and back with ease. They walk up bed legs, along cables, behind skirting and through gaps between floorboards and around pipes.
In houses joined to their neighbours, that last point matters. Older Sheffield terraces and semis often have gaps under floors and round pipework that run between houses, and flats share walls and service runs. Bed bugs can walk from one home to the next this way, which is why a pest controller may ask whether next door has a problem too.
Hitching a ride
This is how bed bugs cover long distances. They hide in:
- suitcases and holdalls, especially after a stay in a hotel, hostel or shared room,
- the seams of bags and coats put down on a bed or sofa,
- second-hand beds, sofas, mattresses and bedside tables,
- boxes and furniture moved between shared houses at the end of a tenancy.
They are not attracted to dirt and they do not live on people the way head lice do. Each night they creep out for a meal and then retreat into a crack or seam close by.
If it jumps, it is probably a flea
This is the most useful thing to take from the question. If you have seen small insects jumping on the carpet, the bed or a pet, think fleas before bed bugs:
| Bed bugs | Fleas | |
|---|---|---|
| Movement | Crawl only | Jump a long way for their size |
| Body | Round-ish and flattened top to bottom | Thin, as if squeezed from both sides |
| Usual hiding places | Bed seams, frames, skirting by the bed | On the dog or cat, in rugs and pet beds |
| Bites | Often on arms, neck and face, skin left uncovered in bed | Often round the ankles and lower legs |
The two need different treatments, so getting this right saves money. If you are not sure, a professional inspection will settle it.
What this means for stopping the spread
Because bed bugs crawl and hitch lifts, the way to stop them spreading is to stop moving them around:
- Do not move rooms. Sleeping on the sofa or in the spare room gives them a new place to live.
- Do not carry bedding or clothes loose through the house. Bag them in the room, then take them straight to the washing machine.
- Pull the bed a few centimetres away from the wall and keep bedding off the floor, so the bed legs are the only way up.
- Use interceptor cups under the bed legs. Because bed bugs cannot jump or fly, cups that trap them as they climb are a simple way to see whether they are there. Our guide to bed bug interceptors explains how they work.
- Check luggage after a trip before it goes upstairs, and check second-hand furniture before it comes into the house.
- Do not put an infested mattress out on the street unwrapped. Somebody may take it home.
The less reassuring part
Bed bugs do not need to jump or fly to be a nuisance. They are very good at hiding, they can go a long time between meals, and a small number left behind after a half-hearted treatment can start the whole thing again. That is why professional treatment is planned in visits, and why the NHS advises getting the council or a pest control firm in rather than relying on home methods.
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