How Can One Single Female Bed Bug Establish An Extensive Infestation Within A Home? The majority of bed bug infestations start after one, or multiple bed bugs hitch a ride into homes on people’s clothing. Bringing bed bug infested furniture and infested clothing into a home is another common way in which bed bug infestations get started, especially when bringing in used furniture or second-hand clothing. According to experts, if a person brings one single bed bug into a home, then that bed bug specimen will most likely be a mated female. Unfortunately, one single mated female within a home can give rise to a thriving bed bug population within a few months. If a mated female bed bug becomes attached to a person’s clothing in a public place, the specimen will likely collect a blood meal from the person before he/she returns home. In this circumstance, the person will not feel any sensation from the initial bite, and therefore, the person will return home unaware of the bed bug specimen/s that he/she is bringing indoors. Generally, bed bug bite symptoms only occur after a person has already sustained at least one bite. This is because humans develop a tolerance to the numbing compounds in bed bug saliva, and a recent study found that around 30 percent of the population may not experience any sort of reaction to bed bug bites. In most cases, a bed bug infestation will go unnoticed for a few months following a bed bug’s initial introduction into a home.
After an individual female bed bug collects its first blood-meal, she will immediately begin to lay around 3 eggs per day within a home. These eggs will either die, or hatch within a period of two weeks. Indoor temperatures between 64 and 68 degrees are optimal for the development of bed bug eggs, and temperatures that are far outside of this range may kill bed bug eggs, or thwart their development. Under optimal conditions, bed bug eggs develop into adult bed bugs within a period of four months, and an infested home can see as many as three generations of bed bugs within one year. Bed bugs require blood meals in order to breed and survive, but temporarily moving out of an infested home in order to wait for bed bugs to die will not work, as bed bugs can survive without feeding for up to a year. Most bed bug infestations see between 4 and 200 specimens within a home, but it is not uncommon for pest control professionals to treat homes containing well over 1,000 bed bug specimens. One recent infestation in a Tampa home saw more than 5,000 bed bug specimens beneath just one single bed.
Have you ever found bed bugs crawling on waiting room furniture?
1 Comment
Ang gard
I had a couch that had a bed bug infestation. I got rid of it. (Disposed properly so no one will take it). I haven’t seen any bugs in a few days but know the eggs take the to hatch. U said 2-3 weeks. I have read 7 Weeks. The reason I ask is because we will not get new furniture until we know they are gone for good. How long should we wait?
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