How Long Can Bed Bugs Live Without Feeding
Adult bed bugs can survive for about five months without a blood meal.
How long can bed bugs live without feeding. 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. Bed bugs can go without feeding for 20 to 400 days depending on temperature and humidity. As mentioned above bed bugs can live for almost 2 years without oxygen and this must be a disturbing thought.
To be honest 18 months seems a bit long to me but bugs inside a container or bag and unable to search for food could probably survive 9 12 months or maybe much more. When going without feedings bed bugs are more likely to survive in a room or area that is cool but not too cold and not too dry. Adult bed bugs can live up to half a year without feeding on human blood if the ambient temperature and humidity conditions are right.
This comes from a commonly cited source from lister institute entomologist a. The average survival time without food however is roughly five months. Older stages of nymphs can survive longer without feeding than younger ones and adults have survived without food for more than 400 days in the laboratory at low temperatures.
Once the bed bug settles on a host it will feed for a few minutes. Bacot s 1914 paper the influence of temperature submersion and burial on the survival of eggs and larvae of cimex lectularius. Also read best skin treatment for bed bug bites they live in the beds and furniture only to come out to bite you when you at rest.
However it will take about 5 months to starve a single bed bug and about 2 weeks for a nymph. The most common figure we see online is 18 months for an adult bed bug to live without a meal. You can find reports online that state people have observed bed bugs surviving 18 months or more when placed inside a jar and left in storage.
Scientists debate this point but evidence suggests that at normal room temperature about 23 degrees celsius bedbugs can only survive two to three months without a blood meal. Length of feeding depends on the stage of development how much it ate last time and how long it s been since it last fed. How long can bed bugs live without air.
A young nymph cannot go very long since food blood is required for them to molt and become adults.
