An adult bed bug can live a year without feeding, so you can't starve them out. Bed bugs are hitch hikers they won't go walking around the house looking for food, they will hide and wait for you to come to them. They like to hide around beds, couches, chairs and wait for you, when you sit down or go to bed they sense body heat and carbon dioxide and then come out to bite you. They can reproduce quickly. Every female can lay 1-3 eggs per day, they hatch out in 5-7 days and in a months time the newly hatched ones can lay eggs. Once that second month hits its generally to late to get rid of them on your own. The products you can get over the counter are just not good enough, they might keep the numbers down but won't get rid of them. They all say they kill the eggs, they don't, they all say they have a long residual but I don't trust them for more than a week. Bug Bombs are the worst thing to do for bed bugs they don't kill very many and they tend to scatter them, so there not in there normal hiding places which makes them harder to get rid of. Cold has little or no affect on bed bugs. Heat has to be at least 122 degrees to kill a bed bug. Bed bugs don't live outside and come in, they are hitch hikers they have to be brought in. Usually on some ones clothing or used furniture. For more information on bed bugs you can go to the University of Kentucky website entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef636
Below are some pictures of bedbugs that might be helpful.
