If One Room Has Bed Bugs, Do They All? Yes, It Can!

Finding bed bugs in a room is a scary scenario. It’s a clear sign that your room is under the grips of bed bug infestation.

But does sighting of bed bugs in one room mean that the entire home has bed bugs?

In this guide you’ll find research-backed answer to if one room has bed bugs, do they all? 

And if they do, then what factors play the role of spread of bed bugs inside the home.

Plus, a lot more.

Let’s get into it.

Bed Bug Infestation In One Room Can Spread To Other Rooms

If one room has bed bugs, it doesn’t necessarily mean all rooms will have them. It depends on the intensity of the bed bug infestation and how long the infestation has been active.

However, bed bugs can easily spread from room to room, especially in situations where people are moving between rooms frequently.

How Do Bed Bugs Spread From One Room To Another?

Bed bugs are excellent hitchhikers and can move from one location to another with ease. They’ll latch onto things that you move between rooms to spread to other rooms.

Bed bugs don’t fly or jump, but they crawl very quickly over floors, walls, and ceilings. 

This makes the spread of bed bugs from room to room, house to house, and even city to city quite easy. Here are the common ways they can spread:

Human Movement

Bed bugs are great hitchhikers.

They can latch onto clothing, luggage bags such as suitcases, backpacks, or other personal items, which you move from room to room or even building to building. 

Human movements can even cause bed bugs to get into areas like basement, bedroom, and garage, where there’s minimum to no chances of getting bloodmeals.

Infested Objects

Bed bugs can also arrive in rooms by latching onto furniture such as couches, books, and cardboard boxes.

Nearby Infestations

In multi-unit buildings like apartments or hotels, bed bugs can move from one unit to another through cracks in the walls, floors, and ceilings, and via pipe chases and wiring conduits. 

They can also move along shared hallways.

So, if there is a bed bug infestation in a your neighboring apartment, then bed bugs can reach your home.

Pets

While bed bugs prefer human hosts, they can attach to pets and reach your home.

Lack of Awareness

Bed bug infestations can go undetected for a long time because these pests are nocturnal, and you can mistake their bites as bites from other insects. 

This lack of awareness can lead to infestations spreading unnoticed.

Often Changing Your Sleeping Rooms

Many people start to sleep in other beds when they notice there are bed bugs in their primary bed.

That’s a big mistake.

Bed bugs will easily find you, and follow you to other rooms, by picking up the carbon dioxide you release and through your body smell.

Never change rooms if one room has bed bugs. It makes the bed bug infestation severe.

Research has shown that female bed bugs are more prone to follow you to other rooms because they’re the ones that need bloodmeals more to develop eggs.

How To Stop Bed Bugs Spreading From One Room To Another?

Stopping the spread of bed bugs requires diligence, thoroughness, and often professional help due to their small size and their tendency to hide in difficult-to-reach places. 

Below is a step-by-step guide on how to prevent the spread of bed bugs from one room to another:

Bed Bugs Inspection

There are many bugs in bed that look like bed bugs. These bugs create unnecessary panic, though some of them bring a lot of health risks just like the bed bugs.

Look for small, reddish-brown oval insect with a size of an apple seed.

Also look for signs like small blood stains or black, fecal spots on your bed linens, tiny white eggs, or eggshells, and shed skins from growing nymphs or baby bed bugs.

These are all glaring signs of bed bugs in the bed and other infested items.

Bed Bugs Containment

Once you’ve confirmed the presence of bed bugs, it’s important to try and contain the infestation as much as possible. 

Take your vacuum cleaner and begin vacuuming the infested room thoroughly, paying special attention to the mattress, mattress seams, box springs, and other areas such as baseboards and furniture where you’ve found signs of bed bugs. 

Seal the vacuum bag in a plastic bag and dispose of it outside your home.

Follow it up by applying heat on the mattress and other soft furnishings like carpets and rugs in the room. You can do it with a steam cleaner.

Steam cleaners produce heat to the extent of 120 degrees Fahrenheit which kills bed bugs at all life cycle stages of bed bugs, including bed bug eggs.

Wash Bedding And Clothes In Hot Water

Clean all bedding including bedsheets, linens, curtains, and clothing in the infested room in hot water and dry them on the highest dryer setting. 

Use a hair dryer on items such as stuffed animals, books, or shoes that shouldn’t get wet to remove any bed bugs. 

Place these cleaned items in sealed plastic bags to prevent re-infestation.

Remove Clutter

Reducing clutter in the room will limit the number of places bed bugs can hide and lay their eggs. 

Dispose of unnecessary items in storages like dresser drawers. Store the necessary ones in sealed plastic bags until after treatment is complete.

Seal Cracks And Crevices

Bed bugs can hide in the smallest of places, so sealing up any cracks or crevices in your room can prevent them from hiding or moving to another room. 

Bed bugs also hide in the cracks on the headboard and bed frame,  and in the gaps between walls and electrical outlets. So, sealing those cracks is vital.

Use caulk or a sealant to close off any potential hiding places.

Install Mattress Encasements

Consider investing in bed bug-proof covers, also known as mattress encasements, for your mattress and box springs. 

These encasements are designed to trap any bed bugs inside and prevent them from feeding, ultimately killing them.

Move Bed Away From Furniture And Walls

Bed bugs can crawl from walls or furniture to your bed, so make sure to move beds away from these areas and ensure that bed linens do not touch the floor.

Don’t Sleep In Other Rooms

Ever wondered where to sleep if your room has bed bugs? In the same room.

Sounds counterintuitive, but that’s what experts, including myself, recommend.

As I mentioned earlier, changing rooms will cause bed bugs to follow you to other rooms, causing them to spread all over the house. 

There are steps that you can take right now to prevent bed bug bites while sleeping in the infested room.

Hire Professional Pest Control

While there are many DIY methods for treating bed bugs, they can be difficult to eliminate completely without professional help, especially when the infestation is severe. 

A pest control professional will have the knowledge, tools, and insecticides necessary to kill all stages of the bed bugs’ life cycle. 

Follow their instructions carefully and be prepared for multiple treatments because bed bugs can come back even after three treatments.

Monitor Regularly With Bed Bug Interceptors

Once the treatment is complete, continue to monitor the room for bed bugs with the help of interceptors.

Bed bug interceptors are cup or bowl-like objects with a sticky inner surface. Place them underneath each leg of the bed.

You’ll also need to do regular inspections of your mattress, furniture, and other potential hiding spots to look for bed bug signs.

The pest control company will guide you on the signs of bed bugs while you’re monitoring. 

Prevention

Finally, take steps to prevent future infestations. 

This might include being cautious when buying second-hand furniture, checking hotel rooms when traveling, and regularly inspecting your home. 

Refrain from spraying foggers or using bug bombs to get rid of bed bugs. They make the infestation worse by causing the bed bugs to spread into other rooms.

In Summary, “If One Room Has Bed Bugs, Do They All?”

So, if one room has bed bugs, do they all? The answer is both yes or no.

Yes, when you have ignored the infestation and have made mistakes that aided in the spread of bed bugs.

No, when the bed bug infestation is at the early stages and has just started. 

If you take the steps laid out in this guide, then it’ll significantly reduce the chances of bed bugs spreading from one room to another.