Bed Bugs Facts – Learn Bed Bug Habits to Kill Them

To get rid of bed bugs, you have to destroy them at every stage of their life cycle.

Consider this, the average female bed bug lays eggs after every meal. That means every time she feasts on your blood, she celebrates by making a new generation to ensure her lineage continues.

The time it takes a bed bug to develop from an egg into an adult capable of reproducing is about 37 days. During that time the bed bug will pass through 7 different stages of maturity.

7 Bed Bug Stages

Bed bugs evolve through 7 stages of life:

Hatch in about two weeks and become 1st stage larva

Molts (sheds skin to grow to the next stage) after eating

Molts (sheds skin to grow to the next stage) after eating

Molts (sheds skin to grow to the next stage) after eating

Molts (sheds skin to grow to the next stage) after eating

Molts (sheds skin to grow to the next stage) after eating

Feeds multiple times over several weeks; lays up to five eggs every day

It takes seven stages of development for bed bugs to evolve from eggs into mature adults, and five of those stages are as larvae.

Blood meals precede each new stage. Before a nymph bed bug (stage 1) can shed its skin (called molting) to allow it to grow into a larger one, it must consume a blood meal that is, bite someone.

How often do they come out to eat? About every 3 to 7 days.

If a nymph fails to find a blood meal, it stays at that stage of development until it feeds successfully.

But bed bugs are survivors, and 80 percent of all eggs survive to become reproductive adults. That's bad news for you if you have bed bugs.

After 5 successful moltings, the egg develops into an adult bed bug.

This complete process takes about 37 days.

Bed Bug Adult Behavior

Once it's an adult, a bed bug can reproduce. But first, you guessed it male and female bed bugs must consume a blood meal.

Adult bed bugs after consuming a blood meal. Females lay up to 5 eggs a day after their meal. Photo by A. L. Szalanski, 2007. CC BY-SA 3.0

Females lay up to 5 eggs a day and as many as 500 in a lifetime.

With regular access to blood meals, bed bugs can live about one year.

Bed bugs like to live within about 3 feet of their prey, which is why most are found in bedrooms, couches, and other places where humans like to sleep.

Once a suitable meal is found (you or your pet), a bed bug will feed on you for about 3 to 10 minutes.

When finished, the bed bug returns to its hiding place usually some kind of crack or crevice nearby. Typically, other bed bugs are also hanging out there.

Once tucked away safely, the bed bug digests and excretes its meal. So when you find bed bug excrement, it's a good indication that bed bugs live nearby.

Originally posted here:
Bed Bugs Facts - Learn Bed Bug Habits to Kill Them