Did you wake up in the morning scratching your skin and noticing red rashes and patches all over your body? If yes, there is a 90% chance that your home is infested with bed bugs. Not only is it every person’s worst nightmare, it is one of those situations that no one wants to get themselves into.
But, once you have confirmed a potential bed bug situation in your home, the next logical step is to find ways to stop its spread. Since they have a tendency to multiply and spread at a very quick pace, being proactive with the control measures is the need of the house.
This article will explore everything you need to know about how fast bed bugs multiply and what you can do to minimize that spread significantly.
Quick Answer
Bed bugs can spread from one room to another in seconds by getting stuck on people’s clothing, bags, etc. Once you have transferred a few bed bugs to another room, it is just a matter of time before they multiply and spread all over the house.
Bed Bug Reproduction Process
To understand the duration, it would take for bed bugs to multiply and spread all over the house, we first need to understand their life cycle.
Like most pests, even bed bugs start their life cycle as eggs, which measure the same size as a rice grain.
The next stage in their reproduction process is hatching into a nymph, which then undergoes five stages of growth and development before reaching adulthood.
Once the bed bug reaches its adult phase, it starts mating and reproducing. A standard bed bug can live between 6-12 months, which is favorable long.
Bed Bug Egg Laying Process
An adult bed bug’s first aim is to find a favorable and safe place before they are ready to mate and reproduce.
In the egg-laying process, the female bed bugs lay around 1-5 eggs daily, resembling a poppy seed size. So, if you can’t spot them with the naked eye, the size of the eggs plays a crucial role in that regard.
A female bed bug will lay up to 250 eggs throughout her life span, which are later fertilized and hatch into baby bed bugs. Once the eggs hatch and reach the nymph stage, reaching maturity takes them up to 6 weeks. So, if you can trace the bed bugs during that process and can successfully eliminate them, you can stop further multiplication and spread.
One dangerous factor about bed bugs and their reproduction is that 100% of their laid eggs are viable. This means that if one female bed bug lays five eggs, all five will further hatch to become bed bugs. So, even if they don’t multiply as quickly, they multiply in viable amounts.
How Fast Do Bed Bugs Multiply?
Now that you have a brief idea about bed bugs’ egg-laying, reproduction, and life stages, we must next focus on the speed at which the bed bugs multiply.
Here’s a quick breakdown to make it easier to understand:
- Female bed bugs lay around one egg per day or up to 7 eggs weekly.
- The laid eggs take 10-15 days to hatch, and it takes another six weeks for the bed bug to mature and reach adulthood.
- From there, they mate, reproduce, and live up to 6-12 months. The cycle keeps continuing.
Compared to other pests, bed bugs take a significant amount of time to reproduce, multiply and spread. Hence, if you notice potential signs of bed bugs, you must take immediate measures to control and stop them before things turn for the worse.
The most common source of bed bugs is from outdoors. They can hitchhike on a person’s clothing or a shopping bag, shoes, etc. Once they enter your home, they will locate a favorable area and multiply and spread.
Controlling Bed Bug Populations
The most important factor to consider when controlling bed bugs at home is finding ways to slow down the spread and control the further multiplication of these pests. You also want to minimize and prevent the transmission of pests from one room to the next.
Controlling bed bugs comes with a few tips to get on top of. Here’s what you can do:
Confirm The Type – The most important thing to do is confirm whether or not you have a bed bug infestation or its fleas or ticks. They have very similar infestation symptoms, so confirm that first.
No Point In Panicking – Once you have confirmed that it is, in fact, a bed bug infestation, the last thing you want to do is panic. Your first step is to throw out most of the infested items. As harsh as it sounds, this needs to be done.
Clean The Clutter – Bed bugs are privy to tight-knit spots, which means that if your home or room is cluttered, you are making room for these pesky bugs to live inside your room. So, sit down and clear out all the clutter inside your home.
Wash And Dry Heat – Once you have confirmed that you have bed bugs, it is mandatory that you wash and dry heat your bed sheets every day without fail. This will not just kill the bugs but also eliminate the eggs that are clinging to the bedsheet.
Use Heat – If you have a thermostat at home, you can leverage the power of heat to kill the bed bugs. Since these pests have very specific needs regarding their living conditions, it isn’t surprising that a sudden elevated temperature will kill them and prevent them from reproducing further.
Turn To Professionals – Despite all the measures you take, sometimes, it is impossible to eliminate a potential bed bug infestation by yourself. In that case, you’d need to rely on professionals to help you out in the situation.
These are some of the most commonly used techniques to help you eliminate the bed bug infestation from your home for good. One quick tip is always to stay alert. Prevention is always better than cure. If you are visiting somewhere that could have bed bugs, ensure that you take precautions to eliminate them before stepping into your room or shifting to your bed.
Conclusion
That concludes everything you need to know about a potential bed bug infestation at home and how to eliminate it for good. Bed bugs are pesky little pests often impossible to eliminate with DIY natural remedies. The tips mentioned in this article are tried and tested, so ensure that you try them first. If nothing works, don’t hesitate to contact professionals before things go out of hand and beyond the point of control.
