Below you'll find comments from visitors around the world that include pictures of themselves covered with bed bug bites; many share their experiences in hopes that you'll be able to avoid the pain they suffered along with tips on treating the bites and more. Great information here!
Besides the pictures in the comments below, I've also included 5 images (click on each to see larger version) of a bedbug infested mattress.
Here is a picture of Vanessa's young son who after going to to doctor was told the bites were from bed bugs. As you can see from the picture to your right, they can be damaging! It's important not to scratch these bites as doing so will cause scabbing and could leave a scar! Click on the image to enlarge. The full story about their family vacation gone wrong is found below.
This image, is from Ava, is of her neck after being bitten up by bed bugs. Her son had being bitten up for many months, the doctors suggested scabies or fleas but couldn't tell for sure and a search of the house didn't turn up anything. A few months later when her son complained of his skin crawling in the middle of the night, Ava found discovered his bedframe and mattress were completely covered in them - they were in the middle of the attack! She also covers what she used to repel the bugs in her comment.
We have hundreds of pictures raging from a few bites to full out attacks that leave the victim damaged for life. Bed bugs are excellent at hiding, but our bedbug checklist in the menu bar at the top of this page explains where you should look. Also at the top, you'll find treatment techniques used for bites along with ways in which you can wage war with these bugs and win! These bugs attack anyone, of any age and are relentless - you should be too!
If you are concerned that you may have found a bed bug, have bites or can help those seeking information, please participate. Whenever possible, please send pictures to badbedbugs@gmail.com and I'll make sure to include the photo in your post (I'll dress up the picture and make sure only the bed bug bite is displayed, so don't worry about photo quality, etc).
Caution, these images below may cause nightmares!
We have so many comments with images and stories that we had to break them up into pages listed below:
Bed Bug Bites - Comment Page 4
Bed Bug Bites - Comment Page 3
Bed Bug Bites - Comment Page 2
Bed Bug Bites - Comment Page 1
Hi,
So I heard that my mom had bed bugs in her apartment so I informed my building and arranged for an inspection. Sure enough my mattress and box spring tested positive (so says the sniffing dog). Before the inspection I had been bitten a month or so earlier, assumed it was a rash and now thinking back realize it was definitely bed bug bites.
I had two rounds of treatment and I prepared my apartment so much I didn’t have a single item out of a bag. I had hot sticks (these bug killing sticks you use for sheds) in each bag of personal items like books, shoes, jewelry. In each bag of clothes I washed, and then sealed in a bag with another hot stick thing. I never really had bites other than the one time before I even knew I had the bugs.
After a month of this madness and 2 treatments (during Christmas, new years, and of course, my birthday) I finally moved past it. The treatment company informed me I probably didn’t have an infestation, it was probably one bug that never laid eggs. They told me they didn’t find any bugs anywhere else in the apartment and that the treatment they believed was successful.
In all this time I inspected my bed and mattress everyday and throughout the entire experience only saw one bug and it was long dead, and it was when I first took my bed apart. I now have a top of the line mattress protector, box spring protector, threw away all my comforters, washed my sheets and am using temporary bedding and pillows that I throw in the drier every so often.
It has been 2 weeks since my 2nd treatment and I’m starting to notice bites! I never had bites other than that one time. I’ve considered maybe it was a reaction to the hot shot sticks, or perhaps that it was some other sort of bug? I’m a really clean, slightly OCD person who thought I put all of this behind me. I had just about unpacked all my belongings, extremely carefully shook out every book, and rewashed every item of clothing. I don’t know what to do.
Is it possible I’m making these bites up in my head? I am at a loss for how there could still be bugs especially since I never had a heavy infestation to begin with. I’ve poured boiling water on my floor, washed and dried all my bedding, alcoholed my bed frame and still! Someone please tell me I’m imaging these bites and that that’s possible.
Hello,
I came across your site trying to look for some answers. Every week I wake up to these bites that don’t turn red and itchy until i start scratching, they vary in location but I am sure they happen overnight, especially when i use blanket, I’ve had up to 6 bites on my legs after one day. They are pale and round and swell up at first and itch for at least 3-4 days and start to turn black as they dry and I can feel where it punctured me as the it dries up because that part is still elevated.
I am trying to find bed bugs but it is difficult. We have a new bed and have changed from carpet to wood floor in the past 2 years in hopes they would go away. This is the worse it has been, we’ve changed blankets, linens, vacuumed and still nothing, at first we thought it was fleas because we have pets but they have been medicated and i don’t see any fleas or bugs for that matter at all!
It’s driving me crazy!
Please help! thanks
I know you probably get a tonne of these emails, but I am nearing complete mental break down – my wife has even suggested I go to the doc to get head meds… So here’s a long story, please be patient with me.
Somewhere in the area of 4 months ago various members of my house (wife, 2 boys 3 and 7 and I) would, at different times, get what appears to be a bite – or two at the most. In the entire time, we’ve never had more than two bites on us at once. In all but maybe 2 or 3 of the bites there has been no apparent “hole” that we could see which would be from a puncture wound. A the couple that did could have just been from scratching (the most obvious was on my wife). My 7yr old only has had 1 or 2 over the whole time. My 3yr old has had maybe 5 or 6. My wife and I both have had a total of 10 max over the 4 month period.
These “bites” start out sort of white and swollen in an irregular shape, not really round. Within the day it appears the swelling typically goes away, but then turns red like a bruise and is completely gone in 3-4 days. My 3yr and my “bites” barely itch – much much less than a mosquito bite does (and my 3yr old is allergic to mosquito or horsefly bites as we’ve had to give him Benedryl because he severely swells up). My wife says her’s does itch incredibly but it can’t be that bad because she barely complained and I didn’t see her scratching incessantly. My wife thinks that they could be pimples – but they don’t have a “pimple head”.
So, location. My 3yr old has only had them on his tummy or back. He wears shirt and bottoms to bed. My wife has had them on her hip (closer to her buttock) and at her pantyline on her front. She usually sleeps with pants and sometimes with a shirt, always with a bra. She thinks she may have had one or two on her arm – she doesn’t remember. My 7yr only had them on his side and probably slept shirtless. Me, I’ve had a dual bite on the back of my thigh where it meets the buttocks, I’ve had one on each side at the same time, and on my shoulder blades. Since these started, I’ve been wearing pants and shirt to bed, shirt tucked into pants and pants tucked into socks. (I told you I’m going nuts.) The reason I am bringing this up is because in my reading, I saw that they usually snack on exposed skin – and I’ve never had a bite on my face or arms which are always exposed. And we’ve never had the breakfast, lunch, supper type of proof either.
So… detection. Nothing. I have literally torn apart both bedrooms (the boys sleep together in the same room in separate beds). I have a high powered LED flashlight that can literally shine through the edges of the mattress and boxspring. I’ve been searching and searching. We had (thrown out, cleaned, moved, inspected) many places where bed bugs would probably have flourished. We had two old dresser drawers slid under the best for storage (one empty and one full of papers and books). Nice and dark and wood. Nothing there. Bottom of bedside tables and drawers full of books and junk almost never opened/moved. Nothing. Under the bedside tables, nothing. Wall sockets/jacks, nothing. Nothing on the bed frame, box spring, floor, mattress, etc and have found no solid evidence of blood, feces, shed skin, eggs or live bed bugs. I’ve over turned the bedside tables, the one dresser my wife uses, our luggage, up ended the beds, etc. I’ve been doing checks several times a day and night and through the night. Nothing. Checked along the walls, floor closet, etc.
Now, today after moving some clutter my wife found small, white bugs in dust along the baseboard where I had not checked very closely before. The bugs, when exposed to direct light, didn’t really react – until she disturbed the dust and them and they started to move – not very fast – up the wall. She says that she pretty much killed them trying to catch them. So when I got home, we got out some black electrical tape and tried to “catch” stuff. Attached is two pictures of them. The first has the small white bug, squished unfortunately. Now from what I’ve read if bed bugs are this small, they should be colorless? It, to me, looks like a mite (we do have two indoor cats). The second has two ball-like… things but don’t appear to have legs or anything.
And the biggest thing – after this length of time you’d think that we’d be able to find some type of evidence given the insanity of my checking that we’ve got an infestation. I have literally checked everything short of hauling the baseboard off the wall.
We don’t have much in the way of spare money, and to get anyone in to “inspect” is going to cost me good – and I’m not sure they’d look any closer at things than I have in my insanity.
Thank you for reading.
:,( Insane Bug Brain
They don’t look like this, do they Jessica?
badspiderbites.com/scabies/
Can you take a photo and send it to me at BadBedBugs@gmail.com? This will help. Also, go through my bedbug checklist at the top of this page. Also, there are a ton of tips on this site for spotting them, including a bed bug trap you can make yourself!
Hi SJ,
Yes, bed bugs can target just one person in the bed, and yes, just a part of the body. Once I see the pics, I can tell you for sure.
Thanks!
Hi, thank you for the response, I will look over my bed and take photos in the morning to get the best light. Have u heard of bed bugs working like this only targeting one person when two use the bed and only targeting bottom half of legs, and have u heard of the bugs I mentioned I thought when I had my place sprayed it would of got rid of them but no and I know they aren’t bed bugs because they are mostly spotted on the walls or wooden furniture and don’t mind being out during the day to be seen, same size as bed bugs from what I’ve read but I don’t know if that is the culprit HELP :)
the bugs in my house are small very small a clearish colour hard to describe all around my house, not like it is infested but I do notice one or two every now n then through out my day on a wall or my tv cabinet any ideas what they might be??
Recently I started noticing small red elevated bumps on my daughter, at first I thought it was something else. But then I noticed that every morning she would have new ones sometimes in new areas of her body and sometimes in the same area as the previous bumps. I decided to read up about scabies and beg bugs, I discovered that her bites or bumps were identical to bed bug bites. As you can imagine I was horrified. My baby is being eaten alive while she sleeps. The bites are itchy and red in color. How do I find and kill these bugs? I have lived in my apartment for about a year and six months, can’t imagine how I could get bed bugs. What should I do to properly treat the bites?
Hi Michele,
You posted your picture of bed bug bites on photobucket which is asking for a password. You can send your picture to badbedbugs@gmail.com and we’ll get it up on the site.
Hi SJ,
Have you tried the bed bugs trap to see if you have them? Also, can you send pictures of your bites to badbedbugs@gmail.com and I’ll get them posted to help figure out what is really biting you. Before you do anything, check out my Bed Bug Checklist to see if you can find the bug(s).
hi i have been waking up with bites for close to over a week now and they are appearing only on the front and side of my lower leg. I am thinking bed bugs but why are the attaching one spot especially since i sleep on back from time to time, also my partner has not had any bites from sleeping in my bed or my 16month old daughter has had none either. The bites are very itchy and turn to scabs and can be painful. So anyone have any ideas? I dont want to completely spray my house and pay all that money if it isnt even bed bugs just dont know is it normal for only one person to be targeted? HELP
I noticed strange bite on my 2 year old daughter and myself about 10 days ago. We went to the doctor and he confirmed my suspicions that they were bed bug bites (we have the “breakfast, lunch, dinner effect” of the telltale 3 bites in a row) My first instinct was to bomb my house which I did- twice. Then read that is the worst thing you can do because it spreads them. I bombed the whole house. So, question number one; how come I can’t go in the house for 2 hours but these little bastards can live through it?
Then I went to a DIY store and bought some $15 spray, sent my daughter away for the night and spent 5 hours vacuuming, spraying and drying everything not nailed down for 40 minutes each. After this vigilant attack on a beast that has yet to show its face because I have not found one single nasty critter I thought- oh noooo, what if they are in my car!!!?? Because all bites we have are on our back, butt and back of legs -precisely where our skin would touch if sitting in a car.
So at 11:30 pm I ripped the car seat covers off and threw them in the garbage at the carwash and vacuumed the sh*t out my car then put down boric acid on any cloth surface. Question number 2; can they live in the car? I live in Florida and figured the sun beating on the car nearly everyday would make it impossible for them to live in there. And, question #3; when will I know if they are truly gone? How long do these wretched bites last? I am on predisone for the itch – my daughter on A&D ointment, oatmeal lotions and Claritin. Any help would be MUCH APPRECIATED. I really am starting to lose it :)
MY EMOTIONS PARANOID.WORRIED .DEPRESSED
Paranoia gives me power to face me fear. Worrying gives me wisdom on my experience and what to expect next, Depression gives me clarity on dreaming of a life a BEDBUG FREE
Being Eaten ALIVE!
My daily routine:
1.Starts with me waking up battling bedbugs.
2. I check my body all day very thoroughly to see if I’ve been bitten by bedbugs
3. I look for something to wear not infested with bedbugs & I examine my clothes thoroughly
4. Take my jacket out the freezer, and spray it with 70% winter green alcohol, alocohol kills bed bugs
5. All my clothes & shoes are in my kitchen & trunk of car, no clothes or footwear come pass my kitchen! Except the clothes on my back
6.My shoes are in plastic grocery store bags tied up, I’m make sure no shoes touch the floor past the kitchen , the bags are in a clear bin under the kitchen table.
7. The clean clothes are sitting on my kitchen heater; dirty clothes are in grocery bags on kitchen floor
8. I associate EVERYTHING with bedbugs; strangers trashed furniture, box springs, mattress, extermination billboards on trucks, buses anywhere, cleaning supplies.anything, lint balls on my clothes everything, EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!
9. I can’t walk down a aisle in a store with bug spray, without fear, if I’m with my child she turns all the cans around because I get numb and just can’t move forward, I cant even step foot in a mattress store, I cry and break down the trauma I experienced associated with a bed is So REAL AND PAINFUL
10. I have obtained professional help for this paranoia, it’s scar because they want to prescribe me medicine that will cause dementia when I’m elderly
11 they are telling me that my fear is just a delusion; I’m not really getting bit
12. But I have bite marks that are consistent with bedbug bites
13i don’t know if my mind is playing tricks on me but the marks are real, and Delusional Parasitosis Is real, I can’t stop thinking about BEDBUGS & THE ABUSE OF POWER @the M.C.H.A
14. My life is spent in my home, grocery store and laundry mat, washing clothes is the hardest part, from drying, folding and just worrying if I cleaned them good enough and if I dried them long enough, my dry cycle is about 2-to 3hrs
15. Which leaves me with burnt clothes, holes, hand just my clothes being ruined by this extreme dry cycle?
16 I clean the whole apt all day everyday & mop my floors every night with alcohol, I mop every night, every single night on my hands and knees, I scrub my wall base board till the my arms hurt,
16. I have to make sure that none are crawling or any eggs are lying around
17 I have a lovely kitten named walnut, even she is affected by this, and I keep her locked up at night because I don’t want her to make track marks on my floor
18. My baby and I sleep on the floor, a hard wood floor, with 4 blankets, and two body pillows.
19. I am afraid to by any type of furniture or bedding, I am COMPLETELY terrified of bedding or furniture, as long as I have this trust issue with M.C.H.A and fear I will remain on the floor and living gout my kitchen MY HOME IS VACANT!
20 .I have resorted to the bathroom for a place to sleep, my baby lay in the tub, and I lay on a lawn chair
21 I have had battle with suicide over this trauma, it was real scary, and it was HORRIBLE, I live EVERYDAY IN FEAR BEING EATEN ALIVE literally inside and out!!
22 All I want is security that the m.c.h.a won’t have another clerical error & erase inspection history and add them, and wont erase comments and add them from a legal document, which secures my voucher and prevents me from being homeless, & that if I have a bedbug problem again that my compliance with the rules and regulation to move will be acknowledge and that my legal proof and not ignored showing the landlord is in non compliance with the lease with benefit me the way the law says it should.
Hello I am having itchy bumps it started as two or three on each wrist. Now there are 20 or so on each wrist. I have other areas with still only 1-2 bumps but only my wrists are as concentrated as seen n the pictures. This progression has been over about 3 weeks. In three weeks I have not seen any bugs or evidence on my sheets.
I can tell you from personal experience these nasty bugs are extremely difficult to get rid of. We first found out our sons bedroom was infested with them in Oct 2010. We spent over $1500.00 to hire a professional exterminating company get rid of them for us. Here it is the end of Nov 2011, and after replacing our sons entire bedroom suite, as well as our daughters bed, along with my wife’s and my bed, my wife’s chair and our couch we are still finding bugs. We have even had to rid up our carpeting. So, it is an expensive and lengthy process. So, if someone says it’s easy to get rid of them, they obviously don’t have a clue.
Hi I am the only one in the house that these creatures have chosen as their host and it seems no body believes me, not even the hospital… They actually tried to deem me nuts and called psych down to see me, took a specimen of the “bed bugs” and threw them away. I’m now on day 18 of this horrid ordeal and honestly am at my witz end. I went away a few weeks back and slept in an old rickety bed by myself. I have the distinct three bites all in a nice row and copious others all over my body. these things are in bedded in my scalp and these little pepper like black flecks keep dropping on my skin and then the blood and then I wipe and find the little red speck of paprika.
I’m pretty sure I’m being bitten by bed bugs, the exterminator is sure there are no bugs in the home. Yesterday I found little tiny red specks all over the air conditioning duct and on the walls. They look just like the ones I am pulling out of each horrible massive sore. I do have a big bump underneath the skin where each lesion/bite is. I was told it was scabies but the benzemul application (tried seven nights in a row) and a week later did not work. I really believe these are bed bugs.
I have tried all sorts of remedies including: salt and bicarb soda baths and making a paste to apply to body and head, mayonnaise keeps them at bay on scalp but doesn’t kill the blighters, metho on head…(once again near killing me), Listerine bathing and spraying on body, vodka spraying it on body, vinegar on scalp, knit creams on head and body, bathing in bleach (near killed me)… so so far I’ve just about killed myself but these ravaging maniacs are still going strong. I have a ten month old son and a four year old daughter and I’m terrified I’ll infect them. I cant believe there is no one even the hospitals and three doctors I have seen that seem to either believe me or know how to kill these things. If anyone can help please please please help.
Shannelle M.,
Those do look like bed bug bites. Did you bring any used furniture into your home recently that could transport them, such as a chair, bed or end table? Since they could be just in a couch or chair avoid taking naps or sleeping on the couch or chair and also sitting for too long on it until you figure out where they are living. Determine if the bites only appear after sleeping in your bed. Then start treating this if you haven’t already.
My God am I my glad I found you! my name’s Matt I’m a 36 year old single dad. I’m gonna send you these pictures of recent bites and some scars, hope you don’t mind.
So 14 or 15 months ago I went to the emergency room, I had bites and scabs all over. my friend had contracted lyme disease from tics. so I got bit all over this day, worried and concerned than just started I guess going crazy or so I’m told.
I put whatever I thought was biting me into a zip lock and went to the hospital convinced I had tics. They looked at me like I was crazy I mean I got tattoos, super crazy blue eyes, me and my boys all got Mohawks lol, and scabs from bites all over my legs. I guess now I kinda think this is when life started going down hill. I mean they didn’t even look at the stuff I had in the zip lock, they just were rude and said it was lint and dirt. it made me feel like id em ne something wrong. whole day wasted.
Sense then on a couple occasions I’ve tried talking to my mother about it, friends, basically everyone is like those are flea bites. Well we have had fleas from neighbors cat but we have no pets, all wooden floors, I know what fleas are.
I have a 3 year old little guy and he gets little teenie bites, and he wakes up saying he’s got the “itchies”, but not my 10 year old son. hes never had a bite from anything that I can remember.
I was just getting worse and worse I get paranoid I just feel like they’re crawling all over me sometimes, I’m scared it’s really driving me crazy. I have found 1 beg bug. I look and look. so the last month I haven’t had one single bite. Then last week I take my sock off and they weren’t even bites, just like raw. I didn’t know what to think besides maybe my sock was tight and perhaps maybe wet and then after tho they realty hurt. Well then 3 days later, same thing happened, this time got both ankles and feet. I stay up reading about it on my phone, trying to research, then I itch all over, can’t sleep I am scared because I am not the man I was a year ago. I’m scared to meet people now, no one I trust has any advice but Matt are you crazy, or why do I got scars I must dig and dig or if I really had bugs getting me then the kids would to. I started seeing a psychologist but sad thing is I tell her about everything but this but I am not going to be afraid to tell get this week, because this its what starts me panicking and causes all the crap I talk to get about haha seriously tho, anyways……
Do you think these look like bed bug bites? I mean they feel deep after a few days and they scar so terrible but now that its progressed into this I do find myself picking at them but not bad. They take Weeks to heal. I have found what I thought were littler pieces of rice and I just read where you said that’s what the eggs look like. Are they hard like rice tho? Because I just figured they were rice, 2 kids that love to eat and things get spilled I figured. And I have found the shells god I was glad to read that because I tried showing a few people saying look you can see lines in it, its a shell, but its always Jesus Matt your freaking out about bugs again what’s wrong with u.
Sorry to ramble on but that’s about all I know. Id really appreciate if you get back to me Ok I’m sorry I guess I go on and on and I get all worked up. Thanks so much I hope you have a great day!
I woke up yesterday an I had 4 bug bites on my lower stomach. I was just wondering if you could tell me if this is bed bugs? They itch extremely bad, I try not to scratch them cause they burn when I do. I would appreciate it thank you!
Here’s a photo of the ONLY bites anyone in my family has and they are the only bites on my body. Are they Bed Bug Bites? This photo was taken on day 5 of having them. They aren’t as red and swollen as they were on the day I noticed them, but they have been EXTREMELY itchy. I’ve searched the house and can’t find any trace of bed bugs.
Thanks
Hello my name is Yvette, I wanted to know if these are bedbug bites? If anyone can help me out that would be great! Thanks!!!!
Please help! All of these bites popped up over night. And the next night about 15 more showed up on my legs. I assume its bed bugs, but I searched my bed and sheets, and didn’t find any bugs, or eggs. I’m not sure what else they could be?
I think we have bed bugs. ever night my son goes to bed by the next day he have bites all over him. we looked in his room on his bed and everything we can not find anything. and he keeps getting bit we have bums and everything but he keeps getting up with all this bites …. please help??? I cant keep seeing him getting bit ……
Hi cae
from my understanding that is not a bed bug. They’re really really flat looking and I don’t think they have antenas
Hi there!
My boyfriend and I have been staying in a rented room in Barcelona, just over 2 weeks. In the first week I started getting bites all over, I thought it was mosquito bites (which seems to be quite a common miscalculation) and spent quite some time concentrating on that, hence not considering other possibilities, while getting bitten multiple times every night. The strangest thing is that, to that point, my boyfriend had not bites whatsoever, but since I’ve always seemed to attract insects and bugs of all sorts more than other people, I still thought it was mosquitoes.
This went on for a couple of nights. I had up to 40 bites all over my body, swollen and painful, and waking up in the middle of the night super itchy, and it was becoming clear it couldn’t be mosquitoes, it just wasn’t normal.
So one night after coming out of the shower, I went back to my room only to find one of those little suckers walking on my bed.. from that moment on I knew it was bed bugs. After a brief search on the internet I began to look for more signs of their presence and found their infamous fecal matters. After that I have looked for – found and killed – at least 5 of them, but haven’t found their nest or wherever they hide.
Bottom line is, we have been sleeping in the living room now – sad, I know – and although I have hardly any new bites, my boyfriend has quite a few, though they look quite different from mine (which thankfully are in the process of healing). We are leaving in two weeks time, and I can’t wait be out of here! My only concern is.. how can I avoid taking them and/or their eggs back home? Please help!
Can anyone recognize this?
This is my calf, at about three to four weeks after the original bites. I didn’t know about the “breakfast, lunch, and dinner” pattern then, so I am not sure if it is bed bug bites or not. I can tell you that I was traveling in Morocco for 14 days, stayed at 2 homes and 3 hotels. I had many bites the first week – at least some were definitely mosquitoes – saw them happen. But this one area on my leg… it is still itchy! And it’s gone from large red/pink raised lumpy bumps to this strange discolored rash looking patch. Still itches… Hydrocortisone cream doesn’t help much. Neither has chapparal salve, alcohol, neem oil, or vinegar.
Of course, I’m really hoping I didn’t bring any bugs or eggs home… my travel bag is still sitting between my dresser and my closet and I REALLY don’t want to have to go through the whole cleaning process… Yikes. I just didn’t even think about the possibility of bed bugs until like today! Been home since 9/21!
Thanks for any help or opinion offered!
I think I got bed bug bites. On Sept. 20, I noticed a bunch of little red bumps unlike anything I have seen before on my upper arm. It freaked me out, because the dots followed some kind of trail. They would form a semi-circle, then spiral down a little, and scatter. Later that day, I noticed some scattered dots near my neck area. These dots faded within the next 4 days. I spent hours freaking out and checking the seams of my mattress. I told my apartment manager that I might have bedbugs. An exterminator came, and couldn’t find anything. I encased my mattress in anti-bedbug and waterproof encasement just in case. I didn’t get anymore bites for a long time.
Yesterday, Oct. 12, I noticed these same little red bumps near my neck. This time, they’re in a linear line in two groups of three: “breakfast, lunch, dinner.” These dots are very close together and almost merge into each other, but not really. Since the dots were so linear, I knew they were bed bug bites again. It’s funny that I didn’t see any dots in the mirror one minute. And the next minute, they just all popped up out of nowhere. Today, they’re already starting to fade.
I’ve been doing a lot of online research regarding bedbugs, and everything I read points to the fact that there is at least one bedbug feeding on me. My guess is that these are baby bedbugs, since these bites are not too terrible, I got them 3-4 weeks after the first incident. Baby bedbugs feed around once a month, I hear, and their bites are not as bad. If there is a baby bedbug, then where is the mommy and daddy? That freaks me out a bit.
I don’t know what to do. Like I said, the exterminator could not find anything.
The thing is, I haven’t traveled anywhere, bought any new furniture, bought any new clothing, or slept over someone else’s house. I also don’t know anyone else who is getting these bites. Where did they come from? I bought my mattress and bed frame from someone on craigslist a year ago. Could the bed bugs have been laying dormant in there for the past year? Also, is it possible to have only ONE bed bug?
What do you think of the situation? I don’t want to get kicked out of my apartment :(. And I don’t want to have to buy new frame and mattress either, because I don’t have a car and I’m busy with school.
These bites have popped up only on my legs in the last few weeks, and I’m not sure what they are, I used the check list on the website to see if there are any bed bugs on my things but so far nothing, I’m getting nervous because almost everyday there is a new bite and its only on my legs. Any advice would be great!!
This little bug was crawling up the wall above my bed this morning. He was about the size of a tip of a pencil. I looked up other photos and it looks like his antlers may be to long to be a bb.
Thanks,
Cae
Hello,
I’ve been dealing with bites for quite a few months now. The first initial thought was mosquito’s, then spiders, then…bedbugs? Where would I get those?
I did buy a BB Alert back in June or July, and it showed nothing. I hadn’t seen signs (blood smears, waste, or the bugs themselves), so I thought, “Nah, couldn’t be.”
On the 4th, I was removing my bedding to wash, and out of curiosity, I lifted up my box spring (I never realized I didn’t have a mattress, and that I’d been sleeping on a box spring) and looked – and on the side was this tiny insect, just walking by (and this was in full daylight). I caught it on a piece of masking tape and placed it in a zippered baggie. I believe I saw one other bug, but I couldn’t catch it. It was the same color.
What has thrown my dad and I off is that it looks like no bedbug we’ve seen a picture of. It does have 6 legs, and it has antennae…but I haven’t seen the probosci it would use to draw blood with.
The other photo is a size comparison.
I am so, so grossed out…and even though whatever it is isn’t my fault, I still feel ashamed that I should even think that something like this is wandering around in my family’s house. As I type, I am fearing sending this photo (though whatever the case, my box spring is now in a bed bug blocker encasement, and my new pillow was stuffed into an encasement before it entered my room). I know it’s silly to be scared, but I am, anyway…
Thanks so much for your time and help! Even an e-mail response would be appreciated (although I am sure that you are all busy, so I apologize for being demanding…fear will do that to you!)!
Are these bed bug bites?
Thanks!
Are these bed bug bites?
Hi glad I found your site, good info here. About a week ago my son slept in my room and woke covered in bites (about 50 in a line from his ankle up his leg, side and down his arm. All on the same side of his body). Later that day we found a bug in my room, thought it was a bed bug, and I went into action! Called an exterminator and asked what to do. On his advice we sealed my room off.. so to speak, and began cleaning and bagging everything in the house… After about a million loads of laundry and about 100 garbage bags, everything that was cloth had been washed in super hot water twice, and dried on high heat.
It took about a week to do this, and clean carpets, and wash all walls and floors with a mix of alcohol and soap (and all other surfaces as well), and then he came in and did an extensive extermination. ($450) The only room that seemed to be infected was my room, my children share a room and I slept in the living room for a week and no bites other than the one night. The bug we found, we killed and kept to show him, and he said for sure it was a bed bug. Perhaps we were lucky and it was the only one having hitched in somehow but I wasn’t taking any chances at all!! So last night I finally got to sleep in my room again, and had a great sleep thinking problem dealt with… now having read this site…. I wonder? What about the eggs? Does this mean I’m likely to have more problems down the line? What should i watch for? Or is this my OCD kicking in along with my absolute terror of bugs? Advice on how to protect myself would be appreciated.
My friend and I have been getting some bug bites on us at night. It all started about 3 weeks ago when his daughter and her cousin came and stayed at his place one night. Since then we’ve been getting the red bites all over are body. We bombed the apartment thinking it might have been fleas or something because they have pets. But still having problems. Come to find out the parents of the children have been having problems with bites too. We’re not only getting them while in bed but on the couch as well. Now I’ve apparently have been transferring them to my house by staying there….UGH! On another note he moved into his apartment in June so not sure if something was left behind but the landlord had the place sprayed by a professional. He does that every time someone moves out of an apartment. My friend has lived in the same apartments for over 2 years now just moved into a bigger place. Please help! What to do?
Lori, those marks (pustules) look like they are from a virus multiplying in the skin layer, which I believe is common for the pox type of viruses that are internal but travel up to the skin to duplicate. If this person has had all vaccines then the reaction should be mild (shingles). They do not look like bed bug bites.
Please, take a look at this photo. I woke up yesterday with this itchy rash/bites. Photo is of my leg, also have bites near bra strap on both sides of torso, more where the waistband of my shorts go & just noticed 2 itchy spots on the back of my hand. Hubby is fine & I’ve searched the house hi & lo for a culprit…we have no pets. He thinks its from stress & jokes the cheese is sliding off my cracker LOL I could see how this drives people nuts!!
Oh Dear! If the bites itch, are red and in this pattern then you have bed bugs. Sorry about that. Start treating. Don’t let this become an infestation or it will be just about game over!
Actually,
the three on my arm do resemble the poster John G’s son’s bites. That doesn’t mean they have to be bedbugs though…right?:( Please nooo
Hey there,
I live in a small studio in NYC. I’ve heard rumblings of bedbugs, but hoped that I’d never have to deal with the problem. Even after reading all of these, I still am hoping that I don’t have them. Perhaps, that is why I am writing this. Just to somehow see if maybe I happened to get bitten by a lot of mosquitoes or something in the span of a couple of nights.
I sleep with my windows open (and RIGHT beside them) almost every night. The weather here is up and down and although it was fairly cool for a couple of days, we experienced non-stop rain and humidity all weekend. I also spent most of the weekend in bed! Anyway, I have fair skin and mosquitoes have always loved me. I’m originally from Georgia, so have spent plenty of time outside being bitten by them haha.
I was hanging with the windows open because I thought fall weather was upon us and the bugs were gone, but then it got hot again…ugh, New York weather/Global Warming….very unpredictable.
Ok, so here are my questions:
1) A bunch of flies came into the house in the past few days, and I am trying to get rid of them, but they keep landing on me and I figure they don’t bit…but could they irritate my skin in some way or SOMETHING?
2) Could it be mosquitoes?
3) Is it bedbugs? I know I live in NYC, but I am clean. UGH.
Please tell me it’s not bedbugs.
I have random spots around my body, but they look like mosquito bites. There are, however, three on my arm that are close together. Those are the only ones that are like that though. None of them look like the photos that I see on here.
I’m not sure on what is eating me but last week I went to the ER because I thought I got bitten by a brown recluse. Well I have more bites and not just one this time but a few and they hurt and itch. They look like blisters and they hurt because they are on my hips and thighs.
I had a fruit bat in the house I have been staying in for the past 2 months and it took me 3 days to get it out. I’m scared that I mat have a infestation of bed bugs and they are hurting me badly. Can any one give me more info on these bugs?? I don’t want to have to go back to the ER and get lanced open again. I think I’m highly allergic if this is the case…
Around the beginning of the year I was eradicating bed bugs on my own and near the end of the fight I was spotting an adult somewhere on my bed every day. They came out from hiding because I puffed Diatemaceous Earth on the underside of the box spring. I took a photo of this one moments after I discovered it.
The picture is a little blurry but you can clearly see how this bug was hanging out on the underside of my king size mattress. Later I found another specimen that was much bigger then this one and I let my wife look at it, which was a mistake. She was shaking for a while after we went to bed on this same mattress. I felt so bad. The bites stopped not long after this and we haven’t been bitten for months. My Son would come over from his Mothers house with bites more recently. Of course this caused me much stress. I am happy to say he hasn’t been bitten for a while. I have posted one photo of his last set of bites. These are definitely bed bug bites for those of you wondering.
Yes, my wife has bites on her arm and leg. me myself no bites. we have a dog but i got the flee and tick killer as seem on the tv it cost 60.00 i had bed bug exterminator come over check the bed and living room but no sign of bedbugs.
Could flees have the same mark like begbugs? I have no carpet wooded floors i see white spot look like maybe be flees eggs not sure. how could one person get bite but not me? my wife is driving me nuts.
The exterminator thinks it could be flees. please can you help me out. what do you think.
I have never had any encounters with bed bugs until today, when I noticed lots of puffy red marks popping up along my arms and legs. I thought they were from aggressive mosquitoes but then when I showered I discovered a very orderly line of bites going along my hip, which lead to some research….and so now I guess I have bed bugs.
At first I was pretty confused because I keep my sheets very clean, and the house is new! And I don’t have a massive wooden headboard either! But then I remember a couple of days ago I discovered a bug crawling in my sheets and looking at bed bug pictures they look identical to the bug I found.
I’m sleeping on the couch tonight!
I recently spent a night at a friend’s house, and these spots showed up a day or so later on my ankle.
Was I bitten by bedbugs?
This is the 2nd time ive gotten these weird bites all over my ankles and now all up my leg and some on my arms. I dont know if they are bed bugs or flea bites but they start off as small bites their red all around but with a whitish dot in the middle. whats weird about them is they leak some kind of clear liquid then the liquid crusts into this yellowish orangish crust. i usually just pick off the crust but it comes back within a couple hours. they itch extremely bad and i dont know what to do. after about a week they turn into a scab and go away. can anyone please help me so i dont have a round 3 with these extremely annoying bites. thank you!
Hi everyone,
I live in the UK, and recently moved into a temporary apartment which a friend let me stay in for reduced rent. I’ve been here just over two months, and then I am going abroad for two weeks in 14 days time, then coming back and moving abroad for a year.
After about a week in the apartment, I noticed a few bites on my wrist, but thought maybe I was having a dust mite allergy, because when I moved into the apartment and cleaned, it appeared as though the place hadn’t been vacuumed in years. Over the following few nights I noticed more and more of these bites, and they were itching like crazy. I showed it to a doctor friend who said it was definitely bed bug bites. So began the battle.
I washed all the bedding, vacuumed the mattress, sprayed tea tree oil, and for a couple of nights didn’t get any bites. Then they started up again. One night I just couldn’t take it, so moved onto a bed in another room, and as I was lying there, I noticed a bed bug coming towards me. This freaked me out. I am terrified of all crawly things, I can’t even stand ants, so the thought of these creatures crawling all over my bed and body makes me squirm, and has given me a few sleepless nights, especially when I was alone. Thankfully my husband is now staying with me, so I’m not all alone, but it is still difficult.
I have bites all over now, including on my face. I tried sleeping in a sleeping bag with my body fully covered, and they just attacked my face and the exposed part of my neck. Last night I woke up at about 2am with mad itching, and discovered more bites. On my legs they have blown up so much and are now like a large hard purple lump about the size of a tablespoon. I also found a bed bug crawling on my pillow, which made it very difficult to go back to bed. I have MS which gives me such bad fatigue, and now with sleepless nights I am a complete wreck :(
I can’t wait to be out of here as we could not afford to have pest control sort it out, nor can we afford a steamer. Hell, we can’t even afford a vacuum at this point and have been borrowing my mum’s every few days. I’m just really afraid of the bugs traveling with us, and yet I see it as inevitable. Will they stay with me forever now?
We stayed at a friends vacation home 1 1/2 weeks ago. They are in the countryside of Japan. We did some gardening while there. We happened to be there 5 days total. The day after we returned home, my husband looked like he had bug bites. The next morning they looked like hives. By day three he looked like poison ivy rash.
I stayed my distance and he has progressively looked worse. One week later, today, I awoke with 6 little pimple looking bites. They are very very itchy. We went to a doctor, and he said it “could be” plant or insect related, hard to say. Gave us antihistamine and steroid creme. Is this bed bugs? If so, is there a recommended treatment?
Best R Gonzales
Hi,
We just stayed in a B&B for 3 nights. Could you tell me if you think the bites are from bedbugs? Or post it on the forum to see what others think if you’re not sure? It’s not the best quality, but you can see the bites.
Thank you so much!
Cate
I’m so glad to find this site. I’m a little bit bug-phobic when it comes to things that crawl on me and bite – someone merely talking about head lice or fleas will have me scratching and feeling gross all day. About a week ago, I found a few bites on my body that appeared to be mosquito bites. Because it’s summer and we sleep with our windows open, I assumed that mosquitoes had gotten through the screen and bitten me in my sleep.
Then I started finding more bites – and then more – and in spots that a mosquito shouldn’t have been able to get to – like my buttocks, upper back, and legs. At this moment, I have about 10-12 bites in various points on my body. Only a couple of them are grouped together in what you would call a classic bedbug pattern – two bites in the same area – but they are all very itchy and annoying. I am going to clean my bedroom today and tonight I may just sleep on the sofa. Tomorrow, I’ll go get mattress, box-spring and pillow covers, and order some diatomaceous earth. I’ve used that in the past when my dog had fleas, and it works wonders. (I’ve checked my dog for fleas – he has none.) I hope I can get rid of these things.
We found bed bugs in my daughters room around the end of June. I had a professional come to treat for them immediately. They used a “cold treatment” on the items in her room, sprayed in the other two bedrooms (where we never found any bugs) and in the living room.
We never really found that many bugs, I would have to say probably between 12-16 over the course of first spotting then (and most of these were found dead after the treatment).
I still worry about them, and i have found bites on me recently however we do have two dogs, who we have a problem with fleas. It’s so hard to tell the difference between bites! Also I feel like my daughters room has a nasty smell, I have a very sensitive nose and it just smells weird in her room. If I leave the door closed, when I open it I can smell it. I don’t think it smells “sweet” which is what I’ve read but just “dirty”!
I look almost every night in our bed and her bed with my little mag light! I continue to check our mattresses, boxsprings, bed cracks and nightstands and have found nothing.
Here are my questions
1. Do bed bugs feed everynight?
2.You mentioned spraying with alcohol? What exactly are you spraying? Are you spraying the bed, nightstand, ? How are you using the alcohol I guess is what I’m asking.
3.What about the dirty smell?? I keep a clean house LOL
Thanks!
HI there every one. we have had bed bugs in the past. i have noticed that they only bit in 3s. we have tried almost everything out there . to all of those that don’t know what to use i will say this that rubbing alcohol works the best. after we got rid of all the bugs and their eggs i spray my house down once every 2 weeks and haven’t had a problem. in my opinion the rubbing alcohol is the best if you see a bed bug spray it and see how fast it dies for you.
when we first had our problem with bed bugs i would spray my body down before i got in bed. come to my surprise they did not bit me and my husband thought i was crazy. so if you are tired of getting bit and want a good night sleep i suggest that you spray your self first. and for those of you that travel if i were you before i even get into the motel room i would find the nearest place that has rubbing alcohol and spray that room and beds down first. and before you leave to go back home spray everything that you brought with you.
have you have any other questions on how to get rid of those nasty little bugs leave a comment and I’ll answer you back.
These bed bug bites are annoying! I noticed I had them a few years back. Last week re decorated, changed my mattress, put bleach everywhere, sprayed everywhere YET they still continue to bite my legs. I have about 130 bites on my body. Please help! It’s irritating! :(
I woke up this am with 2 small red dots 1/2 an inch apart on my neck. They done itch at all one isslightly raised while the other is flat. I have never had any marks on me prior could this be bed bug bites?
Yep, bedbugs. Somehow they got into my bedroom and ruin my sleep. Thank heaven for air coneditioners. mine makes my bedroom tolerable while i suit up (long pants, long sleeves, hands and feet covered) to try to go to sleep. Scram, an herbal product was discussed on a radio program a friend heard, so I ordered some, claims to be safe around pets and children and effective at killing the bugs. I then tried Bedbuglogic, which seems to kill faster on contact. Has anyone else out there tried these treatments? Bebbuglogic is based on thyme oil, which is also a minor component of Scram’s herbal mix. The stuff doesn’t smell bad, peppermint predominates in Scram. Please tell what treatments you have tried. I don’t want to go anywhere near the really poisonous stuff.
I’ve been getting bug bites on my feet, only my feet, for the past few weeks. Initially I assumed spiders, it’s happened before, but now it’s becoming constant. I’ve started wearing socks to bed, but they’re going through or into the socks. Do some bed bugs stay in only one area of the body to feed? I haven’t gotten any bites anywhere else. Do they go into clothing when there’s perfectly good exposed ankle and leg for the taking? I don’t wear long pants to bed so one might assume they could easily go for exposed skin instead. Legs, arms, neck, head etc… I’m beginning to feel like I have things crawling all over my feet all the time now. Is it bed bugs or am I just lucky enough to have a feet eating bug in my bed?
I just came back from a camping trip in Wisconsin. We rented a cabin. Bugs were biting like crazy one night. We didn’t do much. Next morning me feet are covered in bites about 50 or 60 on each foot and up around the ankles. Some bites here and there up my legs and about 10 on my butt and hips up to my belly. My friend told me that my back had a lot too. The mattresses had a plastic cover on them. 4 people stayed in the cabin. All but one had bites on our feet. They are about the size of a pea or a needle prick. They itch and are red. I was walking bare foot but never barley ever in the grass. The next night I didn’t get bites, I was also waring socks. Wondering what kind of bites I got. They are smaller that some of the bites scattered around my body. Please Help!!
Hi, I’m Rachel,
I have found a total of 3 bed bugs over the last several weeks. After finding one, I sprayed steamed and thought I was in the clear. Found two more today (one live, one dead) while throwing away my bed and mattress and moving to my new place.
I have not had any bites as far as I can tell.
What should I do? I’m concerned that one hitched a ride in clothing or blanket to my new place. I am getting a whole new bed and mattress and don’t want those to become infested. Please help!!
Thanks:)
I have over 50 bites on my hips and rear end and in lines down each side. My left hip has a cluster of about 20, then each of my cheeks has about 10. The other hip just has a few somewhat in a line and the ones on my side/ribs form a line of about 3. As I live in the South and am VERY prone to mosquito bites, I initially thought that’s what they were, although I couldn’t figure out where I had gotten so many bites in such a small area without realizing it.
Unfortunately I faced another several hours in the car before and after another all day meeting, with the location of these bites just awful for sitting, seat belts, and even underwear for that matter! Since I couldn’t drive and participate in the meeting on benadryl, I had to wait til I was back home. As soon as I walked in the door, I took my diphenhydramine, smeared on more cream, made ice packs for my hips and bottom and tried to rest and NOT scratch.
It’s now the third evening since I first noticed the bites and I’m pretty convinced these aren’t my typical mosquito bites! I’ve been absolutely miserable and now I’m pretty sure I’ve found bb evidence. We’re moving this weekend and I’m not sure we can afford to replace the mattresses right now but I don’t want to take bedbugs with me! Clean laundry has been on that bed for sorting and packing too!
What do I do? This is a nightmare!
Hi,
I started getting bed bug bites when I was in school, sleeping in my dorm room. Then, I was studying one morning in bed and noticed that a bed bug crawled up onto my pillow. I captured it with a piece of tape and put it in a zip lock bag and took it to the coordinator. I told the coordinator and showed it to him, and he said that he would send in a specialist. I stopped getting the bites and I thoroughly cleaned everything in my room and washed and dried EVERYTHING in hot temperatures.
The specialist came but he only glanced at the room and told me that I was probably fine. It’s been about 9 months since then, and I live with my husband in a town home and I just discovered a half of a bed bug body that fell out of a blanket I had in college and that has been hanging around our couch. I have no idea what to do and I am so frustrated. I don’t know if I have carried them with me despite doing everything…
My husband and I were getting tiny bites every now and then but as we golf, we figured that they were mosquito or other types of bites. I also have not swollen up with them like I did when I knew that they were bed bug bites. I mean, they really swelled up back then and were in a linear or rash like pattern on different parts of my body. These bites are tiny little bites , one on one limb and then nothing. We also have a spiders everywhere, so we had thought maybe our bites were tiny spider related. We have no other signs of bed bugs, we’ve checked everywhere.
Any suggestions for us??
Update – no new bites since 2 nights ago for me, and the ones I have are less itchy and swollen. The wife, however, has now gotten several new bites the past 2 nights, occurring in a linear row of 3 bites but only on her arms, that have begun to itch her severely. I’m wondering if we were bitten by bed bugs while in China last week, and only got reactions now? We did move around a lot, and often only spent 1-2 nights at a place. One place in particular had extremely tiny bright red bugs on the sheets and walls that were definitely filled with blood, because it rusted/turned brown after a while when they were squashed and smelled like iron. I’m wondering if they were mites or some sort of “chigger” or something else and they bit us, but we only got a reaction now? I feel like with the number of bites, if we had bed bug there would be enough that I would be getting many new bites all over my body from the past 2 nights…what do you think?
RE: scabies, unlikely given that there are no lesions on the back/groin/legs, where scabies like to bite, and I haven’t had any new itching/bites
Hi August,
Those have the same pattern as when bitten by bed bugs. It’s hard to say for sure, but by the looks of those bites, and if you are still getting bitten days after your stay, I’d search hi and lo for any sign of bed bugs, such as stains, etc. Try the bed bug trap found on this site and see what you catch.
Hello,
I am very nervous. I recently stayed at a Disney hotel in Florida and found these on my leg the next morning. They started as tiny flat pinkish-red dots that weren’t itchy, but turned into this hours later. It is moreso bumpy now and pinkish.
Very much like mosquito bites..but this one is in a cluster..
Please help me, I would be sooo eternally grateful.
Hi AJ,
These look a lot like Ross’s bed bug bites picture, but if they are popping up randomly throughout the day, I wonder if they could be mites (scabies mites perhaps?).
Hi,
So I don’t know if I have bed bugs or not, and I figured this was the place to find out. For the past 3 nights I have been getting bite marks all over my hands, forearms, upper arms, and the back of my neck and for the past night my wife got some on her arms as well. They are very itchy, and seemingly the welts pop up at all times of the day.
I also just moved to a new place before vacation, I spent 3 nights here before going on vacation but the bites have only started since I came back. When we came back I spent a night at my parent’s house, but was not bitten there. Its strange because the bites are only on the arms and my neck, nowhere else (legs, torso, back) even though I sleep shirtless and in shorts.
Any help is appreciated as to what I should do now, and if you think they are bed bugs.
Thanks,
AJ
Not sure how to get the photos up, so I just emailed them
I’m not sure if I have bed bugs but I’m so sure I saw one today on my pillow! It came out this morning as I was laying down watching tv… I sprayed alcohol on it & sealed it in a bag. I saw the same type of bug 3 months ago… The only thing is I have never been bitten & no sign of them to be anywhere!!! I purchased a new bed back in September when I 1st moved & I have had them cover with plastic zipper mattress covers including my box spring since I got them! I periodically look for any openings or rips & there never have been any! Ive done my research about bed bugs & i get more freaked out as I look… So I don’t know what to do? Or if I should even be worried? I do live with a roommate & on the lower level of my building… Is it possible just those 2 got into my apt somehow?
Thanks in Advance
Hi,
You can see how bad the reaction to the bites are.
Can you tell me if these are bed bug bites?
Thanks!
Alyssa
Hello Concerned 80,
The bites on your arm, in photo #3, look like bed bug bites as they are in a line typical of these blood suckers.
Hi,
I’ve attached the following bed bug bite pictures (at least that’s what I think bit me).
Second are the two on the front of my right leg.
Third, is the 6 or so bites on the bottom of my right thigh <==got me most concerned.
Last, 3 bites behind my knee area, still back of right leg (but I felt this itch when I was wearing long pants and was out at my dance class…so I wasn’t even home!)
Pic #2 +3 bites are swollen, especially #3 I think I scratched it when I was half awake and asleep…now the bites are all bumpy.
If you could please tell me if these are bed bug bites or not that would be appreciated!
Thank you.
I am SO SORRY you are dealing with this Gertrud! Wow, this is one of the worse cases of bed bug bites I’ve see so far (I know that doesn’t make you feel any better : ).
I’m with the doctor, get out of the Villa! The only way you could be eaten alive like this is if there is a massive infestation of bed bugs (or something else) and chances are, the villa has had previous complaints! If one room is like this bad, I doubt the others are any better!
Also, you need to make SURE you don’t bring this home with you! Luggage, clothing, and everything else you brought with you MUST be sanitized BEFORE you go back home!
Let us know if you find anything else, please.
And thank you for sharing! – by the way (and if you feel comfortable mentioning it), what was the name of the villa you stayed at? I can check to see if there is a history with this place, and by sharing, you help others prevent receiving bed bug bites like this.
Hello Jim,
On vacation in Northern Cyprus renting a villa. After two days of itching and burning pain I have been to two dermatologists and they say that it is insect bites and that the insects live in the bed where I sleep. I have had injections of antihistamine and something even more powerful but the pain wily. We have changed rooms for the night (different mattresses), but the doctor think we should consider changing houses.
Sending you some pictures to your collection let me know if you want more. It is nearly 2 am in the morning but I cannot sleep – 35 C and I am fully covered in jeans, cardigan and socks and the itching wont stop.
Any good advice?
Best of all,
Gertrud
Update 7/24/11 – Back home since five days – only the red dots left and the occasional itching. Changing rooms did not help, so the owner called a sanitizing firm that treated all bedrooms. Did not help either – both my husband and I woke up with knew bites. Hopefully all the precautions we took have prevented the insects from going with us back to our apartment.
Hi, I’m Megan,
Last week I attended a retreat and we stayed in dorms at a college campus. After my second night there I discovered 6 little bites on my stomach. I thought they were misqueto bites but my friend convinced me it was bed bugs. I looked it up and did a bunch of research, they look like bed bug bites, they itch, and the little rash looking bites are still here after a week. I checked the beds, I checked my clothes, sheets, blankets, pillows, and even my suit case, and i found nothing. The beds are also covered in plastic lining and I was told it was impossible to have bed bugs. No one believes me though. I wont show my belly so no one but my good friend hand i have seen the bites. Everyone thinks im simply over-reacting and crazy. Is it possibly for me to only get 6 bites, not ever see anything, and so far have no signs what-so-ever of me bringing them home with me? I was sharing a room also and was the only one bit. Am I probably just over-reacting like they all say and it is just from misquetos?
Hey Natalie,
Yes, this happens often. If you protect this area, different underwear, etc. you should see the bites move to a different area.
Hey Natalie,
Yes, this happens often. If you protect this area, different underwear, etc. you should see the bites move to a different area.
Have you ever heard of bed bugs bitting private areas, because I found a lot of bites on my son’s privates.
Hello,
I went to bed and when I awoke, I found a large number of bites on my arm.
The first picture (click on it so see full photo of the bug bite) is first thing in the morning.
The second photo is what the bites look like later in the day.
Do you think these are bed bug bites?
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Sean
Casey,
Thanks for the excellent comment and your latest picture was perfect! I’ve created a post here with your image and answer to how many legs does a bed bug have.
Thanks!
This is just a suggestion to try but it seems logical to me and firms in California use heated whole house envelopes to get rid of termites. My wife thinks Im crazy but its entomology so it should work.
If you really want to try get rid of all the bed bugs in your domicile ( and all other bugs to boot) rent yourself an industrial heater like a Herman Nelson or a Frost Fighter. These units pump out heat in huge volumes. Run the hoses into the house through a sealable opening. Then get a few remote readable temp probes( cheap house ones that have multiple sensor options) and then seal up your house for a few hours. Put the probes under your mattress and under couches to be sure residual heat reaches these areas. Protected areas where heat will have trouble penetrating are the important monitoring points.After a couple of hours of over 120 degree F. heat that should be enough to do the job. Longer is better but no need to over do it.
Obviously all heat sensitive items should be removed prior to heat up. Bugs can not sweat or get rid of excess heat so it follows logically that the little buggers will die. Rather elegant solution and I believe rather fool proof. And as I stated at beginning all other troublesome bugs should also be eliminated.
Just a theory but based on logical assumptions. Good luck
Bed bugs may not be discovered simply inside beds and mattresses. Bedbugs may be discovered on their own, but far more often gather together in groupings. Counter to belief, bedbugs don’t reside within the mattress, despite the fact that they might be discovered in the seams. They are usually located in bed rooms but hide within spaces and crevices during the day.
Hi,
I’m hoping someone could answer a couple questions. Three weeks ago I was reading a library book in my bed when I saw a little bug crawl off the page and on my hand. Thinking it was a little spider I tried to smash it and it scurried off.
A short time later my husband came to bed so I went downstairs to the recliner to read. When I turned the page another little bug crawled off the page, this time I grabbed a tissue and picked the bug up. I instantly knew at that point what it was from doing research back in January after a co-worker found out she had them and hundreds of bites on her. It was a nymph because it was very tiny and transparent with a little dark spot on the bottom area.
I went upstairs and made my husband get up so I could bag the sheets, duvet cover and goose down comforter in a bag and put in the garage. After speaking with my friend the next morning, I purchased a mattress cover for my bed and my two girls and a spray called Rest Easy made by Right Brain and sprayed the box springs, bottom of recliner, floor boards and register vents.
Next morning after inspecting the bed I swore I found fecal matter so I contacted Orkin (we have a contract in the summer because of past issues with ants) he came to inspect my room and found nothing, the stuff I found wasn’t fecal matter and told me he wished I had kept the bug. So I calm down thinking now maybe I was wrong it wasn’t a BB, so I continue to sweep the floor everyday, check the sheets and spray.
One week later I have my husband help me turn the box springs so I can spray them again and sweep under the bed. While doing this I found what I hope is the second of the two I had seen in the library book. It was all dried up and barely moving (spray must have worked). I saved this one for the Orkin guy who comes for his regular visit tomorrow.
Anyway, now totally paranoid and haven’t slept in a week I decide to go ahead and cover the box springs for piece of mind. I continue to sweep every two days and am up at all hours of the night looking for the bugs. I have not been bitten, nor has anyone in my family that I can tell. The pictures online are obvious, but it did say that different people respond differently.
However, I cannot stop itching and feel like I’m losing my mind. My head is what itches the most, but my husband has an answer for everything, he thinks it’s because I’ve been to the pool everyday this week and it’s dry skin. He also thinks I should stop spraying the Rest Easy, that could be causing the dry skin and the other day when I sprayed in the return air vent, I did get some spray in my hair.
Fast forward, it’s been three weeks, I’ve been up at all hours of the night (I sleep with a mag light) and haven’t seen a thing. No one has been bitten (that I can tell) and no fecal matter, or blood smear on the sheets. My next plan of action is to spread the Diatomacious Earth in my room or set a couple traps to see if I can catch anything.
My husband thinks I’m nuts and need to calm down it’s all in my head, which I guess it could be. Could I be so lucky that the two that fell out of the library book are the two I have found and killed? The library book laid on my kitchen island for three days before I read it. I just can’t calm down knowing how these bugs can reproduce and how sneaky they are.
I have attached a picture of the bug and of these bumps on my chest for you to take a look at. My bumps do not itch, however I do have one on my should that looks like a pimple that does. My daughter showed me two bite marks on her, one on her leg and one on her neck that do itch, however my husband thinks they are from laying in the grass yesterday when we were at a cookout on my Gramma’s farm.
I am unable to get a good picture of those (my pictures are hard to see also), my camera could not focus on it, that’s how tiny they are. They look like a little pimple though.
Please give any advice you might have! Oh, not sure if it matters, but we have two indoor cats that never go outside.
Sincerely, Casey
Just did came back from a night as a guest at a sleepaway camp.
I immediately took everything that was with me and threw it in the washer and dryer. Is this bedbugs? What else could it be? And most importantly, is there anything else I can do to ensure that I didn’t bring them home with me????
Any info will help!!
Thanks, Ella.
Starting ~2 weeks ago I noticed small pimple-like bites on my legs–upper thigh area mostly. I would only get one per night, they never seemed to itch, and within a few days they’d scar over like a pimple. Now I have about 2 dozen bites, spreading from my upper calves to my lower stomach (see bedbug1). Upon investigating my mattress, I noticed black and yellow pebble-like debris in the round indentations of my pillow top (I suspected eggs or feces). When I lifted my mattress to look in the corners for bedbugs, I saw a very small 1 mm or less cigar-shaped insect scurrying in the crack (bedbug2). I squished it when I tried to grab it, but along with the debris I found an exoskeleton or dried corpse in the similar shape (bedbug3). I’ll call the exterminator tomorrow and see my dermatologist in a few weeks… but can you tell me what I’m dealing with in the meantime?
Alright, this has been bothering me for the last couple nights.
Everynight when I lay down to go to bed I get extremely itchy and end up with little bumps kinda like Amelia had but not as many and they are only on my leg. They are small and are itchy but they are sore later.
I have a cat but she has never had fleas and I gave her a bath only an hour ago and she still doesn’t have any, the rest of my family has had no problems with this at all, I haven’t visited anywhere recently I’ve just stayed home, and I have not found ONE bug. I have literally ripped my bed apart trying to find a bug but I haven’t found one!
Am I just really paranoid or what?
I woke up yesterday and noticed these marks that could be bites on my chest. They do not itch and they are quite tiny. They are very bright red almost as if they are wet with blood (but they aren’t wet at all).
Also I was wearing a white undershirt but there were no blood stains on it or my sheets or mattress.
Can anyone confirm what these are?
For all I know it is just popped blood vessels but the 3 in a row has me worried.
Thanks.
Hi Jim! I am so glad to find your website. My family and I just returned from vacation 2 days ago. My 2 youngest children are covered in bed bug bites At first we did not know what they were. The bites started after the first night of staying there. They got more and worse over the week. We had no clue. Bed bugs never crossed our minds. I took them to the doctor as soon as we got home and we got the news. BED BUGS!
I was totally disgusted and freaking out! I still am! I cant sleep at night. I worry that we brought them home. I feel so bad for my children. They are pitiful! The bites do not seem to be clearing up. And they itch like crazy. My husband and I only have a few each. I will never go on vacation again! I’ve included pictures above.
A visitor posted this from their phone and wanted to show everyone what bed bug bites, shells and the bug itself looks like. Here is her comment:
My son was sleeping I took this so others know how a bite looks like. Found on the arm rest underneath the long couch. Just discovered them after my son and I had lots of bites. Bed Bug I stayed up all night and waited until 3:00 a.m then I found it crawling on the sheet. I grabbed it with napkin and there you have it one more XBug!!!
Before last night I had never seen a bed bug bite. They are so gross looking!
Hello,
Can you tell me if they are b-bug bites.
If it helps any, I will add that they are really itchy and are flat bites. I
t would be very much appreciated if you respond to this email. Thank you very much.
Hello:
I’ve attached a photo of the bites above. It looks like they had breakfast, lunch, dinner with a buddy. Will you let me know if you think these are bed bugs? These bites are on my lower back, above my left hip and the longest line of bites is about 2 inches long.
Thanks,
Debbie
A good friend and I took a trip to Florida recently to see some of the parks and of course go to the beach. We got a one room suite with two full beds and a sitting area. Our first night had no issue, and the next day we went to Universal. That night however I started to itch, three spots on my right leg, that itched more then anything has ever itched in my life. I convinced myself they were misquitos, and went to bed. The next day they started to pop up every where, on my arms, my legs, my back and even on my face(this was when I paniced). I have family in Florida so I called them, thinking they may know of a bug there that I do not. This is when I found out the Florida hotels are having an issue with bed bugs, and my bites have the pattern.
I have been out of the hotel for a week and now all my stuff has been treated multiple times, I havnt had any new bites for week, and never did actually see a bed bug, but cant seem to stop my self from itching in my sleep, witch has caused even bigger issues, my bits are large, inflamed, and large brusies have formed around many of them. I have found no cream or home remedie that will help me, I just have to use my own will power.
Recommended for others— Stop your self from itching any way you can, my bites that I itch are taking three times as long to heal, and look 10 times more grusem.
Alot of stuff I read said there is a delay from when you get bit, to when you start to itch, and that also you may not notice a bit intill you rub something against it and it becomes inflamed, so dont panic! I did, and it wasnt good, still I feel like there are things crawling on me, and have come close to a panic attack a few times. This CAN be takken care of, and you will be ok.
Also Lysol worked well for me, I lysol everything, offten! My suitcase was what I was most affraid of, I left in my car on a hot sunny day, then lysoled it some more. The bugs and there eggs cant survive temps over 130F.
I wish anyone dealing with this the best of luck recovering quickly. And remember that anyone can get them, your not dirty, it just happened.
Well after 4 months of dealing with these bites and the bugs (which no one believed me on what they were) I finally was able to find a few and threw them in some ice water bottle. I know how I got them; through work. Turns out above where I work in one of the apartments the people they had them and they ended up hitting all 4 apartments and coming into all the shops down stairs. The people in the apartment were actually evicted because of it but after 3 bombings, 6 visits from a pest control place; they are still present. Sense I live in California they seems to constantly be out due to the prefect heat temperatures. I’ve been at work and I’ve seen them skittering around in broad daylight. (still trying to figure out if I can sue my job for being the cause of the infestation and they full willingly known what’s been going on and even still they’re not fixing any of the problems).
I’m writing today as for I’ve suffered so many bites along with my bf that he’s actually had to go to the hospital because someone told us it might have been shingles (I fully knew what they were but no one believed me till I presented them with the actual bugs today). My bites thankfully aren’t as bad as my bf’s but I still get glares at work because people think I’m on some form of drug (pisses me off more than anything). Strangely I didn’t find most of them on the bed; only the ones feeding. I found (what I hope to be) all their nests actually along the wall at the head of our bed! They were between the cracks on the boards and everything. I don’t know how the hell I had gone so long without ever noticing them before now. Sadly I didn’t take any photos but they were prefect examples of their eggs, what their first up to full grown stages looked like and everything. If I happen to find anymore nests I will be sure to post some photos.
We’ve tried everything from bombing out the room to sprays. Nothing worked. The spray only delayed them for a bit but they ended up coming back with full force. My bf is going out right now to go pick up some Diatomaceous earth stuff. It’s the only thing we’re been able to find online that seemed like it can kill them off for good. I know we don’t have to throw away everything (though my mother in law is swearing we have to burn everything (the bed maybe but not other important things) and as long as we can expose it to the high enough temperatures to kill the bugs off than we can keep our blankets. Though I think I might throw out all the ones that were right along the mattress sense they have the blood spots on them.
Either way that’s my story and I hope to be able to upload photos if I find anymore of the lil buggers. I just hope it never happens this bad to other people. Our tattoos are so ruined and our arms are already so scared up that I’m looking into creams or anything that might help. I won’t leave the house without a sweater on and it’s been over 90* lately around here….
I stayed at Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas and got lots of bites all over. As a result I had to get medical treatment over months as these bites did cause many different allergic reactions. I can only sleep with the lights on in the bedroom and sometimes I still have nightmares.
I recently have been bitten by bed bugs. Over the past couple weeks I was bitten on and off during the night, until one night I had a shower. Upon coming out of the shower i went into my room to grab my shirt off my bed. After this I went into the living room and sat down in a chair. Not even 5 mins later i catch something moving out of the corner of my eye, so I look down to find a bed bug crawling up me!! OMG i panicked!! I slapped myself as hard as I could in the chest and thought i killed it so I woke my bf up and tried to show him, but the thing started moving again. Anyways we eventually killed that sucker dead…. and I went to bed. Woke up the next morning with no new bites but when I checked my daughters crib again after my bed…. I found another one!
This is a disaster!! Now I cant stop looking things up online… I feel bugs crawling on my skin…. I feel them bite me… and oh how I itch like crazy!!!!! But since a week ago I have yet to find another bug or any signs of them…. yet today is my worst day. Without any new bites or any evidence to show me I should.. today I have been on the computer constantly looking up nymph bites, what larvae looks like and since bites are different from person to person you can only imagine how many sites I have been on in order to have a full overview of what I should be looking for. See it isn’t me I am truly worried about rather my daughter.. and today she has a couple wee little bumps that have appeared on her fingers and one on her chin?? they are microscopic almost and look quite like a heat rash… and it is rather hot so it may be just that but i am scared. The ones I killed they looked like the pictures of the females.. is it possible they didn’t lay any eggs?? i am so scared that they did and all the pictures are so enlarged of all the eggs i have no idea what i am looking at.
please someone help me I am going crazy
Ok, i’ve been having some issues lately with bites on my legs, they arn’t in clusters or a trail, Ive torn apart my bed many times, and have found nothing…. I’ve been getting 2-3 bites each night on my legs ( below my knees ) and on my thumbs, only in these two spots… they are red, seem pus filled and look alot like pimples, and itch, omg do they itch and the itch gets worse at night time, or when exposed to water ( hot or cold )… I have pets but they dont have fleas, they are bathed once a month , giving treatments and wear flea collars and only the dog goes outside, I’ve thought about chiggers but seems unlikely ( the hubby has gotten them from work so i know what they look like, that and I hate bugs, so i do has much research as i can lol and try to prevent ..any bug in my home LOL ) .. I’ve thought about going to a doctor but don’t want to be laughed at for nothing ya know ?, I’ve asked some family and friends, some think its stress, some think no – seem ems, and so on, chiggers, fleas, ect ect. .. but I have none of those.. any suggestions ? please? before i itch holes into my legs lol.. ( and anti- itch creams, lotions do NOT work… )
Okay so for the past two days ive gotten bitten 8 times! I went out two days in a row. I opened my door at night to get the breeze in cause its hot. Here is where the bites are located on my body: I got two bites at the bottom of my left leg. They are red and the bites are besides each other. I have three on my left leg they are further apart. Then i have three on my right leg on my inner upper thighs. they are close to each other they are reddish-pink and super itchy.
i know that bed bugs like to bite in threes im just really scared that these are bed bugs . Please help i tried looking through my bed and mattress and i dont see anything or i dont see any blood stains on my bed..Please help!!!
Ok I have three options:
2. I have bed bugs but I can’t find any sign of them, or
3. I’m obsessing over nothing.
I have a few spots that could be insect bites, but I don’t know what caused them. I do live near a pond, the mosquito is the state bird of Wisconsin (where I live), and I have been traveling. I have also searched the cats for fleas, and my entire apartment for everything else. Any ideas?
I am getting small red bumps on my arms. Every morning I find one or two more. And they do not seem to heal so I have accumulated a lot of them. I have also found larger bites that look like mosquito bites around my hips. Those same bites are in clumps on my legs. I checked my mattress and sheets with no signs of bed bugs. Also I always feel really itchy at night, like bugs are crawling on me. Even when I wash my sheets and stuff it doesn’t make a difference! Can anyone tell me what is going on?
Hello
Yesterday I had gone over to a friends to stay over for the night. After that, I discovered three to five bites in a cluster on my foot. Now it hurts to walk on those bites but it isn’t that itchy. I just wanted to know if this is a bed bug and what should I do to get rid of these bites.
Thx
My symptoms are exactly like Kori’s. Very strange, seems to happen at night while I’m sleeping. One day I awoke with a lot of bites, but usually just one or two new ones each morning. Often on the arms, but also common on my belly and thighs, and that one bad episode I even had multiple bites on my private parts! But not consistent with bed bug symptoms, I may get two bites next to each other, but not a trail. I just thoroughly checked my mattress and surrounding area and it’s clean. I know I do get small ants in the bedroom and have, in fact, seen them on my bed. Is it possible they’re the culprit?
I don’t know what is biting me. My bites seem to be mostly at night, or at least I wake up to find them swollen and mosquito bite-like. I have a few new bites at a time that tend to be on my thighs and hips, though I have had a few on the back of my left knee and one or two on my back. They itch like crazy when they itch but they don’t itch all the time. The bites started in our bed where I slept for three nights then moved downstairs to another bed. I sleep with my toddler daughter and husband, both whom don’t have bites. My son sleeps in his own room down a short hall and doesn’t have bites either. The first night or so downstairs I didn’t have any bites but then it started again. My husband continued to sleep in our bed upstairs without any bites. Last night I decided to sleep on an inflatable bed downstairs but not in the same room as the bed I was sleeping on and got the most number of bites yet, mostly on my hip and upper buttock. I wear long pants and long sleeves to bed and sleep with a sheet and blanket usually up to my armpits or chin. I used sheets that were on our bed upstairs on the inflatable mattress that were washed and dried hot hot several times and I used a pillow from the upstairs bed that I put in the dryer on hot for 70 minutes. My mom slept in the downstairs bed last night (with all freshly washed and dried sheets) that I had previously been sleeping in and didn’t get any bites. Any suggestions about what is following me around and biting only me?
Of note: My husband travels alot, staying in hotels. His suitcase lives near the foot of our bed when he is home.
I have checked our mattress (we don’t have a boxspring) and sheets don’t see any signs of bed bugs. Same with the bed downstairs–there is nothing! I have been spending a lot of time outside gardening lately but shower when I come in. I have not had any bites on my feet, ankles, calves, arms or face.
We have a cat who would sometimes sleep in our bed but I gave her a flea bath and put her outside. I didn’t see any fleas in her bathwater.
We have hardwood floors throughout our house.
i got bit buy a bug it itched and burned and turned purple color no one else seems to be getting bit but me help !
I’ve had a recent incounter with possible bed bugs. Found one on the sheets of the bed while at the Hyatt hotel in Washington, D.C. . At first we tried asking if they had had any bed bugs before, and it took them until I was near irate for them to admit they did. My roommate even had some of them on her. Word got out to the rest of the group I was traveling with, and the hotel gave us a new room. I’m not sure if it was paranoia or not, but I’m sure a lot of the others had already been bitten from the small welts they had. Of course, I am the only one to understand what the bugs could really do; the others thought all we needed were thin bags and a shower. My roommate was sent into a massive panic attack from the ordeal, and now we both are having a hard time.
I was called by the hotel manager this morning, and told they were nothing but a weird type of gnat… Either way, I made sure my room mate took nothing into her home, and kept every single thing she took and was wearing, outside in black garbage bags in the sun. Same for myself. But now I’m worried as hell.
Before leavingthough, I kept one bug and put it inside a bag, then inside a plastic bottle and brought it back home to be tested. Now in less than 3 days I’ll know for sure myself.
I took a shower (even used an old medicated shampoo I have that burns me) and went to bed, hoping I had nothing on me. Then this morning I found a small red bump on my ankle. It looks like a mosquito bite and it doesn’t itch unless touched. My friend hasn’t said anything about itching at all yet, but it still worries me. I have so many irreplaceable items in my home (many that would be ruined if treated with steam or heat.)
Now everytime I think on it I itch like mad…
Hi there-
Did Court ever let you know what his doctor thought his bites were? I was in China recently and ended up with very, very similar looking bites on both of my lower legs but nowhere else on my body.
I wondered at the time if they were flea bites as our host does have a house cat but the doctor I went to see there (I couldn’t stand the itch and my legs had begun to swell up) suggested they could have been a herpes related breakout due to stress (never had anything like this before, not even a cold sore). Travelling that far away is somewhat stressful, but wasn’t feeling anything overly worrisome so wondered about that suggestion.
He treated with me an allergy shot, a few days of steroids and an antibiotic as some of them were looking like they may be on their way to being infected. The itching calmed right down about 12 hours after treatment and things were settling down until I received 6 or 7 new bites on my feet only about a week after the first blotches (which turned purple first and then started to fade and look like faint bruises now) showed up.
I have had a terrible bed bug problem for over 9 months now. At first I didn’t know what they were but after time and research, we lifted my bed up from the frame and saw the most disgusting sight ever – two bugs were crawling up my bed and beneath the bed were casings. I set out on a mission to kill them with hot pressurized steam, bed encasings, plastic dishes under the legs of my bed and I even caulked up all the outlets and ripped a section of carpeting along side the wall and poured diamceous earth all over the place. I had to get a steroid shot to stop the itching and heal the bites. I thought I did everything I could possibly do but I still have bites all over my legs. I haven’t seen any more bugs and I don’t know where they are coming from! Could they be coming from my neighbor as we share a common bedroom wall or can they be hanging out in the walls only coming out at night to bite me? I am at my whits end.
Hello Laura,
From the pictures, it doesn’t look like bed bugs but it’s very hard to tell. However, the grouping looks similar to bed bug bites.Try the bed bug trap listed on this site and see what you catch. Wish I could be more help!
Hi there,
Here are the photos of what might be bed bug bites/bed bugs.
Well recently the bites came back. This time they are a little pinker and more raised – but there are fewer of them and sometimes they itch, but usually they don’t. There are some on my legs, which I don’t feel at all, and a few grouped on my arms, which occasionally itch. I have repeatedly checked my bed, my head board, and other corners and crevices and haven’t found any living bugs. However, I have found what might be shells or dead bugs. Those photos are attached as well. They are very, very small and it’s hard to determine if these are bed bugs or not. They look similar to the first bug we found, but this is the only other time I’ve seen them and again, they weren’t living.
I am the only person in my family who has been experiencing these bites, which is why I want to determine if they are from bed bugs or not, before we call up an exterminator and spend hundreds of bucks for nothing. If you guys could let me know what you think of the bites and the “bug” pictures, that’d be great.
Thanks,
Laura
Hi there, i appreciate all help i can get…
Im travelling in the USA From Australia and do not have health insurance.. i leave in 5 weeks
Because i dont have health insurance i am not able to afford going to a doctor over here… Ughhh
Two days ago i started breaking out in bites, It started with 3 pin head type dots on my hand…. a day later, i have bites everywhere, 31 on one arm alone!, on my chest, feet, and legs…. however none on my tummy or back.
They look ALOT like flea bites ot mosquitos… and now like bed bug bites… My friend has no pets, and i havent been outside alot, tho sleeping without a blanket at night….
i have stripped his couch 3 times and have found no bed bugs or eggs
However, i did have a 13hr trip on greyhound to get here to Louisville 3 days ago…….. Is it possible they were in the seat? eww…. Do they take awhile to show up (Bites)?
here is a picture… one of them is the size of two finger tips! =(
please please please help, and do i need to go to the doctor to get rid of the bites or will they clear up
SO, I have the same thing again after having it approx 10 months ago. Itchy scalp after visiting my boyfriend’s house. His daughter had lice and I treated it promtply, but it took forever to be rid of. The same thing happened after spending a wk there; itch, painful scalp (almost like bruising, lymph nodes swollen in back of neck with a rash on back of neck and ears. I have don the listerine, white vinegar and rid, but I itched earlier and thought it was a scap, but it was a black bug, the size of a piece of rice. I totally freaked, went to the store and spent 25 dollars on the best lice treatment. I’m still itchy. I’ve heard lice is whitish; since I have long blond hair, I haven’t found anything. HELP!
how can bed bugs get in your home if you dont bring them home like if they are in your vent
Hi everyone,
I was in the US for 10 days and slept in motels and in friends’ homes, et now I have little bites on my arms and in some areas I have spots with double bites.
I’m afraid its bed bugs, but I’m still travelling in Canada and sleeping in a different bed every night. Is it possible that a bed bug is in my clothes or lives in my luggage ?
Thanks for your help, I’m beginning to freak out. And I don’t want to bring any home…
Still nothing except itchy red bites…. We set the CO2 trap every day, and the ONLY thing I saw was a casing that my exterminator says is from a carpet beetles. (I have pix, will send in soon.)
I did make a few modifications to our trap. I added one of those hand warmer pouch things under the glass bowl, to make a little heat to attract a friend, and instead of powder, have lightly sprayed PAM on the bowl and plastic bin, since I don’t think the powder was stopping anything from climbing out… I also started leaving the lid off the dry ice container, as nearly nothing was coming out the spout. I add a bit of water and let it smoke and crackle. Fun! I need to set it during times we aren’t in there as well. I’m beginning to think the $50 CO2 trap is a good deal, as dry ice is rather pricey now. Last purchase was nearly $20, and we’ve caught NOTHING in two weeks. And we’re still being bitten.
My exterminator said they would pretty much start out doing what I’m already doing, so to contact them if it gets worse and they will look into the heat or cold methods. Sigh, we DO get days over 110 in normal years, but this one has been cool and wet.
We got a Hot Shot fogger, and will set that tomorrow. I am NOT looking forward to cleaning THAT up. I wonder if I should, or just leave the pyrethrin powder all over everything for a day or two? At least I know it will kill the carpet beetles….
The Benadryl Itch Relief Stick is still working for me – the redness and swelling disappears quickly and the itch is stopped immediately. Yay. Hubby is using cortisone cream, and his stay red and swollen.
My acupuncturist wants us to see a dermatologist, but unless it’s scabies (no dark trail, and bites are NOT every night) they will only say we have bug bites.
Crossing fingers for the fogger….
Whew! I know how you all feel. Our apartment had bedbugs a few months ago. The were driving us crazy, and yes, it is very invasive (and disgusting) to know bugs are in your bed and leaving feces. We were using hotshot bedbug spray and it worked very well. It does take several treatments since the spray does not kill the eggs. The best way is a heat treatment. Cold can kill them, but it takes days of freezing temperatures. Find someone to do a heat treatment and they will heat your living areas to 120F. This also kills the eggs (yay!). It is also recomended that you leave everything in your house to make sure they all are taken care of. We lucked out since the apartment managers determined they should pay since we didn’t have $1000 at the time, and if it didn’t get treated it could spread. However, the hotshot spray does work well, but it is very tedious.
hi,
these “bites” appeared one morning several days ago and over the last couple of days have been multiplying and seemingly getting worse.
they are very itchy and are only located on my left forearm, nowhere else on my body. do they look like bed bug bites to you?
thank you very much,
My boyfriend and I just got back from a 7 day cruise to Bermuda.
My problem: the last three bites i got are now HUGE. They have easily doubled in size since this morning, and every other bite I have are also getting worse (bigger and redder). The first ones appeared five nights ago, but yet they are showing no sign of getting better. The one on my ankle is easily an inch and a half in diameter and swollen.
Should I go to the doctor? Please help! I am going to call the cruise line tomorrow and see if I can get any sort of compensation..
hello, me and my 6 yr old daughter have been suffering from large( bout the size of a quarter) pinkish, reddish VERY ichy mosquito like bites in the morning there never close together but theres usually like 2 or 3 only on our legs and they die down after bout 24 hrs. havent seen any sign of bed bugs but i dont have a exterminators eye either. What do you think? please help?!
I am in great need of help! I think I might have bedbugs but the pest control technician couldn’t find anything. My husband and I sleep in the same bed every night and he doesn’t have a single bite on him, just me. Has anyone tried the bed bug trap listed on this site? I’m wondering if it works. I’ll try anything to get rid of these things if that is in fact what I have!
Hello Help,
As I understand it, Scabies (body lice) dig down into your skin and urinate there while moving around. This fecal matter shows up as a trail or black line. Bed bug bites do not look like this so I’ll take a guess and suggest Scabies.
Here are pictures of scabies and information on how to treat it www.badspiderbites.com/scabies/
Do us a favor will you? Please let us know what this turns out to be!
Thanks!
PLEASE HELP. IM 13 YEARS OLD BOY. We have bed bugs in our apartment that came form the vent. I recently got a bite and it has a black dot and i used peroxide and hot water it stinged of course. Now theres a black line(small) underneath my skin. Im very scared because we always clean our house first time I encountered something like this :S please help fast!
Hi Bed Bug Girl:
I have been getting really itchy bites on me all week, in about 3 sets, once along the waist, then along my torso then along my inner thigh!
I also have random single bites on my leg. They are itchy and I haven’t found any evidence of bed bugs or any bugs in my room. But I have been traveling a lot recently and but I was staying with friends in Toronto and New York, but I stayed in a dive of a place in Las Vegas for 3 nights. I came back home April 3rd. I’m like 90% sure something is biting me, my doctor said so too but he couldn’t tell what it was.
What do you think?
Many thanks.
Vivian
I started finding these small red bumps around my body about a week ago. At first I found 3 on my forearm near my elbow. They didn’t itch at first but gradually started to over time. Then I found some more on my legs. They were in pairs of 2 usually but oddly I was only getting bit on my left side of my body.
I don’t know if it was the way I was sleeping or what… Then I noticed that BOTH of my elbows, like straight elbow skin, was bit as well. These were more recent and still small and not itchy. I’ve realized I have also been getting bit on my scalp! All of these bites are fairly small except the 4 that I have found on my thigh that are bigger and look more like mosquito bites. But I know its coming from the same bug. I cant find any signs of bed bugs, fleas or scabies. I’ve looked through my mattress and around my room. I don’t know what else to do…
I have vacuumed my bed, washed my clothes on high heat settings including my bedsheets, and I’m STILL getting bit. I don’t know what it could be. I’ve looked around my room and I found 2 bugs that were exactly the same but different sizes. The one must have been an adult while the other one wasn’t. It had a very slender body, 3 apparent body segments, and a single set of WINGS.
I cant find any bug description that matches this but then again I don’t know if this is the bug that is biting me. I’M TIRED OF GETTING BIT! PLEASE HELP ME IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT IS BITING ME!
help me i woke up to a very large and red lump on my ankle and it itches and so i sprayed my bed and slept on the couch. My husband said i was probably having a rash but I’m not sure if it’s bed bugs, what should i do??!!
My sister and I moved into a new apartment about 2 months ago, almost 2 weeks ago now she woke up with 4 bites on her ankle which all seem to match the pictures above. At first, I though she must just be paranoid because she is an extremely clean person who hates bugs, so I just figured it was a spider bite.
She still complained of being itchy over the next week… So we checked our beds every night before we went to bed, as long as her sons crib, but did not find anything until yesterday. I was laying in bed, it was around 11 o’clock, when I seen something moving around my pillow, sure enough it was a bug, I could see the back of it and it was crimson, my quickest instinct was to kill it and see if it had blood in its back, and it did.
We kept the bug and put it into a sealed container, earlier that day I had also found another bug, only it was flat, all black and bigger than the one we had found earlier. If you have any ideas or suggestions on what to do it would be a big help, we are both freaking out!
My daughter just forwarded this picture to me.
Does anyone have bedbug bites that look like these?
If so, can you please let me know.
Thank you
Lizzie
My husband travels a lot throughout the country with the same suitcase. I have told him to be careful with bedbugs but he doesn’t think he has contracted any on his belongings. About 2 weeks ago, he showed me about 4 bites around his ankle and I told him they were probably bedbug bites (my husband never works outside in the garden/lawn).
I got 2 bites about 5 days ago in the inside crease of my elbow. I am very sensitive to bites and mosquito’s love to bite me. At first they were small bites, which I thought they were mosquito bites, but then they started to get bigger and flatter. They itch, but not as intense as a mosquito bite. I am concerned about the bite because it has not started to get any better. Usually by now a mosquito bite is scabbing over from my itching so intensely, but this is different. I believe these are bedbug bites (although I have not seen any) and my body is having a severe reaction to them. Today I felt very tired and sluggish, don’t know if this is related to the bites.
Mine look a lot like what “Rob in Austin, November 12, 2010 at 7:55 pm” posted.
for months now i have been waking up with bites/blisters on my hands and arms. Also these appear during the day and there is nothing there i wear long sleeves all the time and yet they appear, today alone in the time I’ve been awake 6 have appeared they itch like hell but disappear in a half hour to an hour most the time. we had an infestation in our old apartment but we steam cleaned everything before moving and I’ve looked around to see if i can find anything and haven’t do you have any ideas to help? we even got the sonic emitters that are supposed to help and it did but now I’m getting bit and my wife doesn’t.
I keep getting bit and even during the day it seems like. The bites some I’ve noticed have heads on them which if i prick it with a needle a little bit of clean liquid comes out. I’ve had some so sore that when I touch it hurts like heck.
I cant find any bedbugs in my room but my daughter sprayed one in the crack of the bathroom door with roach spray and it’s now just sitting in the crack dead. Even caught a few crawling on her wall and sprayed with roach spray..
I thought conventional bug sprays and such didn’t kill them. Wanna know if my bites I described are from bed bugs, she caught a couple the size of say an ant, i guess dark brown, black i dunno. If roach spray kills them then shouldn’t regular foggers for roaches.
Ronnie, that specimen doesn’t match with the bed bugs I was catching. The ones we caught are the same that are depicted on this website. They don’t have that divided section which is clearly seen on your specimen. Bed bugs have a very similar head but the body is like a watermelon seed. My first hunch when I looked at the photo was that it may be some sort of beetle. As far as a single bit? I don’t think so. They are usually grouped together. They bite multiple times. That bug may have bitten you but I don’t think it is a bed bug unless it is a different sub specie then the ones most of us are dealing with. Have you done an internet search of all sub species of bed bugs? There may be different ones out there.
The photo is pretty grainy and the bug is only actually the size of an apple seed. It’s dark/reddish brown in color. The reason why I thought it might be a bedbug is because it has the same type of stripe pattern on its’ back as in photos I’ve examined. And the fact, that I was bitten and had a painful red welt during the night. I have found another bug today, and it looks like the same bug, only smaller.
Can bed bugs bites be singular in nature and painful to the touch…the area was swollen and felt like it was on fire. It subsided within a few hours and went away after a day.
Also, how long did it take for you to actually catch your bugs and did you use the ClimbUp Interceptor traps? If so, how long before you noticed them being in your traps? My husband has returned to our bed and has not been bitten during the past 3 nights. Is it possible that he is being bitten, and not showing any outward signs of it? Sorry for all the questions, but my next door neighbors recently moved out and they were throwing out bed linens and the like…within a week of there being moved, I was bitten. Might be purely coincidental, but worth noting.
Thanks in advance for your help,
Ronnie
Hi Ronnie,
That is not a bed bug, so don’t worry – and from the looks of it, it’s not harmful.
The welt could be from a bed bug and all depends on how you react to the bug. It is hard to tell from just one bite and usually just one is not a good indications it’s a bed bug.
Liz
Hello,
I have stayed with my boyfriend the past few nights & woke up yesterday to 2 bites on my forearm. I then woke up this morning with 2 more bites on my upper arm, near my arm pit. The are very itchy & become extremely swollen when I itch them, they form into small welts.
I checked his bed and haven’t found any bugs but am really concerned. Also, why am only I getting bitten? Here are some pictures, not the best quality. Any info would be helpful & much appreciated!!
Thank you!
Please Help!
I am hoping that someone can help me determine whether the bug I have captured is in fact, a bed bug. Last week, while I slept, I was awoken by my dog jumping on me. Thinking it was the storm that scared her, I closed the window. However, when I turned on the light and looked down, I had a pretty big, bright red, welt on my chest. It was painful to the touch and I felt sick to my stomach. It subsided within a few hours and no longer looked bright red, but a light pink. My stomach ache persisted until the next day. The reason I’m
anxious is that when I googled “red, irregular welt”, a photo of another person’s welt matched mine to a tee. Apparently, its from from a bed bug.
Since that night, I have not had another bite since I have refused to return to my bedroom. My husband has slept in there the past two nights and he had not had a bite. He wasn’t bitten the night I was bitten either. Not sure whether the bite is related to being bitten by a bed bug or a different bug.
Tonight, I found this bug crawling around my baseboard in our apartment (only lived here 2 months). Can someone please tell me whether it is in fact a bed bug? The property manager at our complex won’t treat until we find a bug and since I haven’t slept in our bed, the chances seem slim of finding one. A few days ago, we placed the Interceptor cups underneath our bed legs, but so far we haven’t caught anything.
Can someone please tell me whether it’s a bed bug (not sure how to attach photo) and whether a welt that is painful, not itchy, that goes away within a day, can be from a bed bug bite?
Forgot to mention that we tried the CO2 trap as suggested on the website for 3 consecutive days, and we didn’t catch anything. Realize that we should try it for 2 weeks, but it’s a 45min drive to buy dry ice.
Thank you.
This website seems like its what i need to figure out what is biting me so I hope someone can help.
It started on Monday when my back was itchy, I didn’t think much of it because i just happened to get a tattoo on the side of my back that Saturday and he had told me that the tattoo when its healing would be itchy, So that night i went to pull my shirt up to check out my tattoo and noticed 3 small bites on my lower back where my pant line usually is.
The bites were not in a straight line but almost like a triangle with 3 different size sides. So i thought nothing to much of it except maybe a spider got me when i was sleeping the night before. So Tuesday morning i woke up and went to work and next thing i know it when i get to work these bites had become completely inflamed and were incredibly itchy so i bought some anti-itch cream and put it on, it seemed to help but these bites were also very painful at the time still.
I decided to go to the clinic and the doctor told me that it was either bed bugs or shingles. I got home from work and searched my bed like a mad person and didn’t see anything at all, so just in case i cleaned everything my bed sheets the blankets pillow cases and put my pillows in the dryer and even vacuumed the matress my entire floor and everywhere around my bed just in case.
After a few days the bites are still there and not itchy nor painful and once the swelling went down i noticed that these were actually 4 bites just 2 very close together and now that the swelling is even more gone down i noticed that there are red dots in the middle of the bites which were not noticeable when they were swollen and inflamed. So a few days pass and i pretty much came to my own conclusion that i rolled on a spider when i was sleeping and that was all. UNTIL Saturday morning, I wake up and look at my leg to notice i have 3 more bug bites in a triangle on the side of my calf, so once again i go to the clinic to see my family doctor and she tells me that i do NOT have bed bugs…
The doctor explained that it would be very obvious if i had bed bugs because i have been searching my bed every day since the first bites and have found no bugs, no feces, no skin left from bugs and no eggs… so she prescribed me a anti-biotic and told me that she does not no what it is.
Saturday night the bites swell up and start to become itchy, all day Sunday the bites are very inflamed and itchy, but no pain like the other bites had, just itchy. It is now Monday and the bites on my leg are a little itchy, not to bad and the swelling has gone down.
So now, should i post pictures will this help?
I really hope someone can help me.. cause I’m going crazy and losing sleep over this. :(
Thanks
Tanya
Hello John G,
I will try that. I seen a dermatologist and she said it was for sure some kind of bite, so I do not think it is a virus. I have decided to resort to having a dog come in and sniff out my apartment so I can put this thought of bed bugs to a rest for good. What I do not understand is how I have not find a SINGLE bug in 8 months since I first started noticing my bites. :(
Also, I do not think it is a virus because my boyfriend gets the occasional bite, but nowhere near as many as I do. I mostly get them on my arms, scalp, back, and face. They always feel like a mosquito bite and they usually break open into a sore and scab. The sores also take a super long time to heal.
I woke up this morning and have these 6 little bites at the top of my legs. I cannot see anything on my mattress.
My apartment is super clean though i do have wooden floors which attract dust. I am mortified by the thought that these could be bedbugs. I have not been away recently, last time was end of February.
Would appreciate any comments / advice / help.
thanks
Wondering, try applying bug repellent to your body before going to bed, focusing on areas where bites occur and see if it stops. If it doesn’t then you probably have a virus.
So I made the bed bug trap after LOTS of struggling to acquire dry ice and find a suitable thermos. After cutting my finger open building the trap yesterday I finally put it to work last night. I used a pound of dry ice and put the trap together at about 11:30 PM. I woke up this morning to find NOTHING! I am so frustrated! I’ve been getting bites since September and I STILL Do not know what is causing them. I built the trap EXACTLY how it was shown in the diagram. but I have had no luck. How accurate is this trap supposed to be?
The dermatologist told me it was not scabies and I have found no bed bugs in my apartment, after using the trap or after having a PCO come in and inspect my apartment. I slept on freshly cleaned sheets last night, my bed has a mattress cover on it and I still got a new bite last night!!!! I live in Alberta so what are the chances it is fleas?
Also, I don’t know if fleas tend to bite below the waist? All of my bites are on my stomach, arms, scalp, face, and between my shoulder blades and lower back. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am running out of ideas and these bites are driving me crazy! Once again my bites look like hives or raised bumps initially and turn into open sores that heal extremely slow. Please Help!
Amelia, You noted that the ‘bites’ were painful? Have you checked with your Doctor? I thought that I had bites, turned out to be shingles. If no one else is affected, you might want to see your Doctor.
Amelia, they certainly do resemble bed bug bites but the fact your husband and anyone else isn’t getting bit makes me uncertain. Another thing, if there are that many bugs biting you, you would have seen or found them. We had three bites at a time and I found a number of them in the box spring tufts and later on adults were appearing in the seems of the mattress after spraying bug killer all over the bed and box spring. I think your issue could be viral and the virus is multiplying in the skin. Painful when touching suggests viral to me. Could be shingles. Bed bug bites just itch and can be bright red too. See your medical dermatologist. Hopefully it passes if that is the case!
Hi Amelia,
I’ve documented how to make your own bed bug trap, see my link at the top right of this page. It costs less than $10 to make and works great! This should help determine if you have bed bugs and yes, those look exactly like the bed bug bites that another visitor (Ross) had on his body. Can’t say for sure, but if you look at the photo of his arm at the top (fist page of bed bug bites) you’ll see they match. Try the bed bug trap and see what you catch!
I started having small itchy bumps on my shoulder 3 days ago and since then it has spread to my back, chest, neck and worst of all, face. The bumps look more like pimples than anything else, and some of the ones on my face are painful to touch.
The bumps are super itchy during the day and seem to spread most during the day. My husband and I share a bed and he has no bumps, and our daughter doesn’t seem affected either. When I looked online, the only thing that resembles what I have are bed bug bites.
I’ve torn apart our bed and didn’t find any signs of bed bugs, but it was 7pm. Could they possibly be hiding until night time/early morning? I am planning to investigate the bed again when I get up to nurse our daughter around 4:30-5am.
Thanks for the advice!
hey everyone,
just wanted to know what people think.
i am in the military and live in the barracks. my mattress is one that is covered in plastic already since they aren’t ours and they stay here when we transfer out. i was getting small, bright red, itchy bumps on my legs, ankles and feet before i left to go overseas. while i was gone i didn’t have a problem with any bumps. we were still in the same kind of climate as when in the states, so same type of bugs and what not.
but, as everyone knows, the military likes things clean, so we field dayed every day and did laundry when we could. we got back a week ago to the states and almost immediately the bumps were back, in the same area. my roommate gets them as well. we are one of the few left to have carpet in our room, but vacuum at least once a week.
i could go to have them look at the bites down at medical, but then that would be an investigation in the barracks and if we had to move out we would have no place to go, so i don’t want to go if there is something we can do ourselves.
please help us out!
Amanda
Hi Cody,
Sounds like even after 20 visits by Terminix you still have bed bugs? I am sorry you have to deal with all this, especially after all that! What did those visit cost you each time?
You can send the pictures of your bites to badbedbugs@gmail.com – I’ll post them so others can see the damage.
Thanks for sharing!
i cant believe this……. i am in awww in what i had to endure this week!!!! Darn bed bugs……. now mind you, i am a very clean person, i have hand sanitizer all over my house you could say that i have a little o.c.d, i am even addicted to the show monsters in me, and i have bed bugs.
I hate bugs any kind of bugs. i battle with the phobia of spiders, and now this. i have been crying every night because they have violated my home. they have deformed my body, its just to much. i thought that roaches wwere the worst…… followed by ants….. now its bed bugs….. what the heck.
I want to put a picture of how they have destroyed my body. how they have ruined my children’s spring break. i am to out done. ohhhhh and don’t tell anyone that you have them, because in order to get your house sprayed you have to play like you are moving….. why do I have to move? lol…. pack up all my things put them in bags… yaddie yaddie ya…. then leave my home, give the people twelve hundred dollars….. what the heck…… thats rent.
Help me because these bugs….. these bed bugs……. help me!!!!!!! i am going through midlife, i just became a granny, i have no time for a bugs! help!!!!!!!!! they have taken over my dream home. what did i do wrong???????
I must say that Mr Ross from Terminix is a good exterminator…. He was soooo comforting. i think i would have lost my mind. he was the best, because i was a nervous reck, swear. i am not being dramatic. because this is serious. and if it wasn’t for Ross….. i would be selling my house. i think i called him over twenty times and he never was mean to me. not to mention my hyper boyfriend that left me to do the hard work. soooo Mr. Ross (that’s his first name) thank you so much, really……… if there were more exterminators like Mr. Ross, the bed bug world would be a ok.
I am an in home social worker and I was seeing a family who had a history of bed bugs in their apartment. I took some precautions but generally had a pretty cavalier attitude about it and went to their house anyway. BIG mistake.
At first I thought they were hives but then realized they were bed bug bites. Mine are little red dots, usually on my wrists, hands, inner forearms, and ankles. I think they prefer exposed, hairless areas, also places where there is little fat. I have taken to tucking in my socks into my pj pants, and wearing long sleeves, it is helpful. At first I was in denial, then I was depressed. Now I am motivated to kill these guys. I have been at it for a few weeks with mixed success. I haven’t seen any, just one dead one, and also some black smudges, mainly on the staples on the underside of my box spring. Getting rid of them is about doing your research (this website is helpful) and diligence. Good luck everyone.
Hi,
I live in low income housing and i have bed bugs. i have bed bugs from day one here and they did lie and say it was not bed bugs but i went to the bigger people so they know it is bed bugs now. so if u live in low income make sure they are not lying to you about the bed bugs and that they are using some type of pest control, such as spraying.
I can’t sleep at all and fell them all over me every night and i want it to stop! can you tell me what to do so i can get them out of my apartment and keep them away for good?
Hi BBG,
Thanks for your advice. The older bites are still there and seem to have started the healing process, but the newer ones are red, puffy and itchy. It’s almost like I’m having an allergic reaction – they look like hives to me. If they are not bed bugs, I think they are sand fleas. Just hoping those haven’t followed me. As a precaution, I washed everything I had with me in my suitcase last night in hot water and dried it on high. I also bought a new suitcase and discarded the old one. I bought a new pair of shoes and placed the old ones, along with anything else that could be infected, in plastic ziploc bags. I don’t want to risk taking these things home with me when I head home tomorrow.
I will let you know if I figure out what type of bite it is – planning to head to a doctor Friday morning.
Thanks!
Court
Hi Court,
Those do not look like bed bug bites, more like spider bites, but, it would be very rare to get more bites after moving to another location. Do you usually have bad reactions to bites? To eliminate the possibility of bed bugs, visit my section on bed bug traps located at the top right of this page and there you will find a do it yourself guide. The materials needed for this can be found anywhere and costs less than $10!
I know it’s been a while since the time you wrote and the time I posted the pictures. Are you still being bitten? Are these bites in the picture healing now?
Thanks for sharing!
Hello, Everybody! Just wanted to let you know my place is still free of bed bugs and it has been months. My wife can’t even stand the thought of them anymore. I remind her that it is vigilance that will keep them away. I was able to keep all my furniture during the battle. I hope some of you took my advice. A lot of you still seem very confused and alarmed. Steam treatment and double stick tape on furniture legs and support blocks is very effective!
Hi Court,
Send the photos to badbedbugs@gmail.com and I’ll get them posted and comment.
Thanks!
Hi,
Please help… I am going crazy thinking I’ve had a run in with bed bugs!
I travel for work and was staying in a Hilton Garden Inn in Dallas last week. On Thursday I left for Miami, where I also checked into another hotel for the weekend. On Friday in Miami, I noticed a bunch of bites on my lower legs, below the knees, near ankles and on the calves. They looked like mosquito bites and were very red and itchy. They have since turned purple, but I did scratch them because I didn’t know I’d been bit. Nobody else was bit, including my boyfriend who slept in the same bed with me in Miami.
Odd thing is, I got back to Dallas yesterday and in the morning I noticed new fresh bites near my ankles. This morning after waking up in Dallas I noticed a few more new ones. They look slightly smaller from the others, and have not started to turn purple, but I have not been itching.
Do you think they are bed bugs?? Another suggestion I got was chiggers or sand fleas, and they could be traveling with me in my suitcase now, which would explain the bites that popped up yesterday and today.
Thank you SO MUCh for your help!
Court
Wondering, stop wondering (sorry, I couldn’t resist : ) – See the bed bug trap link in the top right menu of this site; it’s a do it yourself device you can make yourself for under $10 using material from any dollar store and it is a GREAT WAY to find out if these are bed bug bites or something else!
Hello,
I posted on the site back in December because I thought I had a bed bug infestation. I had an exterminator come in and he found no signs of bed bugs. The bites have not stopped though and i had an appointment with a dermatologist today and she said they are for sure bug bites, but she isn’t sure if its bed bugs or fleas.
What are the main differences between flea bites and bed bug bites? My bites are very sparse and spread out across my back, stomach, and arms. They start out like a red swollen hive and soon turn into a open sore and scab afterward. The dermatologist also ruled out scabies, as the bites are very random and spread out.
I have a had a mattress cover on my bed since December, but i am still getting bites. Is it possible the bites are occurring at my boyfriends house? Is it possible that fleas are living in his mattress even though we live in a province with a rather cool climate?
Please Help!
Hi, I travel a lot for work and recently stayed at a hotel outside the US. My first night there I woke up with a couple of reddish welts, but just assumed that they were mosquito bites and went on my way. Flash forward a week and a half and there are red bites all over my back, the back of my neck and my stomach.
My first though was that perhaps our dogs got fleas. We washed all the sheets in hot water and gave the dogs their flea bath even though I’m the only one with bites. (The dogs aren’t itching/scratching, my boyfriend doesn’t have a speck on him even though we sleep in the same bed, etc.) There are absolutely no bites at all on my legs or arms, just all over my stomach and back as well as near my hair line in the back of my head.
I’ve included pictures above and hope someone can tell me if these look like bed bugs or something else? The unfortunate thing is that I have to travel again on Monday/can’t get to the doctor for another week. I’m guessing that hydrocortisone is probably my only option for now. I just can’t figure out why I’m the only one itching.
Is it possible that they just attacked me at the hotel, but didn’t make it home to infect the house? I don’t think I have any new bites, it’s just the ones that I have are itching like crazy. How long does it take for bed bug bites to go away?
Thanks a million for helping poor itchy souls like me out!
Hi AC,
So what I read from this is that management believes that there are no bed bugs and that you’re being bit by something else or imagining it, right?
Well, this is what you do. I put together all the directions on how to make your own bed bug trap (see my link at the top right corner of this site). Build the trap (it costs less then $10) and arm it for a few nights and see what you catch, that should give you the evidence you need! By the way – it’s possible for your wife to go without bites, or be bite and not have a reaction, so don’t let that bug you too much (no pun intended).
I will make a long story brief and I need help: I moved into a new apt 3 months ago. Found a bed bug on the wall. Management handled right away and heated the entire place up. 2 days later I find another bed bug. Management heats the place again and chemically treats. Then I start waking up with huge welts on my face and back. The bites I get on my back are the size of half dollars.
Management has a dog come in to sniff my apt and all surrounding apts and finds nothing. No one else has any problems. I buy DE and sprinkle everywhere. No problems for over a month. I wake up yesterday and the whole side of my face is swollen and bites on my back and I find a bed bug attached to my suitcase that we were taking on a trip this weekend.
I have no idea what else we can do. If we move all it takes is one to come along with us and start all over. I have no evidence of any bugs; no blood, no fecal stains, no eggs. Just this one bug I found. What do I do to get rid of them? Heat is not working, they must be coming from the walls.
My wife isn’t getting bit, it is just me. This is a horrible stigma to have as we pride ourselves on cleanliness. The bites are embarrassing to have as they swell up my whole cheek. Please advise!
Hi S2,
You can confirm if you have bed bugs by visiting my page on bed bug traps (top right of this page in the menu bar) – it’s a do it yourself kit that costs less than $10 to make and works great!
I link you posted didn’t show anything, but you can send pictures of your bed bug bites to my email located at the bottom of this page.
Hello again! I have recently discovered what I think is a carpet beetle.. I’ve looked up what they look like online, but the colour seems to be different. The one I found look very similar to these, except the middle was white and, top and bottom was black. Other than that, they looked the same, from segmented body to ‘hairy’ legs. Does the colour difference mean it’s not carpet beetles? Sorry, my camera isn’t able to focus on such a small insect. I squished it, and white pus-like liquid came out.. so pretty sure I have not mistaken it for a bed bug.
Sorry for posting this question here, but I have no idea where to post and I think I’m losing my mind over the possibility of bed bugs. The bites I have described before could have been an allergic reaction to mosquito bites.. or that’s what I’m hoping.
There are about 23 or so…
We just got a few different things donated to us …
Could bed bugs have been carried in or should we still worry about treatment?
I have about 10-12 bites from over the past 2 nights and they are very itchy. I have looked at many pictures on the website of bites and mine seem like they are very similar to bed bug bites. I’m not too sure what to do. Tonight I will be doing a clean sweep of every crevice in my bedroom, but what if they are bed bugs?
Do I need to get an exterminator? Can you see them in plain sight? Some answers would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
S2,
It is possible that you’ve been being bitten but your body has finally started reacting to the bed bugs. Use the bed bug trap (see link top right of this site) and see how many you catch. It’s highly unlikely that you brought one bed bug in and it bite you that many times so I’m guessing you may have them worse than you expect – IF – they are bed bug bites. Can you send us some pictures (send them to badbedbugs@gmail.com).
Thanks!
Hello, I’ve never had bed bugs before, but woke up to about 30+ bites similar to mosquito bites on my thigh, calf, ankles, feet and below my elbow. A lot of people here state they have 2-3 spots at a time. The bites if I scratch immensely, become raised and swollen on and around the bite for a day, and then become 1cm red circles the next day. Others are 1cm and red for a day and seem to be healing after one day. So is it possible for me to get bitten by bed bugs 30 plus times for the first time ever?
I did however, get bitten by many mosquito’s one week ago, but only showed a red dot in a white circle the next day without any itching and swelling, so I dismissed them. All bites I have now are on exposed skin only. I have bites in groups of 3 as mentioned above, so that also adds to my concerns, but the majority of them seem random and in bigger groups. So is it bed bugs or delayed reactions on my mosquito bites?
Please help, I’ve lost so much sleep itching crazily, and then worrying about bed bugs. :(
I had bites all over my body and they were HUGE. I ended up having to be on steriods for over a month because I couldn’t breath.
This is what they looked like. I had never seen anything like this before.
[Note: Whitney, the link was removed as it was password protected and forced people to join. Send the pictures to badbedbugs@gmail.com and I'll get them posted for you]
I was wanting to know if there was anything I could do to prevent them, seeing that I am moving into an apartment soon.
Do you guys think these are Bed Bug bites or Shingles?
The four pics are of the same exact location which is on my upper back near the bottom of my shoulder blade. They don’t itch, but they have a dull sting. And also I have a tenderness in my upper left side of my chest near my nipple and ribcage, which isn’t painful necessarily.
Thanks!
Rob
Luc: Could be fleas instead.
Ali: Could be shingles (if you’ve ever had the chicken pox, it’s possible to contract shingles even in your 30s or 40s, although much more common to get it much later in life).
EVERYONE needs to see a healthcare provider to confirm what you have! Good luck!
CS, If you have bite marks that show up in the morning that is enough for me to believe you are being bitten the night before, especially if you have sensitive skin. I remember feeling bites then seeing the marks in the morning.
Ali, I am not a Doctor but I think you should get checked by a dermatologist. That looks viral to me. There is a slight chance in my opinion, that it could be bed bug bites but I don’t see a three bite pattern anywhere. I had some definite bed bug bite photos posted further down below. One of the photos shows a reaction on my wife’s neck that was more rash looking then the ones on my feet, ankles and arms.
I have been dealing with mysterious bites since last May when i went abroad. i was camping in a public camp space in a tent that other people had used, and woke up with around 50 bites, all over, red and dry looking. Didn’t itch. The other girl in the tent (my roommate) had no bites and for the rest of the time we lived together abroad (2 more months) she never got any. mine didn’t heal, and i didn’t get many more, until i finally went back to the states and put steroid cream on them. Then they healed, after a few weeks. My father and I were afraid of bed bugs so right when i got home we had all my luggage dry cleaned and then i didn’t get any bites for a while, so i thought i was fine.
I would wake up with some bites every once in a while, but no one who stayed over ever got bitten, and neither has my roommate. Then, a few weeks ago, I woke up with a few more “bite” things and got worried that somehow i have bed bugs.. I searched all around my mattress- absolutely no evidence of them. Then i went on a trip to visit family, and WHILE on the trip, woke up with a bunch more bites, all over again! I have no idea what this is..but they LOOK like bed bug bites.
I finally went out yesterday to buy some DE and I will be putting that around my room and bed tomorrow..but I am moving in May and I wanted to know how to be POSITIVE that i will not take any bed bugs (if that’s what this is) with me to my new home. This is what i plan on doing so far- do you have any other suggestions?
-Buy two mattress covers for allergens and put then on my mattress and box spring after treating with DE
-go through all belongings before the move and get rid of anything unnecessary and then wash and dry all clothes/bedding with hot water/air, and then store in sealed plastic bags.
-treat entire room with DE, vacuum regularly
Would it be wise to dispose of my mattress when i move if evidence of bed bugs is found, or will the covers prevent a re-infestation?
any advice for getting rid of the bite mark? The only thing that has worked so far is a steroid cream, and i’d really like to stop using that.
Thank you SO much for your help! this has been such a nightmare..
Pictures of my latest bites are included, maybe you can tell if they are from bed bugs? i have a sinking feeling that they are..
Ali
Update 3/26/2011
I ended up going to the hospital for something else and they checked out my ‘bites’. After a biopsy it turns out it’s guttate psoriasis. Which makes sense since i have found no sign of bed bugs nor has anyone gotten ‘bit’ but me.. It kind of sucks to have psoriasis, but i guess it’s better than bed bugs..!
Thanks for all your help in the meantime!
I have been bitten by bed bugs too. But my experience wasn’t like anyone else’s. I only got 2 or 3 bites but never in a straight line. The bites hurt so bad I would cry. The bites didn’t go away for a month. I used rubbing alcohol to help with the itching. It was the only thing that worked. I bought so many bottles and sprayed everything with alcohol. I don’t know if it killed them stupid bugs but i stopped getting those painful bites.
Long story short- (when I have the time I will contribute more b/c I have learned a LOT from this experience)
About a month ago I discovered ONE bed bug… Didn’t waste time, got an exterminator in to treat the apt. He discovered that the tenants upstairs have been dealing with them so he gave them a quick treatment (not as extensive as ours…) Since then, my husband has caulked the entire apt, bought mattress protectors, treat everything with alcohol every weekend, etc… My son has a friend that lives across the street whose building has NUMEROUS reports on another site about bed bugs in the building. Whenever my son goes over to his apt (which is rare these days) we take precautions… strip him down, bag his clothes and leave them on the balcony or outside the apt until washed and make him take a shower.
The other night we allowed him to sleep over his friend’s apt and took the normal precautions when he got home (around 1pm Sunday)
Sunday night around 8pm my son noticed he had three bites on his arm (the ones I have come to know VERY WELL through our horrible ordeal.) Of course I freak out… my husband and I truly believe he may have gotten bit while at the friend’s apt and hopefully didn’t bring any home. We stripped his bed, sprayed it with alcohol and we all went to bed. Tomorrow I will clean out his room and treat it with Diatomaceous Earth… We are throwing out his futon… (Not taking any chances.)
This morning he had a few more welts on his body… (when my son & I get bit, they become these big welts.. I’m assuming we are somewhat allergic.. we both have fair/sensitive skin..)
We found no evidence of bed bugs in his room and the exterminator only found evidence in OUR room when we had the apt treated. (And we only found the ONE bug… no others… no eggs, etc.)
I currently have no bites whats so ever.
My question is, how do I know if the bites my son discovered this morning are FRESH bites and not just ones that could have happened the night he spent over at the “bed bug building?”
Could it be that he just got bit over at his friends? Like I said– when he got home we stripped him down and washed his clothes right away.
John, I’m looking at you buddy…. talk me off the ledge.
MJ…..are you out there. Please help!!!
We had bugs and spent thousands of dollars moving/cleaning/heating everything to a new home. I used to get MASSIVE welts, but now, in the new home, I am experiencing the EXACT same thing that you describe.
What was the end result of your marks?
Please reply.
Two yrs ago, I was getting welts on my body (legs, face, arms, butt) and had terrible itching at night that kept me up. This went on for months, the dr said I had eczema. I couldn’t stand it at night. I went away for a week (I was OK) and when I got back, my sister who lived w/ me said she had thrown out her mattress because she saw a lot of bedbugs (as far as I know, she never itched).
I had seen some bugs before on the top of my bed but thought nothing of them (I had flushed them of course). She used a fogger (which I later learned is not good). We had to buy new mattresses, boxsprings & expensive covers and pay $700 for the exterminator. I threw out the couch (which had them), a chair, washed all the clothes, took up all the carpeting around the walls for the spraying. What a hassle! I have since moved and am paranoid every time I itch or see anything (it could be a piece of lint, I don’t know).
I’m so afraid of infecting someone else’s house even though I don’t know if I still have them. Anyway, this bedbug problem is HORRIBLE! I wish we could use that DDT that they used yrs ago to get rid of them. They were GONE but now are back. We have to do something.
Cindy you should see a doctor if you have a staph infection. I’ve never read about so many infections before.
We are looking for airline safety solutions to add to my site.
I was convinced I had bed bugs, but now I’m not so sure. I’m only getting bites on my ankles and calves, and many of the bites are right next to hairs and hair follicles. Everything I’ve read says that bed bugs don’t like hairy skin, but I’ve had no bites anywhere else on my body except my legs.
Does anyone know what I might have? I also have mild-to-moderate eczema, so after I scratch, the skin breaks and doesn’t heal completely for weeks or even months (this has nothing to do with whatever’s biting me–it happens every winter). All my bites are also red in the center. I’ve also read that bed-bug bites aren’t red in the center.
Can anyone help me?
a follow up to my post. it seems that bed bugs I do not have, but I’m experiencing vasculitis of the skin which leaves marks all over my lower body that do look like bites without the itching.
@John G yeah I guess I won’t be using DE after all, at least not yet. The exterminator is coming to spray tomorrow, and when I mentioned that I wanted to sprinkle DE he said no, no.. he said it would mess up his whole thing (whatever that means) so I guess I am just going to try to trust him. (I’m a bit of a control freak lol) He said he’s going to spray 3 different times, which left me feeling a little better about it. He’s also doing the entire building. (I live in a quadplex) If after the series of sprays, if there still are some, then I will use the DE to finish the job.
I stayed at my boyfriends last night, so I don’t have any new bites and the original ones are started to fade away, though they still itch. I have to stay home tonight because I have class very early in the morning, and I’m afraid that since I vacuumed and picked my bedroom apart last night looking for them, I’m afraid I may have stirred them up. I moved my bed away from the wall and got rid of my bedskirt. I’ll get some two-way tape today to tape the legs since I have one more night with them. :( I’m really concerned about my dog. When I came home this morning, he was rolling around on the carpet like he was scratching his back. Now I’m concerned that they were attacking him all night since I was gone. :( I can’t wait for this to be over!
Kay, be careful with the DE. It is not good to inhale it. Some suggest putting it around the baseboards of your walls. I also puffed some on the underside of my box spring and some on the top of the box spring. I don’t think anybody would suggest puffing any on your mattress. Just so you know I think the DE I used killed the last few that I believe bit me after I thought I eradicated them all. The bug must have been covered in this DE and later died because we are bug free and it’s been a while now. Can you get a garment steamer and start steaming areas of your bedding and frame? How about the mounting tape around the legs and support blocks? This is so effective you need to do this right away.
I am not really sure what to think anymore. It has been 8 months since we discovered bed bugs in the wood bed frame we bought locally on Craigslist. It all started with a reaction my son had to some bites. The doctor didn’t think it was bed bugs but when it reappeared a couple weeks later I started to poke around in his bed.
It was pretty bad. We found his bed was pretty infested and only found 2 on our box spring. We threw out his bed and our box spring. I treated and cleaned as best we could. Since then we have moved and bought all new beds and metal bed frames. None of us have had anymore bites and my mind was finally starting to ease. But then I walked into my bedroom about a week ago and found a bug crawling on my ceiling. I got tissue and grab it. I am pretty sure it was a bed bug.
According to your life cycle pic it was an unfed adult. He moved very slowly and was pretty dried out. I can’t help but to start freaking out a bit. I cannot find any evidence of others. Any chance it was a straggler?? Can that be possible??
I am so stressed out. I’m not allowed to go back to work until I am treated (I work at a nursing home, for liability reasons they asked me to take a leave of absence until it’s resolved) I really don’t think I have them that bad YET, I looked under the mattress, I looked behind pictures on the wall and along the ceiling. I also kept waking up in the middle of the night and switching the light on because I couldn’t sleep, I kept feeling like something was crawling on me but I still haven’t seen any.
The “exterminator” guy who came before to bomb my neighbors apartment said he could come on Friday. But he made me so mad, asking all these questions first like if I was sure they weren’t mosquito bites. Asking if there’s a chance I got them from work. He’s the same guy who treated her apartment! He should know better, but he said they didn’t necessarily come from hers. I have a doctors appt on Tuesday, and they’re supposed to give me some topical ointment to put on the bites.
I’m going to buy some of that DE today and I’m also going to throw a lot of stuff away. Where do I put the DE? I want to move so badly but I’m so afraid of taking them with me. :( I did not sleep at all last night. The anxiety and paranoia is insane.
Kay, when I started reading your comment I suspected it was from a neighbor before you said it. Just start treating. I would move any way if you can!
Michelle, it is very likely you are being bitten by bed bugs. The bites on my hands were a burning pain to me and not much swelling. I did have a rash there also. The eraser sized red marks you are experiencing are convincing enough to me. Don’t wait on your Doctor. Read in the ‘bed bug treatment’ link of this website to get tips from many people on how to kill them in place . There are some simple things you can do such as double stick tape for the bed legs and blocks, Food Grade Diatemaceous Earth and hand held steaming, such as a garment steamer. The intense heat is most effective. Also, when the bugs are little they like to hide in the plastic corners of your box spring. You should find them there. Kill them all when you see them. When they are adult they get more brave and hang out inside your mattress seams and frame areas.
I started out with pin sized dots all over my feet where my ankle socks covered. (the morning after we got home from Costa Rica) then a week later I got what appeared to be skin colored welts on my elbows 12 hours after getting out of bed. since then the bites have increased and I woke up this morning with swelling along the bottom of my feet and my hands are showing swelling as well.
Big swelling that makes it painful to walk and close my hands. I also have what looks like blood vessels broken under my skin and red marks from pin prick to end of pencil eraser size. I go to the doc Thursday. will get my husband to take pictures tonight. is that how bed bug bites progress? I know it affects everyone different and I haven’t seen any description like mine.
I’m freaking out, I’m almost positive that I have bed bugs.. I’ve been on this computer for hours researching it by google. I have 2 different sets of the 3 bite lines, which was what basically confirmed for me that it was bed bug bites. My right elbow is the area that has been most bit, my right leg has a few bites too but not many. I called my landlord today but he hasn’t called me back yet. Pictures below:
I have not stayed at any hotels, I have not bought any furniture lately. I moved in here July of last year, and I read on here that they can go months & months without feeding. I wonder if they were always here and they’re just now biting? Initially I thought I was having an allergic reaction because I switched lotions. Even the nurses at my job were telling me not to worry, but that 3 bite line is what basically confirmed it for me and now I’m freaking out. I doubt I’ll be able to sleep tonight. I live alone, with just my dog and I don’t have much furniture so hopefully that will make it easier to get rid of them.
But what I am mostly worried about is if it’s possible to carry them over to my boyfriends house too? I don’t pack suitcases or anything when I go to stay overnight, but I keep my clothes by my bed. He has a young son, so I am SO afraid that the bugs will have hitched a ride with me. I just noticed the bites within the past few days, and I’ve only been to his house once. What are the chances of them being at his place now too?
Update:
I’m mad as hell.. after posting my original post above, I called my landlord to find out if any other tenants have been complaining of itching. Last month, a girl moved out after only being here for a few months. (she broke a one year lease) and I never asked why, but she also left a mattress laying up against the side of the building. My landlord kept calling me to ask if the mattress was gone, but I didn’t ask why. I just assumed the girl no longer wanted it. I didn’t think anything of it. This was back in January that she moved out. I found out that she first complained about bugs in November. He insists that she brought them. I don’t know whether she willingly moved out or if he evicted her.
I’m mad as hell that he didn’t tell me or the other tenants. He had that apartment bombed after she left, but not the entire building. There are two other tenants besides myself (it’s a quadplex) they probably don’t know either! Unless they’re itching now too. He said that he would pay for my mattress covers and he will have the building bombed. I’m freaking out thinking about how fast these things multiply. I’m probably not going to get any sleep tonight. :/
knitarama, I would think you would be getting bites on your feet, ankles and arms also. Bed bugs are not focused on one or two areas of your body. They like the veins and arteries that are near the surface of the skin (like the feet) if they can find it. It is probably a heat sensory that they possess. You should be seeing the 3 bite pattern as well and also you should be seeing some bugs eventually. I don’t think you are experiencing bed bugs based on what you wrote. I hope that is the case.
I don’t know if I have bed bugs or some other bugs but for some reason everytime my friends come over they get bumps all over and I also get them but not as frequently vie been told that they don’t bite me because my skin is dark is this true and I’d so how in the world to I get rid of them I tried washing all my sheets and everything but they are still here and also I have never seen them personally is there a small or microscopic breed of bed bugs please help me
I am experiencing something very similar to MJ — I get small red bumps/bites that fade away quickly and generally aren’t very itchy. I get maybe one or two a day, usually on my face or chest/back. the ones on the face I usually discover in the morning.
the problem started while we were abroad last year — small, not very itchy bites, sometimes two near each other. when we came back, one exterminator’s dog picked up the bed bug scent, but another exterminator said our problem wasn’t bed bugs (but wasn’t sure what it was). we’ve never seen insects around our bed, have our mattress and pillowcases encased, our clothes in zip lock bags. we’ve had our place exterminated for bed bugs three times, vacuumed, dried our clothes endlessly, dry cleaned all our wool items…
I’m seeing a dermatologist to rule out scabies/lice/etc but I’m not very hopeful she’ll have a diagnosis.
it’s a low-grade problem, but it just won’t go away! anyone have any bright ideas?
MJ, if you scroll down to the comment posted Dec 15th at 10:17pm you will see bed bug bites . Yours looks like a spider or mosquito bite.
Please help me with my anxiety with bed bug bites!
I live in a dorm and I was moved to a “clean” room (cleared to be free of bed bugs a month ago by the specially trained dog, haven’t been occupied by anyone since then) from my old room that was infested with bed bugs. I laundered all that was launder-able in hot water and heat dry or heat dry only for clothes that were clean to begin with, and put them in clean garbage bags or zip-lock bags. I brought some non-fabric items to my new room along with the laundered clothes in bags. I have opened them a few times to find clothes to wear but for the most part they’ve been sealed in my new room.
The first few days I was so paranoid that I brought the bugs with me somehow (through non-launderable items like laptop or a tissue box) and I did have some bumps on my skin that look like mosquito bites in random parts of my body throughout the day, not necessarily after waking up from sleep in the morning. Most of them (slightly raised, small reddish spots a lot like very small mosquito bites, usually in one or two at the most on my chest, my shoulder, my forearm) weren’t itchy or bothersome at all, and would actually disappear within 30 min-2 hours. They would appear like an hour or two after I wake up, during the day at work, or in the early evening as I’m up about and moving around or sitting at the desk doing homework.
I constantly fidget, check my body in the mirror every few hours, and check my mattress and bed sheets and pillow/pillow cover every day, and haven’t found a single bug or anything resembling its feces. When I would go into my old room (right before and in between the 1st and 2nd treatment by the pest control company), I would either wear a blue paper suit and trash it after leaving the room, and wipe down my shoes with alcohol wipes before entering my new room or change clothes before coming back to my new room.
I’m so afraid that I have bed bugs in the clean room and I will re-infect my old room that I’m about to move back into this week. When I had bed bugs bite before I did not have extensive reaction to the bites but they were quite itchy. The bites (if they are bites) I’m getting now do not itch and do not appear in clusters. Please help!
*I’m sending you the picture to this address: badbedbugs@gmail.com
So here is my story: HELP
I moved in to employee housing at a ski resort that is notorious for having a bad bed bug problem (they make everyone sign an addendum acknowledging they have a problem and they won’t help you) You know what, screw it VAIL RESORTS.
I moved in for 6 days total when I realized I had some sort of a bite (7 total). One on my calf, two on my thigh, and 4 on my butt. They were like pimples that itches like hell. The ones on my butt were close to the crack, and one in the fold of my butt cheek. It has been almost 2 months since i have moved out and I’m still losing my mind. Once I thought they were bed bug bites, i moved out immediately taking every precaution cleaning everything (dryer over 120 degrees for 60 mins plus) or throwing bedding, bags out.
I have been to the dermatologist twice and they were, well, useless. They gave me a steroidal cream the fist time, and maybe made things worse, but definitely didn’t fix the problem. The second time they decided to take a “sample” and cut off on of the bites on my rear end to see if it was scabies or some sort of something else? **** side note, they bites would dissipate sometimes and then reappear in the same exact area. Within a few centimeters of the original bite. The bite on my thigh which is easiet for me to see, you can see the scar marks of the bite moving from where it first bit to the second itchy location, to the next etc..
The second round at the dermatologist they treated me for scabies and I used Acticin Cream from my shoulders to the bottom of my feet over night. The itching seemed to be gone for about 6-7 along with the second cream the Dr. gave me Triamcinoline Acetonide Cream. I thought i was in the clear and scott free. No itching, and the bumps (still only in the 7 places were on the way out) until today when they started itching like crazy again.
Not sure how to upload pics, but would be happy to share the one on my thigh. Are these bed bugs with a flare up? I have heard of people that can sense bugs still around with flare ups?
Why are the bites only itchy in these 7 places?!?! Losing my mind and would love any insight!
Michelle, those are flea bites. You can check for fleas by spreading a white sheet on your carpet and then watch for them when they land on the sheet. Fleas jump around and that’s why this works to check for the presence of fleas. They are much easier to get rid of. Be thankful if it turns out to be just fleas.
Hi there, I have moved from a hospital Spain Mallorca to New Zealand and in both countries i have been experiencing these bites that happen at night and are extremely itchy. I have tea tree oil in my shampoo and body wash and i put it in my body cream too just to relieve the itching!
I find the bed here has a foul oudour but i have yet to discover any black spots or other signs of bedbugs as we have carpets and a red sheet.
But I wake up in the early hours of the morning itching like crazy!! We have used a fog for flea and carpet mites and I’m still getting bit. I even put mosquito spray on me at night and still the bites persist. Some nights are worse than others!
Please help
Aleks,
That looks like a razor nick.
CC, Keep in mind that the bug(s) could be in your couch, if you have one, or a relaxing type chair. Your room may be clear but they could be living in your couch and get you when you occasionally nap. This is exactly what happened to me when I napped at my ex-wife’s house and also at my own place. I might in fact still be getting bit on my couch. I want to treat my couch but it’s harder then treating a bed in my opinion. We’re probably better off slicing the material so nobody salvages it and then throw it out.
Hi I have gotten one bite about twice a week on a leg or on my side. I have looked for bedbugs but not found any. The bite itches sometimes, but not very much and there is no redness, it looks like a mosquito and usually goes away in 2 days. Could there be a bedbug in my room?
Tiffany, I agree with everything she is doing. But I highly recommend a steamer also! The heat does wonders. It kills the eggs and babies you can’t see in addition to the adults. I used it and believe that it was the most effective treatment by far. I found a garment steamer with a hose for about $40USD at a wherehouse store(Costco). It’s very easy to use. Just steam everything you can of the bed:mattress, box spring, frame,etc. Also be sure to apply mounting tape around the legs and any support blocks. This will keep bugs hiding in her room from crawling up and feeding!
My friend just found out she has bed bugs and has had them at least 2 months. She is on a very tight budget and although she is getting her tax return very soon, she refuses to pay for professional treatment. Her plan is to spray alcohol on the beds regularly, sprinkle DE around the house and in between the mattresses and box springs, wash and dry all her clothes and store them in plastic bins in her backyard until it’s time to move and wen her lease expires May 31st, she plans to leave most of her possessions behind. My question is, how likely it is that this will work? Thanks
Hi Aleks,
That does not look anything like a bed bug bite, so no worries – it looks more like you had an itch and scratched it. But no, not a bed bug bite – good to check though!
I write because I am wondering what a bite looks like. I woke up one day with an itchy bump by my ankle. It was tiny and didn’t itch too much but as it’s winter there’s no way it could be a mosquito. It itched less than a mosquito bite actually.
I have very sensitive skin so I wondered if I had cut myself shaving and irritated it somehow but thought I should write to be sure. I’ve attached a photo of the 3 vertical lines. They’re minuscule and right beside each other. I checked my mattress and bedding for signs of anything suspicious and found nothing but thought I’d write in anyway because the mere thought gives me the heebie jeebies and if there is any chance it’s bed bugs I will get a pro in here ASAP.
Many thanks,
Aleks
I had these bumps not huge though. There are mostly on my forearms both sides, not only that but other place just here and there…. I had these for almost a month now and I’m not sure if they are bed bugs are what… Now looking back it right now, it looks like dry skin and its peeling a skin in the area where it had the bumps and now its leaving white spots, I think like scares… What would that be? Please help and respond. This is the first time its happen to me.
So, last weekend (1/7/11) I slept at a friends house where they previously dealt with bed bugs sometime time last year (beginning of summer I think). While I was over, there was a bug crawling up my blanket and I freaked out. My friend came over and pulled it off of me, squishing it, and didn’t really comment on it after that.
She continued to bug me if we could go upstairs and when we finally did, she relented into telling me that that was a bed bug that had been on my blanket and that she had found a few on her and her chair and wanted to come upstairs to her room where she was sure there weren’t any bed bugs. Needless to say, as soon as I got home, I stripped down at the door and threw my pillowcase and clothes into the wash and then dried them. They’ve actually been in the laundry room even until now just because I’ve been so lazy to go and retrieve them.
Then, yesterday (1/15/11), I woke up with maybe 10 bites on my back, one on each arm, and a few on the backs of my legs. When I discovered these, I freaked out and quickly set to washing all of my laundry and even taking my clean clothes and putting them in the dryer for extra cycles. Then I washed my sheets (didn’t see any sort of bugs at all when I was messing around with my mattress then) and decided to vacuum my entire room. I lifted my mattress up (still seeing no bugs) and my box spring and vacuumed everything else I could think of. I also put on one of those expensive covers on my bed.
After taking a shower, I slept in a different bed last night and continued cleaning today, but I feel as though I’m still itchy and that there are more bites appearing on me ( a few more on my back, one on my sand, and a group of them on my knee).
I’m driving myself insane, I absolutely hate bugs. Is there anything else I can do??? :(
To steve and other readers,
bed bugs can bite through clothing they are nasty nasty little critters with two sharp little beaks. one beak injects the anesthetic and the other sucks your blood. they are literally little vampires. gah! i have had them for i don’t know even how long anymore. I moved to a small town just outside of Paris to a student residence and the house was infested. I looked everywhere for them and never found them. I continued to get bites for my entire 5 month stay. i did the vacuuming thing and treated all my clothing and that of my ex-boyfriend in hot water and the dryer. I now know that that was not enough without hiring a professional to exterminate them.
When I came back to Toronto, (we are third worst in the world right now for bed bugs), I was very careful, I changed at the airport in to fresh clothes my family brought me, garbage bagged all my stuff, and was dropped straight to a laundromat. I washed and dried all my clothes in hot water and air. I then quarantined a bag of dry clean only stuff. At first there didn’t seem to be any lingering signs of these nasty critters, but after three months I decided to bring one of the quarantined jackets i had in the car to the apartment i live in. I figured that having been in a super hot car all summer that should have been enough to kill whatever was on the jacket three months prior. Wrong. By the way these things can live for up to 18 months without food, and extreme cold will only kill them if they are kept constantly below 0 degrees Celsius for at least 2 weeks. So I brought one hitchhiker into the apartment. I then took a 3 day trip to New York city and sat on a 12 hour bus ride with a bus that was infested. I discovered this after getting off the bus and being covered head to toe in bites. I returned home with my suitcase and one week later lo and behold, woke up eaten head to toe. I called in an exterminator. They came to spray. They did practically nothing and charged 300 bucks. They were in and out in 20 minutes. They repeated this 7 days later. And guess what. I continued to get bitten.
I then made a very desperate call to PCO Orkin or whatever they are called, and they instructed me to pack up everything in my apartment. Clothes, books, purses, nik naks everything. things that were NOT clothes, i had to leave in untied bags and boxes and place them in the centre of the room. Clothes all had to be placed in the dryer for at least an hour at an intense heat. Dry clean only included. The dry heat doesn’t really ruin anything as long as your clothes aren’t wet when you throw them in. apparently the dryer cycle is enough to kill them. Then that stuff went straight into tightly sealed garbage bags which were placed in the basement storage.
When they came to treat it took them five hours the first time. They vacuumed, steam cleaned, and sprayed pesticides everywhere. In addition I was told I could move out for a little while if I wanted because the pesticides would take care of everything. They came back 15 days later, and carefully sprayed everywhere again. I then moved in 6 days later. This company also comes with a three month guarantee, for the upfront price ($750) they will continue to come and spray as much as needed to eradicate your problem within a three month period. PCO was last here Dec 15. things were good for a while but as of this morning, Jan 13, i woke up with bites, same as before.
possible things that could have happened:
a) even after caulking every freaking hole in my apartment and investing in expensive mattress covers, they managed to hide in the walls and find their way back out again.
b) my couch, which is impossible to get down into the stuffing, continues to support the infestation
c) after Christmas, new years, and just being on holiday, I have managed to bring the critters back from public transportation, the movies, and friends’ houses.
what is frightening, and part of the saddest thing about living in an overly infested city, is that all three of the above could both individually and collectively be the reason for me waking up this morning with bites.
also in a side note, when i lived in Paris with my ex, he never showed signs of a single bite. some people just don’t react. the reacting thing really sucks but at the same time you should consider yourself lucky, because these things multiply at a frightening rate, each bug can lay up to 5 eggs A DAY. at least you know the problem is there so you can fix it. also it is impossible to treat the infestation with at home remedies. you can most certainly help but it cannot be done entirely alone. ALSO IF YOU HAVE SMALL CHILDREN, BED BUGS BITES CAN CAUSE BABIES TO BECOME ANEMIC. So if they are getting bitten take them to your family doctor and make sure they are okay. you can double check this fact elsewhere but it is sadly true.
anyways the exterminator is coming by tomorrow to look at my apartment and see what he can find, but there have been minimal to no signs of these things and yet they continue to bite. we are going to keep spraying but i am feeling super helpless at this point…not to mention itchy beyond belief.
i wish they would just make a super vaccine that you could take that would
a) take away the itching and
b) kill the things that eat you…..:)
that would be oh so nice. but until then i think this problem is going to continue getting worse.
best of luck to everyone and know that you are not alone.
L
Alot of the pictures people are showing of bites and not being able to find bed bugs might want to think about Fleas, i got thos same lookin bumps all over my ankles in the summer time when i was around alot of dogs
Will someone please tell me if these bites look like bed bugs? They do NOT itch. My husband and I looked everywhere on our bed and didn’t find any signs of bedbugs. My mattress is encased with an allergen cover. For the past 3 years every winter I get a cluster of bug bites somewhere on my body. It’s really weird. I have seen two dermatologists and the most they can do is biopsy it and confirm it’s a bug bite. I don’t know what to do or where to turn for answers. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Jim, I am glad I was able to help. Did you or do you have bed bugs? If so, what did you do about it? What was effective for you?