One female bed bug can produce up to 500 new bed bugs during its life. And the bed bug life cycle is not merely a matter of a few days, or even weeks. Bed bugs live about 10 months, but some live longer than a year. So while that one female bed bug that started the infestation is still living, her multiple generations of offspring are taking over your house.
The bed bug life cycle begins when the female lays here eggs, usually no more than 50 at a time. The female glues her eggs to rough surfaces using a sticky substance the female naturally forms.
Within two weeks, the eggs hatch. Each nymph then must consume a blood meal before it can molt, which is a necessary part of bed bugs’ development process. Nymphs molt five times to reach adulthood, shedding their skin after each molting.The maturation process takes only about 3 weeks in warm temperatures. At that point, each newly adult female can start its own “family.”
As you can see, it doesn’t take long for a few bed bugs to become an army of bed bugs. They reproduce so quickly and efficiently that they can quickly become a serious problem.