•Adult
bed bugs are flat with rusty-red-colored oval bodies, and are about 3/16” long
or the size of an apple seed.
•A
newly hatched bed bug is semi-transparent, light tan in color, and the size of
a poppy seed.
•Eggs
appear as tiny piece of rice.
Bed Bug Biology & Behavior
•Bed
bugs are most active between midnight and 5
am.
•Although,
if they are hungry, they will feed during
the day. Staying up all night and
sleeping during day will not work, sleeping with lights on will not work. Sleeping in recliner in living room won’t
work, they will find you.
•They
can detect carbon dioxide from about 3 feet away and
even less for heat.
•It is not well understood how bed bugs
hiding in a closet are able to find a host located in a bed across the room. bed
bugs are able to move very quickly and it is thought that they do a lot of
wandering around before they are able to locate their food.
•Bed
bugs can travel 100 feet a night but tend to live within 8 feet of where people
sleep.
•Ideally,
most bed bugs would like to aggregate near the host’s bed, on the mattress or
in the boxsprings,
when they are not feeding. However, this is not always possible in heavy
infestations where bed bugs are crowded and many bed bugs have to seek refuge
at distances several yards from the host.
•Can remain fully active at <45°F •Female
can lay up to 500 eggs in life time or about 5-7 eggs a week.
•Eggs
can hatch in ideal conditions within 4 to 7 days.
•Total
developmental process from egg to adult can take place in about 40 days at
optimal temperatures.
Feeding
•Bed bugs probe
skin to find capillary space allows blood to flow into their bodies. This results in the host being punctures
several times from the same bug.
•Feeding
takes approximately 5-15 minutes. •Piercing
mouth part injects anesthetic and anticoagulant. •May
cause
progressive allergic or symptomatic skin reactions to repeated bites. •Bed
bugs
feed every 3-7 days. •Most of the population is in the
digesting state most of the time. This is important to remember during
treatment. The majority of bed bugs are
not out in open where they can be impacted by pesticides. •Bed
bugs can survive without a blood meal for over year. (1930-1940’s Europe). •Recent
lab study showed unfed bed bugs died within 70 days (lab setting). •Well-fed
adult bed bugs in ideal settings can live between 99 and 300 days in a
laboratory.
Reproduction •After
feeding the male bed bug is very interested in mating. •Female bed bugs are impregnated via traumatic
insemination. •Females
often scatter after mating to avoid further abuse, deposit eggs.
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