About a month ago I moved into a new 1BR apartment. In the weeks since I moved in I picked up a few pieces of used furniture, but just things like lights, stuff that I imagine would be hard for a bug to hitchike on.
A week ago I came home about 6pm, turned on the lights, sat on the couch, and looked to my side and a bed bug was just hanging out on the cushion. I lost my mind and tore the apartment apart. I found only one more in the particle board of my bed frame. I never reacted to a bite, and saw no signs on my white sheets and pillow.
The exterminator came today after I prepared quite well. He spent a long time inside and was pretty baffled by the situation. He told me he honestly thought the only things alive in there were the ones I captured, after doing a thorough inspection of the fairly empty apartment. He told me he found no evidence of breeding, eggs, instars, etc. and thought it was very strange to just find 2 fully grown bugs in different rooms of the apartment. In any case he gave a heavy treatment to the baseboards, my bed frame, the couch, etc. plus residual chemicals all over the baseboards, and he will be back in 2 weeks. In the mean time I'm buying a mattress encasement.
Now I can't be certain that he found all of them, and I can't be sure where they came from, but to my mind the worst case scenario would be that they travelled from another apartment. Unfortunately my caretaker won't treat adjacent apartments, and I called the government and they told me he is not legally required to where I live. So my attention at this point is turning to decreasing my chances that they make their way back here. I plan on sealing up every hole and crack I can find (floors, ceiling, baseboards, switchplates, plumbing penetrations, etc. with sealant caulk and paint. The floors are all wood so I'll fill all gaps. It's an old masonry building so it's actually put together quite well and there aren't many ways to travel within the walls. My worry is the front door. Would covering the door frame with sticky traps help this?
Basically just give me all your tips on decreasing my chances that they ever come back, because at that point, thats all I can do.
Thanks!