Once you detect a bed bug infestation in a room, do you have to worry about the other rooms in your house?
Bed bugs don’t usually stay in one room. They are mobile creatures. They usually crawl from room to room, and from apartment to apartment, in search of food. They also travel in order to escape from pesticides and bed bug dispersal agents.
In cases where they hitchhike on a person’s clothing or luggage, they can even travel across continents. They will simply go as far as that person goes.
Bed bugs spread fast from room to room. While they can only move at a top speed of about 4 feet per minute, they spread very fast because they can attach themselves to shoes, clothes, beddings, and other items.
Any time that these items are moved from one room to the next, or from one apartment to the next, bed bugs will move with them.
Also, a single bed bug can lay up to 500 eggs in its lifetime, this is usually enough to start a full-blown infestation in a new area. This is so especially when you consider the fact that it can take as little as 6 days for a bed bug’s eggs to hatch.
How Do Bed Bugs Move From One Room to the Next?
The following are the different ways through which bed bugs move from one room to the next.
They Attach Themselves to a Person
If you sit or sleep in an infested room, bed bugs will crawl and attach themselves to your clothes or shoes. And when you move to the next room, they can then crawl off your clothing and into furniture or beddings.
It is because of this that it is often inadvisable to shift rooms when dealing with bed bugs. At least, you shouldn’t do it as a way of avoiding bed bugs as you will be simply helping to spread the infestation.
They Escape From Vacuum Bags
Vacuuming is an easy and convenient way of removing bed bugs. However, vacuum bags are not equipped to contain bed bugs.
Therefore, if you simply vacuum and then dispose of the vacuum bags, as usual, you will risk spreading the infestation. Instead, you should wrap the vacuum bags in an air-tight plastic bag before disposing of them.
Why Is It Hard To Keep Bed Bugs in One Room?
It is challenging to contain bed bugs and to keep them from spreading, because of the following reasons.
They Crawl Through Small Cracks
Their small size makes it possible for bed bugs to crawl through even their tiniest of cracks. This makes it challenging to use barriers or any other physical means of stopping them. Therefore, in most cases, they can always roam around the home as freely as they like.
They Are Hard To Detect
Bed bugs are very good at hiding. As a result, it is challenging to detect them early on. This means that by the time you take precautionary measures, chances are that it might be already too late.
They Multiply Fast
Bed bugs lay a lot of eggs. This makes it easier for them to outgrow their existing habitat and for their populations to spill to the next room or apartment. As a result, given enough time, it is almost inevitable that they will spread to an adjacent room.
They Are Expert Hitchhikers
Bed bugs stick on people’s clothes. They also hide in items. Therefore, anyone who enters an infested room and moves to another one will likely spread it.
The same applies to infested items. If you unknowingly move the items to another room, you will have inadvertently transferred the bed bugs to a new room.
How Do You Keep Bed Bugs From Moving to Another Room?
You keep bed bugs from moving from room to room by doing the following.
Killing and Removing Them
The best way to keep bed bugs contained in one room is to kill them before they have the chance to multiply and spread.
Whether it is through steaming, vacuuming, applying diatomaceous earth, pyrethrins, or any other technique, you should do it as soon as you detect the presence of bed bugs in your home.
Using Plastic Encasements
Bed bugs cannot chew through plastic. Therefore, you can keep bed bugs contained by placing infested items inside plastic bags. Doing so will deny them the chance to roam around your house.
Vacuuming
Vacuuming sucks bed bugs and their eggs into the vacuum bags. Doing so consistently is, therefore, a reliable way of reducing the bed bug population in your home. This is so especially if you focus your vacuuming on crevices, corners, seams, and other hard-to-reach places.
Using Bed Bug Interceptors
Bed bug interceptors are devices that you install on the foot of your bed and furniture. These devices trap bed bugs before they have a chance to climb up into your bed.
While they are primarily used to keep bed bugs from crawling up furniture and appliances, they can also come in handy in containing them. This is because when they trap bed bugs, they reduce their mobility. And this can come in handy in helping to restrict their movement.
Sealing Cracks
Bed bugs hide in cracks. They can also use these cracks – if they are deep enough to extend from one room to the next – to spread throughout a home.
Therefore, if you have a crack in your home, the first step should always be to seal them. This means a lot of caulking, sanding, and painting. And this should always be done before bed bug removal commences.
Washing Laundry in Hot Water
Bed bugs cannot survive extremely high temperatures. Washing laundry in hot water will kill bed bugs. This will reduce their population. And it will thus reduce the risks of ending up with roaming bed bugs.
Restricting Movement
The best chance that bed bugs have of moving to a new place is by taking a ride on an unsuspecting person’s clothes. Therefore, if you don’t want to keep new infestations from springing up, you will need to limit activity in infested rooms or areas.
Hire a Professional Bed Bug Exterminator Near You
If you have a bed bug problem in your home, the best way to guarantee that they will never come back is to hire a professional near you.
The ideal method of finding a bed bug removal expert near you is to use GoTreeQuotes.com. It offers a free service that quickly matches you with the top-voted local experts in your area.
Using the website, you can get 3 estimates fast by real certified experts in your area in just 2 minutes. Here is how it works.
- You scroll to the top of the page and enter your Zip code.
- Answer questions about your bed bug problem
- Your details will be forwarded to three local experts.
- You will then receive a price estimate for the job and some friendly advice.
IMPORTANT: There is no obligation to hire. This is a free tool and service to be used at your pleasure.
FAQ's
Yes, you can remove bed bugs in your home.
It is a great alternative if you don’t have the budget for hiring professionals. It may also be a good option if you want a temporary solution to a raging bed bug problem – as you wait for professionals to fix it.
However, given that killing bed bugs is tricky, going for a professional is always a recommended option.
Extreme heat kills bed bugs instantly.
Bed bugs and their eggs will die after a brief exposure to 118 degrees Fahrenheit. They will thus die instantly if they are exposed to temperatures that are significantly higher than that.
Yes, bed bugs can come back after treatment.
Ineffective Removal
They can make a comeback if you don’t kill all the bed bugs and eggs in your home. This may happen when you use an ineffective treatment. It can also happen when you don’t follow the right procedures for removing bed bugs and their eggs.
Reintroduction
Bed bugs can also come back if they are reintroduced into your home. This may happen if your luggage gets mixed with infested items. It can also happen if you visit a home that has bed bugs and they attach themselves to your clothes.
