Does Bed Bugs Fly, Jump, Hop, Wings (Edited)
Scratching your arms repeatedly while waking up on the bed is unpleasant matter.
And it is not unusual to many of us. Sometimes we see rashes on our skin which can be itchy, clustered or generally scattered on the exposed areas of our body.
The cause of this itchiness or rashes is nothing but the bed bug. This small insect bites our skin with its beak and inserts saliva which cause rashes on our skin.
There goes a myth about this mighty tiny enemy – “Bed bugs can fly.” This is an entirely wrong concept about bed bug.
Here in this article, I am going to illustrate this whole concept, and you’ll be amazed.
You may enjoy to read:
What is a bed bug?
The bed bug is a native insect life at human’s residence. It feeds on human blood. It’s from cimicid family and scientifically known as Cimex lectularius. You can see them crawling on your body or near the corners of your bed.
The size of bed bug is not more than a seed of an apple. Usually, it can be 3-7 mm in size. It is reddish, flat or oval-shaped small insect. The body structure of bed bug is prepared for crawling to different places. But this insect doesn’t have any wings with what they can fly.
Let’s move our attention to the main topic.
Do Bed Bugs Fly or Have Wings?
Or the question can be – “Do Bed Bugs Have Wings and Fly?” The answer is pretty simple. Bed bugs don’t have any special wings attached to their bodies. We all know that a wingless entity can’t fly as its body won’t support it. In a word, a bed bug never is able to fly.
Bed bugs are common insects like other insects such as flies, cockroaches, ants etc. Most of these insects, bite on our body and somehow create skin irritation or other skin problems. Cockroaches, flies have suitable wings to float in the air. Then they can approach to their desired location. But there is no option for bed bugs to go anywhere as they wish.
Again, I’m repeating the topic – “Does bed bug fly?”
The body structure of bed bug is unfavorable to fly for at least minimum length. But they own vestigial front wings. On the eve of their appearance on this earth, they might be able to arrange a fleet. Till then “the bed bugs fly” was correct. But they have lost the ability over the time. That’s why their body structure is also modified over the time. Presently, their front wings are switched to small jointed pads. This is what we call the animal evolution. This evolution has shrunk their possibility to fly.
There are many bugs that look like bed bugs but fly. These bugs are spider beetle, booklice, roach nymphs etc. Few of them can’t fly but have the power to lift up their body with a jump. Unfortunately, bed bugs have nothing such power. These even can’t jump from places to places.
Do Bed Bugs Fly or Jump?
Bed bugs have a wide body and short legs. These shorts legs hardly carry the whole body. Then a question arises, “Can Bed Bugs Fly or Jump?” I’ve already described that bed bugs don’t fly. They neither fly in the air nor they jump. They can’t jump on your body with those short legs.
Few people have confusion that they have seen bed bugs jumping on their body from the wall. It’s totally misconception to see them jumping. The matter is like these bugs couldn’t grab or grip on the wall tightly and they fell down on the people’s body. Again, there may come another contradictory idea that how a bed bug can grab or stay on the wall. Bed bugs have small hooks with their short legs. They hide their body by attaching to wall’s tiny cracks and pores with these hooks.
So, you’ve got the answer of “Do Bed Bugs Fly/Jump?”. They can’t fly, they can’t hop. Again, “Do Bed Bugs Fly or Hop?” They haven’t the power to hop into our clothes and bite us. They just crawl to their desired places to hide or perhaps biting us.
How Do Bed Bugs Move?
Bed bugs hide where the place is dark. A low temperature, the warmth of human body and release carbon dioxide from them are favorable to appear bed bugs. They move on our body by crawling with the small legs. That’s how we get bitten.
The movement speed is quite slower like an ant does. It’s like their max speed to roam places. They can’t force themselves to get a higher speed by crawling. Their shorts legs can’t move objects from their paths. This restricts their movement speed. Perhaps this is the reason to catch them like we do catch ants in some cases.
When we travel to different places, we can carry the bed bugs. This is the solution of “Do Bed Bugs Fly or Crawl?” These tiny insects hide in the clothes we use. When we pack the clothes in our luggage, it’s hard to keep these bugs away. That’s one reason we get bed bugs everywhere we move.
Bed bugs can fly or not, this requires another important information. That is, bed bugs are good enough to climb. They choose night time to climb into our bed. Though their crawling speed isn’t that much, they have enough time to reach their destination at night. They need little space to fit in any of their shelters. These accesses are friendly to them like the legs of the bed frame, loose corners of bedsheets etc.
I think you have already erased the myth from your mind. Now, you have the idea whether bed bugs can fly or not. They don’t have any facility to jump either.
If they are seen in your bed, they don’t absolutely fly or hop on. Check out the corners of your beddings where the nymph or adult bed bugs may hide, crawl or grip on the walls.
Try to keep your home neat and clean, and let the sunlight and fresh air come. This will help you to have any misconception about bed bugs flying or getting bites of them.
