Unfortunately for Texans, bed bug activity is high throughout the state. These pests are notoriously hard to control, and you may have a lot of questions and concerns, like how long do bed bugs live?
To get expert insight, we spoke with Alan Brown, Board-Certified Entomologist and Technical Director at ABC Home & Commercial Services.
“Adult bed bugs can live up to a year in perfect laboratory conditions, in the real world that is generally much shorter.”
Brown explains that under ideal conditions, a bed bug’s typical lifespan is around six to twelve months. Ideal conditions include a warm environment, access to a blood meal and plenty of hiding spots.
However, they can also survive for months in cooler temperatures and without feeding, which contributes to why they’re often hard to control.
Many areas of Texas stay warm most of the year, which helps bed bugs reproduce faster and live closer to the top of their typical lifespan.
Understanding the stages of the bed bug life cycle, how these bugs reproduce and the environmental factors that affect them can help Texans treat an infestation.
Bed Bug Life Cycle (From Egg to Adult)
It’s important to act fast when dealing with bed bugs. Brown explains that development happens relatively quickly. “Eggs hatch in 7 to 14 days depending on temperature,” he says. “A newly hatched bed bug is called a first instar nymph. Bed bugs go through 5 nymphal instars before becoming adults. From egg hatch to an adult capable of breeding and making more bed bugs is around 60 days.”
It’s important to act fast when dealing with bed bugs. Alan Brown explains that development happens relatively quickly:
“Eggs hatch in 7 to 14 days depending on temperature. A newly hatched bed bug is called a first instar nymph. Bed bugs go through 5 nymphal instars before becoming adults. From egg hatch to an adult capable of breeding and making more bed bugs is around 60 days.”
Typical stages in their life cycle include the following:
- Egg stage
- Five nymph stages
- Adult stage
Let’s dive into these a bit more.
Egg Stage
Bed bugs lay eggs that are small, pearly white and sticky. You’ll often find them nesting along mattress seams or hiding in cracks. Eggs can take around six to ten days to hatch, but it can happen even sooner in warmer temperatures.
Five Nymph Stages
Once the egg hatches, the bedbug enters the “nymph” stage. Nymphs look like adults, but smaller and with translucent bodies. This stage has five smaller stages where the bug consumes a blood meal and sheds its skin. It takes roughly five to eight weeks to complete these stages and enter adulthood.
Adult Stage
Adult bed bugs are reddish-brown and about the size of an apple seed. They can live anywhere from six months to a year at this stage, as long as they have regular access to hosts. This is also when females begin laying eggs, continuing the cycle all over again.
Factors That Influence How Long Bed Bugs Live
Whether a bed bug reaches its full lifespan depends on several factors.
Alan Brown explains: “Temperature, food availability (blood source), competition from other bed bugs and traumatic insemination for females can all reduce mortality.”
Let’s explore some of these factors.
Temperature and Climate
Bed bugs love living in warm, humid environments that are between 70 and 80 degrees. That’s also the temperature of many Texas homes.
While warmer homes speed up their life cycles, sustained extreme heat of 115 degrees or above and extreme cold have the opposite effect. This makes heat treatments highly effective.
Access to Food (Blood Meals)
Unfortunately, access to food doesn’t get rid of bed bugs. Adults can live for several weeks without feeding, and sometimes longer if conditions are right.
They also don’t feed as often as you might think. Most bed bugs feed every three to seven days, but can slow their metabolism down even further if there aren’t any hosts nearby.
Bed Bug Competition
Bed bugs can be affected by overcrowding. As populations grow, competition for hiding spots and blood meals increases. When too many bed bugs are clustered in the same area, it creates stress on the colony.
Indoor Environment
Clutter is every pest’s best friend, including bed bugs. The more furniture or clothing you have for them to hide in, the longer they can avoid detection or treatments.
As Alan Brown explains: “Bed bugs like to live close to where the food source (us) sits still for long enough for them to get a meal.”
In fact: “Most infestations are found within 5 feet of the bed, couch or chairs.”
How Long Bed Bugs Live Without a Host
Some homeowners try to treat bed bugs by leaving a room empty for weeks and waiting for the bed bugs to starve. It’s unfortunately not that cut and dry because of the differences in how each life stage responds to treatment.
Eggs love warmth and need warm temperatures to hatch. They can’t survive extended freezing temperatures, but fully mature adults often do better. Nymphs usually die within a few weeks of no feeding because they don’t have the same energy reserve as adults.
Adults have the longest survival rate, being able to withstand much harsher conditions for weeks or months. The good news is that addressing adult populations has a chain reaction.
How Fast Bed Bugs Reproduce (Why Lifespan Matters)
A bed bug’s lifespan is closely tied to how quickly it can reproduce, which is why infestations can grow fast. A single female can lay between one and five eggs a day under ideal conditions. That means one female could be responsible for a few hundred offspring in six months and nearly 500 or more in a year.
Because they reproduce so quickly, even a small number of adults can build their colony in a matter of weeks. A single mated female is all it takes to start a new colony.
Bed bugs’ fast reproduction rate is part of what makes them so hard to manage. This is a key reason why it’s important to contact pest control professionals at the first sign of these pests.
Signs That Bed Bugs Are Active
You’ll often see signs of bed bugs before you see the bugs themselves.
Alan Brown says: “Fecal spotting is typically the first visible sign of a bed bug infestation.”
He explains: “Fecal spots look like small droplets of black ink and are found near sitting and sleeping areas, corners of sheets, pleats in chair and couch cushions.”
You may also find:
- Small rust-colored stains on your sheets or mattress
- Pale yellow shed skins, left behind from nymph molting
- A musty, sweet odor
- Tiny white eggs in cracks or mattress seams
If you aren’t sure where to start looking, check your bed itself for bed bugs first. Bites are also telling, but since they affect everyone differently, it may take longer for them to appear. Bed bug bites may cause no reaction or may take up to 14 days to cause a reaction. Bites from bed bugs tend to be itchy, raised welts arranged in a cluster or line.
How to Shorten Bed Bug Lifespan Through Treatment
To shorten a bed bug’s lifespan, you’ll need an all-hands-on-deck approach, which may include these options:
- Professional heat treatments
- Targeted chemical treatments
- Vacuuming, mattress encasements and decluttering
- Follow-up treatments
It’s rare for a single treatment to solve the problem, so you’ll likely need to combine a few methods.
Professional Heat Treatments
Heat treatments are often the gold standard in Texas. Professional heat treatments can raise indoor temperatures to levels that are effective at controlling bed bugs, often in a single day.
Targeted Chemical Treatments
Pest control professionals use insect growth regulators (IGRs) to stop nymphs from breeding into adults. This breaks the life cycle. Steer clear of DIY bug bomb options. These often make the bugs go somewhere else, which can actually make them harder to find and extend the infestation.
Vacuuming, Mattress Encasements and Decluttering
There are a few practical steps you can take to help reduce pest populations. Make sure to vacuum regularly, and consider using mattress encasements. Encasements wrap around your mattress, trapping the bugs. Vacuuming physically removes them. Decluttering can also be helpful.
Follow-Up Treatments
Bed bugs are difficult pests to remove from your home. If there’s any bug that requires follow-up treatments, it’s this one. Professionals will likely schedule the appointment for you about 10 to 14 days out from the initial treatment. This ensures any newly hatched nymphs are addressed before they can reproduce.
Prevention Tips to Keep Bed Bugs From Living in Your Home
No matter where you live, you can accidentally bring bed bugs home while traveling. Short-term rentals and hotel rooms are some of the most common places to find bed bugs.
Check your accommodations thoroughly, and use hard-shell luggage. This type of luggage has fewer seams, meaning fewer places for bugs to hide. For more information, learn how to check your bed for bed bugs.
Second-hand furniture can also carry hidden bed bugs. Be especially careful when buying these items, particularly during move-in and move-out season in college towns.
Contact ABC to Treat Your Bed Bug Problem
So, how long do bed bugs live? Usually, they can live six to twelve months, but they’re able to survive many of those months without any food. Their reproductive cycles are also faster in Texas because of the warmer climate in many areas, so infestations can quickly get out of hand.
Taking quick action is crucial to handling these invasive pests. If you notice signs of bed bugs in your home, contact a pest control professional for a customized plan to take your home back from bed bugs.
