Can bed bugs return after treatment? After you have successfully treated and killed them after an infestation.
In a word – yes. Here are the reasons.
Contents
First –
Even though you think that you killed all the bugs, and you may have, harder to kill are the eggs that they have laid. A single female can lay hundreds of eggs over her lifetime. So unless you have killed all the bugs AND all their eggs they are going to return.
Second –
You could easily be re-infested. Say your neighbor has bed bugs. If they haven’t successfully treated them the bugs can re-infest your home from there.
Here is an example. We used to live in a 12 story building that had bed bugs. Now the management worked very hard to kill the bugs. They treated 2 floors a month in addition to any unit that reported the bugs.
We would work really hard and had successfully eradicated the bugs from our unit. But every time the exterminators would spray on our floor, the floor above or the one below, we would see bed bugs again. We would have to start treating them again.
Third –
In the same building as above there were people who refused to let the exterminators in their unit. Even if they had an infestation. This was for a number of different reasons.
Maybe they were allergic to the chemicals. Or they were afraid of the chemicals. It could be the thought of someone coming into their home. Maybe they were among the people that aren’t bothered by bug bites.
It could be that they just don’t want to deal with preparing for the exterminator or the smells afterword.
Whatever the reason, the bugs were never totally exterminated. They would just travel up and down the building. Then they would re-infest units when they were gone.
Fourth –
The bugs are easy to get. Your child coming home from college or spring break could bring the bugs home along with them.
A neighbor could bring in a piece of furniture that has even one female bug in it – you can get infested again.
If you travel and stay in a place that is infested you can return with some of the bugs in your luggage and re-infest your home.
Conclusion –
So yes, Bed Bugs can return after treatment. What you have to do is start to treat them again – as soon as possible. The sooner you treat for bed bugs the easier it is to get rid of them again! Find out everything that you need to know to get rid of them in my new book.
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I picked up a walking invalid neighbor a good distance from home who uses a walker, but little did I know she wasn’t the only thing I’d “Picked up”; a day or so later I noticed a bed bug on the carpet, and another crawling on the living room chair, I flushed them down the toilet bowl think “So much for that.” A night or so later night I kept feeling something biting my lower back while in bed, yep, bed bugs. I removed the bedding, box spring and mattress treating them with an excellent bed bug spray–that was a year ago, but it looks like the little fellas have returned–filthy neighbors no doubt. Well, I guess it’s time to retreat.