In apartment complexes it is probably more common for bed bugs to enter a home from a nearby infested apartment during moving or through picking up used or recycled furniture or mattresses.
Bed bugs in apartment next door.
Positively identifying bed bugs is best left to a professional but if you want to learn more there are many resources about bed bugs available the environmental protection agency has a particularly good bed bug website.
Sometimes the only thing left to do is move out after your lease is up especially if you suspect the infestation s ground zero is located elsewhere in your apartment building.
Their simple presence can cause a fair amount of anxiety.
Depending on the severity of their infestation you may or may not be affected.
Researchers always suspected that bed bugs could move to the unit next door by following plumbing and electrical lines within walls much as cockroaches do.
In a severe infestation and if your apartments are closely connected it is possible that bed bugs will travel through the walls via cracks electrical outlets or any other way they find.
The most reliable detection method was the placement of dish like bed bug traps aka interceptors under furniture legs.
Bed bug bites can cause aggravating skin irritation.
Though not rapid breeders compared to other pests a bed bug population left untreated can become a critical problem in a matter of months.
Bed bugs can travel 100 feet an hour so if you have a fellow tenant with bedbugs there is actually a good chance you re next.
Bed bugs are occasionally introduced into an apartment via luggage that has become infested from a hotel or hostel.
The sudden appearance of bed bugs on your laundry in your bed or on your indoor pet is another clear indication that a population already exists somewhere inside the building.
Bed bugs can catch a ride in your suitcase or used furniture beware of second hand mattresses or on your clothing.
Bed bugs harbor in spots cooler than the ambient temperature in the room such as mattresses box springs behind wooden headboards in couch cushions or among personal belongings in an apartment.
Keep in mind that bed bugs are speedy travelers capable of covering distances of up to three feet per minute so if they ve infested your neighbor s apartment it s only a matter of time before they spread to your unit as well.
When they get hungry say after your neighbor has fled their infested apartment they go on the hunt easily finding a new home within the building squeezing through any opening they can find.
Stop bed bug infestation early but if your neighbor has informed you that their home or adjacent apartment is infested with bed bugs you want to do a thorough home inspection right away.
As a result of marking bed bugs in apartments and tracking them to see where they ended up researchers now know that bed bugs if left unchecked can spread through an apartment building from a simple beginning in just one unit.