You’ve exhausted all efforts to kill the bed bugs in your home, used sprays, vacuumed all cracks and crevices, and even purchased a new mattress, but somehow, these tiny and persistent pests still return. Is it normal to find bed bugs after you treated your home?
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Is it common to see bed bugs after treatment?
Yes, it is actually quite common to find bed bugs nearby or even in a room that you’ve treated for weeks and months as bed bugs are simply very resilient pests. It is also normal for bed bugs to come back and settle in a new mattress. You might even be surprised that sometimes, an infestation can become worse than before.
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What could have caused bed bugs to return after treatment?
There are many reasons why bed bugs return after treatment:
1) The treatment methods chosen or used were inadequate.
If you find bed bugs after treatment, it’s likely the treatment methods used were not effective or sufficient to get rid of them properly. Or you could have successfully killed the adults but eventually the eggs hatch into new bed bugs.
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2) You weren’t able to treat the room thoroughly
The next more likely cause would be that you’ve missed or overlooked certain areas in the house like the floors, carpets, cabinets, and other surfaces. Bed bugs have very flat and tiny bodies that allow them to very easily squeeze in between cracks, wooden planks etc.
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3) These bugs may have returned from an outdoor source
It is also possible that there’s an re-infestation from outside of the house. This could be due to the returning of escaped bed bugs or even possibly new bed bugs making its way into the room. Bed bugs have the ability to travel as much as 20 feet a day. From an infested sofa in your patio or from an old car in your garage, these bugs can enter your home and re-infest it right after you have treated everything indoors.
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What can you do if you still see bed bugs after treatment?
If you do spot bed bugs after a treatment, chances are that there could still be a lot of survivors hiding in the mattress, bed frame, or anywhere inside the room. If that’s the case, be sure to conduct another round of investigation to ensure that’s not really the case, and to kill the ones you do spot (before they manifest).
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If the infestation persist after a bed bug treatment, here are what you’ll need to do to make sure you get it right this time:
1) Take a step back to evaluate and identify the problem
Think about what could have possibly gone wrong the first time (based on the above scenarios). Could it be a certain blind spot or area you missed in the treatment. Were there adequate applications applied during treatment? What could be the cause of a re-infestation? Is it possible that your pets brought any back into the house?
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2) Examine the seriousness
Next step is to evaluate the severity of the re-infestation and decide your next cause of action. Is it better to try it yourself again while ensuring the mistakes identified in step 1 were not repeated? Or is it better to engage a professional.
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3) Take drastic action
Once you’ve decided, then it’s time to take drastic actions to end this. Try your best to replace the entire infested mattress, pillow, bolster or even carpet and floorings. Try to fill up cracks around the house where bed bugs might be able to hide. Do not allow re-entry into the treated area until a while later and that you have done another round of through checks.
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4) Prevention is always better than cure
Once you are sure that the treatment was effective this time to get rid of all bed bugs, it’s not time to rest. Set up preventive measures in the room to prevent any future re-infestation.
This can be done by placing bed bug interceptors on table legs, bed frame legs and chair legs at home where bed bugs can make their way up to get to the human. This will catch them in their track and allow you to identify any first signs of bed bugs at home.
Also consider getting a set of good bed bug mattress encasement to protect your mattress from any future infestation.
Final Thoughts
Getting rid of bed bug infestation is one of the most challenging and even if you do treat the house properly, you will likely still face a certain degree of phobia (at least in the beginning).
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That said, don’t live in your phobia that you could properly enjoy your treated home. On the other hand, don’t fully turn a blind eye from any suspicion of bed bugs around the house.