Six Stages of Bed Bug Development

Bed bugs have been a part of civilization since, well, since we’ve had beds. In fact they’ve been around so long that we even have phrases about them. “Goodnight, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite!” Not that these pests only inhabit beds, though. Bed bugs can also be hiding in your walls and furniture as well. What you might not know about bed bugs is how they develop and grow up. Unlike like people, who have about four stages of development (baby, child, adolescent, adult) bed bugs have a whopping six! Check out the bed bug’s life cycle below:

Stages of life #1: Egg

Technically this isn’t considered a stage of development for bedbugs; however, this is when they first start to develop. These eggs have a milky-white color to them and are about the size of a grain of sand.

Stages of life #2: Nymph Stage 1

There are five stages of development a nymph will go through in their development towards adulthood. When they’ve hatched out of their egg their about 1.5 millimeters in length. As soon as they’re born they look for a meal and will continue feeding until they die, however they won’t mate until adulthood.

Stages of life #3: Nymph Stage 2

The second nymph stage happens after the bed bugs first molt, at this point in time they will be about 2 millimeters long, which is about as long as the tip of a crayon.

Stages of life #4: Nymph Stage 3

After molting for a second time they enter being a third stage nymph. At this point they will be 2.5 millimeters long.

Stages of life #5: Nymph Stage 4

A fourth stage nymph will, on average, be 3 millimeters long.

Stages of life #6: Nymph Stage 5

This is the final nymph stage; at this point the bed bug will be around 4.5 millimeters long. That’s about the size of a pencil eraser, yikes!

Stages of life #6: Adult

After five weeks of fully maturing the nymph has finally become an adult, and it’s at this point they can breed. The average life expectancy is six months but it’s not unheard of for these pests to live up to a year.

How fast do bed bugs breed?

Bed bug populations can boom in a matter of a few months. A female bed bug can lay from 1 to 5 eggs a day, and it takes two weeks for those eggs to hatch and five weeks until the nymphs become adults that can mate. This means that over a course of seven weeks a bedbug is born and matures, letting it breed with other bed bugs. With this in mind you can see that a bed bug population can explode in a matter of months. Because of this it’s best to take care of the problem as early as possible.

What do I do if I have a bed bug infestation?

Masters Termite & Pest control has been providing commercial and residential pest control services for more than 30 years. We offer full service pest control and prevention programs, including bed bug evaluation and eradication. If you have a bed bug infestation contact us today and we’ll make sure to get rid of them as soon as possible.

 

If you want to know more about bed begs then click here.