What do bedbugs eat besides blood? - briefly
Bedbugs are obligate hematophages, obtaining nutrition exclusively from the blood of humans or other warm‑blooded hosts; they do not consume any other food sources.
What do bedbugs eat besides blood? - in detail
Bedbugs are obligate hematophages; their digestive system is specialized for processing vertebrate blood. In natural settings they obtain all necessary nutrients—including proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, vitamins, and water—from the host’s circulatory fluid. No alternative natural food sources have been documented.
Laboratory experiments have demonstrated that, when deprived of blood, bedbugs can survive briefly on artificial diets that supply specific nutrients. These diets typically contain:
- A sterile solution of sucrose or glucose (provides carbohydrate energy).
- A protein source such as bovine serum albumin or casein (replaces hemoglobin‑derived proteins).
- A lipid supplement, often in the form of emulsified vegetable oil (supplies fatty acids).
- A vitamin mix, particularly B‑complex vitamins supplied by the symbiotic bacterium Wolbachia.
- Sterile water to maintain hydration.
Under these controlled conditions, insects can ingest the solution through a membrane feeding system, but survival time is limited to a few weeks without a blood meal. Growth, reproduction, and normal behavior cease rapidly once the blood supply is removed.
Field observations confirm that bedbugs do not exploit other ecological niches, such as plant sap, nectar, or carrion. Their mouthparts lack the piercing‑sucking adaptations required for non‑vascular fluids, and their gut enzymes are tuned to degrade hemoglobin and plasma proteins rather than plant polysaccharides.
In summary, the species relies exclusively on vertebrate blood in the wild; artificial nutrient mixtures can temporarily replace blood in experimental settings, but no alternative natural diet supports their lifecycle.