I was telling my buddy today that I thought he should get a Bed Bug inspection. He told me he had his house sprayed, but it wasn’t enough. He said there were still a lot of bed bugs in his house, but they were all nymphs. I told him that meant the product he used wasn’t killing the bed bugs; it was only making them dormant. He needed to take proper steps to remove the bed bugs by hiring a professional or purchasing some DIY solutions like these. When I tell people that I’m a bed bug exterminator, I get funny looks and all kinds of questions. Bedbugs have become a big nuisance in the past decade. However, there’s one thing that confuses me to this day. It doesn’t involve the biology of the insects or their life cycle . . . it involves something far more basic: How many nymphs are really in a single apartment?

Bed Bug Nymphs But No Adults

Bed Bug Nymphs but No Adults

Nymphs are the immature stage of a bed bug. They are small and flat, with no wings. Nymphs look like their adult counterparts except that they have no wings and cannot lay eggs.

Adult bed bugs usually take between six to twelve weeks to reach maturity, but it can take as long as twenty-four weeks under ideal conditions. In colder climates, it will take longer for them to mature because they need a higher temperature in order to develop properly. Nymphs typically live anywhere from two months up to one year depending on their environment and how well fed they are!

How Did I Get These “Bites”?

You may be wondering why you are seeing bites on your body, when there don’t appear to be any adult bed bugs. It could be due to a number of reasons.

• You have been bitten by a different type of bug that shows up in the same location as bed bugs. For example, fleas and ticks show up on the ankles or lower legs, while bed bugs tend to bite around the neck, back and shoulders.
• Many non-bug bites can look like bed bug bites. This includes mosquito bites and spider bites (which can also cause skin reactions similar to those seen with bed bug bites). If you notice that some of your ‘bites’ are appearing at night or within minutes after going to sleep – this could help you determine whether they are from an insect or not!

What to Do Now

If you do find bed bug nymphs, but there are no adults, it is a good sign. This means that the bed bugs were able to reproduce and survive without a blood meal. This is what makes them so difficult to get rid of!

If you have the time and energy, you may want to consider cleaning your home again. However, before doing this please take precautions:

• Do not use pesticides to clean your home because they can make the situation worse! Use only organic methods of eradicating bed bugs such as steam cleaning with hot water or borax powder sprinkled around baseboards.
• If you have a mattress cover on your mattress already (which many people do), wash it in hot water with bleach then dry completely before putting it back on again.
• Take extra care vacuuming up all corners and crevices where bed bugs can hide out.

You don’t have an infestation, but you should keep an eye on these areas.

If you’re seeing bites and no adult bed bugs, it’s likely that you have a nymph infestation. Adult bed bugs are not yet present because they take about five to six weeks to develop from baby (nymph) to adult. You won’t see the adults unless you look for them very carefully—they’re only about the size of an apple seed and don’t fly like their younger counterparts do.

Once the nymphs reach adulthood, however, they will start laying eggs of their own and become visible as well. This means your bite symptoms could get worse before they get better—at least until all of these immature insects mature enough that teenagers can go back to school without fear of getting bitten by someone who may be carrying one around in his backpack!