In the insect world, some insects are considered to be social insects and some are not. Social insects work together to form a colony. Each member of the colony has a specific job to do each day. In a social colony there is at least one queen, sometimes more depending on the species, that serves as the egg laying machine for the colony. In a social colony, the job of the males is to mate with the queen(s) and in most instances, they die soon after mating. The workers in social colonies are typically sterile females. Examples of social colonies are ants, wasps, termites, and yellow jackets. Social insect colonies run successfully until humans or predators destroy them.
Bed bugs are extremely successful no matter what type of location that they infest, despite the fact that they are not social insects.
NJ pest control professionals report that bed bugs eggs are extremely difficult to locate which is one of the reasons that bed bugs are difficult to control. Female bed bugs can lay up to 7 eggs per day in any location that they travel. The eggs are white to translucent in color and stick to any surface. Being that they are the size of a pin-head and are often laid in slim cracks or crevices, it is rare that humans are able to locate the tiny specimens. Newly hatched nymphs are about 1/16th of an inch. They look like adults, yet much smaller and lighter in color. They must go through five molts to reach adulthood, each time receiving a blood meal first.