Still Have Bed Bugs After 3 Treatments? Find Out Why

Bed bugs are undoubtedly resilient bugs, and they’re hard to eliminate. 

Depending on the severity of the infestation, your home might need multiple treatments to get rid of them.

But there are times when they refuse to go away. 

They show up again in your bed and home no matter how much you spend on the treatment.

And that can happen even after three treatments!

This guide will reveal the top seven reasons you still have bed bugs after three treatments. 

You’ll find out the gaps in the treatment that have caused the bed bug infestation to resurface. 

Plus, you’ll also learn how you can minimize and eliminate the chances of bed bugs returning after treatment. 

Let’s dive in. 

7 Reasons You Still Have Bed Bugs After Three Treatments

1. You chose the inappropriate treatment
2. You chose an unreliable and inexperienced bed bug exterminator
3. You didn’t clean your home well after the bed bug treatment
4. You live in an apartment block that has a severe bed bug infestation
5. You ignored the early signs of bed bugs resurfacing after three treatments
6. You or someone else brought the bed bugs home
7. You’re confusing bed bugs with other biting bugs

These are why bed bugs strike back, except the last one. 

But you’re not the only one that makes these mistakes. 

Many homeowners don’t know these drawbacks that exist in bed bug treatments. 

But not anymore.

Let’s get deep into each of these reasons and find out what you can do so that the bed bug treatment is a sure hit the first time.

You Chose The Inappropriate Treatment

Despite multiple treatments, this is the most critical reason for bed bugs in your home. 

Let’s face it. You’re neither an entomologist nor a professional exterminator. 

When you’ve got bed bugs in your home, you want to do what it takes to get rid of them in your home. 

But there’s no way you’ve got the knowledge to determine what type of bed bug treatment your home needs.

There are three types of bed bug treatment –

1. Insecticide treatment
2. Heat treatment
3. IBBT or integrated bed bug treatment that uses both heat and insecticide

An exterminator decides which treatment your home needs depending on the severity of bed bug infestation. 

There are different stages of bed bug infestation, starting from early stages to severe.

The high and severe bed bug infestation may need heat treatment or IBBT (also known as IPM or integrated pest management)

But these are expensive bed bug treatments.

To cut costs, many homeowners choose the cheapest treatment, insecticide treatment, even though the infestation in their home is high or severe.

And many unscrupulous bed bug exterminators push insecticide treatment because of many reasons.

One of them is that they don’t have the equipment for heat treatment and IBBT.

And second, insecticide treatment is quick to finish.

It shows superficial results like a few dead bed bugs, making you think, oh! It’s working.

And insecticide treatment is cheap and high-volume work that keeps the exterminators busy and brings in the profit.

But insecticide treatment fails miserably when the infestation is severe.

Bed bugs hide in the most inaccessible places in your homes, like inside gaps in the wall, floor, ceiling, and furniture, where the insecticides can’t reach.

A quick insecticide treatment can make the bed bugs dormant for a few days, but they come back.

So, choosing the right exterminator with a good track record is critical to ensure that bed bugs don’t come back after three or more treatments.

That brings you to the second reason for bed bugs after multiple treatments.

You Chose An Unreliable Inexperienced Bed Bug Exterminator

Pest control professionals prop up every day like mom-and-pop shops. 

That has led to an increase in many unscrupulous and unreliable professionals that go from door to door selling bed bug treatments.

And they’re cheap too. 

Many people fall into the trap of hiring one because they think it’s cheap.

However, it’s a wrong stop-gap arrangement. 

And it doesn’t help at all.

If you can’t afford a bed bug treatment, you can get rid of bed bugs on your own under a tight budget. 

But do not hire unreliable pest professionals. They’ll make matters worse.

It’s better to do daily steam cleaning of your bed, rugs, and couches, where you get bed bug bites with a steam cleaner rather than hiring them.

And a steam cleaner will be cheaper than hiring inexperienced pest controllers who are making a quick buck out of your misery. 

The bed bug removal process is highly technical and it’s expensive. 

You must know you’re putting your money at the right place so that you sleep well at night and don’t wake up with bed bug bites.

You should do your diligence and ask the right questions from the exterminators before you hire them.

It’s vital if you’re not hiring established pest control companies that charge premium prices.

Also, keep in mind that a reliable exterminator will do follow-up visits to check the results of the bed bug treatment.

Depending on the results in the follow-up visits, they’ll implement further treatment at no extra cost to you.

And follow-up visits it’s critical after the bed bug treatment, no matter what type of treatment they implement.

The mom-and-pop pest control companies don’t do that. 

You Didn’t Clean Your Home After The Bed Bug Treatment

Many homeowners continue with their lives without cleaning their homes after bed bug treatment.

No matter what type of treatment you chose, be it heat treatment or pesticide spray treatment, or both, cleaning your home and certain things is vital.

Many bed bugs hide in the clutter of your home to escape the treatment.

That’s why professional exterminator pays follow-up visits to your home after they finished the primary treatment.

Setting up bed bug traps and even doing repeat treatments to eliminate the bed bug infestation are a part of follow-up visits.

But if you don’t do your bit, then the bed bugs will hide deeper into your home. 

They’ll come back weeks or months after treatment.

So, thoroughly vacuum clean your home after the treatment.

Vacuum clean the bed mattress, box springs, dresser drawers, rugs, carpet, couches, and even your wooden furniture.

Bed frames, mattress seams, headboards, and the baseboards too are some of the standard hiding places for bed bugs.

So, don’t forget to vacuum clean these areas.

Steam cleaning the blankets, rugs and  carpets with a steam cleaner is the best option. 

However, you may also give them for dry cleaning if they’re made of materials like wool or silk.

Bed bugs can hide in the unlikeliest of places like cracks in the walls and in the furniture crevices.

If you find any crevices on your walls, floors, and furniture, then seal them.

Bed bugs can also latch onto the fabrics like bed linens, clothing, pillow covers, and even curtains.

Wash all the fabrics, especially the ones that were in your bedroom, in hot water.

Then put them inside the dryer for at least 20 minutes. 

Washing them in the warm water and putting them in the dryer will kill any bed bug nymphs and eggs stuck with the fabrics.

Extreme cold also kills bed bugs. 

So, you can put the small fabrics like face towels, socks, and hankies in a plastic bag and put them inside the freezer for 24 hours.

You Live In An Apartment Block That Has A Severe Bed Bug Infestation

The fourth reason is relevant to apartment dwellers. 

Believe it or not, some apartment blocks and neighborhoods have a perennial bed bug problem. 

Other apartment dwellers have ignored the infestation or don’t even know they have bed bugs in their homes.

It’s not strange that many people don’t react to bed bug bites.

So, you can have bed bug bites, but your spouse doesn’t despite sleeping on the same bed.

Also, many people are okay with bed bugs in their homes if they’re sleeping well and the bed bugs are not biting them.

There are many skin-safe things to put on your body to prevent bed bug bites. 

You can also use mattress encasements to cover your mattress. 

That blocks the bed bugs hidden in your mattress from accessing you skin and hence it prevents them from biting.

But that’s not the solution to the bed bug problem.

Bed bugs from these infested apartments can quickly move into your apartment and can wreak havoc. 

And it happens no matter how many bed bug treatments you do and how many times you clean your home. 

You can even have bed bugs in a new apartment. It’s quite the norm when the entire apartment block has a bed bug infestation. 

So, what to do if your apartment block has a bed bug problem?

In all honesty, and sadly, you can’t do much about it.

You can talk with apartment managers and ask them to convince the other dwellers to do a bed bug inspection. 

But most of the time, it doesn’t work, especially when they don’t react to bed bug bites.

The best is you move out from a bed bug-infested apartment complex or neighborhood.

You Ignored The Early Signs Of Bed Bugs Resurfacing After Three Treatments

Let’s face it. Sightings of bed bugs after treatment is standard. 

That’s why the exterminator does follow-up visits in your home to eliminate the bed bugs that are showing up.

And they also put things in place like bed bug traps. That ensures the removal of bed bugs that escaped the heat or pesticide.

Over time, the sightings of bed bugs after treatment reduce. 

And a few days after the treatment, you don’t find any bed bugs because all of them are dead.

That’s the sign of a successful bed bug treatment.

However, bed bugs can come back. Bed bugs can come back after a year, two years, months, or even a decade.

But one of the reasons for bed bug infestation in your home is that you ignored the early signs of bed bug infestation. 

Bed bug infestations don’t happen overnight. It takes time to manifest. A female bed bug can lay more than 350 eggs in her lifetime.

It can begin with a single female bed bug carrying eggs that made her way into your home. 

The infestation begins from one room and spreads to another because of movement of goods.

And the bed bug infestation increases exponentially to high and severe levels when it’s at the medium stage. 

Yes, even a single bed bug in your home can be the root cause of a severe bed bug infestation.

Nine out of ten times, you won’t notice that single bed bug.

However, there are signs of bed bug infestation even when the bed bug infestation is low.

Bed bugs hide in the thin gaps and cracks during the day, making it more difficult for you to ascertain that there’s a nasty bed bug infestation propping up in your home. 

But one of the most common early signs of bed bug infestation that you can’t ignore is the bed bug bite.

But to be sure, you must know what bed bug bites look like. 

When bed bugs come back after three treatments, they’ll bite you. 

It’s because they can’t survive without human blood. 

And if you ignore that sign, no matter how many bed bug treatments your home had, the infestation will resurface again. 

Savvy homeowners do quarterly pest control for their homes to deal with this problem.

You can say it’s a type of health checkup for your home. 

Pest controllers visit your home, inspect it, and treat your home at no extra cost. 

And they do it for all invasive pests like roaches, termites, and even ants.

The best part?

Quarterly pest control is cheaper than a full-fledged pest treatment for your home. 

That makes quarterly pest control worth it. 

You can also do your bit in eliminating the bed bug infestation at it’s infancy.

And that’s either by cleaning the bed with a steam cleaner or by using a bed bug insecticide spray.

Before using the spray, please read the safety instructions on the label and take appropriate precautions.

Caution: Do not use bed bug bombs or foggers to get rid of the bed bugs in your home. Research have shown that they’re ineffective and can expose you and your home to hazardous risks.

Pest management professionals also don’t recommend using foggers to eliminate any type of bugs in homes and cars.

You Or Someone Else Brought The Bed Bugs Home

Do you know that bed bugs can travel by latching onto clothing, luggage, and furniture?

Yes!

Biting fleas can also spread in the same manner.

And that’s one of the most common ways for an infestation to begin.

When you visit a bed bug-infested home or a hotel, bed bugs will latch onto your luggage and clothing. 

You can even bring bed bugs into your home if you sit in a car seat with bed bugs on it.

Or if you’ve been to a hotel room or friend’s home that had bed bugs.

Bed bugs can even get into your baby’s car seat from your car seat. 

Your friends and relatives can also bring bed bugs home if their homes have bed bugs. 

Bed bugs in dresser drawers are also possible in a home with a bed bug infestation.

So, if you’ve been to a bed bug-infested place, it’s always best to keep the luggage outside and vacuum clean it.

And wash the clothes and fabric in warm water without putting them in a dresser drawer or the closet or wardrobe. 

Ask your friends and relatives if they’ve got a bed bug infestation. 

If they’ve, it’s best to arrange a meet-up outside your home without sounding rude. 

You’re Confusing Bed Bugs With Other Biting Bugs

It’s not only bed bugs that survive on human blood. Many microscopic biting bugs survive on human blood too.

And they can infest human homes as well. 

Most of these bugs are so tiny that you can’t figure out what’s biting you.

The worst part? Their bites look like bed bug bites. 

And some of these bugs can infest your bed too. Fleas are one of them. 

Fleas in bed are common if you’ve got a pet that has fleas. 

Another bug that you can easily mistake with bed bugs is the swallow bug.

Swallow bugs look like bed bugs. And they live in the nests of barn swallow birds.

When the birds quit their nests, they must find alternative blood sources to survive. 

That’s the time when they target humans. 

Human biting mites like rat mites and bird mites can also bite you and hide in your bed when you get rid of their primary hosts. 

So, the chances are that bed bugs didn’t come back after three treatments. You’ve got a new bloodsucking and biting critter in your home.

Conclusion

Now you know why you still have bed bugs after three treatments. 

This guide revealed the seven reasons for bed bug infestation coming back again and again despite multiple treatments. 

These reasons are responsible for the resurgence of bed bugs after two, three, or multiple treatments.

Choosing the wrong bed bug treatment method and an unreliable exterminator are the top reasons bed bugs come back.

However, other conditions lay the grounds for the bed bugs to return to your home.

So, if you’re sick and tired of bed bugs coming back after multiple treatments, keep an eye on the seven reasons you learned in this guide.

Addressing these reasons will guarantee that your home doesn’t have the bed bug menace that was stressing you out and costing you a lot of money and your much-deserved sleep.