When Do Bed Bugs Reproduce?

WouterSeptember 15, 2022September 15, 2022

Bed bugs have some weird and unique reproductive habits. The male bed bug injects sperm into the hemocoel of the female and then the sperm travels through her body to her ovaries where it fertilizes the eggs. The female bed bug also has a special organ called the spermalege, which is located on the right side of its abdomen.

It takes six to seventeen days for bed bug eggs to hatch. The hatched eggs are known as nymphs. When the eggs hatch, the nymph begins to feed on blood. It will take about five weeks to reach adulthood. Once the nymph has matured, it will start mating and reproduce.

Bed bugs usually reproduce during a specific time of year. The breeding season of many species begins in the spring. Unlike other insects, female bed bugs do not fertilize their eggs. They store sperm in their abdomen to fertilize their eggs later in the year. This allows them to reproduce a larger number of eggs than they otherwise would.

In tropical regions, bed bugs can live for up to three hundred days, and their reproduction time depends greatly on the temperature and food supply. During this time, male bed bugs will breed with female bed bugs.