And Other Details About Bedbugs
Adult bed bugs are reddish-brown and approximately 5-6mm in length.
They look round or fat, not thin. They're fatter and redder and bigger right after feeding, possibly up to 10mm.
Bedbugs are nocturnal. They look for meals at night, while you are sleeping.
Bedbugs cannot fly. They don't have wings. If you see a bug with wings, it isn't a bedbug.
They have short, golden hairs on their bodies. The hairs make it look a bit like the bedbug has stripes.
A bedbug infestation is definitely not an indication poor cleanliness. Bedbugs can be anywhere.
There is a growing, worldwide infestation.
Bedbugs love to feed on people and pets.
They don't care if people's homes or hotels are clean and tidy, or messy and dirty. Anywhere there is a blood meal is fine for them.
There are two species of bedbug. One is only found in the tropics (Cimex hemipterus). If you are in the US, Canada, or Europe, you're dealing with Cimex lectularius, the common bedbug. Here at Bedbug School, we only talk about the common bedbug.
Bedbugs have a life-cycle with three basic stages: eggs, nymphs, and adults.
The nymphs have 5 stages (called 1st stage nymph through 5th stage nymph).
Each stage (and each stage of nymph) is slightly larger than the previous stage.
Bed bug nymphs are approximately 1-4mm in length (the size of the head of a pin). They are a golden color or possibly white, until they feed. The white or pale gold acts as a camouflage so they can hide better in mattresses, chairs, and carpets.
Eggs are about 1mm, nymphs are 1.5mm to 4.5mm, and adults are 5mm to as much as 10mm right after feeding.
Bedbugs love to hitchhike. That's how they get into your home in the first place. They ride on shoes, socks, pantlegs, luggage, and whatever else you bring into your home from anywhere outside, including your friends' houses and luxury hotels. Inside your house, they will hitchhike from one room to another or just skitter along the floor at night.
Important: Bedbugs do not transmit diseases that affect humans. None. Zero. So at least there's that going for us.
Bedbugs will easily travel 5 to 25 feet from their hiding place to find a meal. So from the baseboards in a bedroom to the bed in that room is easy for them. Although many times, they just stay in the creases and piping of the bed itself.
Bedbugs appear to prefer human blood, but will definitely feed on pets.
A single feeding session (one meal) takes 3 to 12 minutes.
They tend to void their feces from the last meal while feeding on the current meal. So you will sometimes see dark spots on your sheets when you wake up.
Bedbugs can live 3 to 9 months without feeding. That means whatever you do to get rid of them must be continued for up to a year. So if part of your process is to add mattress protectors, they must stay on without being removed for a year. Don't remove mattress covers even for a moment. Dried up but still living bedbugs can fall out, revive long enough to crawl over to you, feed on you, and continue their infestation.
Importantly, bedbugs need at least one blood meal before they can transform to the next stage of their life-cycle. So if you can prevent any existing young nymphs from feeding, they will not become adults.
Also, for a male and female to mate and for her to produce eggs, they must both feed within the 14 days before mating.
Each female can lay 200 to 500 eggs during her life - 1 to 3 every day.
An egg becomes a reproductive adult in 3 to 5 weeks (and as few as 5 meals). So the population increases slowly for a couple of months, then explodes.
Here is your best hope:
Bedbugs die when their body temperature reaches 113F or 45C. That fact is unchanging and true for every bedbug.
When you heat them enough, they all die.
To kill all the bedbugs in a room, every part where they are hiding must reach 45 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. So if they are inside the electrical outlets, or inside baseboards, those areas must also reach the critical temperature. Not just the air temperature in the room.
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