Saturday, March 29, 2014

Life Cycle of Bed Bugs

Bed bugs have five immature nymph life stages and a final sexually mature adult stage. They shed their skins through ecdysis at each stage, discarding their outer shells, which are clear, empty exoskeletons of the bugs themselves. Bed bugs must molt six times before becoming fertile adults, and must take a blood meal in order to complete each moult.
Each of the immature stages lasts approximately a week, depending on temperature and the availability of food, and the complete life cycle can be completed in as little as two months (rather long compared to other ectoparasites). Fertilized females with enough food will lay three to four eggs each day continually until the end of their life spans (about nine months under warm conditions), possibly generating as many as 500 eggs in this time. Genetic analysis has shown that a single pregnant bed bug, possibly a single survivor of eradication, can be responsible for an entire infestation over a matter of weeks, rapidly producing generations of offspring. Need a Bed Bug Exterminator? Contact Us BugEvictors.com
bed bug life cycle

1 comment: