Adult bed bugs are small, reddish-brown wingless insects with flat oval bodies. They are usually about a quarter inch long and an eighth-inch wide. After feeding on blood, the bugs become redder, longer and plumper, and then revert gradually to the brownish flat appearance as the blood is digested. Hatchlings resemble adults but are smaller (about the size of a poppy seed) and lighter in color (nearly white, growing gradually darker as they mature).
Female bed bugs lay three to 12 eggs per day, laying up to about 500 during a lifetime. The tiny, light-colored eggs are sticky and adhere to fabrics and furniture. Eggs hatch in six to 17 days, depending on conditions.
Newly hatched nymphs are light colored and about the size of a pinhead and they molt five times as they grow to maturity. Nymphs consume a blood meal between each molt and can survive up to 50 days on a single meal. Adults can survive a year or more after a single feeding.
In favorable conditions and with sufficient food, nymphs grow to adulthood in about a month, and may produce three or more generations per year. Cooler temperatures or limited access to blood meals slows development. In poor conditions, maturity may take several years. Adults enter semi-hibernation when temperatures dip below about 60°F. They die when temperatures reach about 112°F.
Though bed bugs are known primarily as a human ectoparasite, they also find hosts in poultry, canaries, and other birds, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and bats.
To address selection or application of appropriate pesticides contact a licensed pest control professional.
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