Can Bed Bugs Survive For A Long Time Without Needing To Feed?

Bed bugs are world champions when it comes to survival. This is why they have plagued humanity for thousands of years. These pests need very little food to survive. In fact, bed bugs survive easily with no food at all. But how much food do they actually need and how long can they go without eating?

How bed bugs survive with almost no food

In a best case scenario, bed bugs survive by eating only once every 3-7 days. As you can see, they can go a relatively long period without food (at least when compared to humans). But, unfortunately, it gets worse.

Yes, these pests can go far longer than just a week without food as part of their lifecycle. In the lab, entomologists found that adult bed bugs can actually survive up to 300-400 days without food. This is a really astounding fact and you may need to do a double take!

Don’t bedbugs need food to survive and grow?

The bottom line is that it’s almost impossible to starve these pests as you prepare for treatment. They do not simply die because there is no food. It takes a lot more than that. If you’re thinking of leaving home and waiting for the bugs to starve, well, it’s not going to work.

That being said, keeping bed bugs away from food can actually help. You see, while bed bugs survive well without food, they do need to eat in order to fully mature. After hatching, bed bugs nymphs go through five stages before reaching full maturity.

To progress to the next stage, the bug needs to eat at least once. If the bug does not eat, then it cannot continue growing. The only problem is that these nymphs can survive for around six months without any food.

The bottom line is that bed bugs are an extremely tenacious pest that won’t go away with DIY treatments. They are able to live secretly in your home and survive long periods with no food. You’re not going to starve these pests to death, no matter how long you wait. This is also why getting rid of them is such a difficult task.

To be honest, you’re probably going to need professional help. We recommend that you use a technique known as heat treatment. Unfortunately, bed bugs are now somewhat resistant to pesticides. Heat treatments bypass this problem because they do not use pesticides.

Instead, the affected area is gradually warmed up. It’s this heat that eventually kills the bugs. Besides the lack of pesticides, heat treatments have other advantages. One of them is that all eggs and nymphs are also destroyed. Along with that, clean-up is a lot easier, plus there’s less preparation required.