How Long Do Pests Live Indoors?

Pests always tend to find a way indoors. They can fit through the smallest of cracks, climb through the thinnest of holes, and make their way up the tallest of stairs. When there is no pest control barrier set up around the property, pests will always find a way inside.

As every pest control company will tell you, when you see one pest, chances are there are plenty more that you simply haven’t found yet. That’s one of the main reasons that monthly, preventative pest control is so important. But not everyone wants to call a pest control company right away, which often leads to a very common question: How long do pests live indoors, anyway?

How Long Do Pests Live Anyway?

Most pests live a surprisingly long time. While some pests live only for about a month (house flies, fruit flies), or 3 months (fleas, mosquitos, and crickets), other pests can live well over a year:

• Bed Bugs – 1 Year
• Black Widow Spiders – 1-3 Years
• Brown Recluse Spiders – 1-2 Years
• Brown Rats – 2-3 Years
• Ants – 1 Year (Queens Can Live 25 Years)
• Mice – 2 Years
• Cockroaches – 1 Year
• Scorpions – 5-10 Years

Even termites live for 2 years each. Pests can live a long, long time, especially given the right conditions and with access to their necessities.

What About Indoors?

The question about how long pests can live indoors is a bit trickier to answer. Pests need access to two things for survival: food and water. Without those, their lifespan is shortened.

But for most pests, including rats, ants, roaches, and mice (among many others), finding food is never a problem. These types of pests can eat almost anything, and need only the small amount of food and water to survive – an amount that is easy to find in any kitchen, basement, or bathroom.

Scorpions feed on other insects, which makes finding food a bit more difficult. But they are also unbelievably efficient – they can go as long as 12 months or more without feeding. So survival indoors is rarely a problem either. Spiders can do the same, as brown recluse spiders can live for 6 months in an airtight, sealed container.

Bed bugs can live 2 to 3 months without feeding, and more when the weather cools. The only pests that die quickly indoors are flies. If flies cannot find food, they tend to live for only 2 or 3 days.

See the original post: How Long Do Pests Live Indoors? on our official Green Home Pest website.