Moving again one year after leaving an infested apartment
I’m wondering if anyone has insight on how long is “long enough” for any possible bed bugs trapped in bags/storage to be dead? If these bags have sat untouched for close to a year, is it realistic that anything could still be alive in them? Is there anything extra I should do as I get ready to move again?
For context, I moved into a cheap studio apartment for grad school two years ago, and almost immediately started waking up with bites. I eventually found multiple bed bugs crawling around. My landlord sent an exterminator and my apartment was sprayed, but when checking neighboring units, they found that the apartment directly next to mine had a major infestation.
After my apartment was sprayed, I never got bitten again, but I was constantly anxious. I slept with a flashlight next to my bed every night and would randomly wake up and search my mattress and sheets. I even bought caulk and sealed all the baseboards along the wall shared with the infested apartment because I was terrified they’d come back through the walls. My first year of grad school was miserable between the stress of school and constantly worrying about getting bitten again at home.
At the end of my first year I moved to a different apartment. I threw out all of my furniture and spent an entire day at a laundromat washing/drying everything. But while packing to move out, I found 2 live bed bugs under a rug (which was thrown away). That sent me spiraling since it was the first time I had seen any bedbugs since the initial few weeks in the apartment.
Since moving into my current apartment, I have not had a single bite or seen a single bed bug in almost a year. Now I’m graduating soon and moving back to my hometown, but I’m paranoid again because there are a few bags I’ve kept in the basement that I never unpacked. They mostly contain camping gear and books.
TL;DR: Had an infestation two years ago, when packing to move to my current apartment found two live bedbugs. Since moving haven’t been bit/seen a bug in one year, but have unpacked bags in the basement from original infested apartment and am preparing to move home.