How Many Eggs Do Bed Bugs Lay

Bed bugs are reddish brown, small, oval-shaped, flat and wingless insect that feed on human blood at night. Bed bugs are nocturnal insects since they are in their most active in the middle of the night. They shun the light of day.

Bed bugs, long under control, are now spreading fast into households, hotels, motels, busses, cabs, and train stations. They are spreading so fast that you maybe wondering... How many eggs do bed bugs lay?

Bed bugs, like the vast majority of insect, reproduce quickly. And eggs that they lay are many, too.

But before we answer exactly how many eggs do bed bugs lay, let us learn a bit about how bed bugs behave.

Bed bugs feed on human blood. There are some bed bug species that feed on both bats and humans. So if your attic has bats, there is a chance that your house is infested with these parasites.

You may want to treat your attic of its bat habitation, first. This will make it easier to treat the bed bug infestation.

Bed bugs come from eggs. They become nymphs after they are hatched from their eggs.

How many eggs do bed bugs lay?

A female bed bug can deposit three hundred plus (300+) eggs at one laying, three times a year. This adds up to about one thousand eggs (1,000) in its lifetime!

These bed bug eggs begin hatching in about ten days after being released by a fertilized feamle.

A bed bug's life is long (for a member of the insect world). They may even last more than a year and a half without feeding.

Bed bug eggs can survive on many surfaces, but the females prefer placing their eggs on wood, cloth or paper more than plastics and metals. Bed bugs are hardy - nymphs can survive for six months without feeding.

Where are the possible places that a female bed bug will lay her eggs?

Bed bugs will deposit their eggs in small and thin crevices to protect the eggs from harm. Female bed bugs hide their eggs under the mattresses, on the headboard crevices, under the creases on the nightstand right beside the bed, inside the bedroom's wallpaper and on other wooden furniture within the area.

How many eggs your bed bugs lay ultimatly determines the degree of your infestation. A mattress full of bed bug eggs, means hundreds of female bed bugs are around laying eggs everywhere, and there are bed bug eggs hatching everyday, as well.

If we exterminate the bed bugs, we also need to exterminate bed bug eggs. If these bed bug eggs are left untouched, they will hatch and become either a male bed bug or a female bed bug that can reproduce thousands of eggs reinfesting your home.

How to search for bed bug eggs.

Bed bug eggs are easy to spot. They resembles termite eggs. But unlike termite eggs, bed bug eggs reside beside a reddish brown stain and has an offensive, sweet-like odor, a bit musty, in fact. The reddish brown stain is fecal or bed bug excrement.

Only bed bugs have that kind of excrement pattern. The bed bug odor, by the way, comes from the scent glands of bed bugs. They release the scent for mating and it also serves as a way of marking territorial boundaries.

Bed bug eggs should not be pulped or crushed. Instead bed bug eggs should be killed through use of insecticides. If you will just crush these bed bug eggs, some eggs may not be squashed and they will have the chance to reproduce another generation of bed bugs in your home.

Find the best insect killer spray. Use those that are specifically for bed bugs extermination. Bed bug eggs and nymphs will die along with their adult company with the anti-bed bug chemical spray.

Although many say that these bed bug chemical killers are not that effective in destroying bed bugs, they are still the best alternative to manual bed bugs extermination (crushing and pulping adult bed bugs and eggs to bits).