How Long Can Bed Bug Nymphs Live Without Food
If not how long can bed bugs live without a meal.
How long can bed bug nymphs live without food. Adult bed bugs can live for more than a year and it was found that there can be up to four successive generations per year. According to the scientific america a bed bug without a meal in warm temperatures may survive 2 or 3 months and may only be deemed to survive longer about a year if temperatures are colder. Adult bed bugs can survive for about five months without a blood meal. Before we dig into bed bug survivability it s important that we understand how bed bug feeding works.
Bed bugs can go without feeding for 20 to 400 days depending on temperature and humidity. Bed bugs can live longer without food when they are in cooler environments. They are also very good at. Once the bed bug settles on a host it will feed for a few minutes.
Females need first blood meal to lay eggs. Seems fairly simple and straightforward as a newborn human couldn t survive as long as an adult without food. However it will take about 5 months to starve a single bed bug and about 2 weeks for a nymph. How long can bed bugs live without feeding.
Let s talk about what it takes for bed bugs to starve to death. If a bed bug is in a vacant apartment actively searching for food they can t survive as long as a bed bug in a jar on a scientist s desk. But if nymphs can survive weeks without feeding how long can bed bugs live without blood after maturity. Activity level can also change the time it takes for bed bugs to die in the absence of food.
However they may find it a bit harder to survive without food in temperature controlled buildings but they can still survive for 6 months. When living in warm conditions bed bugs will usually try to feed at regular intervals. How bed bug feeding works. If you re hoping that staying with friends for a week will take care of your bed bug situation at home by starving the little pests out you may want to come up with a new extermination plan.
Let s look at how long bed bugs can live without food so you ll know what you re dealing with. After a bed bug egg hatches the nymph goes through five instar stages before it becomes an adult. As for nymphs the life span is shorter than adults. Older stages of nymphs can survive longer without feeding than younger ones and adults have survived without food for more than 400 days in the laboratory at low temperatures.
Nymphs live 5 months without blood meal. They can live in a varied range of temperatures from the very cold to the very hot. In fact experts believe that bed bugs can live up to a year without feeding at 55f or less. Adult bed bugs can live 14 months without feeding.