Bitten by bedbugs despite treatment, and I don't see them.

Publié le . Dernière mise à jour le , par Jean-François — 2 min de lecture.

This question from an Internet user illustrates the situation well.

Hello Jean-François,

I treated 3 small rooms with the different products purchased.

Today the next day I vacuumed the rooms. I have a magnifying glass and I have not found any eggs, larvae or adult bedbugs. Is this normal given that the rooms have been uninhabited for 2 weeks?

We had a group of 60 children spread across 3 buildings with only 7 children from the same room literally devoured and another group of 13 children, 3 of whom were well devoured. The consulting physician thinks bedbugs.

I sprayed all the doors and door frames, windows, walls and floors as well as the mattresses and beds recto verso with BSI and the sprays to spray each mattress and complete bed. Then the next day I vacuumed everything thoroughly and I placed a 200 ml Kapo Shock spray in each room. Tomorrow I will go air and vacuum and clean.

No trace of bedbugs, is this normal?

The chemist's answer:

Everything you describe is normal.

These are dormitories that are used episodically. The bedbugs hide and starve under the floorboards, in the thickness of mattresses, behind baseboards, in hollow walls, in electrical outlets. They can wait like this for 15 months without eating.

Suddenly, 60 sleepers invade the place. It's party time for the bugs, the next few nights will be restless, and food abundant.

As we know, bedbugs have their preferences. They bite some people, and not others. Also, they are not yet present in all the dormitories. This explains why only some sleepers were bitten.

As long as there are no sleepers in the room, the bedbugs will not move from their hiding places. They are well hidden, and busy digesting and laying eggs. You can vacuum, sweep, treat, but since they are in inaccessible places, they are not touched, and you will not see them. When you see bedbugs, it is because the infestation is very advanced.

You have to wait for the next sleeper for them to move, and come and poison themselves by passing over treated surfaces. Very often, they will reach their prey, and go back to hide. It is to be hoped that the return trip over these poisoned surfaces will have been enough to kill them.

My advice:

Steam treatment to kill eggs, larvae, and of course adult bedbugs if they show up.
Make beds into impregnable citadels: place bedbug-proof covers See product , bedbug-proof tablets (not suitable for children under 4 years old) See product , saucers with diatomaceous earth under the feet of the bed See product , move the bed 30 cm away from the wall.
Three treatments minimum spaced three weeks apart, as I explain in my article "how to get rid of bedbugs without poisoning yourself" Read the article . These treatments will only work if the room is regularly inhabited. Above all, do not wash the treated surfaces. If you wash, you must treat again.
Do not neglect natural treatments: washing at 60° minimum, tumble drying, freezing, vacuuming, diatomaceous earth.
And now available, the anti-bedbug heated tents , for 100% effective treatment without pesticides. See the product