Are Bed Bug Eggs Hard or Soft?

Bed bug eggs are tiny, so it’s easy to mistake them for something else. Learning how to identify bed bug eggs is critical, and one identifying factor is whether their texture is hard or soft.

Bed bug eggs are soft and easy to squash, like a bed bug nymph. They are smooth, not sticky when you touch them, but they are glued in place. This makes them difficult to pick up. They smear and squash rather than crumble to dust.

Rather than squashing them, you should hire a pest controller. They can kill all bed bugs and eggs. Bed bug eggs are laid on fabric or wood near the bugs’ harborage. It’s highly unlikely you’ll find them in the carpet or your bedding.

Are Bed Bug Eggs Hard Like Rice?

They may be the same color and shape as rice, but they don’t feel the same. Rice is tough. If you hold an uncooked rice grain and try to squash it with your nail, it’s more likely to break in two.

Some kinds of rice are hard enough that you can’t do this. When you try to squash a grain, it will move out from under your nail. It may even shoot off under the pressure, without breaking. Bed bug eggs aren’t the same texture. They pop, squish and smear like bed bug nymphs.

The eggs have an outer shell. Inside is the fluid that the bed bug will grow from. The shell of the egg is strong enough to keep the fluid inside. But it isn’t strong enough to resist you squishing it.

You can squash them in several ways. You could rub it between your fingers, or crush it with your nail. However, squashing bed bug eggs is not a viable treatment method.

What Do Bed Bug Eggs Feel Like?

Bed bug eggs are securely attached to the surface that they’re laid on. The mother uses a special glue-like fluid she produces to keep them in place.

As such, if you tried to pick one up or scrape one from the surface, it would break. This means it’s difficult to say for sure what they feel like in your hand. What is certain is that they’re soft, not hard. If you tried to pick one up, it would squish between your fingers.

You can touch them where they are on the surface without them breaking. They aren’t that soft. If you do, you won’t feel much at all because they’re so small.

Are Bed Bug Eggs Sticky?

Because the female uses a glue-like substance to secure the eggs in place, you might think they’re sticky. But they aren’t. The bug uses only enough to glue the eggs down.

Besides, the eggs are usually laid on fabric or wood. Materials like these readily absorb fluids. As such, the glue dries soon after the egg is laid.

The same applies to bed bug feces. This is sticky and liquid when it is first left behind. But on fabric or wood, it quickly absorbs into the surface.

Are Bed Bug Eggs Smooth?

Bed bug eggs are smooth in shape and texture, like other kinds of eggs. If you brushed them gently with your fingers, they would feel smooth to the touch. This can be done without breaking them.

If you somehow managed to pick one up, the texture would be the same. They are filled entirely with fluid, which keeps the shell pulled tightly. This results in their smooth texture.

The only thing that would make them less smooth is if they were recently laid. Then, they would still be a little sticky. But you’re unlikely to find an egg soon after it was laid in place.

Do Bed Bug Eggs Crumble when Squashed?

Because bed bug eggs are so small, and people get worried about them, they can sometimes be misidentified. People can mistake dust, dirt, and crumbs for bed bug eggs. That’s a logical result of bed bug paranoia.

One question you see repeatedly asked on forums about bed bugs is if they crumble. Many of the things misidentified as bed bug eggs do crumble. But bed bug eggs don’t.

Bed bug eggs are biological and alive. Things that are alive don’t tend to crumble; they squash and squish. Inside the egg is fluid, not dust.

What Do Bed Bug Eggs Look Like?

Bed bug eggs are small, but not small enough that you can’t see them. They are the size of a grain of salt. All eggs are consistently the same size. They are usually laid in clusters.

As for color, their eggs are white. Visible eggs are translucent and white in color. Unfertilized eggs are darker, and may be tan or brown. However, this difference is difficult to spot.

If you were to zoom in on them with a microscope, they look like tiny grains of rice.

Can You See Bed Bug Eggs?

Bed bug eggs are visible to the naked eye, but only just. Because of their size, it’s easy to overlook them. Plus, they’re laid in places that are difficult to access and search.

When the nymph hatches, it will be around the same size as the egg, if not a little bigger. Nymph bed bugs are around the size of tiny sesame seeds. From this size, they can grow to an adult in a month if conditions are right.

If you want to find bed bug eggs, look near where you know the bed bugs live. Bed bugs start by laying eggs in one place. This is likely under your mattress or nearby furniture.

Once this area becomes too full, the bed bugs begin branching out. Individual females will start laying eggs under different, empty parts of the mattress. They may also choose nearby furniture. Failing that, check:

Inside your bed frame
Behind the baseboard
Behind the head of your bed
Inside and behind any drawers in furniture in your room

However, you don’t need to search for bed bug eggs. Finding and squashing each one is an ineffective method of control.

Instead, hire a pest control expert to take care of the problem for you. Instead of finding every egg, they will spray every surface of your home with pesticide. Even if they miss some eggs and bugs, these bugs will later walk through the residual pesticide. This will kill them.