How Long Can Bed Bugs Live Without A Host
Since bed bugs are cold blood if they are staying on a chillier place their metabolism can slow down and they can last up to a year without blood meal.
How long can bed bugs live without a host. If temperatures are low though an adult bed bug will self regulate its own body temperature in sync with that outside. Due to an adult bed bug life cycle can last 400 days without a host. A young nymph cannot go very long since food blood is required for them to molt and become adults.
The result is that the insect goes into a state where the lack of food stops being an issue for a long while at least. Chances are good that you ve heard of them or even had a friend who has had a run in with these pests that love to bite humans feeding on their blood and leaving an itchy painful rash behind. Living without a host however does prevent nymphs from reaching adulthood on their normal schedule.
In cooler temperatures some bed bugs can survive a year or more without a meal. Bed bugs survive by feeding on blood that s their only food source. However bed bugs can go on without food for a very long time.
Adult bed bug on the other hand if it is staying on a temperature of 23 degrees celsius can only last to two to three months without feeding blood meal. Even though bed bugs can survive up to a year without host studies have shown that they can t live for more than a few days on temperatures below 0 f. This comes from a commonly cited source from lister institute entomologist a.
However adult bed bugs have been known to go more than 400 days in a laboratory setting without eating. The average survival time without food however is roughly five months. According to the scientific america a bed bug without a meal in warm temperatures may survive 2 or 3 months and may only be deemed to survive longer about a year if temperatures are colder.
They may be very resilient to cold temperatures but they still can t last in extreme conditions for long. This may be the cause of an infestation from a neighbors home that is in your living vicinity. Bed bugs can live anywhere from 20 to 400 days without food.
However it will take about 5 months to starve a single bed bug and about 2 weeks for a nymph. Due to the feeding cycle of bed bugs they may migrate to where a blood meal can be found. Under normal circumstances bed bug nymphs become adults within about 5 weeks or so.
For most of us the idea of bed bugs sends a shiver of fear up the spine yet many people don t actually know much about this insect its habitat or its habits. We re talking months up to 5 months in warm weather conditions. It s very common bed bugs can live in a vacant home.
