Bed Bugs
Nocturnal blood-sucking Ectoparasites.
Species commonly found in Singapore
1. Common bed bug, Cimex lectularius
2. Tropical bed bug, Cimex hemipterus
An bed bug’s life cycle is a incomplete metamorphosis. Female lay 1-12 white eggs per day in cracks or rough surfaces and secured with a transparent cement for an average total of 200 eggs. When an egg develops to a nymph, it molts 5 times before becoming an adult. An adult is about 4-5mm long, broadly oval and flat, and wingless.
Sign of bed bugs infestation: blood stains on bedding, scattered cast skins or exoskeleton, eggs, dead or alive bed bugs, pungent odour.
Interesting facts about bed bugs
- Received its common name from its close association with human sleeping beds where it often seeks refuge during daylight, only to come out to feed on the bed’s occupants at night.
- Do not transmit any disease or pathogen.
- Able to survive up to 6 months without feeding.
- Attract to high amount of carbon dioxide and body heat of human.
- More active at night when the host is asleep.
- Can lay over 500 eggs in a lifetime.