Is it possible to only have a few bed bugs?

Why a Few Bed Bugs Are a Risk. While it's possible just a few hitchhikers found their way into your home after scuttling onto a piece of luggage after a hotel stay, or clinging to an overnight guest's clothing, if you find any, there are probably more. Bed bugs are not solitary creatures, and they live in large groups.

Bed bug infestations can multiply significantly. It only takes a few weeks for eggs to hatch, and female bugs can lay hundreds of eggs during their lifetimes. There might truly be just a few bed bugs. There might also be hundreds or thousands.

You don't necessarily have a problem if you just find one bed bug, either alive or dead. It's possible that you picked it up from somewhere and discovered it shortly after you brought it into your home.

How to Get Rid of Bedbugs

Histamine is the body's natural response to toxicity. Some of us don't react to bed bug bites even though we may have as many or even more bites than another family member. While you're covered in welts, others may appear to be bite-free. It's not that bed bugs only bite one person.

Yes, you can have just one bed bug present in your home that is if that bed bug is a loner and travels alone to your house, but most at times, the presence of one can mean the presence of many others also. Seeing one bed bug could mean that there are many others hiding somewhere else also, and can show up at any time.

The presence of only one fertile female bed bug in a friendly environment such as a single or multiple family dwelling is an infestation that is waiting to happen.

Rick Cooper, Ph. D., vice president/technical director, of Cooper Pest Solutions in Lawrenceville, N.J., agrees discovering one or two bed bugs should not set off a five-alarm alert because lower-level populations have barriers to successfully establishing a full-blown infestation.

Finding A Bed Bug or Casing

They're the shed exoskeletons as the bugs molt. These casings are often translucent but with a yellow tint. Live bed bugs are small and brown and typically look like the shape of an apple seed. If you see a live one, unfortunately, that is all the confirmation you need.

Where Bed Bugs Hide

If you suspect that you might have bedbugs, it's a good idea to check your mattress and bedding for rust-colored spots — this is what bed bug excrement looks like. Another sign could be shed exoskeletons that look like coffee grounds.

Wash everything on a high temperature or sanitary cycle for at least 30 minutes. Placing everything in the dryer on the hottest setting for 30 minutes will also kill bed bugs and larvae. Immediately after you're finished putting clothing in the washer, tie up and throw out the empty garbage bag in an outdoor trash bin.

They also pop up in places you do not want them to exist, such as on your bedding or bed itself. The bed bugs that cause this problem will not go away on their own unless there is no food supply. With over 12 months of lifespan without blood, they feed on anything else than blood.

There is no scientific evidence showing that bed bug bites always occur in threes. In reality, bed bug bites can appear in any number—as a single bite, a small cluster, or a large cluster—depending on the number of bed bugs and the severity of the infestation.

Bed bug bites often appear in a straight row or line, consisting of three or four bites, though this is not always the case. A flea wheal (red bump) becomes swollen less than an hour after the bite. It starts to itch immediately and persistently. The bite can turn into an open sore or blister in one to two days.

These night biters can be mites, fleas, mosquitoes, lice, spiders, and ticks. Most of these insect bite marks look alike; hence, you should first look for bedbugs and investigate further.

In most cases, a bed bug infestation will go unnoticed for a few months following a bed bug's initial introduction into a home. After an individual female bed bug collects its first blood-meal, she will immediately begin to lay around 3 eggs per day within a home.

Ultimately, it can take mere minutes to travel from room-to-room, with infestations growing in a matter of weeks or months. Every day, bed bugs can lay between one and 12 eggs, and anywhere from 200 to 500 eggs in a lifetime.

Bed bugs hate scents such as lemon scents, cinnamon oil, neem oil, spearmint, and silicone. They will hide from you when you use these smells.

Light Bed Bug Infestation

Minimal fecal staining (small black stains in areas of travel, feeding, and harborage). Fecal stains will be anywhere the bed bugs hide or travel and can be used to detect hot spots. Minimal cast skins (exuviae are the skins shed during the molting process).

When do bed bugs come out? Though these pests like to come out before dawn, don't think you can wait up all night to outsmart them. "A bed bug is an opportunist, and while their peak feeding time is between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., if you work nights they will come out and feed on you during the day," Furman says.

How to prevent bringing bed bugs into your home after traveling

It's best to keep the infestation localized to as few rooms as possible. This will also make remediation easier. Do continue to sleep in your bedroom after identifying a bed bug infestation. If you move rooms or start sleeping on the couch you run the risk of contaminating these other areas of your home.

Bed bugs are not known to spread pathogens through their bites. Bed bug bites can be itchy and stressful. Do not squish a bed bug as it will release the blood and any pathogens it may be carrying.

In 2009, EPA and CDC collaborated on a joint statement to highlight the public health impacts of bed bugs . Myth: Bed bugs won't come out if the room is brightly lit. Reality: While bed bugs prefer darkness, keeping the light on at night won't deter these pests from biting you.

Inspect the seams on the mattress, chair, couch, and between cushions as well as the space between shelf drawers in nightstands or dressers. If you see white spots on the furniture, it could be bed bug eggs or shed skin cells. They are shaped like a grain of rice, but smaller, and have a translucent pear white color.