What do bedbugs eat in an apartment? - briefly
Bedbugs survive by piercing the skin of humans (or other warm‑blooded animals) and ingesting their blood, typically during nighttime when the host is immobile. In a residential unit they rely solely on this blood meal; they do not consume food, fabric, or debris.
What do bedbugs eat in an apartment? - in detail
Bedbugs in a dwelling subsist almost exclusively on the blood of warm‑blooded vertebrates. The primary source is human blood; a single adult can ingest roughly 0.001 ml per feeding, enough to sustain it for several days. Feeding occurs mainly at night when the host is immobile, and the insect uses a proboscis to pierce the skin, inject an anesthetic‑and‑anticoagulant mixture, and draw blood for 5–10 minutes.
When humans are absent or unavailable, bedbugs will opportunistically feed on other mammals and birds that share the living space. Common secondary hosts include:
- Domestic pets such as dogs and cats
- Rodents (mice, rats) that inhabit walls or storage areas
- Wild birds that may roost in attics or open windows
These alternative meals provide the same nutritional content—protein, lipids, and carbohydrates—required for reproduction and development. Bedbugs cannot digest plant material, fabric, or stored food; they lack the enzymatic capacity to break down such substances.
The feeding cycle is regulated by host detection cues. Bedbugs respond to:
- Body heat gradients (optimal range 30–37 °C)
- Carbon‑dioxide plumes exhaled by the host
- Specific skin odors (e.g., lactic acid, fatty acids)
After a blood meal, the insect retreats to a concealed harbor (mattress seams, wall cracks, furniture crevices) to digest and lay eggs. Digestive processes convert the ingested blood into nutrients for egg production; a female can lay 200–500 eggs over her lifespan, each requiring a blood meal for maturation.
In summary, the diet of these insects in an apartment consists solely of vertebrate blood, primarily from humans, supplemented by any accessible mammals or birds. They do not consume non‑biological materials, and their feeding behavior is tightly linked to host availability, temperature, and chemical signals.