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Eggs found but no trace of bugs while tenant out of town for 6 months
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Blue_Ox
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Joined: May '07
Posts: 144
Posted 1 year ago
Mon Mar 31 2008 19:56:58
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I live in a building where bedbugs have been found so far (and treated) in three units that I know of, all in one vertical line (2nd, 4th and 5th floors) within the past year. An inspection was just done on the 3rd floor apartment that is in the same line. There hasn't been anyone living there for 6 months, but his return is imminent. Before the tenant went away, he checked all the bedclothes carefully for spots and specks and the beds were stripped of all linens before he left.
Today, in the unoccupied apartment, the inspectors said they found eggs on the headboard.
I have been worried about the spread of bedbugs throughout the building for quite some time, but this does not seem to be consistent with what I know about bedbug behavior. I was under the impression that bugs hatch in two weeks. That means that in an apartment that has been empty (completely empty, no guests, no nothing) for 6 months, that the bedbugs still found their way to the empty bed and laid their eggs there with no hope for a blood meal.
Does this make sense? The only other possibility I thought of was that the eggs had been laid 6 months ago but weren't viable eggs and didn't hatch. Is this possible? Has anyone ever heard of this? Or perhaps they weren't really bedbug eggs?
The people who inspected did not look like entomologists- just your run of the mill pest control guys who were trained to do bedbug inspections.
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senior member
Joined: Dec '07
Posts: 544
Posted 1 year ago
Mon Mar 31 2008 20:54:50
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Blue,
Maybe they were hatched egg casings,they have a very small hole where the nymph comes out but I'd bet you could miss that.The hole is on one end and not really obvious without magnification and looking from that side.Hatched eggs are also a slightly different color,pearly white I think,whereas unhatched eggs are more translucent in color.For the record,it doesn't sound right to me either. -
paulaw0919
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Joined: Jul '07
Posts: 1,034
Posted 1 year ago
Mon Mar 31 2008 21:09:46
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Yes, I believe all of your thoughts could be the case. It's also possible that since these eggs were found on the 3rd floor appt and there were infestations above and below it, that during treatment a pregnant bug or two scattered to that apartment and then laid eggs. I have spoken to a PCO that has bed bugs for his K9. So far (it's been a few months now) he has noticed that only about 30-35% of his eggs hatch. That's just with his experiment only, and done in a controlled setting of course. But since these bugs are in a home environment and feed regularly, one would think that the bugs environment are pretty good for reproduction.
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Bugologist
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Joined: Nov '07
Posts: 174
Posted 1 year ago
Tue Apr 1 2008 7:33:32
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This is a joking comment but seeing that I'm an entomologist, what should an entomologist look like? It seems like most people imagine a guy with a comb-over, coke-bottle thick glasses, maybe a beard and wearing a white lab coat or a plaid button up shirt tucked into suspenders that look like we're preparing for a flood (unfortunately, some do look like that).
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