Bed-Bug Life Cycle | eHow – eHow | How to Videos, Articles …

Click Free Pest Control Quote
to fill in a form to obtain a free pest control quote today.

healthsection Health Topics A-Z Healthy Living Featured Conditions eHow Now eHow Health Public Health & Safety Public Health Bed-Bug Life Cycle

Daniel Moverley

Daniel Moverley has been writing professionally for over five years, for various online companies as well as for private clients. His articles specialize in topics ranging from veterinary health to technology and video games, to basic construction projects. Moverley is pursuing a bachelor's degree in English.

Bed bugs typically grow to about one quarter of an inch long and have a flat, oval-shaped body. They are brown in color but after feeding they tend to look a red/brown color. The reason for this is because bed bugs feed on blood; human blood is their preferred meal, but they will settle for pets and other animals. Bed bugs use the warmth and moisture from warm-blooded animals and humans to detect and locate their food source.

Most people think of bed bugs as living in dirty, unkempt conditions, but this is a common misconception. Bed bugs are just as happy to dwell in a clean home as long as there is an adequate and continuous food supply. Their favorite places to hide are in the seams and crevices of uphostered furniture and in mattresses. Unfortunately, the number of bed-bug infestations is rising throughout North America, Asia and Europe.

When bed bugs have a constant supply of blood, their life span is generally between three and four months. If their food source runs out or leaves, however, bed bugs enter a dormant stage and have been known to survive for up to 15 months.

Bed-bug eggs are about one millimeter long, but are usually laid in a cluster which makes them slightly easier to see. They are covered in a sticky substance that holds them to the cracks and folds in the material in which they are deposited. Female bed bugs lay three to five eggs at a time and can continue to do so every day. By the end of their life, a single female may have produced up to 500 eggs.

After the eggs hatch, which takes anywhere from a week to 12 days, the nymph can be colorless to a light-beige color. The newly hatched nymph is about 1.5 millimeters long and will grow and molt after its first meal of blood. The nymph will continue to feed and molt (getting darker in color after each meal) until it reaches maturity. This happens after the nymph has molted five times. After each shedding of its skin the nymph can grow by 0.5 to 1.5 millimeters; by the time it becomes an adult it can be nearly six millimeters long.

Both male and female bed bugs usually feed every three to four days. A typical feeding session tends to last about 10 minutes, with the bed bug gorging itself on blood. Although the adults can enter a dormant stage to prolong their life, they cannot produce more eggs without a constant food supply.

Lots of us remember the old saying, "sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite," as a quaint childhood memory, but unfortunately...

View post:
Bed-Bug Life Cycle | eHow - eHow | How to Videos, Articles ...

Click Free Exterminator Quote
to fill in a form to obtain a free exterminator quote today.