Bed bugs do not multiply after being killed, because dead bed bugs cannot reproduce, but the perception that they multiply after being killed arises from hidden eggs and surviving bugs that were not killed during treatment. A single mated female bed bug can lay 1 to 7 eggs per day and 200 to 500 eggs in lifetime, laying tiny white eggs about 1 millimeter in cracks, crevices, mattress seams, and behind headboards, and these eggs are resistant to many insecticides and can hatch 6 to 10 days after treatment if not killed by heat. If you kill visible adult bugs but miss eggs and nymphs hidden in cracks, those eggs will hatch into nymphs that need blood meal to molt through five stages before becoming adults in 5 to 8 weeks, so it appears as if bugs multiplied after being killed, but actually they are offspring from eggs that survived. Additionally, if you squish one bug but infestation remains in other rooms or neighboring apartments, bugs can migrate back. This is why single treatment rarely eliminates infestation, and professional pest control uses multiple treatments including heat treatment heating rooms to 120 to 135 degrees that kills all stages including eggs, encasing mattress and box spring in bed bug proof encasements, using interceptor traps, and follow-up treatment two weeks later to kill newly hatched nymphs. So dead bugs do not multiply, but surviving eggs and hidden bugs cause resurgence if not thoroughly treated.
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