Where and how do bedbugs live? - briefly
Bedbugs inhabit concealed spaces such as mattress seams, furniture crevices, wall voids and baseboard cracks, remaining hidden during daylight. They emerge at night to locate a host, feed on blood, and return to their shelters to digest and reproduce.
Where and how do bedbugs live? - in detail
Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) occupy environments that provide constant access to warm‑blooded hosts and concealment opportunities. Their primary habitats are human dwellings, especially bedrooms, where they hide in seams of mattresses, box‑spring frames, headboards, and upholstered furniture. Secondary locations include sofas, curtains, wall baseboards, electrical outlets, and cracks in walls or flooring. In multi‑unit buildings, infestations often spread through shared walls, plumbing shafts, and luggage, allowing the insects to colonize adjacent apartments or hotel rooms.
Microhabitat selection follows strict criteria:
- Temperature between 20 °C and 30 °C, optimal for development and reproduction.
- Relative humidity of 40 %–80 %, which prevents desiccation while supporting egg viability.
- Proximity to a host within a few centimeters, enabling rapid feeding.
- Dark, undisturbed crevices that protect all life stages from physical disturbance and predators.
The life cycle comprises egg, five nymphal instars, and adult. Eggs are deposited in protected sites, such as the underside of fabric folds or within wall voids, where they remain hidden from routine cleaning. Nymphs emerge and require a blood meal before molting; each successive stage demands a larger blood intake, driving the insects to seek hosts repeatedly. Adults feed nocturnally, inserting a stylet into the skin for 5–10 minutes. After feeding, they retreat to the same concealed sites to digest, mate, and lay eggs.
Dispersal mechanisms include:
- Passive transport on clothing, luggage, or furniture during relocation.
- Active movement through wall voids, electrical conduits, and plumbing channels.
- Aggregation pheromones that attract individuals to established refuges, reinforcing colony density.
Survival without a host is limited. Under optimal temperature and humidity, adults can endure up to 300 days, but prolonged starvation leads to reduced activity and eventual mortality. Eggs hatch within 6–10 days, and under favorable conditions, a single female can produce several hundred offspring within a year, sustaining high population growth in suitable habitats.