Young Bed Bugs Look Different Than The Adult Bed Bugs 

The bed bugs are known to be a menace for many households where people routinely wake up in the morning with bug bites resulting in severe itching. The appearance of bed bugs differs from childhood to adulthood. The nymphs have a translucent appearance immediately after hatching and are almost colorless. With time, as they progress through the stages of molting, they gradually change color and take on a brownish color. The reddish brown color of an adult bed bug comes only with age and maturity.  

The young bed bugs need regular meals to grow into healthy adults. Immediately after hatching, they start feeding on blood. Although the adult bed bugs can live without food for long durations, the younger ones need to be fed at least once during each stage of molting. It is not possible for them to advance from one stage to the other without proper feeding. Each bed bug passes through five stages of molting before attaining maturity.  

The young bed bugs advance from childhood to adulthood within a short period of time. About 5 weeks of time is enough for a bed bug to mature into an adult. After attaining maturity, they become reproductive and start the life cycle of hatching eggs. Due to this fast growth, infestation can occur quickly and steadily when left unattended.  It may be difficult to find the younger bugs in their hiding places as their body color helps them to camouflage with their habitat.

The young nymph takes on a red color when it sucks blood from the host’s body. This is due to their translucent body. Their bodies become swollen and larger in size after feeding. Usually the younger bed bugs are 1.6 mm in length when they are born.

The young bed bugs go through stages of molting which consist of shedding their skin 5 times. At first glance they look similar to their adult counterparts as they molt, but their color and size differ. They can be particularly menacing because they need regular meals of blood. Hosts are particularly at risk from the younger ones due to this constant need for feeding and can suffer from severe itching.  Medication is quite often required to cure the itching.