Bed bugs can bite its human host up to three times in the same night. Their bites will usually leave a distinct zig zag pattern or cluster or red welts. Once bed bugs are done feeding, they will return to their hiding spots and digest their food for the next five to ten days. So if you notice new bite marks every morning, that means you have multiple bed bugs currently in your home and may even indicate a serious bed bug infestation.
What are the factors that affect how often a bed bug will feed?
Their living conditions
A bed bug’s living conditions will greatly affect how often it will bite its host. Ideal temperatures in their living spaces will give the bugs regular opportunity to bite, but things might change when it gets colder. In a colder environment, the population growth of the bed bugs may decrease, but it will not completely cease. This also does not mean that they will stop feeding.
Bed bugs mate right after feeding and will lay viable eggs everyday for several weeks if they are well-fed. However, colder temperatures may cause the female bed bug to lay fewer eggs than it normally does.
Eggs that were laid in colder temperatures may also take longer than normal to hatch, this is because bed bugs are very resilient insects and they are willing to wait for more ideal conditions before they hatch for more optimal survival odds.
Basically, despite living in less than ideal conditions, bed bug colonies will continue to thrive, though a little slower.
You might think that not using the heater as much during winter is enough to kill the bed bugs in your home, but you would be mistaken. The cold may impede the reproduction of bed bugs but it will actually allow starved bed bugs to survive longer without feeding. In actuality, heat is the more effective element when dealing with these pests.
Food availability
Another major factor that affects the frequency of a bed bug’s feeding is the availability of food. If the bed bug’s source of food is regular and constant then their feeding will also be regular and constant.
Bed bugs only feed about once a week, and in the right temperature conditions, the female will feed every two days. This is to ensure that they are constantly laying eggs, and for those eggs to be 100% viable.
If you currently have a full-blown bed bug infestation where all the bed bugs are thriving, the large number of bugs will be feeding at different times of the day. So you should not be surprised if you notice new bites in different parts of your body every morning when you wake up. There can possibly be hundreds, even thousands, of bed bugs in your entire room, with about half of the population female bed bugs who are laying up to five eggs every single day. The higher the bed bug population in your home becomes, the higher the number of bed bug bites you are bound to get.
Do bed bug bites cause disease?
No, bed bugs are not known to carry any communicable diseases. Although, their bites can be annoying. When a bed bug bites you in your sleep, they will also inject a substance that has an anesthetic effect on your skin. Because you will not be able to feel their bite, this will give them ample time to feed on you without worrying about alarming you.
Bed bug bites can vary from small red bite marks to large red welts that form a line. The bites usually appear in parts of your body that are exposed when you are asleep, such as your face, necks, arms, and ankles.
Even though bed bug bites are usually harmless, when scratched too much can result in an open wound which may become infected.
How do I stop bed bugs from biting me?
The surefire way to stop bed bugs from biting you is to eradicate the bed bug infestation entirely. Bed bugs will continue to thrive as long as the conditions you are providing for them in your home are ideal for them. The best way to go about dealing with an infestation is to seek the services of a professional exterminator. But be aware that even large scale pest control treatment results may vary and are certainly not instant.
The exterminator will advise several preventative measures to help reduce the bed bug bites, such as using a plastic mattress encasement to keep the bugs trapped and to slowly starve them by cutting their access to their food source. But, of course, if your infestation is so severe, the bed is not the only place with bed bugs. They may have gone as far as climbing up your walls or ceiling to hide and lay eggs.
You can opt for chemical pesticide treatments over several weeks to kill the bed bugs. You can start with alternative sprays which use safer and more natural ingredients, before moving on to stronger pesticides with harsher ingredients.
If you are concerned about the chemicals in spray pesticide treatments, you can always choose heat treatment. It can be a bit pricey, depending on the size of your home and the severity of the bed bug infestation. It can run you up to $10,000. Along with the hefty price tag is its effectiveness. Heat is the most effective way to kill bed bugs in all of its life stages, including eggs.
When professionals do heat treatment to your home, they will bring in industrial strength heaters and place them in the most infested rooms of your house. They will then turn those heaters high enough so they reach temperatures that are sufficient in killing the bed bugs. They will keep the temperature of the house elevated for several hours to make sure that all the bed bugs are killed. This method is very effective and does not incorporate the use of harsh chemicals that may be harmful for your children or pets.
Conclusion
The same bed bug can bite you three or four times during its feeding process in one night. The bites may appear in a zigzag pattern or clusters.
They feed once every five to ten days depending on how much nutrients they will need. A female bed bug will need to feed more frequently than male bed bugs because the nutrients from their food will help them produce more viable eggs, while male bed bugs need to feed once a week to make sure they develop healthy sperm.
If you notice new bed bug bites everyday, that usually means you have a serious infestation in your home.
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