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The female louse lays about 6 to 8 eggs per night. Eggs are glued to the hair shaft close to the scalp. They then take about 7-10 days to hatch. Up to 15% of head lice die during hatching.
Nits are the empty cases left behind once the young head louse has emerged. They remain firmly glued to the hair shaft and normally turn pearly white with time.
The young head louse is known as a nymph. The young louse molts once every three days. After the third molt it becomes an adult.
The adult louse feeds about six times a day by sucking blood from the scalp, using their specially developed mouthparts to pierce the scalp. They inject a local anaesthetic to prevent the host from experiencing pain, and an anticoagulant to stop the blood clotting to aid feeding. A louse can live for 30 to 40 days.
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