Why a Few Bed Bugs Are a Risk. While it's possible just a few hitchhikers found their way into your home after scuttling onto a piece of luggage after a hotel stay, or clinging to an overnight guest's clothing, if you find any, there are probably more. Bed bugs are not solitary creatures, and they live in large groups.
They do not build nests, but they are gregarious, which means they only hang out with others of their kind in numbers higher than two. They tend to move in groups and secure dark places and crevices as their hiding place. Therefore, seeing a single bed bug in the house might not be the end of the issue.
Finding one bed bug in a home is not necessarily a sign that an infestation is present. If you found a single bed bug, killed it, and can't find another after a thorough search, wait for a few days. Bed bugs don't take time off; if there are more, they will show themselves. Be vigilant.
Do Bed Bugs Usually Stay In One Room? Since bed bugs do not have wings and do not jump, some people incorrectly assume that they tend to stay in one room and not travel much. However, this is not true. Bed bugs move around quickly and seek any place where they can find their next blood meal (i.e. humans).
Most bed bug infestations see between 4 and 200 specimens within a home, but it is not uncommon for pest control professionals to treat homes containing well over 1,000 bed bug specimens. One recent infestation in a Tampa home saw more than 5,000 bed bug specimens beneath just one single bed.
Rusty or reddish stains on bed sheets or mattresses caused by bed bugs being crushed. Dark spots (about this size: ), which are bed bug excrement and may bleed on the fabric like a marker would. Eggs and eggshells, which are tiny (about 1mm) and pale yellow skins that nymphs shed as they grow larger.
Light Bed Bug Infestation
Few sightings and blood stains noted if any, 1-2 caught as specimens for identification, minimal irritation from bites.
It's best to keep the infestation localized to as few rooms as possible. This will also make remediation easier. Do continue to sleep in your bedroom after identifying a bed bug infestation. If you move rooms or start sleeping on the couch you run the risk of contaminating these other areas of your home.
Bed bugs are one of the worst pests when it comes to the spread of infestation. Bed bugs can move up to 25 feet per day, so if they really wanted to, so it's safe to say that you have a high risk of bugs in every room of your home.
You may have them for a while, but may not notice them until weeks, or even months later. Bed bug eggs take anywhere from six to 12 days to hatch, and the adult life span can be anywhere from six months to a year. That's why it's important to know these early signs of an infestation.
One bed bug could cause an infestation.
Can one bed bug cause an infestation? Well, if it's one male, there's no chance of an infestation. However, if it's an adult female, then the answer is yes - it could cause an infestation.
Bed bugs reproduce very quickly! A bed bug infestation can become a full-blown population within months. They also pop up in places you do not want them to exist, such as on your bedding or bed itself. The bed bugs that cause this problem will not go away on their own unless there is no food supply.
A bed bug treatment using heat kills bed bugs immediately, but there is no residual. A chemical bed bug treatment can take a few weeks, but it leaves a residual which provides continued protection from bed bug re-infestation.
A few bed bugs contained to one room of the house, such as one bedroom, can be eliminated fairly easily with professional assistance. If you ignore the problem, bed bugs will reproduce and multiply and can quickly infest your entire house, from couches to carpets and even clothing.
Avoid bringing worn items into bedrooms or placing items on furniture. Showering using soap and water is sufficient to remove bed bugs from your person.
Bed bugs are a public health pest. While bed bugs have not been shown to transmit disease, they do cause a variety of negative physical health, mental health and economic consequences. Some of these effects include: Allergic reactions to their bites, which can be severe.
While bedbugs are a nuisance and can be upsetting, they aren't known to transmit disease (their biology is a little different from bloodsucking insects that do transmit disease).
Bed Bugs Are Attracted to Warmth: FACT
Bed bugs know that a heat source is likely to mean a host is nearby. Your body temperature will give you away regardless of your clothing or the temperature of the room.
The first clue suggesting that you may have a bed bug infestation is often the presence of itching bites. However, bites reactions are quite variable and may not be due to bed bugs at all. Be aware of the other signs that bed bugs leave behind: fecal spots, molted skins, and aggregations.
While they are visible to the naked eye, bed bugs are exceptionally tiny, so you'll need to look closely in order to spot an infestation. Use a flashlight in dimly-lit areas. Look for droppings, skin casting, and rust-colored stains as evidence of a bed bug nest.
Within six months of introducing the original pregnant female bed bug into the home, you could be facing infestations in every room of the home. Populations by this point will have soared to well over 8,000 breeding adults, 100,000s of developing nymphs, and 50,000-60,000 eggs waiting to hatch.