Each kind of pest has their own typical life span, but how long does the average pest live? In this post we answer the common question of how long does the average pest live.
How long do ants live?
There are several factors involved with how long ants live. It can vary from species to species, as well as gender. For most ants, life span mostly depends on two things: role in the colony and available food sources.
There are three main roles of ants in a colony. Those are the male ant, the worker ant, and the queen. Let’s start with the male ants, as these guys don’t stick around too long. These ants really only stay around for a few days after they breed with the female ants.
The next kind of ants are worker ants. These female ants aren’t producing eggs, but they do the majority of the work colonies need to survive. These ants do a variety of tasks around the colony including caring for the queen, colony building and upkeep, and gathering food. These ants usually live anywhere from a couple of weeks, to several months.
The ant queen is the longest to live in the ant’s colony. Some ant colonies may have multiple ant queens while some only have one. Queens are responsible for all of the offspring in a colony. They can also live much longer than the other ants. Some ant queens can live for multiple years so it is important to eliminate the queens in a colony if you want any hope of getting rid of ant issues around your home.
The final factor that can influence the life span of ants is what kind of access to food sources there are. With fewer food sources, the lives these ants will live will be shorter. This is why it is very important to keep your home clean and store your food in properly sealed containers. Limited access to food can help reduce numbers of ants that ever come inside your home.
The PS factor. Despite the above being the main reasons ants live longer, it is definitely worth noting that some ants provide medical aid for each other. Ants will provide nest care for ants injured during fights or infected by certain bacteria. In some cases, survival rates for those receiving medic-ant-care, have death reduction of 90%!
How long do spiders live?
The life span of spiders varies similarly to ants in that gender and the specific species will play a role. Many kinds of spiders tend to die from the environment or predators rather then from old age.
Some spiders, such as female tarantulas can live well past 20 years or more, however most species of house spider will only last a month or two even though under safe conditions, they can survive up to a year or two.
As with ants, being male or female can play a role in how long a spider lives. For example, in many spider species after mating, the female spider actually eats the male spider for nourishment to make sure the new baby spiders can survive.
Other factors that can reduce life span of spiders can also be destruction of habitat, disease, or lack of food sources among other things. Spiders will often only be in your home when they have an adequate food source to survive.
Spiders aren’t like other pests that are in your home feeding on food sources you leave out. They feed on other insects and pests, so you might be seeing a lot of spiders if you have other pest issues in your home as well.
Increased spider activity could be a good sign that you may need to have your home treated for pests.
How long do cockroaches live?
Cockroaches are going to be invading your home if they have ample food, shelter and water access. Keeping your home clean and fixing any leaky plumbing can be among the first steps to reducing pest issues with roaches and reducing their life span.
Roaches have an incredibly long life span compared to many pests and many can live anywhere from 300 to 600 days or more. These pests are also very hardy and can even survive without a head!
A cockroach can survive for a month or more without food, but only about a week without water. They can absorb oxygen though their exoskeleton so they don’t need a head to breath. The only real reason they die without their head is that they don’t have a way to drink water.
If you are waiting for these pests to die out on their own, you won’t have much luck. It’s best to have your home treated by a pest control service if you are serious about getting rid of cockroach issues.
How long do bed bugs live?
Bed bugs are another pest that tends to last longer than most, and the can also go for extended periods of time without feeding. Most bed bugs have an average life span of around 10 months, but many can live a year or longer with the right conditions.
Bed bugs feed off of warm blooded animals. Typically these are humans, but they aren’t limited to just that, and they could feed from other animals or your pets in your home. They also don’t just live in beds and can be found on furniture, luggage, clothes, and beds among other things.
The major factors that influence bed bug life span is temperature and food sources. Bed bugs have become increasingly harder to kill through chemical means, and they have developed resistance to many forms of pest control.
One effective and relatively safe method to battle bed bugs is with a heat treatment. Bed bugs can’t survive in high temperatures, so this has been found to be a safe and quick way to get rid of bed bugs.
As for feeding, they typically will need to feed within a week or two after being born, but after that, they can survive months without food. When temperatures are colder they have been shown to survive longer without food as well.
In average room temperatures, bed bugs tend to last around 3 months without feeding. Overall, not much stops these pests when they are regularly feeding, so be sure to reach out to a pest control service for bed bug removal.
How long do Mice live?
Mice are pests that don’t necessarily have an extra long life span like roaches or bed bugs, but they do tend to breed incredibly fast, which can lead to a small rodent problem into a large one. The average house mouse tends to live around 9 months to a year.
During that year however, mice could end up breeding many times over, as many mice will reproduce up to 10 times a year, and each time they produce upwards of 12 mice per litter.
Mice life spans have pretty similar factors as most pests in that they need adequate food, water, and shelter. Mice will typically enter your home as temperatures drop from fall to winter.
Rodent issues can be hard to eliminate on your own as they breed very quickly and hide in hard to reach places such as under appliances and in wall voids.
Overall, if you feel like any of these pest life spans are way too long and you want them gone faster from your home, be sure to reach out to a pest control service to have them taken care of and removed.
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