Harborage and Infestation

Once a bed bug is introduced to a feeding area (your home, for instance) they will quickly find a place to harbor and hide from sight. Usually this will be nearby their food source. Bed bugs will most commonly infest areas like:

• Headboards
• Footboards
• Boxspring
• Mattresses
• Trim work behind the bed
• Nightstands
• Chest-of-drawers
• Living room furniture

However, they can infest a multitude of unusual areas as well. They have been found in the corners of walls and ceilings, behind pictures, on ceilings, in shoes, hats and other clothing articles, in purses, stored cash, airplanes, cars, trains, busses and just about anywhere else you can imagine.

Females can lay an average of 1 to 7 eggs per day for about 10 days after a blood meal; on average about 5 to 20 eggs per feeding. The female must feed again before laying additional eggs. Bedbug eggs are typically produced at equal rates of male and female, a 1:1 ratio. A female can produce over a hundred eggs in her lifetime. This process is repeated with each new adult female.

To put this into perspective, one egg-laying female can produce an infestation quickly. At the rate of 3.5 female eggs per month, per female, one female can turn into 7,000 females in only 6 months. Of course, this is in perfect conditions. However, one female become an infestation of 1000 bed bugs in a 6 month period is perfectly within reason. Although 1000 is much less than 7000, either number is unwelcome.