--- title: Bed Bugs Love This Color description: Bed bugs flock to red and black, while avoiding yellow and green areas, according to a new study on the insects canonical: https://time.com/4305066/bed-bugs-home-remedies/ author: Mandy Oaklander article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-25T13:00:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:45.489Z article:section: Health og:title: Bed Bugs Are Most Drawn to This Color og:description: Bed bugs flock to red and black, while avoiding yellow and green areas, according to a new study on the insects og:url: https://time.com/4305066/bed-bugs-home-remedies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7e55cdcd1539840/6988905ce20a874169a908c8/red-sheets.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2256 og:image:height: 1269 og:image:alt: red sheets og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bed Bugs Are Most Drawn to This Color twitter:description: Bed bugs flock to red and black, while avoiding yellow and green areas, according to a new study on the insects twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7e55cdcd1539840/6988905ce20a874169a908c8/red-sheets.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bed Bugs Are Most Drawn to This Color > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=cc1c122f-2cb2-4a8b-8fe0-d1af5444eb67&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species [Watch (HLS stream): Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zHyAT7e9.m3u8) (2:18)  _Published 2013-12-04. What are invasive species, and why are they dangerous? TIME's Bryan Walsh explains how animals like the Asian carp, lionfish, and Burmese python can be a threat._  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Apr 25, 2016 1:00 PM UTC  Red sheet drying on a chair Red sheet drying on a chair Getty Images  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Apr 25, 2016 1:00 PM UTC No two words stoke fear faster than “bed bugs.” They’re easy to spread, hard to see and nearly impossible, it seems, to eradicate. Thankfully, a new study published in the _Journal of Medical Entomology_ sussed out what could be a useful weapon against them: color. The scientists made tiny tents out of folded cardstock in eight different colors and placed them in Petri dishes. They then plopped a bed bug in the middle, who had 10 minutes to decide which tent to hide in. Overall, bed bugs strongly tended to choose red tents over the other colors, almost 29% of the time. Black was a close runner-up, drawing in bed bugs 23% of the time. Bed bugs pretty much avoided green and yellow tents. That might be because colors like green and yellow signal the outdoors or brightly lit areas, places where bed bugs aren’t typically found. And as for their love of red? “We originally thought the bed bugs might prefer red because blood is red and that’s what they feed on,” said study co-author Corraine McNeill, assistant professor of biology at Union College in Nebraska, in a statement. “However, after doing the study, the main reason we think they preferred red is because bed bugs themselves appear red, so they go to these harborages because they want to be with other bed bugs, as they are known to exist in aggregations.” Their color preferences depended on whether they were hungry, fed, old or young. Still, red and black were overwhelmingly the harbors of choice. So should you burn your red sheets? If only it were that simple. On its own, the color of your linens probably isn’t going to inoculate you against an infestation, the scientists point out (though they’re not ruling out that possibility yet). The scientists do think, however, that this insight into a bed bug’s favorite color could one day enhance the efficacy of bed bug traps. ## Transcript One of the biggest threats to endangered species isn't poaching, or pollution, or climate change. It's other animals. Here's what you need to know. Just look at the Asian carp, invasive species that have been threatening the US for years. The carp were imported by Midwest and fish farmers in the 1970s, eventually escaped due to flooding. The fish, which can grow as large as 110 pounds, who have a habit of leaping out of the water like silver missiles when they're threatened, are voracious eaters. US officials were so worried that the carp would make their way all the way up to the Mississippi River, and into the Great Lakes' ecosystem, that the White House named a carp czar in 2010, and has since spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to defend the Lakes; but those efforts may be for naught. A new study found out last month that a number of grass carp, a subspecies of Asian carp, seemed to have established themselves in a river that leads directly in to the Great Lakes, which means they could be setting up the stage to breed for years. Then there's the lion fish, a spine three- tipped species that has wreaked havoc in the Atlantic since it was accidentally introduced during Hurricane Andrew back in 1992. Lion fish is a rapid breeder, and an indiscriminate hunter, consuming more than 40 species, including valuable commercial ones like the grouper. Like many invasive species, they're especially dangerous because native species have no innate fear of them until too late. On land, Burmese pythons, often released accidentally as pets by their owners, have begun to menace the Florida everglades. The python can grow nearly 20 feet, can take down everything from bobcats to small alligators. In 2012, [ unk ] the everglades from the drastic reduction in the number of small mammals that tend to make up the diet of the python, a sign the snakes are beginning to have a major impact on one of the most important ecosystems in the United States. Given the threat from invasive species, it's unsurprising that governments spend billions of dollars a year in trying to deal with it. And the problem's getting worse. Part of the [ unk ] mixing up habitats, putting animals from one part of the world to another; while growing international trade can ship species across the globe. The fight against invasive species has long been a losing battle, and [ unk ] led some scientists to say time to stop trying to fight. After all, a species that left its home in Africa millions of years ago has since spread to every corner of the world. It should be a familiar one. 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