What is the bed bugs life cycle?
Bed bug eggs are a little longer than 1/32 inch. The eggs hatch into immature bed bugs (nymphs), the smallest of which is only about 1/16 inch long. This nymph is hard to see unless it has had a blood meal. After each meal, the nymphs molt to the next larger size. Each time they molt, they shed their skin, which can also indicate evidence of bed bugs. There are five progressively larger sizes of nymphs all of which look similar: clear and milky in color, and less flat than adults. The adults are about the size of an apple seed and dark brown in color. They mate and the adult female starts laying 5-7 eggs per week. Each egg is glued to something in the environment. The eggs hatch in 7-10 days. A female may lay 200 to 500 eggs in her lifetime.
