Bed Bugs Life Cycle

Bed Bugs Life Cycle Diagram

• The life cycle stages of a bed bug are egg, nymph, and adult.
• Bed bug females lay about 200 eggs, usually at the rate of three or four a day, in cracks and crevices in the floor or bed. Eggs are placed in cracks, crevices and other isolated and protected shelters.
• Females lay eggs after a blood meal. Eggs will hatch in one or two weeks into Nymphs. Newly hatched bugs(Nymphs) begin feeding immediately. At room temperature, and with an available food supply, the nymphal period will last 14 to 30 days.
• They shed their skin (Instar)five times before becoming adults. Bed bugs will mate soon after becoming mature, so the time from egg hatch to egg laying will be 4 to 9 weeks, under favorable conditions.
• Bed Bugs are a risk in your own home and are becoming more common in New Zealand as there are large turnovers of visitors in places such as backpackers, hotels and motels.
• Bed Bugs are oval, wingless parasitic insects (3 – 5mm) in size. After recently feeding they are reddish brown in colour and pale, almost translucent when they haven’t fed for sometime.
• During the day Bed Bugs hide in cracks and crevices and come out at night to feed on our blood. Our body heat and carbon dioxide from our breath attracts Bed Bugs to us.
• They feed by using their hypodermic like mouth parts to penetrate the skin, injecting saliva  containing anaesthetic. Therefore you don't detect the bug and anti-coagulant proteins to stop your blood clotting. These proteins cause itchy inflammation reactions and reddened marks in about 50% of people they bite or bed bug infestations may be undedected as there is no reaction to the bites.
• First signs of infestation may be blood or bed bug faeces marks found on sheets. The bugs hide themselves in seams waiting for the next susceptible person. No evidence has been found that bed bugs transmit disease.
• They can survive for long periods between feeding as they digest up to seven times their own body weight in blood in one feed.  Bed Bugs will lay up to 200 eggs after mating takes place hatching nymphs. Because there is no larval stage, the nymphs will moult several times over a period of 6-18 months before becoming an adult.
• Bed bugs will infest the cleanest home, hotel, motel or backpackers and are not a sign of a dirty home. They are easily transported in luggage and other items moved from one sleeping place to another.
• As Bed Bugs hide so well there is evidence of them becoming resistant to some insecticides and notoriously difficult to get rid of but can be controlled with a thorough, persistent treatment plan.
• Although the preferred host is human host, it will feed on other animals, such as poultry, mice, rats, canaries, dogs, and cats if necessary. They normally feed at night, but may feed in the daylight in rooms that are not used at night.
• Bed bugs are found hidden in cracks and crevices during daylight hours.  Bed Bugs hide in the folds and tufts of mattresses, coils of springs, cracks and hollow posts of bed stands bed rails and headboards. Bedbugs  may also be found in box springs, inside the cabinetry of furniture and the bottom and sides of drawers.
• Behind loose wallpaper, pictures on the walls, under door and window casings, and behind baseboards are common places for the bedbug to hide. Bedbugs also hide in upholstery of chairs and sofas.

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