Things To Know About Bedbugs

Bedbugs also known as Cimicidae are tiny and wingless insects that feeds only on blood. The newborns known as nymphs or hatchlings are tiny but visible. The adult grow to about 0.25 inches long. Their shape is oval and flattened. The eggs, Nymphs and adults can be seen with the naked eyes.

The female bedbug lays about 500 eggs in their life time and lays about five eggs a day. Reproduction in bedbugs is by hypodermic insemination which means that, the male bug pierce the female with their genitalia anywhere around the abdomen and releasing sperm into the body cavity.


The sperm released into the female body travels through the female tissues till it gets into the ovaries where fertilization takes place. They can only reproduce when the reach maturity. It takes about 2 weeks for an egg to hatch and at room temperature the hatched eggs reach maturity at 5 weeks and at each molting stage they need to feed at least once.

They mostly feed on their hosts when they are asleep. Bedbugs feed for about an hour before sunrise. They prefer to feed night times that day time but can feed anything if the opportunity arise. Bedbug Feeding take about 2-5 minutes and feed every 5 to 10 days, after which they return to their hiding place. The bugs can last for several months without feeding. They can remain dormant for 1 year if there is no food around and a well fed bug can have a life span of about 6 to 9 months. Bites are not noticeable by the host until at least a few minutes or some hours afterward. Bites can take up to 9 days to become visible.
During feeding the bedbug inject small amount of saliva into the host skin making it painless without the host knowing. If the bug feed on a particular host for several weeks the person or host becomes sensitive to the bugs saliva. People who become sensitive to bedbug bit and saliva will sometimes mistake it to mosquito or flea bite.

Bedbug bites usually don’t have red dot in the center and sometimes takes several days before it becomes visible which also depends on how much you scratch the affected area. During feeding, if the bedbugs are disturbed they tend to come back half an inch further to the previous bite causing a row of two or three bites.
Almost 50 percent of individuals who are bitten show no symptoms at all and do not know it happened. This makes it very difficult to identify or prevent potential infestations. Some people, however, may become sick and nauseous. There is all possibility that a person can get skin scars and infections from scratching the bites.

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