Bed Bug Size: A Detailed Identification Of Bed Bugs (Including Life Cycle)

Have you ever seen bedbugs in reality? Have you ever tried to know what a bed bug looks like? And what is the bed bug size? Remember when your mother tucked you in bed and said,

Oh, my baby,

Good night,

Sleep tight,

Don’t let the bedbugs bite!’

A very popular rhyme in itself. Remember?

Before switching off your bed light you probably thought your mommy was kidding.

But the reality is bed bugs do exist. They come when people get into a deep sleep during the time between midnight and before dawn. They are such tiny bloodsuckers. And they live as well as stay right beside you sleep.

Here, we’ll try to gather all vital pieces of information about bed bugs, bed bug size, life cycles, and a few particular characteristics of bed bugs. Stay tuned, and read through the end.

Why Is The Size Of A Bed Bug Important?

You know, the first step in removing any kind of infestation is to identify it. We can often identify those pests depending on the bed bug size.  Whereas we’re checking out the bed bug,  It is obvious to emphasize the importance of knowing about bed bug size.

Bed Bug Size

And so the bed bug itself Which is an adult is very dangerous to live with. Bed bug sizes get bigger each time they feed.

Firstly, bed bugs hatch their eggs and grow up from stage one. They feed on blood and grow at another stage. Each time they feed, they get their level up and finally become adults.

They come to bed bug size through the surface of the nymph.

When it comes off an egg as a nymph. That time it’s tiny. The size of a bed bug is so small at first age that you never have to find them. So if you see one of these crawls across your bed, you’ve got a problem! You got a big problem in your room, in the building perhaps.

Different Sizes Of Bed Bugs

We are gonna look at how to identify bed bugs according to bed bug size. You’ve seen the pictures. But, do bedbugs look like that in their natural setting? We’ve all seen insects. But if you are not used to looking at insects. They can kind of all look the same.

Let’s get some close-ups of what bedbugs look like with some idea of how big they are!  Let’s start with the eggs.

  • Eggs (1mm)

The eggs are tiny. And the first little stage of the egg is as tiny. First instar nymphs can be almost impossible to see. They go through five stages.

  • 1st stage nymph (1.5mm): So first instar nymph, is the first stage out of the egg.
  • 2nd stage nymph(2mm): A second instar nymph, is a little bigger.
  • 3rd stage nymph (2.5mm): A little bigger yet, third instar nymphs starting to appear some bed bug size.
  • 4th stage nymph (3mm): A fourth instar nymphs are bigger yet.

The little black smudge you see in a bed bug is the remnants of a blood meal in their gut.

  • 5th stage nymph (4.5mm): An adult bed bug size is ⅜ of an inch.  Their body shape looks like an apple seed.

Adult bugs are pretty easy to see. There is a cast-off skin of a bedbug that grows by molting. They cast-off skin. And the bedbug that comes out swells a little bigger. And thus bed bugs grow stage-by-stage, nasty little parasites!

Recommended to read:

Bed Bugs Pictures Actual Size

Big Bed Bugs

If we’re gonna check out the bed bug size, especially an adult. First, get some brown rice grains in your thoughts. A big bed bug is at least half, more than half of the size of rice grain.

That’s pretty big. Bed bugs run alive and hungry. Each time they feed they reach another stage. While they feed they shed their skin and get bigger than their size.

How Big Are Bed Bugs

Generally, it takes five to six weeks to get an adult bed bug size. Adult bed bugs are bigger than any other stage of bedbugs. Adult bed bugs are bigger than any other bed bug size. Generally, big bed bugs are around (5-7)mm or (3/16 – ¼ )inches in length.

Long Bed Bugs

Adults are generally long and brown.  These bed bugs have flat oval-shaped bodies. If they recently feed they look more elongated.

They love to feed in the early morning because people are in a deeper sleep at that time of day. So they’re less likely to move and wake up during feeding.

The Life Cycle of a Bed Bug

Small Bed Bugs

How Small Are Bed Bugs

Around 1.5 mm to 2.5 mm lengthed bed bugs are called nymphs. They are the smaller version of bed bugs. If not recently fed blood, they can be nearly invisible to eyes of their color and size.

Bed bugs’ eggs are smaller like the size of a pinhead. And the 1st stage nymphs are of the smallest size. They are young bed bugs. They continuously grow in stages.

Baby Bed Bugs/Immature Bed Bugs

They’re not microscopic as is often reported. But they’re very small, very tiny, t90 little things. If we analyze a couple of eggs amongst some grains of salt, that will be clear to understand. It can help us get some idea of various forms of bed bug Size.

As we mentioned before the stages of bed bugs, the 1st,2nd, and 3rd nymph stages are counted as immature bed bugs. They are so small to be overlooked.

Pictures Of Baby Bed Bugs

Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are insects that suck blood from the human body at night. They consume blood to live and breed their next generation. Bed bugs often look like pumpkins or apple seeds.

This pest has a normally oval-shaped body and is reddish-brown. They have six legs and wings also. They can travel an average distance of 3-4 feet per minute. And they spread very quickly.

Bed Bugs Facts

In the prehistoric ages, bed bugs lived with our ancestors and sucked their blood. Our ancestors left those caves and started living in other places and so did bed bugs.

The most surprising feature of bed bugs is, they can spread so fast. Moreover, they can sense our exhaled carbon dioxide through their heat sensor antennae.

Humans, birds and animals, and even bats are the hosts of these tiny insects. They drink blood from the host and continue their life cycles and breed future generations as well.

Color Of Bed Bugs

Adult bed bugs are generally reddish-brown and their wings have golden-colored hairs. Young bed bugs are translucent and whitish-yellow. And last but not the least, bed bug eggs are pearl white.

Types Of Bed Bugs

There are almost one hundred different species of bed bugs. Only two or three types are supposed to be a threat to humans. And they are:

  • Common bed bugs ( Cimex Lectularius)
  • Tropical bed bugs ( Cimex hemipterus)
  • Bat bugs

Common Bed Bugs

Common bed bugs are popular in America. The general size of the common bed bug is most likely an apple seed. It has rounded edges and a pointed part at the other end of the edge.

This bug looks dark brown. They are as thin as credit cards. For this feature, they can easily fit into cracks. They have some golden hairs around their wings which are not so clear if you don’t get up close. Common bed bugs usually have six medium-sized legs.

Those legs are likely to seem like lice but they suck blood through the straw-like part of their head like mosquitoes.

Common bed bugs always try to hide out in the dark portions. They play hide and seek with you, suck your blood, and spread through breeding under your nose quietly.

Bed Bug Eggs

Bedbug eggs are small, opaque, and usually hidden near the food source. Around 10 days after laying bed bug eggs may begin to hatch. At about 70 degrees temperature it takes about six weeks for those bed bugs to reach sexual maturity.

One thing is,

They must feed between each life stage. So they hatch. When they come out from eggs, they are pretty ravenous. They feed on you and then they’ll molt. The way bed bugs molt and grow is pretty neat.

Around 50 percent of adult bed bugs are female. When a female bedbug mated once she could have lots of fertilized eggs to breed.

After they mate, for three to six days, the female can start laying eggs. Bed Bugs usually lay from five to seven eggs a week after mating.

Where To Find Bed Bug Eggs

You have to find every single narrow space far and near your bed. Not only clusters. If you see a cluster and you treat it, that doesn’t mean you’ve gotten everything. And if you see a group of bed bugs and you treat those, that also doesn’t mean you have everything.

Because there could be one lone bed bug somewhere else including eggs in the room. So that’s one reason they’re kinda bad.

Where Do Bed Bugs Lay Eggs?

Bed bugs usually prefer to lay their eggs on any kinda cloth. So especially mattresses, in beds, in couches, you know. Or along baseboards. They like the surfaces of roughened wood. so if you have one of those particle board dressers.

If you look at the back of that, the wood is all roughened on the edges. They like to lay eggs there. Or they can lay eggs in staple holes. So right there in all the prime places.

For the most important part, they like to lay their eggs in clusters, and they like to stay in groups. Moreover,  they can also simply drop their eggs while walking around the room.

Color Of Bed Bugs Eggs

As we said before, bed bugs can lay eggs anywhere they please. Generally, those eggs look pearl-white. But they show up pretty well on a dark background.

Conclusion

The most surprising feature about bed bugs is, they can drink three times their weight in a single meal. According to the bed bug size, they can push you to nutrition deficiency. If you’ve got a serious infestation! Take initial steps as early as possible.

Bed bugs are a really frightening character in recent times. A bunch of bed bugs can bite five thousand times in a whole night. Anyone might get anemia if the attacker group is all done. A prime nature is also present in the features of the bed bug.

Bed bugs can administer anesthetic hormones. So when they suck blood you can’t feel and don’t wake up. They also inject an anticoagulant to thin the blood. Then it becomes too easy to suck blood for the bugs from your veins.

In this whole article, we tried to discuss every single detail of bed bugs. Hope this will work on your quest.

Peter Robert
 

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