Facts Vs. Myth
KEY BED BUG STATS AND FACTS
- 20% of Americans have had a bed bug infestation in their home or knows someone who has encountered bed bugs.
- Bed bugs can feed for between 3 and 10 minutes at a time.
- A single female bed bug can lay 500 eggs during her lifespan.
About 70 years ago, there were hardly any bed bug problems in the US. But international travel and other factors have led to an increase in this infestation.
- Residential houses are thought to be home to almost half of all bed bug infestations.
- Bed bugs are often introduced to homes from luggage. They can also travel on your clothing.
- Bed bugs can move through outlets, baseboards, and any cracks in the walls.
- Bed bugs can live in your carpet, furniture clothes, walls, and baseboards.
- Apartments are another one of the most common areas for an infestation.
- Bed bug infestation is not a sign of a dirty environment. Bed bugs can thrive in both clean and dirty homes, as long as they have a dark place to hide and a person to feed on.
- Bed bugs if hungry enough will feed in the light.
- Bed bug eggs, in general, are:
- tiny, the size of a pinhead;
- pearl-white in color; and
- marked by an eye spot if more than five days old.
Life Cycle
- Adult bed bugs, in general, are:
- about the size of an apple seed (5-7 mm or 3/16 – 1/4 inch long);
- long and brown, with a flat, oval-shaped body (if not fed recently);
- balloon-like, reddish-brown, and more elongated (if fed recently);
- a “true bug” (characteristics of true bugs include a beak with three segments; antenna that have four parts; wings that are not used for flying; and short, golden-colored hairs); and
- smelly, with a “musty-sweetish” odor produced through glands on the lower side of the body
- Young bed bugs (also called nymphs), in general, are:
- smaller, translucent or whitish-yellow in color; and
- if not recently fed, can be nearly invisible to the naked eye because of coloring and size.
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