Why the Bedbug Come Back?

For those who experienced the nightmare of having bedbug in their house or apartment, they would know that it is not easy to get rid of these bugs. The victim has to clean up the house, throw away all infested furniture and needs to do a lot of cleaning. Normally, after 2 treatments, the problem will be solved. As long as they are careful not to bring back the bedbug to their home, they won’t have to worry anymore.

However, we do have some customers who called back after the second treatment and claimed that they still get bites from the bedbugs. From our survey, we found out that the tenants have indeed followed our instruction in cleaning the house and it is impossible for the bedbug to come back again after the second treatment.  

After more surveys and inspections, we finally found the answer to why and how the bedbug returned. Bedbugs came back because the time period between the first treatment and second treatment has been more than two weeks; close to a month. Now, why does that matters? In summer, the second treatment is normally one week after the first treatment because the temperature is higher and the eggs hatch within 7 to 10 days. In the winter, when the temperature dips, the eggs take more than 7 days to hatch. So, the second treatment is scheduled 2 weeks after the first treatment. When the second treatment has been delayed for over 2 weeks, there is a chance that those eggs hatch and the baby bedbugs will grow into adult bedbug and the adult bedbugs start lying eggs again. So, the second treatment kills the live bedbug, but leaves the eggs there. That’s why some tenants still have the bedbug problem after the second treatment.

Bedbug Issues

This morning I received a frantic telephone call from a couple dealing with a severe bedbug infestation. This couple live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with her husband. They have been living in a 1-bedroom apartment for over 2 years and have never encountered these creatures before in their entire lives until recently. They have traveled overseas for 2 weeks prior to his phone call, and when they returned they found hundreds of small oval dark red insects crawling all over the walls in their apartment.  At first they thought these insects were cockroaches and sprayed them with over-the-counter pesticides. Needless to say, the pesticide didn’t work and the next several evenings left them sleep deprived and inflicted with bedbug bites. Since they are renters, they contacted their landlord and management company who recommended that they contact us.

As they described their experience in detail to me, I tried to determine where the bedbug originated from. Could they have brought the bugs back with them from their travel abroad? Without identifying the source of the infestation, we will not be able to effectively eliminate and prevent new bedbugs from further infesting the apartment. Unfortunately they had mentioned that their building management company is not as alarmed by this incident as they should be and is insisting that the incident is isolated to their apartment only. Since we didn’t know where the bedbugs came from, I asked them to check with their neighbors to find out if they have a similar issue, and to confirm that the infestation is indeed isolated and confined only to their apartment. Since most of the neighbors were not home, they were going to contact them this evening and give me a call back tomorrow.