Bed bugs are a nightmare for anyone who experiences an infestation. They can be extremely difficult to get rid of, and many people continue to wonder if the bed bugs are really gone even after extensive treatment efforts. Knowing for sure if you have eliminated bed bugs successfully is critical before declaring victory.
Look for Live or Dead Bed Bugs
The most straightforward way to check if you still have bed bugs is to thoroughly inspect areas where they have been found or are likely to hide. Use a flashlight to illuminate cracks and crevices and look for any signs of live bed bugs or shed skins and fecal stains from bed bugs. Key areas to inspect include:
- The seams, tufts, and edges of mattresses and box springs
- Behind headboards
- Inside bed frames and furniture
- Underneath chair and sofa cushions
- Inside drawers and nightstands
- Behind baseboards and electrical outlets
- Under loose wallpaper and paint
Look for all life stages of bed bugs including eggs, nymphs, and adults. Also inspect for any cast molted skins, which feel brittle and look pale and empty. Look for fecal stains which may appear as dark spots or smears in bed bug hiding areas. The presence of any live bed bugs or these signs indicates the infestation is still active.
Monitor for New Bites
Keep a close eye out for any new bite marks appearing on your body, which may indicate lingering bed bugs. Bed bug bites typically occur on exposed areas of skin and often appear in linear groups or clusters of 3-4 bites, referred to as “breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” The bites may be red, swollen, and itchy.
Check your body thoroughly after sleep and look closely at the arms, legs, neck, face, and other commonly bitten places. Having regular new bite marks appear is a clear sign that bed bugs remain.
Install Bed Bug Traps and Monitors
There are a variety of bed bug traps, interceptors, and monitors that can be used to detect bed bug activity:
- Bed bug interceptors: These are small dish-shaped traps that go under the legs of beds and furniture to catch bed bugs as they travel to feed. Any bed bugs appearing in the traps indicates an infestation.
- CO2 traps: These use carbon dioxide, heat, and chemical lures to attract and trap bed bugs.
- Climbup interceptors: These traps are designed to catch bed bugs climbing up the legs of furniture and beds.
- Pheromone monitors: They use chemical attractants to draw in bed bugs and can detect low level activity.
Use monitors and traps throughout the infested rooms and check them regularly for any signs of captured bed bugs. Finding bed bugs confirms they are still present.
Bring in a Bed Bug Detection Dog
Trained scent detection dogs can pinpoint live bed bug infestations with extremely high accuracy. They can locate very small numbers of bugs in obscure hiding spots that may be missed otherwise. Dogs can cover large areas and multiple rooms in a short time.
If you hire a reputable bed bug detection company, they will bring a certified dog to thoroughly sniff your home. If the dog signals it has picked up bed bug scent, then some are likely still present.
Conduct a Professional Inspection
You can have a licensed pest control professional do a thorough bed bug inspection throughout your home. They have extensive experience identifying bed bug signs and confirming active infestations. An inspection typically involves:
- Thoroughly looking in all bed bug hiding spots
- Flushing agents to drive bed bugs out of cracks
- Steam treatment of furniture seams and tufts
- Checking for fecal stains and shed skins
The pest control expert will provide confirmation on whether bed bugs have been eliminated or are still present after the inspection.
Take Preventative Measures
There are some additional precautions you can take to avoid bed bugs from getting reestablished:
- Isolate your bed by ensuring it does not touch walls or furniture. Pull it away from the wall.
- Seal cracks along baseboards, behind wall outlets, and anywhere pipes come through walls with caulk.
- Use mattress and box spring encasements to trap any bugs inside.
- Place furniture legs in bed bug interceptor traps.
- Reduce clutter such as stacks of clothes or paper to limit bed bug hiding spots.
Carefully following prevention guidelines makes it easier to detect any new bed bug activity after treatment and confirms if elimination was successful.
Wait the Recommended Time
After extensive bed bug treatment measures, you should continue to monitor and use preventative measures for the time period recommended by the pest control company, which is typically at least 2-3 weeks. Persistent bed bugs can emerge weeks after initial treatment.
You need to remain vigilant for any recurring signs of infestation during this time frame. If no evidence of bed bugs is found after the waiting period, it is a positive sign that elimination was effective.
Consider Follow-Up Insecticide Treatments
Some pest management professionals recommend scheduled follow-up insecticide treatments after the initial bed bug elimination work. This helps kill off any bed bugs emerging from eggs that survived.
Follow-up treatments are typically scheduled 2 weeks and 1 month after the initial treatment. Allowing insecticides to work over time helps ensure complete eradication.
Heat Treat the Home
Heating infested areas to lethal temperatures is the most thorough non-chemical way to kill all bed bug life stages. Professional heat treatments involve warming a room or entire home to at least 122°F for an extended period to penetrate furniture and kill bugs.
Heat reaches pesticide-resistant bed bugs hiding in inaccessible crevices. Conducting a comprehensive heat treatment can provide definitive confirmation that all bed bugs have been eliminated.
Conclusion
Eliminating bed bugs completely often requires diligence and patience before success can be reliably confirmed. The most certain way to know if bed bugs have been eradicated is through a lack of any new visual signs, bites, or trapped live bugs over an extended period of strict monitoring and prevention. Bringing in bed bug detection dogs and professionals also provides confirmation that your efforts have succeeded.
With thorough inspection, monitoring, and treatment inside cracks and crevices where bed bugs hide, you can rest assured knowing your home is bed bug free.