How quickly does bed bugs spread?

Bed bugs are tiny pests that are a nuisance in most households, especially bedrooms, after the infestation. They can spread quickly and you can think they have wings, but not really. They move by crawling from one area to another to slowly spread to other rooms in the house. Bed bugs feed on human blood. Therefore, they are attracted to people as their prey. Most often, they affect the bed and seats where you spend most of your day or night. The question most people ask is: How long does it take for bed bugs to spread?? You will also most likely not understand how and where they came from to be in your home, as their initial infestation is very difficult to notice.

Movement of infected objects

Bed bugs can get into the house if furniture and boxes are removed from infested locations. They can also be transported from public places by personal items such as clothing, backpacks, and handbags. Buying used items from the street or from neighbors that are infested with bed bugs is another way to bring them into your home. You will be attached to these items and held until you get home. Then they move to hidden places in the house, including bed frames, mattresses, curtain edges and picture frames. This usually happens at night when you can’t see them, but they can see well in the dark. These are the most common methods we use to help bed bugs spread from the far ends to our homes quickly and easily.

Overnight in public places

When booking and staying in your favorite hotel, don’t think the room may have a previous visitor’s single bed bug. Hundreds of people occupy a hotel room in a month, increasing the likelihood that bed bugs will spread to other residents. Other similar places where bed bugs can be spread are hospitals and schools. Therefore, you will carry one in your suitcase, your clothes or your books to your home without your knowledge. If you are lucky, you can spot a lining on the zipper or hide on the folds of your clothes.

Breeding rate

Once in your house, bugs take time to multiply and multiply over the next few weeks. A single female bed bug can lay dozens of eggs in different locations around your home in a month if accidentally fertilized. Depending on how many bed bugs got into your home in the first place, the number of new bed bugs can climb to hundreds in a month or two. Since they do not leave any marks on the skin when they are fed and then hide during the day, they can spread unnoticed for several months. Once they are well fed, they hide to mate and multiply.

Bed bugs also have a favorable reproductive cycle and a longer life cycle of up to a year. This makes it easier for them to multiply and spread around the house. It only takes one prick of a female beggar bug’s stomach by a male to fertilize the eggs. As a result, she can lay up to five eggs at a time in the coming days, which will hatch within ten days. In her life, a single female bug can lay up to three hundred eggs. The young nymphs can survive several weeks with one feeding and are hidden in cracks, bed frames and other places. If you were to eliminate them, you would have to use pesticides continuously for weeks not to miss a newly hatched nymph.

How fast can you move?

Bed bugs are experts when it comes to crawling on floors, walls, furniture, and clothing. They can crawl at high speed with their six legs. You can cover three to four feet over most surfaces in a minute. This allows them to move quickly from one room to another on the floor and between furniture. When they are discovered, they quickly search for new hiding places and identify new breeding sites before you can find them again.

Plus, they have good eyesight for crawling in the dark and hide back up pretty quickly when you turn on the lights. This ability to move quickly also allows them to escape pesticides from one room to another, especially in an apartment. Instead of being eliminated, you might be surprised at how quickly they continue to spread if you don’t consistently apply the pesticide.

Adaptation and resilience

Bed bugs are opportunistic pests and can sense expected movements to reveal them. You will explore new places as soon as you start disturbing their hiding places. They hide in the darkest places of the day and in the safest places where pesticides cannot easily reach them. You can also do without food for several weeks so that you think it has disappeared. Therefore, they stay in position until they find that the pesticide has reduced their effectiveness and then move to new breeding grounds.

They are also very sensitive and sense their prey by following body heat and breathing. Your saliva contains a soothing chemical that makes you insensitive to a prick and then feeds it enough to last for weeks. Since they won’t have to feed again soon, they will spend all their time moving to non-crowded places and brooding again. This form of adaptation allows them to play hide and seek without getting caught.

Conclusion

Bed bugs won’t be able to irritate your skin if you suspect that pests have infected your home. They also invade your home not because of unsanitary conditions, but because they feed on human blood and look for food. Due to the lower sunlight, they are more common in apartments than in ordinary detached houses. A single infestation is enough to open a breeding ground. After that, the bed bugs will multiply and infest your entire home in a matter of weeks. If you know the behavior of bed bugs and how they spread, you can easily identify and eliminate them early enough and use the appropriate methods. Learn more about bedbugs and how to get rid of them yourself.