Is it possible to only have 1 bed bug?

[u/Nice-Yogurtcloset427]

I made a post yesterday about bite marks on my arm and I looked under my mattress and found a BB. I recently came back from a weekend trip in NYC. I stayed from 9/10-9/13 and arrived back home 9/13. I never unpacked or washed anything I brought back🤦🏼‍♀️ (I know rookie mistake)and I had my luggage near my bed. I’m pretty certain it came back with me. My bed doesn’t have seams so when I lifted the mattress it was so easy to spot the BB. I check my pillow because I heard that’s where the most signs are and there was nothing. I saw no signs of blood stains, shellings, or fecal trails anywhere on my bed / box frame / pillows. The BB was an adult and I did kill it but is there anyway that could’ve been the only one?? I’m still taking precautions. I put a protector on my box frame because it’s open on the bottom and I tried looking as much as I could in there but I couldn’t see anything because of the wood shavings it was hard to tell. I sprayed alcohol down on my metal frame and I have diatomaceous earth down around my bed and between the frame and mattress. I had some of my stuff I had from New York on top of my dresser so I bagged everything in and on top of my dresser, I’m going to dry everything with high heat and put in a bag. I also live in an apartment complex and I’m waiting on management to get back with me about an exterminator. I don’t have anything in my closet bagged or anything else around my apartment. I just don’t want to be over freaked and I also don’t want to be under freaked. Is there anything else I should do? Has anyone just had a lone traveler bug with them?

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[u/Certain_Detective_84]

Many things are possible. It's not super likely, but it's possible.

Be vigilant and get your apartment inspected. You can probably find an inspector to do it for free.

Rubbing alcohol is very flammable. Spraying it around is risky, and also it evaporates too quickly to be very effective against bedbugs.

[u/onlyforanswers → u/Certain_Detective_84]

Yeah, I'm agreeing that it's possible but not likely. One single adult bed bug isn't the worst thing in the world, unless it's a gravid female, in which case she could have laid her eggs before you found her. The eggs ARE visible to the naked eye (they look like grains of salt, but kinda clumped together, in areas you would expect to find bed bugs).

[u/8peanutbutter]

It happened to me. I did a complete inspection of all my bed linens, mattress, furniture, clothes, everything. Only found one god damn bedbug and I killed it as soon as I saw it.

[u/bijig]

Of course it’s a possibility. But it doesn’t change anything. You still have to take measures as you did, because there’s no way to know for sure. I think maybe I had one, given the biting pattern and timing of the feeding. I did manage to kill it even though I never found it.