If you see one bed bug does it mean there are more?

Answer 1

Most people will tell you yes, but I will disagree. A few years ago, when I was cleaning houses for a living, I found a bed bug in my bed. I assume it probably attached to me from one of the houses I cleaned and I just brought it home. Over the four years I cleaned house, this probably happened to me three or four times that I would find one crawling on my bed. HOWEVER...until this major, rampant epidemic...and I actually saw what a bed bug looked like at stage 5...I had no idea what it was, because I never saw another except for those isolated incidence, and I never had any bites on me of any type. I do wash my bedding often, though. Not sure if that makes a difference, but when I was my bedding, I do everything from the mattress pad to the comforter, and of course...the sheets. So I think it's possible to only have one, since I have never had an infestation.

Answer 2

Probably but not necessarily. It is conceivably possible that there is just that one bedbug which could be the result of just one egg having hatched near where you sleep or else you may have unwittingly given a ride to just that one bedbug into your home say in your clothes or shoes, without realising it and it may then have crawled out when you were asleep and found somewhere in or near your bed to hide in and feed without being spotted.

But if you see one bedbug it is far more likely there are more. This is because each female adult bedbug lays a dozen or more eggs nightly. So when you see that one bedbug she or her mate has very likely been around your home for some time and laid many eggs, and those eggs she laid will have hatched within about a fortnight of the egg being laid to bring more new bedbugs into your home which after five moults may have become an adult and so more and more eggs will very likely have been laid.

But to be really sure if you see a bedbug look around in or near your bed and on yourself to see if there are other signs. The likelihood is you will have been their food and most people get re4d bite marks usually over their limbs, but not everybody gets these. Other signs are red blood marks on your bed linen or near your bed, little black deposits on your sheets that look like mascara and tiny deposited insect skins in or near your bed. The other good way to find out is look at your mattress during the day and use a brush or blade to run along folds and crevices in your mattress. if you disturb one it will race to find somewhere dark, and that will tell you, yes there are more and you have a problem in your bed.

Answer 3

Yes, bed bugs are really hard to find. They are very tiny and like to hide in cracks and cervices. They do not come out until after dark.

The best way to inspect for bed bugs is at night when the light has been off for a while. Take a flash light and look under your mattress or couch or carpet.

If you see that it is infested then you need to take control right away.

Spray or dust your mattress and carpet and any other infested areas with bed bug control products.

Also mattress encasements are a good idea. Being able save your mattress is a big plus.

Try sprays such as Bed Lam, Rest Easy (all natural substance), or Steri Fab, or dusts such as Mother Earth Dust, Drione Dust. (Use a tool like bellow bulb duster to make the jab easier.)

Answer 4

No Bedbugs sometimes nest in your bed and sometimes nearby but not necessarily in your bed. They may be in furniture near your bed or under the carpet or in a hole in the wall or in a chair or couch or TV set or radio or computer in the room the bed is also in.

But they will climb up into your bed from wherever their nest is while you are asleep for their meal which takes each bedbug 5 to 15 minures. They are enticed into the bed because they detect the CO2 breathed out by whoever is asleep in the bed The bedbugs may nest in various locations near where the person is asleep like the mattress, couch etc. and just crawl into your bed at mealtimes (most typically about an hour before sunrise) when they detect the breath, have the blood meal and then go back to the mattress or couch.

If you use mattress protector, that will offer maximum protection against bed bugs and mites that are nesting in the mattress as these will be trapped inside so not able to get out to feed. But having a mattress protector will not stop bedbugs nesting anywhere else from continuing to crawl up the legs of the bed and along the sheets and on to sleeping person for more meals. These bedbugs can then return to their nest after completion of their meal to lay more eggs, which will continue to increase bedbug population outside the mattress protector when eggs hatch.

Answer 5

Have the whole area treated by a professional very quickly.
It may then be ok to look into mattress and pillow covers for your beds to kill/suffocate the few bugs you have before they have time to reproduce..


I know they sell a lot of anti-bed bug products at http://www.bedbug.com if you're interested.

Answer 6

They may or may not become established. You will only know for sure after a recheck in a month or two.

Answer 7

It's certainly possible.