Do Bed Bugs Lay Eggs in Your Skin: Everything You Wanted to Know

2022-05-25

It is ok to be worried about such a possibility once you find the insects in your bed. Do bed bugs lay eggs in your skin? They feed on human blood. So, basically, bed bugs depend on humans.

They leave blood traces on your sheets and may bite you while you are sleeping. This is why it is normal to wonder how far these nasty creatures can go.

Seeing all these questions about bed bugs, I decided to dedicate this whole article to can bed bugs lay eggs in your skin topic. Read it to find out the truth about parasites harmful to human beings.

Guide to Potential Dangers From Bed Bugs

Let’s admit that feeling bed bugs under skin is a nightmare for every sane person. However, you don’t need to worry about such a possibility. Although bed bugs prefer to feed on you and totally rely on your blood, they don’t crawl inside your skin.

They prefer to use you only as a source of food. At every stage of their life cycle, they are separated from the human body.

Truth and Myths about Bed Bugs

I am not surprised to hear all these questions like can bed bugs get under your skin. They look creepy, they suck your blood. So, why not? Basically, they would die if they try.

This is not how their bodies work. While they can’t exist for too long without humans, they prefer to interact with people only to suck the blood.

This is why they can’t lay eggs inside of you as well. Instead, you may find their eggs near your pillow, on your mattress, on the armchair. They can be really creative, making homes inside the furniture.

Can Bed Bugs Get Under the Skin?

Bed bugs are similar to vampires that live only if there is blood. The most attached to the blood are larvae that will not survive without it. If there is no human being nearby, they can drink the blood of animals.

To do this, they pierce the skin and suck the blood. Bed bugs contain anesthetic in their body, which they inject so their victim does not feel anything. There is also an anticoagulant so the blood is fresh and flows to them easily. Once they are fed, they crawl back to their hiding spot.

While it all sounds terrible, the truth is bed bugs are small and can create only small holes to drink the blood. They are hard to notice. Bed bugs can’t use such holes to crawl under the skin.

They can’t even bite through your clothes, so they definitely can’t bite through the skin hole big enough to get into. Even if they could, they wouldn’t do it mainly because our bodies are not the safe space for their eggs.

The eggs simply will be crushed or fall down. This is why bed bugs prefer to lay their eggs around the house.

Where do they lay eggs?

If you still imagine bed bugs burrow into your skin just to lay eggs, the good news is that there are more attractive places for them to hide their children.

You can search for them by yourself. Once you find the nest, you can spray it with insecticide. Here are the required conditions for the hiding place:

It must be a place near a human being. Once the nymph gets from the egg, it needs blood. The most popular place is in the bed. Check out for cracks or gaps between the mattress and the legs. You can also check the mattress itself;
The location must be somehow covered by people’s eyes. Humans can’t disturb bed bugs babies. Bed bug females carefully pick the place to lay the eggs.

The most obvious spots you have to check:

Furniture;
Mattress;
Bedding, including pillowcase, sheets;
Cracks inside walls;
Carpet;
Cracks inside the wooden floor;
Old toys with fur, like stuffed animals.

Can they lay eggs inside your ears?

The answer is no. It looks like bed bugs simply don’t want to mix the food and their bedroom. They don’t like to get attached to human bodies and prefer to place their children somewhere safer.

Even though your ear may be perfectly dark inside, it still does not attract them. While I can’t give you a 100 percent guarantee that bed bugs will never lay eggs in your ear, I still can offer you 99 percent instead. For example, there was a rare case when a person had a bed bug trapped inside the ear.

It lasted for a few days, and the case was so unique it was described in the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology. My advice here is to not try to catch the bug with your ears or nose. Sorry for this dad joke.

What do bed bug eggs look like?

Once we have found can bed bugs live in your skin, let’s find out what these eggs look like. I recommend you learn how to identify these eggs, but if you see any other eggs on the furniture, remove them as well. Here is what you need to know about these eggs:

They are not easy to find. Adults place them in crevices and cracks, hide them inside the fabric, so you wouldn’t find them. They can hold them in weird shapes, including laying them upside down, to hide them. Female species glue them to the hiding spot with a specific substance, so you wouldn’t shake it off;
These eggs are incredibly small. They are 0.04 inches on average. If you can’t imagine the size, search for the 1 cent. Now measure the size of Lincoln’s nose. The egg is even smaller. Still, they are gathered in the pack of 3-5 eggs, which you may notice;
Eggs are colorless. Unlike dark brown adults, eggs are pale and can easily stay unseen until the nymphs come out. Adults pick the hiding place specifically to make the eggs unnoticeable.
You still can see the eggs if you know what you are looking for. Use flashlights to see them. Check out specific places for such “nests”.

What insects lay eggs under human skin?

Have you already relaxed? Well, don’t! You still have to stay focused. There are other insects that can actually lay eggs under your skin. While it does not happen so often, you need to check your house for them. There are two types of insects you have to be worried about:

Scabies mites. They are parasites from the arachnids’ family. Still, the relation to spiders is very distant. They not only live under the skin, but they also lay their eggs there. You will not mistake scabies mites for bed bugs since they look different. They leave bites that look like pimples and make tracks under the skin. Bed bugs make larger bites and are rare. Scabies are usually unseen for the naked eye;
Lice and Fleas. These two still don’t lay the eggs under the skin. Instead, they live on the skin. Usually, they prefer your hair. Fleas are more attracted to cats and dogs but can survive on humans too. Both parasites feed on your blood but still don’t have much in common with bed bugs. They are smaller than bed bugs as well.

FAQ

Read the most frequently asked questions about bed bugs. My answers will help you to understand more about these creatures. If you have more to add, you can do it in the comments below.

Can bed bugs hide in your hair?

If you start itching, you may look for lice on your head. Bed bugs do not like to live in the hair. They try to avoid living on any surfaces of the human body. Instead, they can easily settle down on your pillow. If you woke up feeling the bug crawling on your head, it might be because the insect did not make it to the hiding spot.

What bugs lay eggs in your skin?

As I have told you before, there is only one bug that lays eggs under your skin. It is scabies mites. This nasty creature is a distant relative to spiders and prefers to live under the skin. Yet, it is so small, you will not see mites without the microscope.

Can bed bug eggs stick to your skin?

While they are using specific natural glue their bodies can provide, they can’t glue the eggs to your skin. Your skin is too smooth for it. Apart from that, bed bugs prefer not to hide their eggs on the human body.

Bed Bugs Nightmare

I hope my words clarified the situation, at least partly. Don’t worry about your skin. Instead, I offer you to get rid of bed bugs since they will continue to drink your blood.

If you notice a bed bug in your house, you have to take measures immediately. These pests lay up to 4-5 eggs per day and can survive without food for a long time. I recommend cleaning your house and using insecticide to kill them.

If you have more recommendations, express them in the comments below. Have you ever had bed bugs in your room? How did you get rid of them?

Also read:

References

Head Lice (UC San Diego)
https://studenthealth.ucsd.edu/resources/health-topics/lice/index.html
Scabies (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)
https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/scabies/index.html#:~:text=Human%20scabies%20is%20caused%20by,a%20pimple-like%20skin%20rash.
Otitis from the Common Bedbug (Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234020176_Otitis_from_the_Common_Bedbug

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