Based on recent statistical revelations, bed bugs are increasingly becoming a menace in modern society. Whenever you move into a new home or apartment, you will likely wonder whether any bed bugs are lingering around. Inspecting any living space for bed bugs is challenging, considering they are tiny.
Bed bug infestations do not manifest instantaneously because they take time to breed, propagate and multiply. Knowing how long a bed bug infestation takes to manifest is in your best interest. This post discusses bed bug infestations and how long they take to manifest, putting you in a better position to control them.
What is a Bed Bug Infestation
A bed bug infestation is a grouping or cluster of adult bed bugs, nymphs, and bed bug eggs at a particular spot. It is usually characterized by rusty dark spots, bed bug exoskeletons, egg shells, and even a grouping of adult bed bugs. You will often find these signs on mattress edges, bed crevices, joints, cracks, walls, or furniture.
A female could migrate, lay eggs and give rise to several infestations. We cannot exactly say that a certain number of bed bugs or eggs determine either the presence or absence of an infestation. A single fertile bed bug in your bed could multiply in days or weeks to form an infestation. Once you spot a live bed bug or any sign of bed bugs, it is always safer to take the necessary steps to eradicate an infestation.
Early Signs of a Bed Bug Infestation
The harrowing tales of people dealing with infestations will probably make you panic. Panic leads to several mistakes when getting rid of bed bugs. Just because you have spotted a single bed bug in your house does not necessarily mean that you have an infestation. It may just be a single bed bug that hitchhiked from your travels. It, however, does not mean that you should get complacent with dealing with it. That single bed bug could be why you will be spending hundreds of dollars on bed bug extermination.
Lucky for you, there are early signs of an infestation that you can look out for. Frequent travels to high-risk areas like hotels, hostels, or using public transportation especially call for a keen eye. These are some of the signs you are most likely to see when you have a bed bug infestation on your hands:
- Bed bug eggs, shells, and nymphs
- Blood stains on your white bedding
- Tiny dark, rusty spots of bed bug excrement
- Adult bed bugs on your resting spots or clothes
- Bed bug bites on skin that appear as small clustered itchy bumps with dark spots in the middle
These signs alone are not enough to ascertain the infestation size. Once you see them, take time to investigate. When you uncover an infestation, you may have to isolate your bedding, bags, clothes, and other belongings. Also, examine other bed bug hotspots, as this will determine how you will handle the situation moving forward.
How Long Bed Bug Infestations Take to Manifest
The time taken for an infestation to manifest depends on the number of bed bugs in your house. If the bed bugs are fertile engorged females, the situation will escalate quickly. Other factors that come to play also include the availability of feeding hosts and whether the environment in your home is favorable for bed bug breeding. The presence of adequate feeding hosts, alongside humid and dark conditions, speeds up the time it will take for the infestation to manifest.
A healthy blood-fed female bed bug hatches about 2-5 eggs per day and a total of about 200-500 eggs her whole life. A full life cycle may take as little as five weeks. This means that by now, the hatched eggs will be developed enough to wreak havoc in your house. Generally, going by the bed bug life cycle, it would take about 2 to 3 months for a bed bug infestation to manifest.
Point to Note: Bed bug nymphs, however small, can still bite you.
Best Ways to Get Rid Of a Bed Bug Infestation
For most people, pesticides are the go-to plan to exterminate bed bugs. Here at Townhustle, we do not recommend this for you. Most market insecticides are not as effective in killing these bed bugs as they claim.
Over the years, bed bugs have developed resistance to pesticides through thickening cuticles. This meant that pesticides could not now penetrate their hardy cuticles. According to a study, metabolic resistance through increased detoxification, behavioral resistance through avoidance of areas with these pesticides, and symbiont-mediated resistance enabled bed bugs to survive previously acclaimed pesticides like DDT.
Prolonged pesticide application harms you, your kids, and your pets. It would be wise to use eco-friendly do-it-yourself bed bug extermination options that have been tested and proven to work. The effectiveness of most safe bed bug treatment options often depends on how early you were able to detect an infestation. These are some of them:
- Essential oils: You can use essential oils against bed bugs that threaten to plague your life. Applied undiluted, these essential oils work to repel and even kill bed bugs. Some of the options you can pick from include; tea tree oil, lemongrass oil, peppermint oil, lavender oil, clove oil, cinnamon oil, eucalyptus oil, thyme oil, neem oil, blood orange oil, oregano oil, spearmint oil, basil oil, cedarwood oil, and anise star oil.
- Silica gel: Silica oil, a desiccant, works by destroying the waxy, protective outer covering of bed bugs, leaving them to dehydrate and die. Its advantage over the other desiccants’ is that it works longer, even long after application.
- Vacuuming: Concentrate on cracks, gaps, and crevices on your furniture and walls where bed bugs hide. While it works on bed bugs and nymphs, it may not be as effective on bedbug eggs as they are covered in a sticky compound that sticks them to various services.
- Washing machine and drier: Using your washing and dryer at high-temperature settings helps eliminate bed bugs.
- Plastic Mattress encasement: This keeps bed bugs away from your mattress. If your mattress has bed bugs, a plastic encasement will seal them, keeping them away from you.
- Freezing: Freezing may be hard to achieve through conventional house appliances. Pressurized carbon dioxide is the best freezing agent because it penetrates cracks and crevices, thus, killing bed bugs and their eggs.
Tips To Avoid Bed Bug Infestations
Pest control professionals deal with bed bugs more than any other pest, according to the 2018 Bed Bug without Borders Survey. While there is no full-proof solution for avoiding bed bugs, there are some things you can do to protect yourself. Here are a few tips that you should know:
- Declutter your environment. This serves to reduce bed bug hiding places while at the same time easing the detection of bed bugs and subsequent extermination plans.
- Avoid second items that can transmit bugs to your home. Be careful about bags, clothes, furniture, and electronics. As enticing as that couch on your neighbor’s curb is, it may be why you will not get a good night’s sleep for months to come. If you have to purchase second-hand goods, carefully inspect every nook and cranny for bed bug signs.
- Regularly apply bed bug repellants like essential oils and silica gel to your bedding and furniture.
- For those traveling enthusiasts or business folks, take time to inspect the beds and furniture of the motels or any other room you spend the night in away from home. When you get home, immediately isolate clothes and bags and wash them at high temperatures.
- Frequent vacuuming will remove any hitchhiking bed bugs from your belongings.
- You could also opt for mattress encasings to protect your mattress from infestation. Plastic encasings are somewhat harder to infest as their dry conditions discourage breeding.
- Always exercise vigilance in your home and where you visit. Make a habit of inspecting your bedding and furniture. It may just save you the costs of exterminating bed bugs.
Final thoughts
A single hitchhiker female bed bug can quickly progress to a full-blown infestation that will have you sleepless, throwing out expensive furniture and dishing out dollars to bed bug extermination companies. It would be impossible to know how long that bed bug has been in your home or whether there are others. Once you have spotted a single bed bug, you should assume there is an infestation and take the necessary steps to deal with it leaving no stone unturned. As always, prevention is better than cure.
FAQs
Does a single bed bug mean an infestation?
No. It may be a single hitchhiker you picked from your travel, but you should inspect your house for more.
Can you catch a bed bug infestation early?
Yes. If you are lucky, the bed bugs may not have hatched yet.
What is the cost of getting rid of a bed bug infestation?
This will depend on your choice of managing the infestation. Do-It-Yourself bed bug eradication strategies are cheaper than calling bed bug extermination companies.
Why is it hard to uncover a bed bug infestation?
Bed bugs are good at hiding. A spotless bed may have you lowering your guard when they may be hiding in the ceiling or cracks.