Do Head Lice Need to Mate to Lay Eggs?

You may be wondering: do head lice need to mate to lay their eggs? The fact is, no. Although adult head lice look similar, they are very different from each other. After mating, the female will begin to lay eggs within a day or two. The eggs will be laid on the hair shaft. Once the eggs are laid, the adult lice will die.

A female louse will lay as many as eight eggs per day after reaching the adult stage of life. This means that the female will lay up to twenty-four eggs in her lifetime. Luckily, you can prevent the lice from hatching and laying eggs by catching them early.

Adult head lice are about the size of a sesame seed. The eggs are small and oval in shape and are camouflaged with the host’s own hair pigment. The female lice will glue the eggs to the hair near the scalp. However, they may also be found on the back of the head or the hair surrounding the ears. The eggs will hatch in about seven to 10 days under normal conditions. The nymphs will then emerge, leaving a shell casing behind. The empty nits will stay attached to the hair for several days, and will eventually fall off.

The egg-laying stage of head lice begins after the female louse has mated. The newly hatched louse will need to feed on blood within the first few minutes of birth. The next day, the newly emerged louse will begin to lay eggs. The female will lay up to 100 eggs during her lifetime. The cycle repeats every three to four weeks.