Do Bed Bugs Need Male and Female to Reproduce?
Bed bugs do not need a male and a female to reproduce, although they can survive without a female for months. They also have the ability to live for weeks without feeding, which makes it difficult to kill them. Bed bugs typically feed once every five days and then retreat to a quiet place to digest the food they just ate. Female bed bugs lay their eggs between day thirty and two hundred of their adult life.
Male bed bugs have a pointed abdomen while females have a rounded abdomen. Female bed bugs have a long, tubular organ known as an ovipositor, which is used to lay eggs. Female bed bugs can lay eggs but males cannot lay them. They are also slightly different from each other.
While male bed bugs cannot lay eggs, they have reproductive functions. They deposit sperm into the abdomen of female bed bugs, fertilize their eggs and migrate through their body to a holding chamber. The male then dies. Female bed bugs only need fertilization every six to eight weeks. They lay their eggs in small cracks and glue them together. The eggs take about seven to fifteen days to hatch.
Bed bugs are parasitic bloodsuckers that can infest mattresses, furniture, and other items. They have rounded bodies and a dark abdomen. The males are between one and five millimeters long, depending on their stage in the life cycle. They are reddish brown in color and their last blood meal.